Prepaid cellphones, pt 2 - Guide to buy

Link to Prepaid cellphones, pt 1

Where to buy pre-paid cell phones

Unlike a contract phone where the most important factor for buying is the features of a particular cell phone, prepaid cell phones require a more sensible approach. The most important factor is probably cost. Since the phone is likely to be a one-time purchase (unless it breaks and sometimes it's free with a promotion), then it is best to compare the price per minute of the phone cards. Of course, this may change over time, but you gotta start somewhere.

Available vendors.

	Lowest Card (USD)	Minutes	$$$/Min	Service Date
Net10	$30	300	$0.10	60 days
TracFone	$19.99	60	$0.33	90 days
Cingular	$15	60	$0.25	30 days
Boost Mobile	$20	varies-day, eve minutes	$0.10 - $0.20	monthly service
US Cellular	$25	100	$0.25	monthly service
Amp'd Mobile	$20	200	$0.20	60 days

Things to consider

1) Not all cellphone plan carrier serves every area. As an example, US Cellular is not one of my options because they don't cover Southern California as of this date.

2) You have to buy the cellphone upfront. Unlike contract plans where the cost of the phone can be buried in the service agreement for payment over time, prepaid phones will cost you anywhere from $50.00 and up for the phone.

3) Be sure to add minutes to your phone before the expiration of the service dates. In prepaid phones, you're leasing the phone number that's assigned to you. If you let it expire, that phone number can be assigned to someone else; you can re-subscribe, but you'll get a different number. Adding minutes before the service date expires keeps the phone number in your name.

Suggestions

Reviewing the above options for cell phone vendors, the most widely available carrier seems to be TracFone. Their 90 days service date also makes a lot of sense for me since I do not intend to use the cell phone a lot. At $0.33/minute, TracFone seems to be the most expensive of all the vendors above. However, if I purchase 120 min for $29.99, the rate drops to $0.25/min. Additionally, there's also an option for 400 min for 1 year. Tracfone also runs a promotion from time to time. Currently they have buy a 1 Year Card and get 50 bonus minutes and a FREE phone.

Technorati Tags: cellphone, cell phone, Cingular, Net 10, TracFone, Boost Mobile, US Cellular, Amp'd Mobile, prepaid cellphone

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