Prepaid Cell Phone Plans are Cool….Really!

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Well, it looks like my husband and I have been on the leading edge of a new trend for once in our lives!

 I was reading Yahoo News recently and came across and article titled, “Prepaid Wireless Takes Off“, which reinforced what I have said for years: prepaid wireless phone plans are cheap.

Not really news there. I mean, most people know that a prepaid plan can be cheaper especially if you are not an avid cell phone user. I use my phone for just a few minutes a week, so it never made sense for me to have a regular cell phone plan. I managed to convert my husband and now we both are enjoying nice phones, cheap service and no monthly bill. Apparently, other people are following suit in higher numbers as the economy suffers. Going prepaid is going mainstream.

The common complaints people seem to have had about prepaid wireless plans really don’t apply to this new generations of plans. The first complaint that I had to deal with from my husband was that he didn’t want to run out of minutes right when he needed them the most. We are using Tracfone, and they have two features which make it nearly impossible to run out of minutes. The first is the “rollover” feature. When we purchase blocks of minutes, they come with 90 days of service (when you buy 60 minutes at a time). At the end of that 90-day service term, the minutes don’t expire. Instead, they accumulate in the account and roll-over. Sure, every 90 days we need to make a purchase of at least 60 minutes, but at only $19.99 for 60 minutes, that averages out to only about $6.66 per month and we can bank those extra minutes and use them at times of higher usage (like when we were in Los Angeles this past December). The second feature is an automatic refill feature that fills your account with a predetermined number of minutes each month via a direct debit to your checking account or credit card. Easy!

The second most common complaint seems to be that the phones the prepaid companies offer are outdated. While this may have been true even just a few years ago, that really isn’t the case now. I personally have a really nice silver Motorola flip-style phone that I love. I’ve had it for about a year and my husband has an LG phone with a pretty decent camera. Are these “top of the line” phones? Probably not, but they look nice and work well which is what is most important to us. Incidentally, there were several other phone choices when we purchased our phones, but we got such a good deal that we bought without hesitation.

Some people also cringe at the thought that they have to remember to buy an airtime card at the gas station or they will run out of minutes. Not only can you buy individual bundles of minutes online anytime you want, but with Tracfone in particular, you can also buy airtime right from your phone or enroll in a monthly plan that adds minutes automatically every month or just when your balance is getting low. So simple!

Is it an iPhone? No, but to be honest, I’d just be addicted to the thing the way I am my laptop! But if you need a phone and you need to save money, I highly reccommend checking out prepaid cell phone plans. We’ve saved hundreds of dollars a year and haven’t missed our old traditional cell phone plan one bit. Plus, I love anything that makes life easier and cheaper!