Pre-Paid Phones

U Prepaid (Alltel)

Alltel Wireless joins the prepaid phone market with their U Prepaid service.

AlltelU Pros	AltellU Cons
U Prepaid is a national carrier (powered by Alltel) It offers flexible options, no commitment Traditional service options are applied, minus the contract Nice selection of phones	Most phones on the U Prepaid lineup are on the expensive side A minimum initial balance is required to start the service Activation fee can be a little expensive

AlltelU Prepaid Cell Phones

Phones by Samsung, Motorola, Pantech, Kyocera and LG, among others, are available. Phones may be selected by price or features.

AlltelU Prepaid Plans

Alltel U Prepaid offers three basic prepaid plan types:

Pay per Minute: Calls cost $0.15/minute. A minimum initial balance of $20 is required to activate the plan.

Pay per Day: This plan cost $0.75/day, which would average to about $22-$23 per month. There are four options in this plan: unlimited nights and weekends, unlimited mobile to mobile, unlimited favorite number calling, or unlimited text messaging. Additional features cost $0.25 per day. A minimum initial balance of $20 is required to activate the plan.

Pay per Month: This has three options, and all resemble basic cell phone plans, minus the contract. Users can choose from the $29.99 plan (200 minutes), $39.99 plan (400 minutes), or the $69.99 plan (700 minutes). Additional charges apply to exceeding minutes.

Virgin Mobile

Virgin Mobile is a United Kingdom-based telecommunications company that has branched out to include coverage in the United States.

Virgin Mobile Pros	Virgin Mobile Cons
Offers two flexible plans Refill cards are conveniently available in major retailers Coverage is nationwide, includes all 50 states, and US territories	Plan details may be a little confusing Mostly targeted at the youth market Calls are frequently dropped when calling customer service hotline Phones may be unfamiliar in US market

Virgin Mobile Phones

Phones by Samsung, UT Starcom, Kyocera, Audiovox and LG, among others, are available. Phones prices start for as low as $9.99

Virgin Mobile Plans

Virgin Mobile offers two types of prepaid plans.

Pay by the Minute: The minutes subscribers get depends on the amount they put in their account. $20 gets 200 minutes, $30 gets 400 minutes, $50 gets 1,000 minutes. Unused minutes rollover to the next month as long as the account is refilled. Calls cost an average of $0.20 per minute. Customers can opt to pay $6.99 per month, reducing the cost per minute to $0.10.

Pay by the Month: As with other prepaid plans, Pay by the Month follows the traditional phone plans, minus the contract. Users can choose from the $24.99 plan (200 minutes), $34.99 (300 minutes), $49.99 (400 minutes), $59.99 (600 minutes), and $79.99 plan (Unlimited calling).

Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless prides itself in being “the most reliable network in the nation”. Verizon is an offshoot of the Verizon-Vodafone alliance. It has joined the ranks of the nation’s leading prepaid phone providers with it’s Verizon INPulse service.

Verizon Wireless INPulse Pros	Verizon Wireless INPulse Cons
Offers many flexible prepaid plan options Offers unlimited minutes Offers penny text messaging Has one of the largest calling networks in the US	Most plans have a daily access charge which can make the service a little bit expensive

Verizon Wireless Prepaid Cell Phones

Verizon offers phones in a wide array of features and prices. The most common brands are Samsung, Verizon and LG. For a fee of $15, users get equity that allows them to upgrade to a one-year contract.

Verizon Wireless Prepaid Plans

Verizon offers four INPulse pay-as-you-go plans. These are:

INPulse Basic - $0.25/minute calls, no daily access fee
INPulse Core - $0.10/minute calls plus $0.99 access fee per day
INPulse Plus - $0.05.minute calls plus $1.99 access fee per day; offers unlimited night minutes and $0.05/weekend minute
INPulse Unlimited – Unlimited minutes plus $0.01/text message per day, with $3.99 daily access fee

All INPulse plans offer unlimited mobile to mobile minutes. Access fees are only charged on days service is used.

AT&T/Cingular Go Phone

AT&T acquired the Go Phone upon its acquisition of Cingular in 2007. It remains the no. 1 network provider in the US today.

AT&T/Cingular Go Phone Pros	AT&T/Cingular Go Phone Cons
Appeals to a wider audience with its flexible plan options Rates are reasonable Wide selection of phones National network is advantageous for frequent travelers	Rates are relatively higher than competing services

AT&T/Cingular Go Phones

Phones for the AT&T Go Phone plans start at $9.99. Users can pick from a variety of almost 100 phones on their lineup. Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Pantech and Motorola are the most popular brands from this line.

AT&T/Cingular Go Phone Plans

AT&T offers one of the most flexible pay-as-you-go services among network providers in the country. AT&T has maximized the use of its huge network, and offers comprehensive and competitive prepaid plans in the market.

There are two types of AT&T prepaid services:

Pay-as-you-Go – Calls are $0.25/minute, with options to lower to $0.10/minute with a dollar-a-day access fee. Add $20 and users get 3,000 off-peak minutes. This plan also includes unlimited mobile to mobile calls.
Pick Your Plan – lets users pay a set amount each month. Plans start at $29.99 a month for $0.15/minute calls, and can go up to $69.99/month for $0.10/minute calls. All plans except the $29.99 plan offer unlimited mobile to mobile minutes.

Tmobile To Go

Tmobile To Go Pros	Tmobile To Go Cons
No monthly bill Refill cards easily available in retailers nationwide or online Starter kit with phone, accessories, and basic starter minutes available for purchase	Calls can be expensive with the lower denomination refill cards Minutes expire quickly

Tmobile To Go Phones

Phone rates start at free (after a mail in rebate) and can go up to as high as $89.99. All phones come with basic starter minutes; some even come with a bonus $30 refill card. Samsung, Nokia and Motorola are the most popular brands for T-mobile to Go accounts.

Tmobile To Go Plans

Four prepaid services are offered:

Basic Pay-as-You-Go – offers four denominations of refill cards: $10 for 30 minutess, $25 for 130 minutes, $50 for 400 minutes, $100 for 1000 minutes (also entitles user to Gold Rewards program, giving user additional 15% more minutes each time account is refilled).
Pay-per-Day – Charges access fee of $1 per day (charged only when unit is used), features unlimited night minutes (starts at 7 PM) and unlimited mobile to mobile. All other calls are $0.10 per minute.

T-mobile also offers FlexPay, which requires users to sign a contract and earn a subsidy. A Sidekick plan is also available for the popular brand of messaging phones.

Boost Mobile

Boost Mobile prepaid targets mainly youth market, with their offerings of fun features, mobile downloads, cheap mobile web, and other services not included in typical prepaid phone services.

Boost Mobile Pros	Boost Mobile Cons
A wide selection of phone features and downloadables A number of flexible plans Operates on iDEN network, allowing walkie-talkie users access to this plan	Phones are a bit more expensive compared to typical prepaid markets

Boost Mobile Phones

Boost caters to the younger market with its lineup of feature-heavy phones. Their phones usually feature color screens, speakerphones, push-to-talk and tons of downloads. The usual camera, MP3 and video phones are also available. Prices start at $29.00 and can go as high as $179.99. Motorola phones are the most popular in Boost’s lineup.

Boost Mobile Plans

Boost’s pay-as-you-go plan offers $0.10/minute calls all day. Push-to-talk is also available at $1/day, as well as wireless web for $0.35/day of access. A Chat Plan is also offered for $1/day, with unlimited night and mobile to mobile minutes, as well as unlimited text. There is also a Boost Unlimited plan that costs $50 per month for a service that includes unlimited calls, text, MMS, walkie-talkie and mobile Web.

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