The Best Prepaid Wireless Service5.051

Cell Phone Costs on the Rise

Is your cell phone company killing your wallet? Mine was until just last week. I had Verizon and was paying about $120/month for 2 phones with limited minutes, a basic text messaging package, and mobile web service on one of the phones.

I did not go over my minutes very often because most of the people I know also have Verizon and it is free to make mobile to mobile calls on their network. That feature aside, the months that I did go over were horrible!

45 Cents for One Minute!

I paid $0.45/minute over my plan allowance! No, I was not calling China. I did not make numerous calls to Europe. I was not roaming around the country. Verizon charges $0.45/minute for phone calls in the United States!

Verizon might as well put a gun (or should I say a cell phone) to your head and demand that you empty your pockets!

What Was I Thinking?

I don’t really know what I was thinking. My contract ended and I just held on to the plan. Over the years prices for text messaging and minutes slowly creeped up on me.

Verizon started requiring services like data plans on certain phones (not optional anymore), quadrupled their charges for text messages, and drastically raised prices for going over your minutes.

Verizon is not the only culprit. Att and Sprint also charge absurd amounts for their skimpy and watered down cell phone plans too. T-mobile isn’t much better. Everything is extra and there are always suspicious service fees and airtime charges on your statement at the end of the month.

Contract Plans

You used to be able to get decent monthly packages with 500-700 minutes for just $40 or $50 per month. Then everything went downhill. A text message that cost $0.05 just a couple of years ago now cost $0.20. Going over your plan allowance costs $0.45/minute. Worst of all a 450 minute phone plan costs $40/month + additional taxes and service fees!

Try Prepaid to Save Money

There are several prepaid wireless companies to choose from but the best plans can be found with subsidies of Tracfone. Tracfone, Net10, and Straight Talk are the 3 plans with the best coverage. I have heard nothing but bad things about Cricket and Boost.

Net10 Wireless

I switched this month to a new unlimited cell phone plan offered by Net10 Wireless. You may not have heard of them, but they won an award from JD Power and Associates in 2009 for “highest in customer satisfaction with wireless prepaid service”.

Net10 does not sell $300 iPhones and they do not have a fancy commercial with thousands of people following someone around the city because they have a big network. They offer affordable cell phone plans for people who are sick of price gouging.

Net10 is a subsidy of Tracfone. They have over 10 million customers and reliable cell phone coverage at a steep discount. Net10’s unlimited plan is the best option if you talk a lot, otherwise take a look at Tracfone for rates as low as $0.07 per minute with prepaid service.

Prepaid or Unlimited

Net10 has pre-paid service for a flat $0.10/minute including local, long distance and roaming. They also have a plan for $50/month with unlimited talk, text, mobile web, and 411. This is the best plan if you talk very little or very much.

The Net10 Unlimited plan gives you a choice of the 3 following cell phones which must be purchased from a brick and mortar Target store. I’m pretty confident this is the best all round cell phone plan you will find anywhere.

You can find more of the details about this cell phone deal at Net10Unlimited.com.

You have 3 well equipped phones to choose from and when you go to the store the box has to say Net10 Unlimited:
$39.99
$59.99
$79.99

My Experience with Net10

I have had a good experience with Net10 over the last few days with the exception of the mobile web service, which is pretty useless in my opinion. This problem is not specific to Net10, but I had the same problem with Verizon. Cell phone data plans are just not like using broadband at home. They remind me of the early computers with 56k modems and crummy graphics.

I purchased the second phone listed above and I have enjoyed the FM radio as well as the 2GB memory slot for MP3s. It has a very slim design, bluetooth, a camera, and 8 hours of talk time.

I am happy with it overall and it is only $50/month. All the taxes and fees were included so there are no surprises or unexplained fees on the bill, which was paid up front. This plan saved me about 20% from what I previously paid for a cell phone plan that I was forced to get a data plan on because I liked the phone.

I live in a medium size city of about 200,000 people and have had no reception problems. Net10/Tracfone has more customers than both Att and Verizon combined. I think the unlimited plan is simply the best cell phone plan you can buy for the money.

Tracfone

If your cell phone usage is moderate, Tracfone will cost you a few cents less than Net10 with a 1500 annual pre-paid minute card + their double minutes for life program. It ends up being $0.06666/minute and the minutes are good for 1 year from their activation date.

The program is pretty simple. Pick a phone you like, preferably with a double minute card included. Tracfone will mail you most of their phones for free. Once you activate the phone, you can go online and see what specials they currently have like the 1500 minute card for $199 that doubles if you have the double minute plan.

One thing to keep in mind is that Tracfone deducts minutes from your prepaid plan as units. Non-roaming minutes are billed as 1 unit/min while roaming is billed as 2 units/min. Data service (mobile web) is billed at 0.5 units/min while text messages vary from .3-.5 units/text depending on the phone you choose.

You will not be roaming very often if you live near a major city, but it is definitely something to consider.

Straight Talk

Here is a deal that really looks outstanding on the surface and it is for the most part. Walmart now offers a cell phone plan with 2 options: 1000 minutes, 1000 texts, 30mbps of data usage, and 411 for only $30/month or Unlimited for $45/month.

Am I joking?

No.

So what is the catch?

This is probably not an issue for most people, but this plan does not include any roaming. The phone simply will not work unless you are near a tower in a covered service area and it cannot be used outside of the US or for international calling.

On the plus side, it looks like they use Verizon towers which are almost everywhere and they sell nicer phones than Tracfone and Net10 including a touch screen for $350. The phone prices at Walmart are significantly less than on the Straight Talk website, so take a look there first.

I have not tried this service yet, but I don’t have any roaming problems with Net10 (same network) unless I drive up into the mountains outside of my city.

$30/month for 1000 minutes of talk time is just unheard of! As much as people hate Walmart, they keep coming up with new ways to save people money.

I would personally use Straight Talk, but I travel enough that not having roaming would cause some issues for me. I could save a couple more dollars, but I’m satisfied with the unlimited service plan I have with Net10 wireless.

The Trade Off

I guess you have to ask yourself if it worth giving up your fancy iPhone which cost you at least $200 to begin with + your service plan that runs at least $100/month including taxes and other fees. You will also be locked in a contract for at least 2 years.

If you spend $100/month on a cell phone plan from a major network it adds up to $1200/year.

If you get an unlimited plan from Net10 Wireless it will only cost you $600/year.

If you get the $30 plan from Straight Talk it will only cost you $360/year.

Tracfone will cost somewhere between Straight Talk and Net10!

In my opinion $100/month is an outrageous price to pay just to talk on a cell phone and browse the internet! Trust me, you can survive the drive to work or an airplane ride without a fancy cell phone application or playing video games on your phone.

We have the worst economy that I have ever seen and the worst unemployment rate since the great depression. Is it really worth paying an extra $600/year just to play on a fancy cell phone? Restrict your talk time as best you can, use prepaid, or get an unlimited plan at Target or Walmart.