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Important Cost Considerations Related to Prepaid Cellular Plans
By Christina Mulberry
It wasn't so long ago that prepaid cellular plans were primarily suited to those who had a restricted budget or had no credit. The ability to get cellular service without committing to a contract was desirable, but the per minute costs were daunting and the services limited. In the past year or so however, that has begun to change. Many prepaid cellular services have evolved. Some now offer smartphones and give customers an affordable option for unlimited plans that are competitively priced with traditional contractual cellular services. When choosing a cellular plan of any type, the first step is to assure that coverage is good for where you live and work and to compare the services they offer with your level of usage. Once you start looking at prepaid cell phone plans, you'll need to be alert to a few of the paymanent nuances that are somewhat unique to such plans. These include things such as: How service is charged. Just as with a traditional plan, you need to know if local calls are charged the same as long distance or calls made while roaming. Beyond this however, it's important to know if there is a daily access fee, a per minute fee, or both. Some prepaid plans will toute a low per minute fee, but this hides the fact that there is also a daily access fee that is charged for each day you use the phone. This certainly isn't true of all prepaid services but you simply need to be on the lookout for this to be sure you're comparing apples to apples as they say. In addition, many prepaid plans have a lower per minute rate when you purchase larger packages of time. For instance, the per minute rate might be 12 cents per minute when you purchase 30 minutes but it might drop to only 5 cents per minute when you purchase 500 minutes. When minutes expire. Some prepaid plans allow you to purchase unlimited minutes for a set monthly fee. However, many prepaid plans still offer customers the ability to purchase minutes in bulk quantities to use until they're gone. Or at least that's how it seems. It can be important however, to know when those minutes expire. If you seldom use your cell phone and you purchase 300 minutes thinking it will last you 3 months, you could be in for a rude suprise if you find that those minutes disappear after the first month. Increasingly prepaid plans offer mintues that roll over, but you need to know the details to avoid disappointment and higher annual costs than anticipated. Know what you're getting for your money. This is important with everything you buy obviously. But, if you're comparing a traditional cellular plan with a prepaid plan, you need to be sure what services you will and will not get. For instance, voice mail may be a given with a contractual plan, but not for every prepaid plan. Same with caller ID, picture messaging, and so forth. Prepaid plans are increasingly competitive but don't take things for granted. The handset costs. Prepaid plans typically offer affordable phones but they are most often not free since you aren't committing to a two year contract. Clearly this cost needs to be considered when calculating which plan will be the most cost effective for your situation. Prepaid cell phone plans are a viable alternative to contractual plans in a number of instances. In fact, in some cases they can provide significant cost savings. However, shoppers need to learn the details when making their comparisons and carefully analyze what services they need. The good news is that with prepaid plans, even if you make the wrong choice, you won't be stuck with it for long. |
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This intel was contributed by mulberry
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May, 2012
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