Is Pay As You Go Wireless A Good Mobile Solution?
Is Pay as You Go Wireless a Good Mobile Solution?
Pay as you go wireless has many advantages compared to signing a contract with a cellular telecommunications company. But how do you know which cellular company you want to actually use, even on pay as you go wireless?
The thing about contracts is that they lock you for anything from one year to three or even as much as four years to that wireless carrier. In that time, you won't really even be able to use the cell phone on another network as it is usually 'locked' to that network.
So let us contrast the advantages and disadvantages of prepaid plans to contract:
Prepaid
- You are not locked into any contract.
- There are no hidden fees, so it is far easier to budget and there are no surprise bills at the end of the month!
- Easier for traveling. This is because you can choose your preferred carrier in another country and are not forced to use the carrier preferred by your wireless service provider.
Contract
-Contract can often be cheaper on calls when it comes to some of the bundles you can buy, and you also tend to get access to more diverse services (such as live score feeds or even television). Of course, the price you pay overall can usually be more expensive.
-You don't need to lay down a lot of money to buy a phone upfront, your repayments for the phone is built into your monthly contract payments.
This simple contrast shows that pay-as-you-go tends to be more ideal for students or people who need a phone to keep in touch, and don't need access to extensive music/video services or the like.
Most companies will give you a choice of a number of prepaid plans, to suit your needs. These can either be in the form of paying upfront for a longer usage time (such as 30 days, 60 days etc.); or paying a flat rate for the use of only certain services, but once you have used up your services you cannot use them anymore; or paying some form of minute rate; with many other options in between.
Here are a couple of things to keep in mind when choosing a provider:
1) GSM or CDMA?
The argument over which of these two cellular technologies is better is really a moot argument nowadays. In terms of quality they are pretty much on-par and each have their own disadvantages and advantages, which are more technical in nature.
For practicality purposes, however, keep in mind that GSM phones require SIM cards to be activated whereas CDMA cellphones do not. The upside of SIM cards is that it is easier to switch carriers, but the upside to CDMA is activation is often quicker (and this is usually quite helpful in the case of a stolen phone).
2) Coverage
You must make sure that where you live and where you probably intend to be traveling to on a regular basis is covered well by the carrier.
3) Price!
Of course, price goes without saying, but look at the extra services and perks you get for each price and make sure that you don't choose something that's going to cost you more than you intend to spend, and then you don't end up using all those services. Very often Internet services would fit into this category.
The upside of prepaid is you can easily switch plans if one plan isn't working for you. This is certainly a fantastic benefit with pay as you go wireless.
