When Looking At Prepaid Cell Phone Services - Two Things To Consider
Two Things to Consider When Looking at Prepaid Cell Phone Services
There are basically two main types of services that are offered by carriers and cellphone service networks in the US – prepaid cell phone services (contract free services), and contract services. Prepaid cell phone services have a number of advantages, but deciding on the right one to use can take some careful thought.
Each carrier and cellphone network has its own plans and cell phones that it provides to consumers. Your choice of either will depend on your needs, budget, and a number of other considerations.
It's fairly obvious what the difference is between contract and prepaid. Contract can bind you to a particular carrier for as much as three years, whereas with prepaid you're not bound at all to a contract. Of course, with a contract you get a phone that you pay off during the contract period, whereas with prepaid you have to buy the phone upfront. But you can often get some really snazzy phones on prepaid as well.
With prepaid, you buy 'airtime' upfront and then use it up as you need. Prepaid services come in various forms, with the most basic entailing you buying a set amount of minutes on the network for a set amount of money – for instance, $10 for 30 minutes on the network. Other types of services include paying one dollar a day for the days you use the phone, and getting free weekend minutes and the like.
Taking a good look at each prepaid option is important if you want to compare prepaid plans. The devil is in the details, as they say, and sometimes you may feel you are getting a good deal when you in fact may not. You have to consider the following things:
1)How much will you use the phone for?
Are you one who spends a great deal of time talking on the phone, or do you just want to be easily contactable and make quick calls? Are you running a small business or are you a student? These things will contribute to how much you will use the phone for.
Many prepaid services offer you unlimited night time (usually after 7pm) and weekend minutes. If your phone is to be used for socializing, these kinds of deals would be ideal for you. This means that getting the most basic deal (money just for minutes) isn't what you need – you may want to opt for a one dollar a day deal, where you usually get these sorts of free minutes.
Some services provide great deals for international calls – so if you have family overseas and you are wanting a cell number and phone to contact them on, you should take this into account. Not all network services are ideal for these kinds of calls.
2)CDMA or GSM?
This is an important consideration as these technologies are not compatible with each other. Most people don't really know what the difference is, so the best way to explain it is that GSM phones use SIM cards to activate while CDMA phones don't. The important thing to remember is that a GSM phone will not work on a CDMA network and vice versa. So if you already have a cell phone, you're going to need to choose a carrier that fits the type of technology the cell phone uses.
These are the two main things to consider with prepaid cell phone services.
