Prepaid Cell Phone

Prepaid Cell Phones

Prepaid cell phones, or in some places called card-phones are a breed of phone packages that bear a lot of advantages for a lot of people. The way they work is (and this is the upside) is that you don't pay a monthly fee, instead, you purchase "x" amount of dollars worth of minutes. Almost all phones are available in prepaid format, so there won't be any trouble choosing one if you decide to go for it.

Why is This Good?

There are quite a few ways this could benefit you. If you have children you can find a way to restrain them. If they tend to hang on the phone for hours this is actually a great way. It shows that it's not the fact that they talk on the phone you don't like, you don't want to kill their private life, it's just that it costs a lot. So allowing them $50 a month for phone cards may be a good idea.

Many grown ups also have a problem reducing their phone costs, so it's actually a good way to cut your own costs. This way if you want to talk more you have to actually go and buy a card, which is probably a factor that holds you back.

Why is This Bad?

As with many things in life, the upside is actually also the downside. You can control your phone budget well, but what if you run out of credit when you need it most? What if you just spent your last $5 credit on a long distance call and now you actually need to make an important call? Well the good news is that an emergency number can be called toll free, but apart from that nothing else.

Also, many people find putting credit on their phone a bit cumbersome. You have to go and get a card, then call a number and input the data on the card. In shops you can fill up your credit at a machine but you still have to go there.

For many people a big part of the adverse qualities is that these phones are usually company-dependant. For a T-mobile service you can only use T-mobile cards. This alone is not he worst thing, but if you want to change companies you have to buy a new phone, or get it decoded.

I also find that most cell phones cost more if you go for the prepaid option, and this has much to do with the fact that you can just drop the service any time and switch companies.