This post is no longer updated! Please visit PrepaidPhoneNews.com to read the current version.
(Originally published in August 2009), last updated 26-Nov-2010 with removal of Virgin Mobile Texter’s Delight Plan, which is no longer offered.
Prepaid mobile plans are finally getting the popularity they deserve in the U.S. This is happening at both the high and low ends of the market.
It’s easy to see why. Post paid plans start at $40 after taxes and that’s for a limited bucket of minutes, typically about 300. SMS is not included and costs a whopping 20 cents per message as an inducement to sign up for a text bundle at $5 to $15/month. More expensive postpaid plans offer more minutes and for heavy users there are unlimited voice and text plans at $100 a month and up, taxes and “fees” bring the total to $110 or more.
Just about everyone on a post paid mobile plan is paying more than they need to. A properly chosen prepaid plan is almost always less expensive. And prepaid means there are no contracts. Sure you get a $100-$300 discount on a phone by signing a two year contract. But you typically end up paying that back several times over during the life of the contract in higher monthly fees compared to prepaid. And you’re locked to that operator even if their service goes to hell or they don’t support the latest handset that you’re lusting for. With prepaid not only are there no contracts but you should never have to pay more than about $50/month no matter how much you text and talk. The secret is finding the right prepaid plan for your usage patterns. I’ve looked at all the operator’s prepaid offerings and found what I consider to be the best deals for every type of user.
Heavy users, talking over 1000 minutes and/or sending more than 1000 texts per month should be on one of the unlimited voice and SMS prepaid plans. The best choices are Verizon MVNO PagePlus‘ $44.95/month Unlimited Talk n Text plan, the $45/month Straight Talk_Unlimited, from American Movil/Tracfone, another Verizon reseller, T-Mobile‘s $50/month unlimited voice, text and picture messaging plan or Sprint‘s $50/month unlimited voice, text and data Boost Mobile Unlimited plan which uses either Sprint’s CDMA or iDEN network depending on which type of handset is assigned to the plan.
For moderate users (less than 1200 minutes and 1200 texts per month) PagePlus‘ $29.95/month1200 Minutes + 1200 Text/MMS Messages + 50 MB Data Talk n’ Text 1200, Straight Talk‘s $30/month 1000 minute plus 1000 text All You Need Plan or Virgin Mobile’s $40/month, 1200 minute, unlimited text and data Beyond Talk Plan look like the best deals.
Heavy texters who don’t talk much can get unlimited SMS for $15/month from T-Mobile or about $20 a month from Verizon, AT&T, Page Plus. Voice charges are 4 -10 cents/month on Page Plus, 10 cents/minute on Virgin and T-Mobile and a steep 25 cents/minute on AT&T and Verizon. PagePlus also offer a package providing 2,000 Text Messages for $10.95 per month. Another good choice is Virgin Mobile’s $25/month Beyond Talk package that incudes unlimited text and data and 300 minutes of talk time.
Light users (under 375 minutes and texts combined per month) can save even more. Basic service on prepaid is available for as little as $2.50 a month on PagePlus or $3.33/ month on Boost or T-Mobile. Prepaid rates range from 4 to 10 per minute and text on these plans.
These aren’t regional operators or plans either. Prepaid users on all of these plans have full access to the Sprint, T-Mobile or Verizon nationwide networks.
There are unfortunately a couple of downsides to prepaid, handset selection and data plans. Handsets are mainly an issue with CDMA operators who, except for Page Plus, limit their prepaid users to a few rather basic models. Page Plus will activate any Verizon handset postpaid handset, including all smartphones except for BlackBerrys. Even non-Verizon CDMA phones can be used on Page Plus providing the user knows how to do the requisite and non-trivial manual programing. Thanks to SIM cards on GSM networks any of the operators own phones and any unlocked phone supporting U.S. GSM frequencies will work with GSM networks like AT&T and T-Mobile.
Data is a bigger issue. If you are reading this blog you are probably a heavy user of the browser and web enabled applications on your phones. For prepaid users the available data options are all pretty limited. They are also complex and confusing and deserve a post of their own.
Here are some tables summarizing what I consider the best current prepaid deals in the U.S.
| Operator | Plan or Package | Network | Technology | Monthly Cost | Voice min. | SMS | Data |
| Boost Mobile | Unlimited | Nextel | iDEN | 50.00 | unlimited | unlimited | unlimited |
| T-Mobile | Unlimited | T-Mobile | GSM | 50.00 | unlimited | unlimited | walled garden |
| Straight Talk | Unlimited | Verizon | CDMA | 45.00 | unlimited | unlimited | unlimited |
| Page Plus | Unlimited Talk n Text | Verizon | CDMA | 44.95 | unlimited | unlimited | 20 MB |
| Operator | Plan or Package | Network | Technology | Monthly Cost | Voice min. | SMS | Data |
| Virgin Mobile | Beyond Talk | Sprint | CDMA | 40.00 | 1200 | unlimited | unlimited |
| Straight Talk | All You Need | Verizon | CDMA | 30.00 | 1000 | 1000 | 30 MB |
| Page Plus | Talk n’ Text 1200 | Verizon | CDMA | 29.95 | 1200 | 1200 | 50 MB |
| Operator | Plan or Package | Network | Technology | Monthly Cost | Voice min. | SMS | Data |
| Virgin Mobile | Beyond Talk | Sprint | CDMA | 25.00 | 300 | unlimited | unlimited |
| T-Mobile | Unlimited Messaging | T-Mobile | GSM | 20.00 | 0.10 | unlimited | walled garden |
| Verizon | Unlimited Messaging | Verizon | CDMA | 20.00 | 0.25 | unlimited | 0.99/day |
| AT&T | Unlimited Messaging | AT&T | GSM | 19.99 | 0.25 | unlimited | 20.00/100MB |
| Operator | Plan or Package | Network | Technology | Monthly Cost | Voice min. | SMS | Data |
| Boost Mobile | Pay As You Go | Sprint | CDMA or iDen | 3.33 | 0.10 | 0.10 | 0.35/day |
| T-Mobile | Pay As You Go | T-Mobile | GSM | 3.33* | 0.10-0.33 | 0.10/0.05 | walled garden |
| Page Plus | Standard Rate Plan | Verizon | CDMA | 2.50 | 0.04-0.10 | 0.8 | 1.20/MB |
* After purchasing $100 in T-Mobile refills users are enrolled in the “Gold Rewards” plan where all refills last one year, making the monthly cost as low as $0.83 when purchasing one $10 refill per year.
This post is no longer updated and comments are closed! Please visit PrepaidPhoneNews.com to read and comment on the current version.
The main difference is that in areas with no Sprint native coverage, Sprint customers can roam at no added cost on Verizon and regional operators like US Cellular while Boost customers have no service and can't text or make calls at all other than 911. Compare the Boost CDMA coverage map with the Sprint one and the difference is obvious.
Sprint customers also have a wider selection of phones and subsidized phone pricing.
I agree that Boost is a better deal for most people, but Sprint and Boost service isn't identical and it isn't reasonable to expect the pricing to be identical.
I use very little of text and voice per month. Less than 100 minutes and 20 txt per month. Which is the best deal? I don't care much about phone function. I just need it in case of emergency.
Thanks
To me, the $30 - 1,000 minutes, 1,000 texts deal is unbeatable. I travel a lot and have never had a problem.
When I had Metro POS, it worked fine in town but as soon as I got outside the city, fuhgeddaboutit!
You get what you pay for, or in the case of Straight Talk, MORE than you pay for!
now all i need is gophone to give us more than the measly 100MB of data for $20. hey att how about at least 1GB for that $20? thanks!
You can also buy minute packs and message packs under the regular 'Pay as you go' plan. Talk: $50 for 1000 minutes (5 cents each); $30 for 400; $20 for 200. Minutes roll forward as long as you buy another pack within 30 days (you can set up 'automatic replenish' for minute packs so that you don't forget and wipe out your balance). Messages: $5 for 200; $10 for 1000; $20 unlimited, per month.
Message packs are charged and reset every 30 days, automatically, unless you change the quantity before your auto-purchase.
The trick under Pay as you go plan is to predict your usage and purchase the right packs.
- For message packs, you look at historical usage (if you can), and compare that to the breakeven point between the various packs. If you use 400/month, you are at the b/e point between the $5 (x2) and the $10 pack.
- For minute packs, you need to use algebra (or trial and error math): what combination of packs should you use over a year to minimize your cost? The answer is that you ignore the $30 pack. Combinations of $20 and $50 packs over time will always yield a lower cost per minute. Strategy: When you get a low balance, buy $50 pack. Then buy $20 packs until you deplete the large balance. Set up auto-replenish to protect your rollover balance.
Even thought it is complicated, this plan works best of any I have found for my daughter's usage. She always uses more than 300 minutes and 200-500 texts/month, but no data. It takes time to monitor her message use a few times each month and pick either $5 (when her message balance is low) or $10 packs (lasts the whole 30 days for her). And when talk minutes get low near the end of a 30-day period, I buy the $50 pack for one month, then switch the settings back to $20. They are counting on kids not doing this kind of maintenance.
Also, Virgin charges sales tax when you use a credit card to add money to the website. To avoid that, some people purchase card codes online, or look for sales at stores like Target (E.G, $44 for a $50 card).
20 cents/minute is what they charge for traditional Pay-As-Go usage where unused minutes roll over every month. To get 10 cents/minute you have to buy a $15 "Texter's Delight" pack of 1000 minutes. This is a reasonably good deal for people who use close at least 200 texts/month.
In comparison, Boost minutes are always 10 cents with no monthly charges, as are T-Mobile's with the higher value refill cards. Page Plus minutes are as low as 6 cents.
If you don't care about data and/or are willing to use a cheap handset Net 10 or T-Mobile are probably best bets. Ten cents a minute and you can pick up a basic phone for about $20 at most big box retailers.
The best all around resource I've seen for comparing US prepaid options is http://www.cellguru.net/prepaid_compare.htm
thank you
From Down Under
Boost and Virgin are both owned by Sprint and use the Sprint networks.
The others
PagePlus is a privately held company using the Verizon network.
StraightTalk is owned by América Móvil one of the largest operators in the world and also uses the Verizon network.
Customer's who sign up by Sept. 30, 2009 and have a monthly plan ($29.95 plus tax and up) can get three month's free service if they lose their job provided they have been paid up customers for two months. Proof that they are collecting unemployment benefits is required Details: http://web.virginmobileusa.com/protection
Tracfone has a program called Safelink that provides low income customers in Alabama, Connecticut, DC, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin with a free phone, free service and about 60 free minutes a month. See: https://www.safelinkwireless.com/
Also look at PagePlus which has consistently the lowest prices of any US operator. Costs range from $2.50.month for 20 minutes to unlimited voice and texts for 39.95/month. These prices are available to anyone regardless of anyone. http://www.pagepluscellular.com/
I have a question about Virgin Mobile. Are they offering a low-cost pan for unemployed and other people who need a basic phone w/o the big bills? I keep hearing that they make a $10 a month plan available for those who can't afford more but I don't see it on their site.
Do they have it? If so why don't they announce it?
It looks like you have to purchase a phone (cheapest is a $20 Samsung) and agree to a credit check! to qualify. Interestingly I was able to add a HTC Dash, BlackBerry or wireless USB modem to the $50 dollar unlimited plan in the cart. I'm too chicken (and broke) to actually place the order to see if it would work. Maybe one of our readers will give it a try.
i.wireless has said anyone in T-Mobile coverage can sign up, even though they are supposed to be a regional operator.