Prepaid Phone Plans

Contract-like service -- without the contract

Unlike the bare-bones prepaid cell phone plans of yesteryear, today's best prepaid plans seem a lot like high-dollar contract plans, reviewers say -- except that instead of paying $100 a month or more for unlimited talk, texting and web browsing, you can pay just $45 to $60, with no contracts and no commitments. Virgin Mobile and T-Mobile Prepaid both offer prepaid smartphone plans -- but T-Mobile actually earns most of its kudos for its cheap, basic plans.

Virgin Mobile offers one of the most advanced prepaid phones we've seen: the LG Optimus V (*Est. $130), a touch-screen smartphone running Android 2.2. You could also choose the Samsung Intercept (*Est. $100) Android phone.

The Virgin Mobile Beyond Talk Unlimited plan (*Est. $60 per month) isn't the cheapest prepaid plan available for unlimited talk, text and data. But if you're more likely to text or tweet than place a voice call, try Virgin Mobile's $45- or $35-per-month prepaid plans, which knock the voice minutes down to 1,200 or 300 but keep unlimited text and data.

Virgin Mobile also offers cheaper PayLo pay-as-you-go prepaid plans, but only with basic flip or candy-bar phones. Plans start at $20 plus 20 cents per minute for 90 days of service (text/picture messages and web access cost extra) up to $30 for one month with 1,500 voice minutes, 1500 texts and 30 MB of web access.

Virgin Mobile earns average ratings for voice quality and customer service at J.D. Power and Associates, PCMag.com and other respected customer surveys. The carrier doesn't have its own cell towers; Virgin is actually an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator). MVNOs buy large batches of discounted minutes from the traditional cell phone plan carriers, piggybacking on their national networks. Virgin Mobile piggybacks on the Sprint network, so coverage may be an issue. Its prepaid coverage map shows holes over less populated regions of the eastern United States, as well as much of the West.

T-Mobile Prepaid boasts a broad coverage map, and users give it high marks for customer service in polls by J.D. Power and Associates and PCMag.com. Its touch-screen phone offerings are less advanced than Virgin Mobile's -- but if you already have an unlocked GSM (Global System for Mobile communication) phone, T-Mobile sells a prepaid SIM card (*Est. $7) that you can insert into your phone to enable it on T-Mobile's prepaid cell phone network. GSM is the technology used by T-Mobile and AT&T, while Verizon and Sprint networks use CDMA, or Code Division Multiple Access. You can't use a CDMA phone on a GSM network, or vice versa. T-Mobile charges $50 per month for unlimited talk and text, but it caps Internet use at 100 MB ($70 per month raises it to 2 GB). You can instead choose a 1,500 combined minute/message plan with 30 MB of data for $30 a month, or unlimited texts for $15 a month plus 10 cents a minute for talk time.

If you want to use your cell phone only occasionally, or in emergencies, reviewers say T-Mobile Prepaid offers the best plans. Pay As You Go plans start at $10 for 30 minutes; you'll need to add minutes only every 90 days, instead of every 30 days as some other providers require. Unused minutes roll over, as long as you keep your account active. You can also buy 1,000 minutes and a year of service for $100. Phones start at $25 for a basic Nokia 1616 cell phone with text messaging.

Runner-up prepaid carriers also offer full-featured phones with unlimited service, but they're not recommended as often as Virgin Mobile and T-Mobile Prepaid. The proposed buyout of T-Mobile by AT&T did not go ahead, so currently T-Mobile still has the better prepaid phone-plan offerings.

Boost Mobile is the favorite prepaid cell phone provider of the over 6,400 customers in J.D. Power's survey and also of the editors at TopTenReviews.com. The editors at PrepaidReviews.com agree with this assessment. Recently, Boost Mobile has added more advanced Android smartphones to its stable, and it offers a nice cost-cut for customers who buy its unlimited plan (talk, text, web, 411, instant message, email and walkie-talkie): Every six months, Boost Mobile slices $5 off of the bill. It starts at $50, but after 18 months of on-time payments you'll pay only $35. Boost Mobile also offers a Daily Unlimited plan for $2 a day.

The New York Times' Bob Tedeschi warns that the Sprint network Boost Mobile uses can be "a bit patchy." (Boost is actually owned by Sprint.) Like Virgin Mobile, Boost has dead zones in the western United States and in less populated areas in the east. Customers award Boost Mobile an above-average 4 stars overall in J.D. Power and Associates' latest prepaid phone-plan ratings, but the rating drops to average in the performance-and-reliability department. "Since Boost uses Sprint's network, you would be wise to check with your friends, relatives and websites like DeadCellZones.com and CellReception.com to see how well the company covers your area," Tedeschi writes.

Verizon Wireless Prepaid (*Est. 25 cents per min. and up) features a network that blankets most of the United States. However, prepaid cell phone plans from Verizon Wireless and AT&T GoPhone (*Est. 10 cents per min. and up) aren't highly recommended in reviews. Neither ranks above average overall, and AT&T's fees, voice quality, customer service and coverage drive it to the bottom of the prepaid ranks in major nationwide customer surveys, including J.D. Power and Associates' and PCMag.com's latest studies.

TracFone: Best basic prepaid phone plan

If you use your prepaid cell phone only occasionally, or in emergencies, reviews recommend a basic plan from T-Mobile Prepaid (*Est. $10 for 30 min. and up), discussed above. T-Mobile offers cheap low-minute plans that are good for 90 days to a year -- longer than other cheap prepaid phone plans -- with good coverage and impressive customer service.

If you plan to talk more often -- and you don't mind using a very basic handset -- reviewers say TracFone (*Est. $10 for 30 min. and up) is your best bet for cheap, reliable service. TracFone even includes long-distance calls to locations in over 60 countries at the local calling rate.

Like Virgin Mobile, TracFone is an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator), but it piggybacks on several carriers' national networks, not just Sprint's. The result? TracFone's coverage map blankets most of the United States, and a top consumer survey finds that call quality rivals Verizon's and outclasses AT&T's and T-Mobile's -- at a fraction of the price.

TracFone offers two types of no-contract prepaid phone plans. Monthly prepaid plans start at $10 for 50 minutes, and you can opt for a family plan to add additional phones at reduced prices. Pay-as-you-go plans allow you to add minutes only as you need them, for as little as $10 for 30 minutes. Unused minutes will roll over as long as you add a new refill before the old one expires (between 30 days and one year, depending on the price of the refill). Rates for text messages vary.

TracFone's no-frills service gets high marks from customers in major nationwide surveys, including those at J.D. Power and Associates and PCMag.com. Sam Simon, chairman of the nonprofit Telecommunications Research and Action Center, recommends TracFone as a straightforward choice. "With these phones you get what you see," Simon tells MSNBC.com. "There are no hidden fees or daily charges." Compatible handsets start at $10, but they're decidedly unfancy, with none of the QWERTY keyboards or touch screens you can get from other prepaid carriers.

Also unlike other prepaid carriers, TracFone doesn't offer an unlimited monthly plan -- but a TracFone spinoff, Straight Talk (*Est. $30 for 30 days and up), does. With Straight Talk, $45 buys unlimited talk, text or picture messages, 411 calls and mobile web for a month. That's cheaper than any of the unlimited monthly plans discussed in the above section (Boost Mobile's shrinking-cost plan does break even with Straight Talk, but only after six months). However, reviewers note that Straight Talk's mobile web won't let you access everything on the Internet -- you can check your email, for example, but no streaming audio -- and Straight Talk may charge taxes and fees on top of its $45 price.

Roy Furchgott at The New York Times calls Straight Talk a good deal but notes some drawbacks, including the bare-bones TracFone handsets (Straight Talk does offer a few slider-style phones). Straight Talk phones also can't call outside the United States, although they can receive calls from other countries. And although Straight Talk's strong signal and low price make it a favorite among users posting at Viewpoints.com, about a third of them complain of poor customer service and trouble porting over their old phone numbers -- the same complaints it earns from customers at PrepaidReviews.com.

Straight Talk's cheaper $30 plan includes 1,000 minutes of talk, 1,000 text/picture messages, 30 MB of mobile web and free 411 calls, but unused service doesn't roll over -- it expires at the end of each month.

TracFone's other spinoff, Net10 (*Est. $15 for 200 min. and up), charges 15 cents extra per minute for international calls to more countries than TracFone -- but, like Straight Talk, Net10 offers better handsets than TracFone. Phones start at $25, ranging up to $230 for a LG Optimus Net, with mobile web, MP3 player, Bluetooth and camera.

Net10 charges more than Straight Talk for its monthly unlimited prepaid plan -- $50 instead of $45 -- but it also offers cheaper pay-as-you-go cards, similar to TracFone, with minutes that carry over as long as you keep your service active.

Like the original TracFone, Net10 impresses Sam Simon of the Telecommunications Research and Action Center as a straightforward choice with no hidden fees. Net10 places strongly in surveys by J.D. Power and Associates' and at ConsumerReports.org. However, some recent customer reviews at Viewpoints.com and PrepaidReviews.com tell a different story, with some complaints about frustrating customer service with both Net10 and TracFone.

If you want to keep a cell phone on hand for emergencies but don't plan on using it regularly, you might consider a pay-as-you-go plan with a long expiration, so you don't have to worry about your minutes disappearing. T-Mobile has a good deal: If you buy 1,000 minutes for $100, they don't expire for a year. TracFone also has a plan like this, but $100 gets you only 400 minutes.