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by Editors of J.D. Power and Associates
This study focuses solely on pay-as-you-go wireless plans. J.D. Power surveyed nearly 3,000 wireless subscribers, who rate services on call quality, company image (which includes company honesty and… reputation), cost of service and other key indicators. MetroPCS ranks highest this year, scoring especially well in cost of service, account management and service functions. TracFone, Cricket and Virgin Mobile also rank above the industry average.
by Eric Griffith
PC Magazine reports on responses from nearly 20,000 of its readers for the latest installment of its annual reader satisfaction survey. Pay-as-you-go carrier Virgin Mobile nabbed the Readers' Choice award… for the highest ratings among prepaid carriers. TracFone receives high marks for its fees and plan options. T-Mobile also ranks highly for affordability and customer service. Verizon Wireless INpulse fell from first place last year to fourth this year because of its high prices. Only two carriers score below average overall: AT&T and Sprint/Nextel.
by Editors of Consumer Reports
For this article, Consumer Reports polls about 52,000 magazine subscribers in 23 metro areas, asking them to rate their cell service for call quality, handling of calls and complaints, and billing problems.… Results are grouped according to urban areas, including New York City, Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago and Miami. As we see it, large surveys such as this one (and the J.D. Power survey above) are the only way to gauge quality of service. While this is a good resource to see how prepaid wireless plans from major providers such as AT&T and T-Mobile stack up in specific areas, prepaid carriers such as Virgin Mobile and Boost Mobile are not included.
by Editors of PrepaidReviews.com
This website rates 25 prepaid wireless providers. The highly detailed write-ups are based on an evaluation of features and prices rather than on testing, but the information seems accurate and helpful.… Ratings are on a five-point scale. However, it is sometimes hard to tell why some carriers are more highly rated than others because not many negatives are noted. The highest five-star rating goes to T-Mobile Prepaid. AT&T Prepaid and Page Plus Cellular each get 4.5 stars. Each write-up offers details about roaming charges, 411 calls, data plans and much more, making this an excellent place to begin researching plans. There are also loads of user reviews, which are extremely revealing, and a brief guide on how to choose a provider.
by Adam Fendelman
Adam Fendelman, About.com's guide to cell phones, provides an overview to choosing the best service based upon your needs, covering prepaid and monthly billed plans. The "Prepaid Cell Phone Plan Chooser"… asks questions about how you typically will use your cell phone and, based upon your answers, makes specific recommendations, listing the five least-expensive plans with links to the carriers' sites. There is also an analysis of prepaid versus monthly plans that compares Verizon Wireless and Virgin Mobile, ranking the latter as the better option. (Note: ConsumerSearch is owned by About.com, but the two don't share an editorial affiliation.)
by Ben Patterson
CNet's guide looks at the benefits of using a prepaid cell phone service and how to find the best deal. The article features the basics of prepaid plans and how to pick a phone, and it explores plans from… three major providers -- AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless -- as well as a host of smaller carriers. Specifics include steps for determining how much to pay for minutes (buying buckets of minutes in bulk, ensuring they don't expire) and choosing the right prepaid plan for you. Pros and cons are noted, and features and costs are listed, but there are no ratings and no discussions of coverage or customer service. No prepaid wireless carriers are recommended over others.
by Editors of WirelessGuide.org
This article focuses on determining whether a prepaid cell phone is for you. It recommends TracFone for infrequent users (emergency users, seniors), with refill cards valid for up to one year. Verizon… INPulse is rated best for people who talk often, with a cheap per-minute rate of 10 cents. Verizon Wireless is also recommended for people with credit issues. However, the information in this article hasn't been updated since our last visit, and some of it is outdated. Another helpful article on the site is "Prepaid or Postpaid? Which is better?"
by Stephanie Dray
Dray covers four areas in her article: Why to choose a prepaid plan, how the plans work, a look at some of the phones (Tracfone and Net-10), and a comparison of T-Mobile and Virgin Mobile prepaid plans.… Although some of the prices listed are not up to date, her analysis of services aligns with more recent reviews: T-Mobile is better for low-use, consistent users -- especially its $100 annual plan -- while Virgin Mobile's inexpensive rates and plan flexibility are better suited for people whose usage patterns are greater but more unpredictable.
by David Wood
ConsumerAffairs.com makes a number of recommendations about what one should do before signing up with a prepaid wireless provider. David Wood suggests starting your search by checking a coverage map,… because call quality can vary from block to block. The next step is looking at a provider's prepaid plan charges and expiration dates for service. The final step is reading the small print, such as noting roaming charges or daily fees. This article notes which carriers did the best in the 2007 J.D. Power and Associates customer satisfaction study (the 2008 study is referenced above). It also lists the number of customer complaints sent to ConsumerAffairs.com by provider: TracFone has 969; Virgin Mobile has 84; Boost Mobile has 17; and Net10 has one. This is a very helpful article for consumers who are new to prepaid wireless.
by Contributors to Amazon.com
Amazon.com features subscriber ratings of prepaid wireless services, including TracFone, Net10, Virgin Mobile, AT&T GoPhone, T-Mobile and others. Some carriers have lots of reviews, others only a handful.… Like all consumer-written reviews, the quality of the feedback varies. Most of the services end up with the same average rating in the end. Though the write-ups give some context to how users rate their plans, surveys that collect the opinions of thousands -- such as those by J.D. Power and Associates or PC Magazine -- are probably more useful in providing information about customer satisfaction.
by Contributors to Epinions
Epinions has a pretty good idea -- separate ratings into major urban areas, and let people rate their carriers. The trouble is that very few people offer opinions, even in New York City. (AT&T gets the… highest ratings there, but only 6 people voted.) Big cities such as Chicago, Denver and Las Vegas have even fewer cell phone service reviews, and only a few reviews overall specifically address prepaid plans. So, in the end, Epinions does not offer much help for the prepaid cellular plan shopper.
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