Prepaid Cellular Phone Plan: It's Pros and Cons
by Alice Sy

A prepaid cellular phone plan has the same features to other kinds of phone plans available in the market, except for the one and only factor which is the manner of paying the bills. A post paid plan requires you to pay after using phone services. In a prepaid plan, however, you get to pay in advance for the phone service before using it.

Many consumers on a tight budget go for a prepaid cellular phone plan. This is practically due to the fact that a prepaid cellular phone plan saves money and limits credit by setting a limit to how much a consumer can spend or use.

Another advantage of availing prepaid cellular phone plan is that you don't have to fall for a debt. In other cases, you don't even need a credit card to use its services. Virgin Mobile Phone, for example, offers prepaid phone cards in their Virgin Megastores. So, all you have to do is get if off the rack, give your cash to the cashier, and in minutes, enjoy making calls.

The prepaid cellular phone plan is easier on the wallet and is also free of hassles. In addition, prepaid plans require no commitment to consumers unlike in post paid plans. The consumer is not required to pay a set amount of cash in set time intervals unlike in post paid plans. Instead, the consumer only pays how much he plans to use. Post paid plans have penalties wherein the consumer has to pay when a consumer fails to meet the terms of the contract. Prepaid plans, on the other hand, have no contracts and no financial obligations.

A prepaid cellular phone plan limits expenditures and prevents debts. The consumer is required to pay how much he plans to use before availing phone services. There are mobile phone service providers which sell prepaid cards for the consumers to use. They are easy to obtain and only require one time payments in stores and shops.

With a prepaid cellular phone plan, there are no additional headaches in using a cell phone. All you have to do is buy a mobile phone and then load it with prepaid credit. The minutes of calls and the number of messages you can send on your phone depends on how much you loaded it.

Though the no-hassle idea might entice you to switch to prepaid phone plans, in the long run, you'll realize that you'll have to pay more per-minute charge compared to the traditional plan. This is true especially if a person makes calls several times a day.

Plus, prepaid cellular phone plans have expiration date. For example, if you haven't consumed the entire service in 30 days, the carrier will eat it up after the due date. So, it is wiser to think and weigh matters first before choosing the best cellular phone plan you want to use.