Prepaid: Your Best Cell phone Plan Bet

Do you see your cellular phone bill as a budget buster? If so, then it may be time for you to switch your plan to a prepaid one. The savings which you make here can be very dramatic thanks to the wireless service that is pay as you go. As a security guard working at a downtown Seattle Verizon store, Jennifer Allison knows everything about plans and their prices. When it was time for her to save money, Allison knew she had to go prepaid. She is loving it because she only pays for the minutes she uses up, thus giving her a sense of control over the phone bill that she gets each month.

Prepaid: The Coming of Age

Neil Lindsay, the vice president of marketing for the company Boost Mobile, says he can get by on just fifteen dollars each month for cell phone costs if need be. This is especially true when he’s broke. And if there are times when he needs to use up a lot of talk time, then he can put in as much as he wants. Neil Lindsay believes that prepaid is slowly coming of age. There is no longer a negative connotation of it being used by those who are challenged by credit. Now, it may even be seen as a choice compared to I being something which a person needs because he is unable to get a contract. Many wireless companies have begun responding to the increase in demand for these prepaid plans. There are now also some sophisticated prepaid plans being offered. In the past, according to Verizon Wireless Representative Scott Charleston, there was a one size fits all mentality. Now the rules have been changed – as well as the options for different kinds of users.

Europe: Leading the Prepaid Bandwagon (for some time now)

In European countries, it is common to have a prepaid number. It would even account for around one third of the entire market in France, which is sixty six percent found in the United Kingdom and around ninety percent in Italy. The United States, on the other hand, is still small but slowly growing this aspect of their wireless business. There are twenty nine million Americans (roughly sixteen percent of cell phone users) who are now on the prepaid plan, but more could eventually join them in an effort to save more money. A recent survey conducted by the New Millennium Research Council in Washington DC showed that there are twenty five million cell customers and a good number of them seem like good candidates for a less expensive option for service. This is because they are paying for airtime which they do not really get to utilize. This survey also revealed that there are more than half of the cell phone customers that are on contract which they do not at all use each month.