What is prepaid cell phone service?

About prepaid cell phone service

Several cellular phone carriers offer prepaid calling plans, which differ from standard monthly plans. The advantages of these types of pay-as-you-go plans are that approval is not tied to your credit and you also do not need to sign a long-term contract. The main disadvantage is that the rates can be higher than standard monthly plans.

There are normally two types of prepaid cell phone plans. In the first kind of plan, you pay by the minute. You are charged an initial fee to start the service and then you are charged an additional amount per minute thereafter. With these types of plans, you normally need a credit card or bank account so that the cellular phone provider can charge you for the service.

In the second type of prepaid plan, you pay a set amount for a certain number of minutes. For example, you might be charged $40 for 400 minutes. Then when those minutes run out, you have to “reload” the phone with more minutes.

Several cell phone carriers offer prepaid plans, including AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Tracfone, MetroPCS and others.