Save money with the 7 best prepaid values

two-year contract. But whatever your reason, everyone who shops prepaid is looking for something in common: They want the best bang for their buck. Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean they’re looking for a plan that will allow them to yap away to friends, nor does it necessarily mean that they’re looking for a super-cheap deal. It means that everyone wants value. That is, they don’t want to be paying for more than they’re getting. To us, that means the lowest possible per-minute rate. That’s something we can all agree on, right? Of course, it comes with various catches. Hey, a company isn’t just going to give you 8 cents a minute and let that be that. There’s going to be a trade-off for cheap per-minute rates. We’re going to swim through the lake of prepaid deals to find the cheapest rates with the least unfavorable catches. (read the review) The rate: Just a hair over 7 cents per minute. Text messaging: 8 cents send/receive The catch: A selection of old, crappy, refurbished phones. To us, it’s a small price to pay for cheap service, but some people want fancy phones. But at some point, you’re going to have to compromise if you want the best possible deal. We think it can be found with Page Plus. The verdict: The only reason we wouldn’t recommend this fully is that it’s on the AT&T network. Yes, we’re biased, because AT&T gets crappy service around us. But if you get bars from AT&T in your area, you’re far better off with Page Plus than GoPhone. (read the review) The rate: 7.9 cents per minute (!!) / 10 cents per minute Text messaging: 5 cents send/receive The catch: “Network fee” of 25 cents per day ($7.50 per month) / “Network fee” of 10 cents per day ($3 per month) The verdict: For calls at 7.9 cents per minute, which is among the cheapest rates we could find, a 25 cents per day access fee isn’t terrible. Their other plan is 10 cents per minute and 10 cents per day, which is also cheap, and is a better value if you’re talking for fewer minutes. This is actually a great feature, since it allows you to figure out the break even point. (For the record, if you use more than 200 minutes a month, the 7.9 cents deal is better.) (read the review) The rate: 10 cents a minute during every waking and sleeping hour of every day of every week of…you get the point. Text messaging: 5 cents send/receive The catch: None, unless you count reports of poor customer service a catch. You’re also limited to the base Sprint network. That means that the service only works when in range of Sprint towers, not the towers that Sprint users utilize for roaming (for which Sprint pays a fee to the towers’ owners). The verdict: Yeah, we’ve gotten the runaround from customer service on simple questions, so we understand the frustration with that department. But what they lack in customer service they make up for with consistency. We like the idea of knowing that all calls we make are 10 cents a minute, regardless of date or time. You might be able to find cheaper service, but it’s tough to find something this consistently cheap. (read the review) The rate: 10 cents a minute Text messaging: 10 cents send/5 cents receive The catch: In order to realize the 10 cents per minute rate, you have to buy minutes in increments of $100. This puts you in their Gold Rewards program, which reduces the per-minute call rate of each refill card. However, even with the Gold Rewards program, only the $100 card gives you 10 cents per minute. The verdict: The $100 card thing can trip up many people who aren’t good at budgeting. Hopefully, you’re not using 1,000 minutes (or $100 worth of calling and texting) per month; we’d try to steer you in another direction if that was the case. All in all, though, T-Mobile’s To Go plan is pretty quality if you don’t mind the $100 cards. Their service is good in most areas except the Northeast (grr), and their customer service is among the tops in the industry. (read the review) The rate: 10 cents per minute Text messaging: N/A The catch: Eh, you have to subscribe to a monthly plan if you want the 10 cents a minute — $30 for 300 minutes. You can actually get better rates — as low as five cents per minute — if you pick a larger plan (the 800 minute plan works out to around six cents per minute, $45 per month). The verdict: If this falls within your per-month minutes, go for it. Thirty dollars per month isn’t all that bad, especially for 300 minutes. The only problem — and why we considered excluding Liberty from this list — is that because it is a plan, you’re not going to get everything you pay for. If you use 250 minutes in a month, you’re not realizing the 10 cents per minute. Which is why we’re mainly looking at pay-as-you-go. However, with the 300-minute plan, add-on minute are just 10 cents, so if you use over 300 minutes a month, this is essentially identical to Net10’s plan. (read the review) The rate: Unlimited talk Text messaging: Unlimited text The catch: You’re in for at least $40 per month (you’re going to want long distance in this day in age), which might be over budget for some people. However, if you’re a big talker, you can miniaturize your per-minute rate with Metro. Oh, and it’s only available in limited regions. The verdict: A stated, this is only a value if you talk peoples’ ears off — or if you’re everyone’s shoulder to cry on. (read the review) The rate: Unlimited talk Text messaging: Unlimited text The catch: Same as Metro: You’re in for at least $40, and it’s only available in limited areas. The verdict: Same as Metro’s. And since they don’t really overlap, you should be able to find one or another in your area (once again, except for the Northeast…grr).]]>