Prepaid Phone Misconceptions

Until I started writing about prepaid phones on a daily basis, I was completely oblivious to the fact that they’re not only unpopular, but they’re also rather looked down upon. For some odd reason, prepaid phones have a distasteful reputation, and when I tell people what I do for a living I frequently get a sort of, “Oh, that’s nice,” response and a sideways glance. Maybe it’s because these plans aren’t very common anymore or maybe it’s because the social stigma of the free government phones has somehow leeched onto prepaid devices. Either way, I realized there are lot of misconceptions about these devices floating around. So, I sat down the other day and talked to a few of my friends to see what they thought about prepaid phones. To my surprise, their answers were full of incorrect, rude and just plain outdated information about prepaid phones, which really surprised me. I wrote down some of the recurring misconceptions and decided to share them with you along with reasons why they’re far from the reuth. Here are some of the ideas that were mentioned:

Everyone who has a prepaid phone has bad credit

While it is true that prepaid phones frequently don’t require any kind of credit check or contract, the assumption that prepaid phones = credit problems is is far from the truth. In fact, a lot of people who use prepaid phones are actually excellent at budgeting, and are really only looking to save money and enjoy flexibility not afforded to high-priced contract plans. I have a prepaid phone and my credit is just fine, thank you.

If you use a prepaid phone, it’s because you’re cheap

First off, that’s just mean. Second, there’s a difference between being cheap and understanding that you don’t have to settle for an expensive plan that you’re not going to really use. A lot of people that I know who use prepaid phones are not as tethered to their devices and simply don’t need a million gigabytes of data and extras and add-ons on a monthly basis. Prepaid is all about saving money and in this economy, who doesn’t want that?

Prepaid plans are for the poor

Not true at all. Prepaid plans are really meant for anyone who wants to take more control of their spending. On a postpaid plan, you’re likely to spend upwards of $70 (or more) for just one line and lots of data and coverage and extras you’re not really going to use. However, with a prepaid plan, you could easily cut that in half. So, while those on tight budgets may choose prepaid plans for the low cost, plenty of prepaid users are simply budget-conscious and make the choice to go with a plan more tailored to their use. Talk about judgmental…geez.

Prepaid plans all have boring phones

Maybe when prepaid first launched, this was the case. However, now you can activate most devices on prepaid plans, including newer devices on select carriers (the difference is that with prepaid plans you have to purchase the device outright). So, if you’re still picturing a prepaid flip phone as your only choice, think again! That being said, flip phones are definitely still an option if you’re looking to downgrade.

Prepaid phones get sub-par service

 I admit before I started writing about prepaid phones every day, I believed this as well. I knew that prepaid plans were cheaper, and that you could use nicer phones on prepaid plans. But the service? Surely the service is terrible, otherwise why wouldn’t everyone be on a prepaid plan? Well, as it turns out, there’s more to it than that. A lot of prepaid plans use the same base network as postpaid customers, but they are a little slower. But it’s usually not noticeable. What is noticeable is the lack of roaming.

All four of the main carriers have roaming agreements in place so that customers who wander out of their network range can still get service. Your phone does it automatically and that expense is already calculated as part of your plan–essentially, it’s “free.” However, most prepaid plans don’t allow for this roaming which means that if you’re using the smaller carriers–T-Mobile or Sprint–you might have some places where your phone basically becomes a really expensive calculator. However, even that isn’t always the case, as some prepaid providers DO allow roaming. You’ll just have to check with the carrier to find out. Regardless, when on the native network, prepaid phones work pretty much exactly the same as their more expensive contract-ridden cousins.

So, the next time someone looks at you oddly when you pull out your prepaid phone, you can argue with them properly! I am still a little surprised by a few of these, but who knows. Maybe my friends are just too “hip” to really worry much about their budgets. What do you think? Have you run into any of these preconceptions regarding your prepaid phone? How did you respond? Let me know in the comments!]]>