Should you be using prepaid?

Graham Hueber, senior researcher, Opinion Research Center, said: “It is clear that lack of consumer knowledge is a real impediment to cell phone savings. One reason why postpaid phone use is more prevalent today appears to be a lack of awareness about the end of cell phone contract periods and related penalties. The survey found that half of cell phone owners with a contract-based phone plan say they know when the cancellation penalty ends, whereas fully 43 percent do not. The result would appear to be that millions of American consumers are sticking with their current cell phone plan because they don’t know whether early-cancellation penalties are still hanging over their heads.”

What I found really interesting was that 44 percent of Americans talk for less than 200 minutes per month. Few, if any, postpaid carriers offer plans for this level of calling. If you look at the two biggest, AT&T and Verizon, their plans start at 450 minutes, so 44 percent of Americans are talking for less than half of the time allotted by the cheapest contract plan. The article goes onto list five myths about prepaid wireless. It’s worth a gander, especially if you’re debating a prepaid phone for yourself. ]]>