Stuck With A Mobile Phone Contract? Take Prepaid Too!

Instead of looking at prepaid mobile options, most users of mobile phones nowadays buy a cell phone that is tied into a long term contract from a major operator, attracted by the handset subsidy. This leads to being tied to an often sub-standard price agreement. If this has happened to you, you can still save money by combining a prepaid cell plan with your existing plan.

Lots of alternatives exist on pricing and services when it comes to prepaid mobiles, and you can take advantage of them to decrease the cost of your phone use. You will still have your contract, but you can just use the basic minutes ant then switch to your other phone, to avoid spending more than is needed.

Before we look at prepaid mobile options, a word on dual SIM phones. These allow you to use two different phone numbers and plans, such as your contract phone and a prepaid mobile line, with the same phone. They come with all sorts of features and are very useful.

Alternatively, on the Internet you can buy tiny SIM duplication devices that fit into your existing cell phone and that then allow you to carry two cards. These are also ideal for dual prepaid mobile and contract use. And finally, you can always carry two phones.

One of the most common and best uses of prepaid mobile cards is for long distance calling, whether across states in the US or across borders internationally. Prepaid cards intended for long distance will allow you to make serious savings compared to using your contract, and it will be quicker and without hassle compared to a long distance phone centre.

On normal calls, often prepaid mobile SIM cards are already cheaper per minute of call than a contract phone, but the cost savings are even greater if you take a pay as you go number with special off peak rates. These may apply in the evening, on weekends, or both, and will give you serious minutes for your money during those times.

Another common and fantastic kind of options for prepaid mobiles are text-heavy plans. These are mainly marketed at young people, but there is no reason why anyone else could not benefit from them. They offer text messages at up to a tenth of normal contract plans, and often include unlimited use of an instant messaging program such as MSN Messenger.

Using Internet services over a phone is a growing area, but consumers are often plagued by huge and unclear costs. A prepaid mobile with a good internet plan will not only allow you to spend less, but will also make it much easier to keep the cost under control, and you won’t have to worry anymore about overspending while checking emails or surfing the mobile web.

If you shop around, possibly comparing the most recent offers for your country over the Internet, you will find that many of the above options can be bundled in a single prepaid mobile line, allowing you to match the things that are most useful for you.

This may also be a good time to check when your contract will be expiring, as at that point you will be able to move your main phone number to a prepaid mobile service that may be more to your liking, thus saving money on all calls and other cell phone services that you use!

This entry was posted on Monday, October 5th, 2009 at 11:18 am and is filed under Cellphones. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.