Prepaid Cell Phones Explained

A prepaid cell phone is one that you pre-pay for your usage rather than being billed after the fact like the traditional cell phone plans. You may also see these type of prepaid phone plans referred to as ‘pay as you go’ type of plan.

To get started with a prepaid phone you just go to a store that sells them, such as a electronics store, cell phone store, or even stores such as wal-mart or Target and choose the phone you want and pay for it.

After you purchase it you’ll need to activate the phone. This can usually be done at the providers website or a toll-free number they’ll give you. The phone will usually have a small charge on it so you can get it activated, but you’ll still need to put a full charge on the battery before you start talking on it. The batteries today don’t require near as much charging time as the older models did, and will only take approx 2-4 hrs for a full charge.

When choosing your prepaid phone you’ll want to consider how much you’re going to use it and compare the different rate plans and phone models available with the different plans. Sometimes the phone you want may not offer the best rate plan for how you’re going to use it, so you’ll have to decide which is more important to you, the phone model or the rates.

The phone will usually come with some minutes already, but you may want to pick up more while you’re there. You’ll find the prepaid refill cards in the same area as the phone. Many phones will have the option to add your new minutes directly on the phone. If not you can add the additional minutes by going to the provider’s website or calling their toll-free number.

The refill cards are available in different denominations depending on how many minutes you want to purchase. The prepaid cell phone plans will vary with each carrier. The minutes available will be reduced as you use your phone and you must be sure to buy more minutes and service time before it expires or your phone will stop working.

Keeping track of your minutes and usage time left on your phone is pretty easy as the prepaid cell phone will keep track of it for you and in most cases is displayed on the phone screen so you can always know how much time you have left.