Why You Don’t Have to Be Locked into an Annoying, Expensive Two-Year Cell Phone Contract

There are more no-contract options than ever before: You can prepay your bill or pay as you go, and, if you decide you don’t like the phone or the payment terms, you can walk away with no termination fees—which might cost you over $300 if you were locked into a wireless provider contract.

Whether a no-contract phone is right for you, and if so, what kind of no-contract phone is right for you, depends on how you’d use your phone—and how disciplined (or not) you are with usage. A NY Times story does a good job of laying out the no-contract possibilities, which are numerous and complicated.

One fact that may seem surprising to folks who’ve never looked into prepaid phones is that unlimited usage is not only possible, it also does not have to equal expensive. On the cheaper end of the unlimited-use, no-contract plan spectrum:

Straight Talk (straighttalk.com) offers unlimited talk, text messaging and Web access for $45 a month. Boost Mobile offers unlimited talk, text and Web for $50. Compare those to T-Mobile’s Even More plan with a two-year contract and unlimited talk and text for $69.99 a month.

From Cricket Wireless (mycricket.com), a basic unlimited plan for $35 a month includes unlimited talk and text messaging, though not other features like data, call waiting, three-way calling and 411 calls.

Of course, you’d save even more if you used your phone less and opted for a limited, pay-as-you-go plan. For example:

Virgin Mobile’s new PayLo plan offers a refill of $20 that gets 400 minutes of talk, a lower rate of 5 cents a minute. But if you are averaging 100 minutes a month, it is not a good fit because the minutes expire in a month. Ask if unused minutes are rolled forward.

And if you are already locked into a long-term contract that comes with an early termination fee, ask your provider when that penalty expires. When the time comes, you might want to look into a no-contract phone, rather than re-upping for another two years of lockdown.

erinles

Very true! Not only are there more prepaid options than ever before but it is painfully obvious now that the prepaid carriers are much more competitive than the ‘big four’. The examples you use are proof of this.

We actually use the Straight Talk service you mention and don’t miss any part of cell contracts at all! Straight Talk, with its national coverage, made it clear that unlimited usage combined with good service doesn’t necessarily have to cost $90 and up. Never mind the contracts…
broncofan78

Great points made in this article! Making the switch to prepaid is a brilliant idea. It’s worked out especially to my benefit since I’m a small business owner. I put my employees on the Tracfone service and it is perfect for the company budget. Another plus is the phones on this prepaid service are high quality brand name phones that get great coverage. Definitely reccommend switching over to prepaid :)