When you are looking for alternatives to a long term plan with a company that looks a lot like selling your soul to the devil you probably come across prepaid plans and pay as you go plans. Which, you are going to be able to use even in your country of origin. If you have one of these plans are you going to be able to take your phone abroad and get some of the same benefits that you would be able to get if you were on a plan? If you want to buy a SIM card abroad is the process going to be easier or harder? These are just some of the questions that we are going to aim to answer in the following paragraphs.
One of the things though, that we feel the need to clear up every single time is that usually, we are not going to favor one way of doing things over the other. The reason for this is, that each personal situation could be different. That goes for your financial situation, your living accommodations, you name it. These different circumstances that you could potentially find yourself in could be a determining factor in what you ultimately decide to do. We mentioned that buying into these long term contracts could be like selling your soul to the devil. We have to amend that though. Not all contracts are super bad. You just have to make sure that you find the right one. Here are some of the main topics that we are going to cover in this article.
- Pros and Cons of prepaid phone plans
- Traveling abroad with a domestic prepaid phone plan
- Actually a big money saver
- Buying a phone abroad
- Prepaid phone plans vs Pay as you go plans
- Which stateside company offers the best-prepaid phone plans?
- What type of coverage can you expect to get with these prepaid phone plans?
Pros and Cons of prepaid phone plans
Usually, most of the top mobile service providers will make their prepaid phone plans a little bit more expensive than the regular contract plans. The thing is, with prepaid plans you are going to have the freedom to be able to come and go whenever you like. That freedom is going to cost you around 10 dollars a month in many companies. As far traveling abroad goes when you are traveling to Mexico or Canada which is where around 35% of the trips that Americans take each year happen you are going to be able to obtain more benefits from prepaid plans. With 5 dollars more you are going to be able to obtain data for your trips across the border.
Another one of the options that you are going to have is to just not pay your domestic phone bill for the time that you are gone. Since with these plans you are paying upfront you won’t have to worry about spending more than you bargained for. At least that is what should happen. Your phone company is obligated to let you if the service that you require is going to cost you more. A lot of times with regular plans what they do is they give you the service via roaming and then charge you the difference at the end of the month. This is where things get really bad and you can end up paying a fortune on your phone bill. On prepaid phones, they can’t really charge you more than what you have already paid. They have certain ways that they get around that, but you end up paying less when going abroad most of the time.
One issue about not paying your phone while you are abroad is that you run the risk of losing your number. This usually won’t happen for a couple of months of not paying your bill. Still, it is one of those things that would be a good idea to keep in mind.
Traveling abroad with a domestic prepaid phone plan
This could be one of those low key decent options that not a lot of people know about. The overall price for a prepaid plan is usually a little steeper than what you could expect to pay for a long term plan. International coverage though with these plans can be obtained for around 5 dollars. If this is something that you are trying to look into there are a couple of things that you should keep in mind. If you have a prepaid plan chances are you have an unlocked phone. So, it is going to be easier for you to be able to buy a foreign SIM. As was mentioned when traveling to Mexico or Canada most phone companies are going to be offering decent rates. Such as the 5 dollar increase that could make the foreign SIM option irrelevant.
At the end of the day, it depends on where you are traveling. As was mentioned before if you are traveling to Canda or Mexico you are going to have more options. Some other prepaid plans also include extra fees for other foreign countries. Such as countries in Europe or Asia. You are going to have options it is a good idea to give a long hard look at the rates that you are going to be getting with your prepaid plan and with the foreign SIM.
Actually a big money saver
There are different ways that prepaid phone plans can save you money. If you are just looking at them on paper you are probably going to see that they are more expensive. The thing with prepaid plans or pay as you go plans is that you are not going to be hit with surprise charges. Since you don’t have a long term plan they can’t technically bill you in your next month’s payment. We say technically because sometimes companies will offer more data that you can pay the next time that you pay for more data. For example, you may be out of minutes and you need to make a phone call. Your provider could lend you those minutes and you are going to pay for them the next time that you add minutes or data to your phone. Usually, though, you are not going to have to worry about those surprise fees. Since all of the payments that you are going to be making are going to be upfront.
The key to actually saving money with these types of plans is buying the right amount of data or minutes that you know you are going to be using throughout the month. If you are going to go with an unlimited plan it could be a bit more expensive. Then again, if you are an avid traveler you get the benefits of not having to stick to a contract that you are going to have to keep paying even if you are not using the phone.
Buying a phone abroad
This is one of the things that we end up recommending quite a bit on this site. One of the main reasons why we do this is because it makes the whole process of buying a foreign SIM or some sort of prepaid plan much easier. When compared to having a phone that is tied down by a service provider. Again, this is one of those things that you are going to be able to take better advantage of if you happen to be an avid traveler. If you are someone who is looking to buy a phone abroad or just buy a phone to be able to put it in a prepaid plan make sure that you buy a phone that is already unlocked. You are going to be able to do this by buying the phone directly from the manufacturer and not from a wireless service company. This means that if you want to buy an iPhone your best bet is going to be to buy the phone directly from the Apple site. There you are going to be able to choose the option of getting an unlocked phone.
Another option that we talk about quite a bit is that of buying a cheap phone abroad that you just carry around to be able to make certain calls. These phones work great on prepaid plans because you are going to be paying for the service when you need it. When it comes down to it you are probably going to be spending a bit more money especially when you have to buy the phone. If you are an avid traveler though, having sort of a back phone that you can insert all sorts of foreign SIM cards on it could be a great idea. This is going to allow you to be able to protect all the information that you currently probably have on your regular phone. It also means that your everyday number is not going to be offline while you insert a foreign SIM. This is not an issue if you have a newer version of the iPhone, but for the most part, phones can only carry one SIM at a time.
Prepaid phone plans vs Pay as you go plans
For starters, what can be said about both of these methods to acquire a wireless service is that both of them can be a good idea for specific situations. In prepaid plans, you buy a package that usually includes x number of minutes and x amount of data and you can use the plan until you use up the minutes. This type of plan is not bound by a contract or anything like that. So as was mentioned before there is no chance that you go over the limit. Some providers allow you to do this and pay up when you decide to add more data that is usable for your phone.
The pay as you go plans are typically not a long term solution. A lot of times these two concepts can be used as synonyms so, that can confuse a lot of people. When you are buying a SIM card or another type of service especially as a travel plan and you see that you get 100 minutes and 500MB that expire within a couple of days with that particular card that is more of a pay as you go plan. As the service is usually not month to month. You have to keep recharging whenever you happen to run out of minutes. This is a concept that has excited for years and years. It is the same thing that happened back in the day with phone cards for public phones.
Which stateside company offers the best-prepaid phone plans?
In this department at least at the time that this article was written T-Mobile was the company that was offering some of the best rates for their prepaid plans. You can get an unlimited prepaid plan for 50 dollars. That is probably a pretty steep price when you compare it to the price that you would pay on a contract for an unlimited plan with them. Which, can be around 35 dollars. One of the reasons though why prepaid plans are better for some folks is the fact that they won’t run your credit. You are going to have the freedom to come in or out of the service at any time. Also, T-Mobile boasts one of the more extensive networks of coverage across America. You are getting that at pretty much the lowest price that these companies are offering for prepaid plans. You have companies like AT&T that are charging 60 to 65 dollars for their unlimited plan on a prepaid service. For some folks, T-Mobile is better for texting and all those kinds of things that is why we may have to give them the edge in this one.
Boost mobile is one of those mobile phone companies that many folks may not even realize is still around. Part of the reason why they are still around is that they offer decent rates on their prepaid plans. It hovers right around the 50 dollars that T-Mobile is charging for their unlimited prepaid plan. They also are able to sell you some cheaper devices that are going to be able to support this plan. So, that is another one of the reasons why they happen to still be around. Yet, we would have to side a little bit with T-Mobile here because of the extensive coverage that they are going to be able to provide. That is really the main difference that you are going to be able to see from one service to the other.
What type of coverage can you expect to get with prepaid phone plans?
This is something that we brushed upon in the last paragraph. Allegedly you are going to be getting the same type of coverage that you would be able to obtain from a company if you agreed to a long term contract. Yet, this is the part, where you really want to make sure that you read the fine print. Some companies don’t offer 5G access to their prepaid plan users. Especially if you by a prepaid plan that is not the unlimited plan. If you are not careful in that regard the speed of your internet could potentially suffer.
From what we have seen in the past few years though, a lot of main companies are actually embracing their prepaid plans. As they are recognizing that folks are just not jumping into long term contracts as easily anymore. Therefore, they are offering more and more decent coverage for these types of plans. Without a doubt prepaid plans where not something that the major wireless providers were into. They saw it as sort of a less product and treated it as such. At this point in time though, it does look like things are shifting a bit.
What if I Am Not A Big Traveler?
Throughout the article, we mentioned on numerous occasions that certain options like buying a phone abroad were great for people who traveled a lot. What if you are not a big traveler though? The option, for example, to be on a prepaid plan locally can help you if you don’t want to damage your credit thanks to your phone bill. This is certainly, something that ends up being a necessity more than a choice. You are going to be paying a bit more, but you also can be clear how much you are going to pay. The issue with some of these long term plans is that the bill can change from month to month and there is really not much that you could do to change that.
Just to wrap things up this is an option that you could consider even if you are not a big traveler. If you are a big traveler it just makes things a lot easier. Since you are not going to have to deal with a contract that is sort of weighing you down to one particular place.