With the rising popularity of cellular phone use in the USA and in particular – smartphones have become more and more popular. Sure, you can commit to a 2 year contract with a smartphone from one of the big four carriers (T-Mobile, Sprint,Verizon, AT&T) but for some of us, the thought of paying close to $100 a month on a smartphone plan is just ridiculous – especially if you don’t really have much use of or do not make many calls or are a smartphone power user than a Pre Paid Cell Phone Plan can be a great deal and save you a lot of money. Here’s a look at some of the best prepaid cell phone plans for 2013.
Verizon
Verizon offfers plans for smartphones with may price choices:
Verizon Pay As You Go
Pay as you go plans allow you to only pay when you use the phone and costs are:
Pay as You Go: .25 cents per minute and .20 cents for text messages and data is .99 a day.
Daily Simple Plan .10 a minute, unlimited mobile to mobile calling .10 for text messaging and .99 a day for data.
Pay Per Day unlimited calling, mobile to mobile , 0.02 texts and .99 a day for data for just $1.99 a day.
Monthly Prepaid Plans $60 and $70/month. Both get you unlimited talk, text and the only difference between the two plans is the difference in data: 2GB vs 4GB
T-Mobile
Monthly Prepaid Plans
In effect, all of T-Mobile plans are pre-paid because there’s no contract if you bring your own phone and if you buy a phone from them you can buy it outright. The plans are $50, $60.00, and $70.00 per month with the differences between them being the amount of data you can use (500mb, 2.5GB, Unlimited). T-Mo also offers a $30.00 a month plan with 100 minutes a month, unlimited text and 5GB of 4G data speeds. If you don’t need much talk time, this is one of the best pre-paid plans in 2013.
Pay as you go plans
There’s also the following pay as you go plans for T-Mobile:
$10 = 30 minutes
$30 = 160 minutes
$50 = 400 minutes
$100 = 1000 minutes
text messages are ten cents each and 25cents each to send photos or videos.
Per Day
$3/day gets you:
- Unlimited Talk
- Unlimited Text
- Unlimited Web – First 200MB at up to 4G speeds
$2/day gets you:
- Unlimited Talk
- Unlimited Text
- Unlimited Web – 2G speed
AT&T
AT&T’s pre-paid plans are called GoPhone and come in four different rates: $25.00, $40.00, $50.00, $60.00. The features of these plans are:
$25.00 – 250 minutes, unlimited text and add 50MB of data for $5.00
$40.00 – 500 minutes, unlimited text, and 200mb of data
$50.00 – Unlimited text, unlimited calls and wifi only data
$60.00 – Unlimited talk and text, and 2GB of data.
Sprint
Sprint is another carrier to offer prepaid wireless service in addition to their on contract smartphone plans. Sprint’s offerings in pre-paid come in a few offerings:
$35.00 Basic Smartphone 500 minutes
$50.00 Unlimited Basic Phone
$45.00 Unlimited Talk and Text
$60.00 Unlimited Talk, Text and Data
: $50.00 a month for basic phones and $70.00 a month for smartphones. Not the cheapest when it comes to no contract plans from the carriers above.
Virgin Mobile
Virgin Mobile offer three no contract smartphone plans:
$35.00 – 300 minutes, unlimited messaging and data
$45.00 – 1200 minutes, unlimited messaging and data
$55.00 – unlimited talk, text and data
Boost Wireless
Boost offers one plan for $50.00 a month that offers unlimited talk, text and data is 2.5GB per month. One interesting thing about Boost Mobile is that your bill can shrink to $35.00 a month if you stick with ‘em for 18 months. Boost is on the Sprint Network.
Ting
Ting takes a different approach and offers you to mix and match talk, text and data plans to your needs with the cheapest pay as you go plan costing just $9.00 a month. You don’t get much, but for more than an emergency phone you could save considerably and is the cheapest price for a non contract cell phone plan this year.
Straight Talk
Straight Talk gets straight to the point – $45 a month gets you unlimited talk, text and data.
All of the Pre-Paid Cell Phone plans are from reliable cellular carriers but if you can get away with the 100 minutes of monthly call time, the $30 a month plan from T-Mobile is hard to beat and the cheapest pre-paid cell phone award has to go to Ting at just $9.00 a month.
AIO Wireless
Aio wireless is a relatively newcomer to the prepaid phone market but considering they are backed by AT&T this looks like a pretty good prepaid company: There’s but 3 prepaid plans to choose from on AIO wireless and the only real difference is the data you get. All plans from AIO wireless include unlimited talk, text and data but the high speed data you get depends on the plan you choose:
$40.00 – 250mb of data (basic phones only)
$55.00 – 2GB of high speed data
$70.00 – 7GB of high speed data
Airlink Mobile
Airlink mobile offers some pretty cheap plans for prepaid:
$10.00 – 30 anytime minutes and unlimited nights and weekends – expires after 7 days.
$20.00 – 90 anytime minutes and unlimited nights and weekends – expires after 14 days
$30.00 – 150 anytime minutes and unlimited nights and weekends – expires after 30 days
$50.00 – 350 anytime minutes and unlimited nights and weekends – expires after 30 days
All prepaid plans from Airlink come from include no credit check, no roaming charges, no US long distance charges.
Additional text message packs are available for:
$5.00 – 200 text messages
$10.00 – 1000 text messages
or the basic text messaging rate from Airlink is 20 cents per minute.
AirVoice Wireless
Airvoice wireless offers prepaid phone plans as monthly plans, pay as you go plans or a simple 250 minute plan.
Monthly Plans
$30.00 – unlimited talk, text and 100mb of data
$40.00 – unlimited talk, text and 1GB of data
$60.00 – unlimited talk, text and 3GB of data
Pay as you go plans
$10 for 100 minutes – expires in 90 days
$20 for 210 minutes - expires in 120 days
$30 for 320 minutes – expires in 150 days
250 minute plan
This is the cheapest plan at just ten dollars for 250 minutes.
Black Wireless
Black wireless offers four different prepaid cellular phone plans:
$30 – unlimited talk and text, 50mb of data
$40 – unlimited talk and text, 500mb of data
$50 – unlimited talk and text, 1GB of data
$60.00 – unlimited talk and text 3gb of data
The $30 plan gives you 100 free international texts and 118 free minutes to India, 125 free minutes to Canada and 90 free minutes to the UK.
The $40 plan gives you 100 free international texts, the $50 plan gives you unlimited text messages and the $60 plan is back to 100 international text
The $40, $50, and $60.00 plan offers free international minutes to the following countries:
- India – 294 Mins.
- Brazil – 250 Mins.
- Colombia – 185 Mins.
- Mexico – 151 Mins.
Cricket Wireless
Cricket wireless offers prepaid plans for both basic phones and smartphones:
Basic Phone Plans
$35.00 a month for unlimited talk and text
$45.00 a month for unlimited, talk, text and data
Smartphone Phone Plans
$50 a month for unlimited talk, text and 2.5Gb of high speed data
$60 a month for unlimited talk, text and 5Gb of high speed data
$70 a month for unlimited talk, text and 10Gb of high speed data
Eco Mobile
Based on the Sprint Network, Eco Mobile has the simplest prepaid plan ever: 5 cents a minute for talk, 2 cents for text messages, 10 cents per MB data, 1o cents per MMS. The funds expire at 30 days.
For pre-paid plans there’s four different pricing options:
$30.00 – unlimited talk and text
$40.00 – unlimited talk and text and data and mms
$50.00 - unlimited talk and text and 3G data and mms
$60.00 – unlimited talk and text and 4G data and mms
Giv Mobile
Giv Mobile keeps it pretty simple with just two monthly prepaid smartphone plans:
$40.00 – unlimited talk, text, and 250MB of high speed data
$50.00 – unlimited talk, text, and 2GB of high speed data
Good to Go Mobile
Good to Go Mobile offers four mobile plans and every plan includes:
- Domestic long distance
- Nationwide coverage, no roaming
- FREE voicemaill, caller ID, and call waiting
- Great international rates: add $5 or $10 to your account to be used for International calls and/or 411 directory assistance
- No activation charges
$20.00 – pay as you go – 5 cents a minute and 5 cents per text. .50/mb of data
$30.00 – unlimited talk and text, .30/mb of data and up to 300 minute of international calling
$40.00 – unlimited talk, text and 250MB of data. Up to 300 minutes of long distance calling
$50.00 – unlimited talk, text and data and up to 300 minutes of long distance calling.
Go Smart Mobile
Go Smart Mobile offers 3 different prepaid mobile plans:
$30.00 - unlimited talk and text.
$35.00 – unlimited talk, text and unlimited 2G speed data
$45.00 – unlimited talk, text and unlimited 3G speed data
Unlimited texting to international is available for $5.00 a month and 10 dollars a month for the international texting and calling bundle.
H2O Wireless
H20 wireless offers both monthly prepaid plans as well as pay as you go plans too. There’s 4 monthly pre-paid plans to choose from:
$30 – unlimited talk, text and 50mb data with $5.00 international calling credit and unlimited international incoming text and 100 outgoing international text messages.
$40 – unlimited talk, text and 500mb data with $20.00 international calling credit and unlimited international incoming text and 100 outgoing international text messages.
$50 – unlimited talk, text and 1GB data with $40.00 international calling credit and unlimited international talk and text
$60 – unlimited talk, text and 3GB data with $20.00 international calling credit and unlimited international incoming text and 100 outgoing international text messages.
Pay as you go plans
$10.00 – 200 minutes - 5 cents a minute, 5 cents/text
$20.00 – 400 minutes - 5 cents a minute, 5 cents/text,
$30.00 – 600 minutes - 5 cents a minute, 5 cents/text,
$100.00 – 2000 minutes - 5 cents a minute, 5 cents/text,
The $100 plan is good for a year, all others are good for 90 days.
Metro PCS
Metro PCS offers 3 prepaid mobile plans:
$40.00 – unlimited talk, text, 500mb 4G data
$50.00 – unlimited talk, text, 2.5GB 4G data
$60.00 – unlimited talk, text, unlimited 4G data
Net10 Wireless
Net10 wireless offers 3 different types of plans: family plans, monthly prepaid plans, and pay as you go plans:
Family Plans
2 people – $90/month
3 people – $130/month
4 people – $170/month
All family plans come with unlimited talk, text and data
Monthly Prepaid Plans
$65.00 – Unlimited international text, talk, data
$50.00 – Unlimited international talk, text and data
$25.00 – 750 minutes
$30.00 – 500 minutes
$15.00 – 200 minutes
Pay as you go plans
$20.00 – 200 minutes
$30.00 – 300 minutes
$45.00 – 600 minutes
$60.00 – 900 minutes
$100.00 – 1500 minutes
NextG Mobile
Next G Mobile offers monthly plans and plans with high speed data for smartphones and pay as you go rates too:
Monthly Plans
$10 – 300 minutes, 500 text messages
$20 – 500 minutes, 1000 text messages
$30 – 1200 minutes, 4000 text messages
$40 – unlimited talk and text
$50 – unlimited talk and text and 1GB of data
$60.00 – unlimited talk and text and 2GB data at 3G speeds
$70.00 – unlimited talk and text and 5GB data at 3G speeds
Pay as you Go
$10 pay as you go (5 cents a minute) valid 90 days
$10 international pay as you go valid 30 days
Page Plus Cellular
Page plus cellular offers both monthly prepaid and pay as you go plans
Monthly Plans
$12 – 250 minutes, 250 text messages, 10mb data
$30 – 1200 minutes, 3000 text messages, 500mb data
$40 – unlimited talk and text, 500mb data
$55 – unlimited talk and text and 2GB of data
$70 – unlimited talk and text and 5GB of data
Pay as you go
$10.00 – 100 minutes
$25.00 – 416 minutes
$50.00 – 1000 minutes
$80.00 – 2000 minutes
PrePayd Wireless
Prepayd wireless offers monthly prepaid wireless plans to choose from:
$35.00 - unlimited talk and text
$40.00 – unlimited talk, text and web
$50.00 – unlimited talk, text and 3G data
$60.00 – unlimited talk, text and 4G data
Ptel Wireless
Ptel wireless offers 2 monthly wireless phone plans and one pay as you go plan:
Monthly Pre Paid Plans
$40.00 – Unlimited talk, text and 25omb of 4G data
$50.00 – unlimited talk, text and 2GB of 4G data
Pay as you go plans
5 cents per minute
2 cents per text
10 cents per MB
Red Rocket
Red rocket offers a few monthly prepaid plans and one pay as you go plan:
Monthly Plan
19.99 – 250 minutes, 500 texts
$29.99 – unlimited talk and text, 100mb data
$39.99 – unlimited talk and text, 500mb data
$49.99 - unlimited talk and text, 1GB data
Pay as you go plans are 10 cents a minute
Simple Mobile
Simple mobile offers 3 different monthly pre paid cell phone plans:
$40 – unlimited talk and text, 1GB 4G data
$50 – unlimited talk and text, 3GB 4G data
$60 – unlimited talk and text, 5GB 4G data
Solavei
Solavei offers just one prepaid plan and it’s $49.00 a month for unlimited talk, text and 4G data
Ultra Mobile
Ultra Mobile offers a selection of monthly smartphone plans to choose from:
$19 – 250 minutes, unlimited text, 50mb data
$29 – unlimited talk and text – 100mb data
$39.00 – unlimited talk and text – 500mb data
$49.00 – unlimited talk and text – 1GB data
$59.00 – unlimited talk and text - 4gb data
US Cellular
US Cellular offers two pre-paid mobile phone plans:
$50.00 – unlimited talk, text and 1GB of data
$65.00 – unlimited talk, text and 2GB of data
Voyager Mobile
Voyager mobile offers 3 pre-paid phone plans:
$17. – unlimited talk
$19 – unlimited talk and text
$39 – unlimited talk, text and data