subject: Cell Phone Plans: Pay As You Go Or Contract? [print this page] long des. Are you wondering whether you should go in for a contract plan or a pay as you go? Keep these tips in mind before deciding.
When cell phones were first introduced, they were too expensive for everyone to afford. Most people would be turned off by the cost of the mobile device, while some others would be turned off by the monthly bills that they would incur. However, as the demand for portable communication increased, mobile phone service providers were forced to bring down their prices - which they did by implementing various aspects on their product. One such implementation was the segregation of cell phone accounts into pay as you and contract.
As the name suggests, Pay as you go accounts are those where the user pays only for the minutes that they use, and are not eligible for a monthly bill. All they have to do is to sign up for an account with the mobile phone service provider and they are good to go. A contractual phone plan is where the user is eligible to pay a monthly bill, and is charged a service charge. There are several advantages and disadvantages of both kinds of plans, and if you are wondering which type of plan you should go with, you would have to keep some aspects in mind.
Maybe the biggest advantage of the contract plan, sometimes also known as the post paid plan is the amount that one pays per minute. This amount is quite low as compared to the amount that one has to pay when they have signed up for pay as you go plan. Of course, there is a service charge fee that one has to pay which is additional to the charges one pays for the call, but a lot can be trimmed out from that fee.
Another advantage of the contract plan is the features and services that one would find with the post paid plan. Even today, some mobile service providers do not provide internet services on prepaid phones, or charge a very heavy amount as compared to the charges that one would pay on a post paid account.
With a contract plan, you also end up paying a lot less on the extra features and services that you might sign up with your mobile service provider. Ringtones, themes, call back tunes, etc, everything will be charged less if you are on a postpaid connection.
This is not to say that a prepaid mobile plan is completely useless. A prepaid mobile plan is useful when you are not exactly sure whether you would be using a mobile, or whether it would be feasible for you to use the prepaid mobile phone. Also, the prepaid mobile phone gives you the freedom to try and check various mobile phone service providers and then decide which would be the best mobile phone service provider for you.
Also, prepaid mobile phones comes in handy if you are travelling out of station for a while, and do not wish to invest in a post paid mobile connection and yet need to remain in contact with your friends and family back home.
Therefore, if you are deciding whether to look for a prepaid connection or a postpaid connection, make sure that you keep these concepts in mind. These are just some of the different ways in which you can change the look of your cell phone and customize it. Looking for cheap cell phones? We have a great range.
