subject: Getting A Pay As You Go Cell Phone Tariff Is Great Value [print this page] The communications world has evolved at an incredible pace over the last decade or so, just 15 years ago few people carried phones around with them, and those that did had to put up with handsets the size of a brick. With the growing popularity of mobile telephony has come an abundance of choice in the market, not only in relation to handsets, but also in tariffs. Commonly, consumers fit into one of three categories - pay monthly, pay as you go or sim only.
This article examines the pay as you go (or prepay) market, which is particularly attractive to the personal user, who tends to use their handset less than their business counterpart. This low use sector are likely to be drawn to the no commitment opportunities in the pay as you go field as they are not required to make a minimum top up each month, or even remain tied to one provider.
The benefits of the pay as you go model have exploded in recent years, offering many different incentives to attract customers to each network:
Free minutes are a common incentive to the prepay market. For example, a customer may be offered 100 free minutes on top of their call credit when they add a certain amount to their account. For a greater credit, the number of minutes free will usually rise, normally doubling the credit will result in more than double the reward.
Free texts are used on a similar model, however it is not unusual for these to be awarded on an unlimited basis for a sizable amount of credit being purchased. Often, unlimited actually isn't unlimited, instead being subject to a fair use policy.
Some operators have even gone as far as offering freebies to users who regularly top up. A good example of this is cinema tickets with phone companies offering free tickets for films at their local cinema, or 2 for 1 deals.
As for the pay as you go product itself, ordering your service is very straightforward, and in most cases, completely free of charge. Just order your pay as you go (prepay) sim card on the internet and you'll receive it through your door in a matter of days. You will need a handset which is not locked to a network (or locked to the network you choose) and just place the sim card inside. Sometimes the provider will even include some initial credit so you can get moving straight away, otherwise you'll need to top up your account either on the phone itself (details will be provided with the sim card) or on the providers web site.
Pay as you go is now a very cost effective option for all but the high end user, with plenty of choice for the consumer.
