Does anyone know how prepaid cell phones work?

Answer 1

No contracts
No credit checks
and if you use all your minutes the phone turns off (so you can give it to your teenager and not worry about tons of overages)

but you have to pay more down for the phone, you have to spend more for your minutes and some services don't offer billing so you have to go to the store every month to refill your minutes. Plus not all companies offer nationwide coverage on prepaid plans.

So unless you don't want to deal with a contract or your credit sucks don't go for a prepaid plan do the regular contractual plan.

And unlike the first person said, cell phone companies don't prey on you with the prepaid, most lose money on their prepaid systems because you can't have huge overages and roaming charges, or the people just get the phone at 50% what the company paid for it and it only get used for a month or two and the phone company can't recoup the price for the discount on the phone.

Answer 2

They work like cell phones that have plans. The difference is that you buy prepaid cards for it to put more minutes on the phone. Some companies offer prepaid that takes money out of your credit card once a month.

The best prepaid cell phone plan I have found and use is Verizon INpulse. If your an avid night talker then this plan is the right kind. Plus they give you unlimited IN calling to anyone in the Verizon Network (you can call those people for free) and unlimited night calling from 9pm to 6am, it's 10 cents a minute to talk to anyone that isnt in the Verizon Network or if it isnt 9pm yet. They take out 99 cents a day so you can use their night calling service and IN calling.

With prepaid phones you buy them in a kit, call customer service, they activate it, call the phone number on the back of your prepaid card, enter the pin number and then your on your way to talk.

Answer 3

As part of the call set-up, the exchange contacts a prepaid Service Control Point (SCP). The SCP has your balance and calculates how much the calls should cost based on the time of day, who you are calling etc. It then reserves the cost of say 2 minutes and tells the exchange to let it know when the 2 minutes are up. This cycle is repeated with funds being reserved and committed.

When the call finishes the SCP is notified and is commits enough funds the the amout of time you used.

The SCP also handles voucher management/top-ups, SMS charging, bonuses, balance enquiries etc

Answer 4

yes. they are meant for people w/ bad credit or people who don't us cell phones very much and basically the cell phone companys prey on that. not to say you can't find something that works for you. first you want to find out their coverage ( most of them only get great reception in city areas). second you want to identify how much per minute and are you being charged a daily fee even when you don't use it ( there are a few, like verizon, that work out to be just as much as a monthly contract phone). third - choose a practical phone (most don't offer an affordable easy to use basic phone), For my area T-mobile would be the best to get. plus i like the fact that once you spend a hundred dollars on minutes your next purchase of minutes won't expire for a year. so basically if you bought a 10 minute card it wouldn't expire for a year unlike most others who's minutes expire after 30 days.

Answer 5

I use Virgin Mobile. I am very happy with it. I don't have to worry about a cell phone bill coming every month. I have to pay $20.00 every three months. I have to "Top Up" if I run out of air time, usually another $20.00. This makes it good for another three months. What I like about it is the fact that if I make fewer calls I don't have to pay as much.

Answer 6

yes but my credit is absolutley fine. I just hate wasting money and thats is why I prefer pay as you go.