Why Prepaid Wireless?

• Doesn't require a credit check - People who wanted a postpaid account but couldn't qualify would get prepaid.

• Doesn't require a deposit - People with lower credit would often be required to put down large deposits in order to get a postpaid account.

• No surprise bills - Anyone who has had a postpaid account has at one time or another received a large bill due to extra charges that were completely unexpected.

• Cost control - Similar to #3, there's no way to spend more than expected because you know exactly how much you're adding to your account.

• Anonymity - Prepaid wireless does not require a name, address, or social security number.

• Higher handset prices - Due to the fact that there is no contract, carrier handset subsidies are lower.

• Higher price per minute - For the convenience of no commitment, you had to pay more per minute.  So, ironically, prepaid customers often pay more per month than the average postpaid consumer.

• Limited services - With the objective of keeping operational costs low, and the thought that prepaid customers were less valuable, the amount and breadth of services was often limited.  For example, games, GPS navigation, and sometimes even voicemail were either unavailable or expensive add-ons.

• Per minute pricing has come down so low, that with the right plan, you can actually get prices that are the same or even lower than postpaid plans!

• With increasing competition in prepaid and in the wireless industry in general, handset pricing has come down considerably.  So although you'll often pay more for your phone than you would if you had a postpaid contract, the prices are extremely reasonable.

• You can get most, if not all services on even the even basic prepaid plans.