[quote=halfway]@tiesandbowties @PebbleJr Contracts can be designed in a way so that you pay for what you need. I don't know what contracts you're paying for that cost you $70-100 a month but I have unlimited texting and phone calls for $30 a month within my country without data and I'm content with that. Prepaid depends completely on how much you want to talk which is why they're good for travelling or if you're not using your phone to call many people as I said above.[/quote]
May I ask what country you're in? In the U.S, the big 4 (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile) charge ridiculous monthly prices for contracts, although T-Mo is moving away from contracts. ATT and Verizon especially are the biggest offenders so in the US, prepaid will cost more upfront but cheaper in the long run compared to a 2-yr contract.
Typically, prepaid will save you money in the long run. Upfront, if you want the best device available you'll have to pay the full retail price. A decent prepaid smartphone runs ~$100+ but newer devices will run you at least $300. But that's all you pay for. No contract and most carriers now have plans that start as low as $35/month. Depending where you live, Virgin Mobile may still be offering for a limited time unlimited talk and text for $25/month before taxes. Another plus with prepaid phones is that some carriers will unlock it for you earlier than a 2 year contract will. For example, T-mobile right now only requires you to be an active user with a prepaid phone for 1 year. Once it's unlocked you can use it on almost any other carrier or with SIM cards outside of the country.
Contracts can seem more attractive upfront because you are getting the latest smartphones available at a subsidized price with a 2 year contract OR you take advantage of new installment billing plans (AT&T Next, Verizon Edge, Sprint Easy Pay, etc).With the 2 year contract a smartphone that would normally retail for $600+ becomes $50 - $250. However in the long run, unless you go for the most limited plan, you'll be paying more in the long run and you will be with the carrier for 2 years (or pay $350ish to get out of the contract early). With installment billing you aren't tied to a contract per se, but you pay the phone off as you go. You can pay it off earlier and leave, or pay up to the 1 year (and/or 18 months point for AT&T) and upgrade your phone early if you want the latest and greatest. With that option your access fee on the plan is cheaper, but you break the phones total cost into payments.
TLDR: If you just talk a little and mostly text, and use little to no data, stick to prepaid. You can get a basic slider phone for around $30 and contracts starting at $35/month depending on where you live. A decent smartphone without breaking the bank could be the Moto G. It's only 3G capable unless you shell out more for the Moto G LTE, but the original Moto G is $99.99 at most retailers.
Personally it's all about usage. Getting a prepaid phone will save you more money in the long run if you don't use it a lot. But then you'd have to pay for the phone upfront unless you can get a phone that is designed for that carrier or ahem buy one offhand. The other option is contract. If you want the latest phone, good service, and reliability if you ever lose your phone go for contract. As a personal experience, I use T Mobile simple choice and unlimited data. I text a lot and rarely call but then I [url=http://imgur.com/y63Fj7h]use a lot of data.[/url] I pay $110 a month and any other carrier like ATT or Verizon would charge me hundreds or if not a couple thousand a month for this. Sprint on the other hand has relatively new LTE and kinda spotty. T Mobile doesn't even throttle me either.
@halfway I think it's because of how the OP is asking. Contract would be the type of phone plan where you sign saying you can't switch out of your plan for a set amount of years, and if you do, you have to pay fees for terminating the contract early. That's different from a simple monthly plan with no annual contract. Which is different still from prepaid.
@LostinDoubt Think of it this way, with a monthly plan with unlimited talk, you're paying the same price per month regardless of if you make 1000 minutes worth of phone calls or 10 minutes worth of phone calls. So if you plan on talking a lot it's a great deal. But you're wasting money if you never use it.
Then with prepaid (not to be confused with the hybrid plans where you still pay monthly for a set amount of minutes), you pay for x amount of minutes, and no more. So if you barely talk on your phone at all, you save money. The downside being, the minutes you pay for eventually expire if they go unused for too long. And if you use your phone a lot, you can actually end up spending more than you would on a monthly plan.
@tiesandbowties @PebbleJr Contracts can be designed in a way so that you pay for what you need. I don't know what contracts you're paying for that cost you $70-100 a month but I have unlimited texting and phone calls for $30 a month within my country without data and I'm content with that. Prepaid depends completely on how much you want to talk which is why they're good for travelling or if you're not using your phone to call many people as I said above.
It depends on how often you use your phone and what you use it for. My grandparents are currently visiting so I bought them a prepaid card for the phone since they don't use it very often.
If you don't see yourself using your phone very often then a prepaid phone's amount of minutes would probably last you for a long time. It saves the money that would be wasted on a bunch of used minutes and data from a monthly plan. I doubt this is the case with you though, even if you don't call people very often and only text (or vice versa) then it would be better to get a monthly plan.
If you do end up using a monthly plan I would suggest using Ting; you only pay for what you need/ use and can help with you saving money.
[quote=halfway]Contract. Get a prepaid phone if you're travelling out of country for extending periods of time or you talk to a very small amount of people.[/quote]
you do realize that with a contract, you're paying way more out of pocket in the long run
15 Comments • Newest first
Kay thanks everyone for the info.
@IDKsoMuch: I live in Canada.
[quote=halfway]@tiesandbowties
@PebbleJr
Contracts can be designed in a way so that you pay for what you need. I don't know what contracts you're paying for that cost you $70-100 a month but I have unlimited texting and phone calls for $30 a month within my country without data and I'm content with that. Prepaid depends completely on how much you want to talk which is why they're good for travelling or if you're not using your phone to call many people as I said above.[/quote]
May I ask what country you're in? In the U.S, the big 4 (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile) charge ridiculous monthly prices for contracts, although T-Mo is moving away from contracts. ATT and Verizon especially are the biggest offenders so in the US, prepaid will cost more upfront but cheaper in the long run compared to a 2-yr contract.
i pay $5 a month on a flip phone. unlimited talk n text!
Typically, prepaid will save you money in the long run. Upfront, if you want the best device available you'll have to pay the full retail price. A decent prepaid smartphone runs ~$100+ but newer devices will run you at least $300. But that's all you pay for. No contract and most carriers now have plans that start as low as $35/month. Depending where you live, Virgin Mobile may still be offering for a limited time unlimited talk and text for $25/month before taxes. Another plus with prepaid phones is that some carriers will unlock it for you earlier than a 2 year contract will. For example, T-mobile right now only requires you to be an active user with a prepaid phone for 1 year. Once it's unlocked you can use it on almost any other carrier or with SIM cards outside of the country.
Contracts can seem more attractive upfront because you are getting the latest smartphones available at a subsidized price with a 2 year contract OR you take advantage of new installment billing plans (AT&T Next, Verizon Edge, Sprint Easy Pay, etc).With the 2 year contract a smartphone that would normally retail for $600+ becomes $50 - $250. However in the long run, unless you go for the most limited plan, you'll be paying more in the long run and you will be with the carrier for 2 years (or pay $350ish to get out of the contract early). With installment billing you aren't tied to a contract per se, but you pay the phone off as you go. You can pay it off earlier and leave, or pay up to the 1 year (and/or 18 months point for AT&T) and upgrade your phone early if you want the latest and greatest. With that option your access fee on the plan is cheaper, but you break the phones total cost into payments.
TLDR: If you just talk a little and mostly text, and use little to no data, stick to prepaid. You can get a basic slider phone for around $30 and contracts starting at $35/month depending on where you live. A decent smartphone without breaking the bank could be the Moto G. It's only 3G capable unless you shell out more for the Moto G LTE, but the original Moto G is $99.99 at most retailers.
Personally it's all about usage. Getting a prepaid phone will save you more money in the long run if you don't use it a lot. But then you'd have to pay for the phone upfront unless you can get a phone that is designed for that carrier or ahem buy one offhand.
The other option is contract. If you want the latest phone, good service, and reliability if you ever lose your phone go for contract. As a personal experience, I use T Mobile simple choice and unlimited data. I text a lot and rarely call but then I [url=http://imgur.com/y63Fj7h]use a lot of data.[/url] I pay $110 a month and any other carrier like ATT or Verizon would charge me hundreds or if not a couple thousand a month for this. Sprint on the other hand has relatively new LTE and kinda spotty. T Mobile doesn't even throttle me either.
@halfway I think it's because of how the OP is asking. Contract would be the type of phone plan where you sign saying you can't switch out of your plan for a set amount of years, and if you do, you have to pay fees for terminating the contract early. That's different from a simple monthly plan with no annual contract. Which is different still from prepaid.
@LostinDoubt Think of it this way, with a monthly plan with unlimited talk, you're paying the same price per month regardless of if you make 1000 minutes worth of phone calls or 10 minutes worth of phone calls. So if you plan on talking a lot it's a great deal. But you're wasting money if you never use it.
Then with prepaid (not to be confused with the hybrid plans where you still pay monthly for a set amount of minutes), you pay for x amount of minutes, and no more. So if you barely talk on your phone at all, you save money. The downside being, the minutes you pay for eventually expire if they go unused for too long. And if you use your phone a lot, you can actually end up spending more than you would on a monthly plan.
yes, get a prepaid phone if you aint gonna talk much
I don't really talk much on the phone so is prepaid phone good for me?
It depends on what you want..
I stayed with a prepaid 15$ per month with unlimited text and like 5 min of call LOL
It was fine for me ...
Now I want internet so I pay 85$ per month with unlimited everything...
DEPENDS ON WHAT U WANT
@tiesandbowties
@PebbleJr
Contracts can be designed in a way so that you pay for what you need. I don't know what contracts you're paying for that cost you $70-100 a month but I have unlimited texting and phone calls for $30 a month within my country without data and I'm content with that. Prepaid depends completely on how much you want to talk which is why they're good for travelling or if you're not using your phone to call many people as I said above.
It depends on how often you use your phone and what you use it for. My grandparents are currently visiting so I bought them a prepaid card for the phone since they don't use it very often.
If you don't see yourself using your phone very often then a prepaid phone's amount of minutes would probably last you for a long time. It saves the money that would be wasted on a bunch of used minutes and data from a monthly plan. I doubt this is the case with you though, even if you don't call people very often and only text (or vice versa) then it would be better to get a monthly plan.
If you do end up using a monthly plan I would suggest using Ting; you only pay for what you need/ use and can help with you saving money.
[quote=halfway]Contract.
Get a prepaid phone if you're travelling out of country for extending periods of time or you talk to a very small amount of people.[/quote]
you do realize that with a contract, you're paying way more out of pocket in the long run
Contract.
Get a prepaid phone if you're travelling out of country for extending periods of time or you talk to a very small amount of people.
dude......