Regular cell phone service almost always involves a long term contract, but prepaid wireless service plans are generally month-to-month. Pay-as-you-go cell phones are a good way to control cellular costs for teenagers, senior citizens or people new to cell phones. Finally, a prepaid cell phone might be the only option for those with damaged credit ratings, who might not otherwise qualify for a monthly cell phone plan.

    When choosing a prepaid cell phone plan, reviews say the network is the most important factor, followed by pricing and flexibility. Large surveys conducted by J.D. Power and Associates and Consumer Reports Magazine form the backbone of our report. Both poll thousands of households on overall satisfaction with their wireless carriers. While not specifically geared to prepaid cellular, these surveys are the best way to gauge overall network coverage, call quality and customer service. J.D. Power surveyed over 24,000 households, while Consumer Reports polled over 50,000 subscribers. PC Magazine also conducts a wireless satisfaction survey, with over 11,000 respondents.

    In addition to these three large surveys, we found many other helpful articles on choosing prepaid wireless service. The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times both offer interesting buyer's guides for pay-as-you-go cell phones. CNet.com also has a cell phone buyer's guide, plus some reviews of the cell phones themselves. We found several reviews for TracFone prepaid wireless. Unlike the major carriers (like Verizon Wireless, Sprint PCS, Cingular and T-Mobile), TracFone doesn't own its own network of cell towers. Rather, TracFone (as well as companies like Virgin Mobile and Boost Mobile) is an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator). MVNOs buy large batches of minutes from the traditional wireless carriers, piggybacking on their national networks.

    In PC Magazine's survey, TracFone falls behind Virgin Mobile's prepaid wireless service when it comes to overall satisfaction. However, TracFone has an advantage in that you can buy minutes and cell phones in many discount stores (including Wal-Mart) and convenience stores. Virgin Mobile leases network access from Sprint PCS. We found many good reviews for Virgin Mobile prepaid wireless service, mainly because it offers a good selection of inexpensive cell phones, a wide range of calling plans and no roaming charges.

    In owner surveys, Sprint's call quality fell behind T-Mobile and Verizon in nearly every part of the country. However, Virgin Mobile has less expensive cell phones than T-Mobile, and its calling plans are less expensive than Verizon Wireless. Those factors may ultimately make Virgin Mobile a better choice for those more interested in low costs than call quality. If you are trying to decide between a regular monthly cell phone service and a pay-as-you-go plan, you need to do some careful math, and reviews say prepaid wireless service may end up costing more than a monthly plan if you don't watch your usage.



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