kajeet (based off Sprint PCS network) markets towards families because they offer free parental controls, but the phones are regular phones and I know there are plenty of adults using the service because the prices are great. Just don’t turn on the parental controls if you don’t need them!

No contract service with no activation or cancellation fees. No roaming or long distance charges,

Use a coupon and get 15% off any phone! I have a Promo Code if you want, it’s: 1015
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I have unlimited with verizon too!

Some providers will roll over unused minutes (where the norm used to be use ‘em or lose ‘em). Many offer features such as unlimited calling on nights and weekends or to designated numbers. These postpaid plans will easily cost you $ 40-100+/month after surcharges depending on the amount of your usage. Also, if you exceed your allotted minutes for the month, the overage charges are incredibly high.

The basic premise of a prepaid (pay-as-you-go) plan is that you deposit money before you use airtime. When you deplete your balance, you simply add more money. You can purchase refills online (using credit card or direct bank transfer) or buy refill cards from a regular retail store and apply them either online or using the customer service phone number for your provider.

It is definitely worth noting that in addition to having no contract, you won’t get hit with any surprise surcharges or taxes (as you would with postpaid) as they are already built into the per-minute charges. Because there is no contract guaranteeing that you will spend a lot on airtime each month, you will also find that the cost of a prepaid phone kit from a retailer will run higher than what a provider can offer you when you sign a contract. Prices on these kits (includes phone and starter card) can run as low as $ 20 depending on how fancy a phone you want.

Since you pay before you use, there is no need for a credit check. In the past, prepaid rates were incredibly high and typically used only by people with bad credit. These days, it is a very reasonably priced alternative to a postpaid cell phone plan and is the most sensible choice for users that don’t talk on their cell phones a lot (300 minutes per month or less?).

Prepaid accounts always have an expiration date, but some providers’ plans allow for longer expiration periods than others. The best are probably T-Mobile and Cingular. A $ 100 refill will not expire for a year, and both providers will allow you to roll over your balance when you refill assuming that you do so before the expiration date. Verizon expiration periods run shorter.

If your account balance falls below a minimum level, you will not be able to make or receive calls until you bring your balance back above the minimum.

Incoming calls incur the same charges as outgoing calls.

Text messages are usually billed at a different rate. T-Mobile for example charges $ 0.05 for incoming and $ 0.10 for outgoing text messages.

If you go with a nationwide provider like T-Mobile or Cingular, there will be no additional charges for domestic long distance calls. International long distance rates, on the other hand, are quite high. There is no difference between a local and long distance text message as far as billing is concerned.

Cingular used to have a prepaid plan with different on/off-peak rates (0.35/min peak, 0.10/min off-peak which included the weekend), but it was discontinued.

Per-minute rates usually start at $ 0.10 and go up depending on the provider. Cingular offers a $ 0.10/min plan that includes free mobile-to-mobile (calling another Cingular mobile user) minutes, but you are charged $ 1 on any day that you make or receive a call. Their simple plan is $ 0.25/min with no daily charge.

T-Mobile rates run as low as $ 0.10 if you buy the $ 100 refill (1000 minutes) and also offers Gold Rewards status once you have purchased $ 100 in refills (doesn’t have to be all at once either). Once you get Gold Rewards, subsequent refills will extend your expiration to one year from the refill date regardless of the dollar amount of the refill. For example, if I refill for $ 100 in Dec 2006, the account will stay active through at least Dec 2007. If I refill my minutes in Nov 2007, the account will stay active through Nov 2008, and the balance in my account is retained.

Verizon inPulse has some nice features (and the best coverage all around according to Consumer Reports) but charges $ 0.99 every day regardless of whether or not you use the phone, so right away, you are going to be paying roughly $ 30/month in addition to the airtime charges. Boost, Virgin, and TracFone tend to have higher per-minute rates than T-Mobile.