Who Are Prepaid Cell Phones Good For?

Prepaid cell phones are an available option for anyone, and definitely an option that you should consider when deciding what type of cell phone plan you want. There are many benefits to prepaid cell phones, but they are not right for everyone because everyone has different needs. You should investigate both sides of the prepaid cell phone coin in order to determine whether or not is will meet your particular needs.

Plus Side – There are some great benefits to prepaid cell phones and here are a few.

o If cell phones are up until this point a foreign object to you, prepaid phones are a great way to manage the amount of minutes you use, and the amount of money you are spending on cell service. Prepaid cell phones come from the basics with little frills to the exceptionally optimized with many frills; it is all dependent on your personal style.

o Prepaid cell phones can be perfect for senior citizens and young adults. It allows them the ability to contact someone in an emergency, or to inform a parent where they will be going, without paying extremely expensive cell phone bills.

o You can save a lot of money with prepaid cell phones, especially if you do not use your cell phone that much. With standard cell phone service you may be paying for minutes and features that you will never use, whereas with prepaid minutes you only purchase as many minutes as you are planning on using.

o If you are one of those anti-contract signing people, then prepaid is the way for you. Standard cell phone plans include typically a two year contract, with extremely high charges for ending a contract early. With prepaid there is no contract.

Con Side – Here are some reasons why a prepaid cell phone may not be right for you.

o If you have a high call volume and are using vast amounts of minutes per month you can oftentimes find better rate plans with standard phone plans.

o Prepaid phones do not typically have the latest and greatest technology, so if technology is a priority for you then you may also want to consider a standard cell phone plan.

o If you are looking for the lowest possible price per minute rate then you may want to investigate other cell phone options.

With this guide you can begin to understand whether or not prepaid may be right for you. Do not count this completely though, you may want to investigate individual carriers and see what they can offer you.

About The Author
Shelly Walther has written several articles on prepaid cell phones. She has researched many different options and understands how prepaid can benefit users. You can see more of her work, including more articles on prepaid cell phones, at http://www.ResourceHog.com and http://www.ForosWireless.com.

Prepaid Cell Phones and Emergency Service

Find out the nitty gritty on prepaid cell phones and 911 service. Find out what prepaid cell phone companies are required to do and why.

Everybody is familiar with 9-1-1 service, which allows you to easily contact emergency services from your home phone. But what about your cell? Emergencies can happen when you're away from home. And even while you're at home, more households are moving towards a single-line solution, replacing their landline phones with mobile.

The FCC requires all cellular carriers to put through all 9-1-1 calls, even when the phone does not have an active service contract. Individuals who have medical conditions may do well to carry an emergency cell phone, even if they do not use a cell phone on a regular basis. It is also an ideal solution for the elderly, who may be at risk while out and about. Keeping an emergency cell phone in the car's glove compartment, along with a portable charger, can help avert a disaster in case of a breakdown or accident in a remote area.

The so-called E911 (enhanced 911) service, mandated by the FCC, also requires carriers to implement a system that tells emergency dispatchers the location of the caller. This has been a part of landline emergency services for several years, and when you call 9-1-1 from your home phone, the dispatcher automatically knows your callback number and your fixed location. But on a mobile phone, there are some technological challenges. Fortunately, the cell phone companies stepped up to the plate and came up with a solution. In Phase I of the FCC mandate, carriers had to create a system that would tell dispatchers the cell phone number of the caller, as well as the location of the cell tower, which would provide at least an approximate geographic location. More sophisticated location detection technology uses GPS-enabled cell phones to determine the location of the caller in an emergency.

Phase II, scheduled to be fully implemented by the end of 2005, goes a step further by providing Automatic Location Identification (ALI), with precise latitude and longitude of the caller, to the emergency dispatcher. This capability has been incorporated into many newer cell phones, but there are still older cell phones still in use. If you plan to use your cell phone as an emergency backup, make sure you have a newer "location-sensitive" phone that is equipped to handle this service.

There is no charge for calling 9-1-1 from a cell phone; the E911 infrastructure is paid for with a small surcharge on normal cell phone services.

About The Author: Tom Spelling is a contributing editor to http://www.prepaidreviews.com/ which reviews prepaid cell phone plan providers and rates them according to service factors and customer feedback. The site offers reviews on Verizon Prepaid Wireless, Cingular GoPhone and more.
Source: http://www.articlecity.com