How to Decide Which Prepaid Cell Phone is Best for You!

So you have decided to get a cell phone, but not just any old junker will do? Why not try a prepaid cell phone? Nine times out of ten they have the same features as a regular cell phone without the hassle of contracts and extra unwanted fees. There are a lot of prepaid cell phones out there, however, I am going to list what I feel are the top three; Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile, and Tracfone, all of which have their own unique features as well as the standard ones.

Let us begin our journey with Boost Mobile. As with any cell phone Boost Mobile offers web connection, downloadable ring tones and games, text messaging, and of course is already programmed with a nice selection of ring tones and games. Any Boost Mobile phone usually has a battery life of about three days. Boost Mobiles' unique quality is that is has $1/day "chirp" privileges (meaning you can "chirp" any one as many times as you want for only $1/day!). Also, for those of you who do not know, "chirp" is a walkie-talkie feature. Boost Mobile offers prepaid cards for you to add more air time to your phone usually in increments of $10, $20, and $50.

Next we travel on to inspect Virgin Mobile. Again they have the regular features such as: web connection, downloads, ring tones, games, and text messaging. Virgin Mobile also has a battery life of about three days. Virgin Mobile offers prepaid air time cards in increments of $10, $20, $50, and $90. They have about ten different talk plans for you to choose from which helps to set them apart from the competition. Another one of their unique features is that you can fill out surveys online and they will give you FREE airtime, they call it "Sugar Mama," the only downfall to this is you can only earn five free minutes of airtime per day.

Lastly we take a good hard look at the Tracfone. As usual with all the prepaid cell phones they have the basic features: ring tones, text messaging, games, however, they do NOT have web connection. Tracfones are awesome because they have a five day battery life; there is a screen saver mode that helps preserve the battery life of your phone. Their prepaid airtime cards are a little different. They go by the minutes (or units as they call them) 10 units, 20 units, 30 units, 50 units, 100 units, 120 units, and finally 200 units. They also have prepaid cards that will double your units for the entire life of your phone (this card only needs to be purchased ONCE), or the 1 year of service prepaid card (every time you add a prepaid card to this phone it gives you 30 days of service).

So in comparison all of these phones have basic features: ring tones, games, text messaging, and prepaid air time cards. Two out of three have three days of battery life and web connection. Boost Mobile is different because they have their $1/day "chirp" feature, while Virgin Mobile has multiple talk plans and "Sugar Mama", and Tracfone has an excellent battery life due to the screen saver mode.

In my personal opinion it is my belief that Boost Mobile is the best prepaid phone, because for just $1/day you can contact anyone who has a "chirp" also, which saves you money. Virgin Mobile would have to be a close second because you save money by earning free air time, but I have come to find that I spend five minutes on average on just ONE call. Tracfone is good because it is cheap in general, $14.99; while Boost and Virgin Mobile both start at $19.99 (for cell phone start up package, which usually includes the cell phone, battery, sim card, charger, and ten free minutes of air time).

Which ever you decide to go with, happy calling!