MetroPCS' Cheap Unlimited Prepaid Plan - The Prepaid Price War Continues

MetroPCS, not one to be left out of the loop, has come out with a new $40 unlimited prepaid cell phone plan. Essentially, the company just sliced five dollars off of every one of its prepaid plans, making its price point that much more competitive.

What is an Unlimited Prepaid Plan?

Unlimited prepaid plans are very competitive plans that provide subscribers with unlimited talk time, unlimited text messages, and unlimited data usage (which usually consists of surfing the web). A rash of unlimited plans have been released as the prepaid wireless companies are competing with themselves and the more established "big four" contract-based wireless providers like Verizon (which actually has a prepaid unlimited plan of its own, but is not as attractive as the ones mentioned in this article).

MetroPCS' $40 Unlimited Prepaid Offer

MetroPCS is offering its plan for $40. What subscribers get with this plan is limitless talk time, limitless text messages, and unlimited web access. It's a very competitive plan. For $45, MetroPCS subscribers receive navigation, email, and social networking capability in addition to everything they would receive with the plan that costs five dollars less.

*Read more about the MetroPCS Cheap Prepaid Plan.

The Competition and the Prepaid Price War

There are several prepaid wireless players that are offering very competitive cheap prepaid plans--and they are all unlimited plans. Unlimited sounds pretty good doesn't it? No overage fees. No hidden added costs. You pay exactly what you expect to pay--in fact, you pay before you even use your phone. It will be interesting to see how all of the prepaid unlimited plans play out. Who will win the prepaid price war? Well, here's the lineup.

Tracfone Straight Talk Cheap Prepaid Plans

Tracfone is one of the most popular prepaid carriers in the United States. With 12 million yearly subscribers, clearly this company is going nowhere. Straight Talk plans come in two versions. The first is the $45 Unlimited Plan, which provides limitless minutes, text messages, and 30 MB of data usage (web surfing). While the MetroPCS plan provides more data usage, Tracfone runs on the Verizon network, which gives users nationwide access. MetroPCS' network is not as strong and is thus more limiting.

The second Tracfone Straight Talk plan is a little more limited. It costs $30 and subscribers can use 1,000 minutes, 1,000 text messages, and 30 MB of data. 1,000 minutes and texts is enough for many cell phone users, so this plan is a very competitive plan. Those who are looking for a bare bones plan would do well to look into this plan.

Boost Mobile Unlimited Monthly Prepaid Phone Plan

Boost Mobile can be credited with kicking off the price war that consumers are now benefitting from because it was the first prepaid wireless provider to offer a relatively cheap unlimited plan. At the beginning of the year, Boost released its unlimited plan for $50. This shook up the industry and created healthy fears that a price war would ensue.

This plan has actually helped Boost gain a lot of new subscribers, not to mention a lot of positive press when the plan was released. As the first company to cross the normal price threshold, Boost is still benefiting from being the first in the market. Tracfone is hot on the company's heals, and MetroPCS is clawing for its own piece of the pie.

It's clear that MetroPCS has some steep competition, especially considering the company did not fare so well in a recent JD Powers and Associates Prepaid wireless report. The prepaid industry moves very fast though, so previous deficiencies are soon forgotten--especially when customers are receiving good service at a good price.