What Are Prepaid Phones?
Prepaid phones are cellphones offered by many companies where minutes are paid for in advance. Regular cellphones come with a service plan that is paid monthly. With prepaid phones, a person must pay first. He then has minutes that he uses when desired.
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Purpose
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Many people purchase prepaid phones because they cannot get a normal cellphone provider. This is typically due to credit issues. When a person has poor credit, a cellphone provider often requires the person to pay a large deposit. With a prepaid phone, a credit check is not needed and neither is a deposit. People can purchase prepaid phones through most carriers or at many convenience stores.
Advantages
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There are no requirements or restrictions and there is never a contract. When a prepaid phone is purchased, the user typically does not supply personal information to anyone. Another advantage of prepaid phones is that monitoring usage is very easy. Calls made from the phone are only made if there are prepaid minutes available. This is an advantage to someone who generally goes over her allowed minutes, which often causes excess charges on her phone bill. This also allows parents to monitor the usage of their children's phone calls.
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Process
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The way prepaid phones work is that a person first purchases a prepaid phone. The person then prepays for a specified amount of minutes. If it is through a specific carrier, the person may pay a monthly amount in advance for the minutes. Other ways these phones work is buy purchasing a card that contains minutes. The owner of the phone dials a phone number that loads the minutes into the phone.
Additional Features
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Additional services are sometimes offered to those with prepaid phones. This includes texting, multimedia messaging and Web browsing. These additional services are also paid for prior to use. Generally, all prepaid phones offer standard features including voicemail, call forwarding, call waiting and caller ID.
Disadvantages
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There are several disadvantages with prepaid phones. Typically, the cost for using a prepaid phone is much higher per minute than with a standard cellphone.
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References
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