The Advantages of Picking a Pre-Paid Phone Plan

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What if you could have a no-strings-attached relationship with the most important thing in your life — your phone?

I’m being cheeky, but there are real advantages to having a prepaid phone plan. You’re essentially getting the same phone service on the same network sans a longtime commitment. A prepaid plan offers flexibility (change carriers/plans whenever you want with no penalty) and cost control (you know exactly what you’re paying each month and what you’re paying for).

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With that criteria in mind, I’d recommend a prepaid plan by T-Mobile, particularly if you like flexibility with your phone plans and/or like to travel internationally.

While offering a few different deals, T-Mobile’s Unlimited $50/month plan (not including taxes or fees) seems ideal for most customers. With that modest monthly bill, you’re getting unlimited talk, text and 5G data, which probably covers 95% of your mobile needs. The plan also includes an unlimited domestic mobile hotspot at 3G speed.

There are a few other free benefits — besides Caller ID and Scam Shield, I’ve found some good deals on T-Mobile Tuesdays. And as an automatic holder of Magenta Status, you also have access to various hotel, gas and car deals.

If you want to spend a bit more (or even less), the other T-Mobile pre-paid plans are tailored to different needs. If you use your phone frequently as a hotspot, an extra $10/month nets you the Unlimited Plus plan, which offers 10GB of high-speed mobile hotspot so you can share high-speed data with other devices. Conversely, if you use your phone primarily for talking and texting, the $40 10GB plan ditches the unlimited data for 10GB of high-speed data per month. If you’re a frequent international traveler, you can also pick from a couple of phone/text/data add-ons ranging from $5-$15 per month (as someone who frequently goes to Mexico and Canada for work, these add-ons have been lifesavers). And you can add lines to your plan, ideal if you have kids or an extended family.

Speaking of kids: One specific advantage of pre-paid plans is for parents, who maybe aren’t sure what phone plan to get their kids and might want to shop around. And if the kids themselves are paying, they’ll certainly prefer a lower-cost monthly plan.

You can certainly buy a new phone and pair it with a pre-paid plan, but another particular advantage to the pay-as-you-go model is using your own phone. Maybe you bought something shiny a few years ago and it’s all paid off. Living with that workable phone (if compatible) month-to-month might be preferable to diving right into a new iPhone or Android device (and contract) if you want an extra line or need a little time to figure out your future cell phone plans.

We should note that there are a couple of one-time costs associated with T-Mobile’s pre-paid plans, such as a $25 connection charge for voice and $5 for other lines. And post-paid plans do offer a few advantages, especially for high-data users (if you’re not on an Unlimited plan) or international travelers who go beyond Canada or Mexico.

Still, if you want flexibility and savings compared to premium plans — and the advantage of working with a major phone carrier as opposed to a third-party provider — T-Mobile’s Unlimited pre-paid phone plan is your best bet. And if you decide you don’t like it? Well, your biggest advantage is being able to change it quickly and with little cost.