T-Mobile to Go: They seem to
utilize the refill card. The cards range from $10 to $100 which gives the user
anywhere from 30 minutes to 1000 minutes. A special benefit is that when the
customer has purchased over $100 in refills they receive another 15% added. The
exception is the $100 card, which does not add any minutes. The higher the card
amount the longer the expiration date. The average is 90 days.
Internet access is free on this plan. It includes basic news sites, games,
and other things. Text messaging is $.10 to send and free to receive.
Refill cards can be picked up at over 10,000 locations or purchased online.
Virgin Mobile: The target audience for this product
is the college student, as evidenced by the services they provide. Users have
three plan options:
$0.25 cpm/first ten minutes of the day then $.10 cpm thereafter.
$0.35 per day/$.10 cpm thereafter.
Monthly Plans start at $29.99 for 150 anytime minutes and 150
nights/weekends.
Internet access is $.20 per day and does not count against minutes.
Chargeable downloads will be deducted from the account balance.
Refills can be done online, by telephone, on the cell phone, or at stores.
Liberty Wireless: This is a no frills cell
phone with nothing but minutes. There is no text messaging or internet access.
The phones are all refurbished and generally two or three years old. Sprint is
the network that they use. Their strongest sale is the $0.10 flat fee.
TracFone: This is one of the
oldest prepaid cell phone plans. It is also one of the most expensive. Users
purchase phones starting at $34.99 then purchase cards from $19.99 to $79.99.
These cards only keep the number for 60 days. Customers are charged higher
rates for year long access. In addition, customers pay $14.95 per month for
double minute plans. Customers are always aware of how much time they have left
on their phone. There are no activation fees. They can be purchased at over
60,000 retail locations and online. In the event you do not add a TracFone
Prepaid Wireless Airtime card every 60 or 365 days, service will be suspended
until you add a TracFone Prepaid Wireless Airtime card, at which time they will
reactivate your service and assign you another wireless phone number.