Product Review - Net10 Prepaid Phone Service

I hate contracts, especially cell phone contracts. The offers look so great: get a free (or reduced cost) phone at some wonderful rate IF you sign up for two years of service. Then you get your bill and there are all the added fees which easily amount to a 20% increase in the total cost of your bill. That wonderful rate begins to look like a trap.

This is why I have primarily stuck with prepaid phones. I am always careful in researching my plans. Many prepaids offer unlimited calling of some sort but their daily access charges will run your costs up just like any regular plan. Coverage can be limited.

Then there is Net10. I found Net10 a little over three years ago. There plan is simple...$.10/minute for any call and $.05/minute for texts. The coverage map looked ok. No catches on the outside of the packaging. I bought it. It didn't take long to activate the phone (minutes really). I quickly found I had service where others didn't. Net10 runs off of any tower anywhere. This translates into great coverage, better than the big players.

My original phone was a nice flip phone that, while not latest and greatest, had enough bells and whistles to satisfy me. It was also very sturdy (surviving many drops and falls). My second phone was not as advanced as the first BUT the cost of the phone was absolutely nothing due to the phone coming with a package of minutes that equaled the cost of the phone. This phone also survived rough treatment.

I recently upgraded to my third phone. I wanted the camera and calendar functions and web access is an option (but I haven't used it). I'm liking the phone. I hate the preloaded ringtones but am too cheap to buy new ringtones. This upgrade was the first time that I was disappointed in the activation time of Net10. The phone was activated within the 72 hour window but I was accustomed to immediate activations. Two days without access was hell.

Customer service is sketchy. Their line is overseas and even with a well-trained staff there is a cultural barrier when talking. Americans use lots of euphamisms that do not translate well. The service reps are good as long as the call goes according to their guide pages. Anything said outside of the guides will throw them.

Rather new to Net10 is the unlimited text/calling plan. At $80/month it is a great deal if you use more than 800 minutes a month. Net10 has also added month to month prepay plans that deduct the monthly fee from an account or credit card automatically-still with no contract.

The phones are still a couple of years behind the newest phones on the market but who cares. The data plan is about the same. Given a little time I am sure Net10 will find a way to be more competitive in these areas.

Other than a few customer service issues and gadget envy this is the best prepaid (actually one of the best all around) plans out there.