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How much will 500 minutes a month cost me?
Since most cell phone customers use about 450 minutes per month, we chose 500 minutes per month as an amount that an average cell phone user might require. Many cell phone companies offer plans around the 500 minute level, but there is still quite a bit of variation among plans. For example Kajeet offers a 300 minute card and the next highest amount of minutes they offer is an unlimited card.

Net10 and PlatinumTel share the first place spot at the 500 minute level for $25 a month. Net10 offers a 750 minute card and PlatinumTel sells airtime for 5 cents a minute. Note that the PlatinumTel minutes do not include texts or data.

Visit the Net10 website to check out their phones and plans.
Visit the PlatinumTel website to check out their phones and plans.

Notes:
a. AT&T charges 10 cents per minute.
b. Boost Mobile charges 20 cents per minute. They also have an unlimited plan for $50 a month.
c. Kajeet offers a 300 minute card and the next highest amount of minutes they offer is an unlimited card.
d. MetroPCS only offers an unlimited minutes plan.
e. 750 minute card.
f. 5 cent per minute. This calculation does not include texts or web access which are extra.
g. Straight Talk only offers a 1000 minute plan and an unlimited plan.
h. 400 minute card.
i. 450 minute card.
j. 400 mintue card.
k. 450 minute card.
l. 1500 minutes Virgin payLo card.

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How much will 1000 minutes a month cost me?
Since most cell phone customers use about 450 minutes per month, we chose 1000 minutes per month as an amount that a heavy cell phone user might require. Most cell phone companies offer a 1000 minute card. If you need more than 1000 minutes of airtime per month, then an unlimited prepaid plan would work better for you.

Note that some of these plans are very expensive at the 1000 minute level, but the same companies offer an unlimited plan that is much cheaper (like AT&T and Boost). You might be tempted to just get an unlimited minutes plan from one of these companies, but in my opinion why bother with the extra minutes and cost. There are four different companies that offer 1000 minutes for $30 (see below). Many of these companies, like Straight Talk, allow you to switch between plans on a month to month basis, so if you actually do need more minutes one month you can simply buy an unlimited card for the extra minutes.

There’s a three way tie for the winner of the 1000 minute level. You can get 1000 minutes of airtime for $30 a month from these 3 prepaid cell phone companies:

• Straight Talk offers a 1000 minute card for $30.
• T-Mobile offers a 1500 minute card for $30.
• Virgin Mobile offers 1500 minutes for $30.

A note on texting with these three plans: Straight Talk plans come with 1000 texts included. T-Mobile does not include ANY texts (their $30 card offers any combination of minutes or messages up to 1500.). Virgin Mobile offers 1500 texts with their plan.

Visit the Straight Talk website to check out their phones and plans.
Visit the T-Mobile website to check out their phones and plans.
Visit the Virgin Mobile website to check out their phones and plans.

Notes:
a. AT&T charges 10 cents per minute. They also offer an unlimited minutes plan for $50.
b. Boost Mobile charges 20 cents per minute. They also have an unlimited plan for $50 a month.
c. Kajeet offers a 300 minute card and the next highest amount of minutes they offer is an unlimited card.
d. MetroPCS only offers an unlimited minutes plan.
e. 900 minute card.
f. 5 cent per minute. This calculation does not include texts or web access which are extra.
g. 1500 minute card. This does not include any texts.
h. Two 450 minute cards at 79.99 each and a 120 minute card at 29.99.
i. 10 cents per minute. The offer an unlimited minutes plan for $50.
j. 900 minute monthly plan. They offer an unlimited minutes plan for $50, but it’s only for basic phones (not smartphones.)
k. 1500 minutes with the PayLo pay as you go plan.

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AT&T’s entry into the prepaid wireless industry is their Go Phone plan. The plan is pretty simple and offers basically 2 options, a pay as you go per-minute plan and several unlimited monthly plans. They offer a huge selection of phones ranging from the very basic to some really high end touch screen phones.

Pay As You Go

The per-minute plan is a flat 10 cents per minute. Texts are an additional 20 cents each. AT&T offers an optional unlimited text plan for $19.99 that can be added on top of the flat rate plan.

Monthly Plans

$25 per month, 250 Minutes

The $25 per month plan provides 250 minutes and unlimited text messages. This plan is priced at 10 cents per minute, but is a step up above the pay as you go plan because it offers unlimited text messages. Data is not included on this plan and costs extra.

$50 per month, Unlimited Minutes

The next monthly plan is the $50 unlimited minutes plan. For $50 a month you can get unlimited talk, text, and data.

$2 per day, Unlimited Minutes

AT&T’s daily plan is sort of a hybrid between the monthly plans and the pay as you go plan. Your account gets charged $2 on the days you use your phone. So, for example, if you make 1 call you get charged $2 for the day. If you make 1,000 calls you get charged $2 for the day. Talk and text messages are unlimited, but data costs extra. This plan costs roughly $60 per month, so if you know you’ll use your phone every day, then you would be better off going with the $50 unlimited monthly plan.

Opinion: The one advantage AT&T has over other prepaid plans is their $2 per day plan. If you know beforehand that you are going to use your phone for less than 20 days per month, which works out to a total of $40 a month, then the plan might make sense for you. The $2 a day plan is basically an unlimited minutes plan (unlimited minutes on the days you use it), and the cheapest unlimited monthly plan in the country right now is MetroPCS plan for $40, so if can assure you will use your phone for less than 20 days a month, you will wind up saving money with this plan.

Website: Visit the AT&T website.