Americans have some of the worst cell-phone plans in the world. In other developed countries, such as Japan on South Korea, cell-phone customers have zero contracts to deal with, have much higher quality phones with better features and get better prices on their monthly service. Cell-phone customers overseas get much better deals because there’s a lot more competition for customers, so the companies are forced to provide much better service. Now, there are cell-phone companies that are offering similar high-quality service in hopes of undercutting their competitors.
Two companies are leading the way in offering affordable, unlimited-talk plans. Both MetroPCS and Cricket offer unlimited calling and unlimited text messaging for approximately $45.00 per month. They have coverage in most major cities, however if you live in a more rural area, you’re probably out of luck. Both of the $45.00 plans offered by MetroPCS and Cricket offer unlimited calling, unlimited long distance, unlimited text and picture messaging, caller ID services, call waiting, and voice mail.
These services do have some downsides though. If you travel outside of one of their coverage zones (which are pretty much anywhere out of a major city), you’ll end up getting hit with a 50-70 cents per minute fee for each of your phone calls, so if you do a lot of traveling, these plans are definitely not for you. They do allow unlimited texting in these areas though.
Some of the phones that these services have are also somewhat limited. You’ll find a good mix of standard Nokia, Samsung, Kyocera and Motorola phones. If you’re looking for a smart-phone of any sort, whether it’s a Blackberry, a Palm, an iPhone, or whatever, you’re going to be out of luck. If you’re not looking for anything too fancy, you’ll be fine with a Motorola V3s which is available at both companies.
A benefit of both of these services is that they offer unlimited data access. Cricket even sells a specific USB broadband modem that will connect to their service and give you 3G internet access to your laptop anywhere you go. Otherwise you can use the tethering features on the phones that support them to provide web-access to your desktop or laptop.
These services have some drawbacks in their coverage areas and the phones that they offer, but if you don’t travel a lot, the price sure is nice. Most of the big cell-phone companies are charging $90+ per month for their unlimited plans, $45.00 sounds quite a bit more appealing.
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1 users resposed " How to Get An Unlimited Calling & Data Cell-Phone Plan for $45.00 Per Month "
February 23 2009
I don’t think that the lower price outweighs the loss of calling ability outside of large metro areas. Plans like this might work for someone who lives and works in a large city, but for the majority of people these plans are frustrating because the company hasn’t built their network up enough to be able to use it nationwide – in a sense you get what you pay for. When these plans at these prices are available nation-wide, then they will be worth it.
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