Prepaid cell phones have always had the stigma of being more expensive options for people who cannot pass a credit check, or who otherwise cannot afford a postpaid cell phone. While this notion certainly persists in the mainstream, many consumers are finding that pay as you go cell phones [http://www.prepaidreviews.com/] simply provide a more economical alternative to the postpaid cellular world.

Beyond requiring a contract and a credit check, postpaid cellular has the further problem of being rather expensive. On most carriers, the cheapest plans run around $40 per month. For many subscribers, facing an economic crunch, this becomes unaffordable. Yet cell phones have become an integral part of our lives. Over 250 million Americans have cell phones, and that number does not figure to decrease. So how can individuals and families afford the service in the future?

While prepaid wireless does often charge a higher per-minute rate than the average contract plan, they have the advantage of lessening waste. When you sign up for a contract plan, typically you will be given a bundle of minutes each month. WIth most companies, any unused minutes will be lost at the end of the month. If, for instance, you pay $40 per month for 450 minutes, but only use 200 of those minutes, you're essentially paying 20 cents per minute. You can easily find a prepaid carrier offering minutes for a better rate.

Another advantage of prepaid is the ability to walk away. This takes a level of power away from major carriers and places it with the consumer. With a contract plan, you cannot leave until your term expires, or else have to pay an early termination fee. With some companies, this fee can be over $200 per line, though most carriers have taken up the practice of prorating their early termination fees -- that is, lessening the charge with each month of paid service. So if you cancel after two months, it will be more expensive than if you canceled after 20 months.

Customers can walk away because they're being mistreated, because rates have been raised, or because they simply cannot afford the service. This is a clean break, though the consumer then has the option of restarting the service if they so choose. This is not an easy option to maneuver with postpaid carriers. With prepaid carriers like TracFone, though, they'll welcome you back with open arms, and will again forgive you if you have to cancel service.

The only economic downside is that prepaid handsets typically aren't free. Postpaid services can subsidize the cost of a phone, since they will recoup the money by selling you minutes with a contract. With prepaid, though, the carrier has no guarantee that you will stay around. So they can't give you a discount on the phone, since it could become a total loss for them. Most carriers, however, offer a selection of older models and refurbished phones which can easily fall into the price range of a budget-minded customer.

Plenty of misconceptions about prepaid still persist. Yet the industry is primed for an influx of customers from postpaid carriers. When economic times become tough, you want to reduce charges any way you can. With prepaid, that can be a lot easier a task than with a postpaid contract cell phone plan.