prepaid vs. contract

We to use prepaid cell phones. That way we don't pay a deposit and are one day late on a payment, then have to forfeit that money. The prepaid is better for us because we don't call everyone we know every day and most of them are available for when our free time on the prepaid kicks in.

Are you a foreigner in the country? In my country, only foreigners need to pay a deposit ofo $300-$500 when they apply for a contract phone as the contract enables them to get free phones or very expensive phones at cheap prices as a premium. This is because many foreigners have cheated these telcos in the past. They signed up for a contract to get an expensive phone at a cheap price and run off back to their country to sell it for a high profit. Of course it is hard for telcos to chase or nab these people if they flee overseas. If you're not a foreigner, then I guess it must be the practice of the telcos in your country as an insurance against people not paying their bills and them losing money as a result of subsidizing your phone. Well, contract or not depends on how much you use. If by getting a contract, you can use the same amount of talktime or sms as $50-$60 prepaid but you can pay cheaper due to the bundled talktime and smses, then by all means go ahead and get the contract (since you save quite a lot of money over time) if you do not think you will face any problems paying off your phone bills in future, so as not to forfeit your $300-$500. The one thing good and safe about prepaid is you use what you have paid so you wont go into debt by using too much or worry about high phone bills chalked up by whoever who picks up your phone if you dropped it or stole the phone from you. Just my 2 cents.

I couldn't justify to myself the expense of a contract phone..Having to pay line rental each month plus a call/text/media package averaging £25-£35 a month? I don't need a phone that much.. I use a prepay service that I only need to top up £10 a Month...that's enough for my needs.Mostly,I'm carrying some balance over to the next month.I only got stung once by it on a trip to the US Last April,when my flight was delayed by weather in NY waiting on the leg of my trip to DC..contacting my family with updates on my delay was racking up my roaming call costs..

That is weird...I have a contract phone, but I don't remember having to pay a deposit...Its just when you terminate the contract immaturely, you will have to pay for the termination cost etc.. I think it depends on where you are from and what sort of service provider is available... Some contracts are better as they may offer free incoming call or cheaper dial rates...And you don't have to worry about topping up the amount when it runs out...Like I said, it depends.. For your case, I would go for prepaid instead since I won't want to pay the deposit either...