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Anyone use PrePaid Carriers?

I don't know what exactly you want to know, but I have always used prepaid. I was with Virgin Mobile for a while and they were pretty good, but their speeds just weren't that great where I am. And I switched to T-mobile prepaid a few months ago and have a MyTouch 4G Slide and so far my experiences have been good. Can't complain about 4g and no contract.
 
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I have used prepaid carriers for several years. The two I used for the longest are Simple Mobile, and Straight Talk.

1. Simple Mobile: uses T-Mobiles network, great data speeds and pretty decent coverage. You can get unlimited everything with 3G ($40) or unlimited everything with 4G HSPA+ ($60). You can buy a SIM and use it in any unlocked phone that uses T-Mobile frequencies.

2. Straight Talk: uses both T-Mobiles and AT&Ts network, depending on the device you use. Unlimited everything with 3G is $45 a month.

I've enjoyed both carriers, but I definitely prefer Simple Mobile. (Because I prefer T-Mobiles network in my area.)
 
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I have used Cricket in the past for years, and as soon as my contract expires with Tmobile, I am going back. The reason I switched to Tmobile was to get a cutting edge phone when it came out. Now Cricket has some fairly decent phones, plus you can get alot of high end phones flashed to them. The plans were super cheap, and the coverage in my area is actually better with Cricket than it is with tmobile. I also took my Cricket phone from Arizona to Pennsylvania, and has coverage almost everywhere (except for my friends dining room, but it worked fine every where else in her house lol). My only gripe was the customer service, you are pretty much on your own if you have a problem, although I did find insurance claims to be relatively painless. I can't wait to get back to Cricket.
 
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Yeah I went to a T-Mobile store yesterday and they said it does
Cool then. I've had the chance to try T-Mobile's HSPA (with Samsung Galaxy S 4G) and it's very fast. I got upwards of 6Mbps at home which is better than most DSL subscriptions. Unfortunately, I barely get any signal where I really need it (at my workplace) and if I do, it's only GPRS/EDGE.
 
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I've nearly always used pre-paid carriers, 3 in the UK, China Mobile and China Telecom here. China Mobile for my phone and China Telecom for 3G internet with my laptop. Experience has usually been very good, except when roaming in another province and long distance, can get a bit pricey when doing this, local calls cost almost next to nothing.
 
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Anyone on here use PrePaid carriers? If you do, please share your experiences.

Experiences? Freedom to not be jerked around by terrible customer services, freedom to not incur hidden charges, freedom to not have debt collectors chasing you & threatening with legal action, possibly lose credit rating, freedom to not be bullied into things like insurance,* longer term contracts etc, freedom to not be tied to a network even if you can't get a signal, etc etc etc.

People get lulled in by the free handset, but more & more 'flagship' handsets (iphone?) expect you to pay for it too. It's getting like buying a house FFS! Honestly, I think most people who go contract are mugs. Ok there are exceptions, like business people or those who talk too much, but some people just like to feel important (imo) so they give their souls to the devil.

Honestly, you are still paying for calls, pre-pay ops have decent unlimited tariffs for data & texts, & branded handsets are cheaper than sim-free because they are locked to the network. But you can fix that yourself.

*People get overcharged for insurance when mostly they don't need it. I think the best insurance is to look after it yourself. Overall my time on contracts were hell, always scrutinizing my bill incase I went over, couldn't wait for the end. The best policy is to buy unbranded, sim-free phone & look after it. Get a case for it 'cos you will drop it at some point.
 
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Experiences? Freedom to not be jerked around by terrible customer services, freedom to not incur hidden charges, freedom to not have debt collectors chasing you & threatening with legal action, possibly lose credit rating, freedom to not be bullied into things like insurance,* longer term contracts etc, freedom to not be tied to a network even if you can't get a signal, etc etc etc.

*People get overcharged for insurance when mostly they don't need it.

I agree!
 
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People get lulled in by the free handset, but more & more 'flagship' handsets (iphone?) expect you to pay for it too. It's getting like buying a house FFS! Honestly, I think most people who go contract are mugs. Ok there are exceptions, like business people or those who talk too much, but some people just like to feel important (imo) so they give their souls to the devil.

Honestly, you are still paying for calls, pre-pay ops have decent unlimited tariffs for data & texts, & branded handsets are cheaper than sim-free because they are locked to the network. But you can fix that yourself.
That may be the case in the UK but the options in the US are fairly limited. Practically the only national carrier offering decent prepaid plans is T-Mobile. If you require good coverage, that usually means either Verizon or AT&T and yes, you pay through the nose with those two.

I realize a lot of people probably choose carriers based on what handsets they could get for "free". However, in the end, what you're paying the carrier for is service and a $50 unlimited voice/text/data plan (that's actually considered inexpensive in the US, go figure) is useless if you don't have signal.
 
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