Most Popular. Top Accessory Brands. Important Consumer Information. Follow Verizon. Follow Verizon Fios. Boost Mobile. Cricket Wireless. Metro by T-Mobile. Straight Talk Wireless. T-Mobile prepaid. Total Wireless. Cellular prepaid. Rated best for frequent talkers, based on low minute rate, by WirelessGuide. Maybe you'd like to use a prepaid cell phone for calls to or from other countries. Go to the next page to learn more about international prepaid cell phones. How prepaid users buy additional minutes: 36 percent buy a card at a local retailer and 36 percent buy through the provider's Web site.
Making international calls from your prepaid cell phone may be easy -- if you're calling from the United States and your prepaid plan offers an international option. If you plan to make calls from another country, however, you probably want to consider other options, like an international prepaid cell phone. Let's say you're calling from within the United States, using a Virgin Mobile prepaid phone as an example.
For some countries -- like Canada, Puerto Rico or Jamaica -- you don't even need to dial Virgin Mobile charges the international per-minute rate for the country you're calling plus your standard airtime rate. There's no additional international charge for calls to Puerto Rico or the U. Virgin Islands. If you're calling from another country, however, you're likely to have a problem with your phone's compatibility with local networks.
Cell phone networks in the United States use several different technologies to transmit information. Cell phone users in those countries can buy one phone and simply switch to a different SIM card for phone access in each country.
But unless you have the phone unlocked to work with other cell phone providers, you'll probably have to pay your company's international roaming rates.
Your service probably won't give you the code to unlock the phone, but several Web sites offer unlock codes for free or a small fee. SIM cards for various countries are available from Web sites such as Telestial. If you're going to be spending an extended time in a country, another option is to buy a prepaid cell phone once you arrive. In almost every country, you get unlimited incoming calls for free.
For lots more information on prepaid cell phones and related topics, see the helpful links on the next page. Sign up for our Newsletter! Mobile Newsletter banner close. Mobile Newsletter chat close. Mobile Newsletter chat dots. Mobile Newsletter chat avatar. Mobile Newsletter chat subscribe. Cell Phones. How Prepaid Cell Phones Work. Prepaid cell phones are a great way to monitor teens' phone usage.
Who Uses Prepaid Cell Phones? Read More. Advantages of Prepaid Cell Phones " ". Parents of teenagers. If you don't have any minutes left, you can't make calls or send text messages, although you can still call for emergencies and, with some phones, receive messages stored until you have the minutes to view them.
Parents can buy a cheap cell phone for a teen and a card per month for a set number of minutes, leaving the teen to budget use and pay for additional minutes.
Occasional cell phone users. If you only use a cell phone for emergencies and perhaps a few calls a week, you don't need a fancy phone or a complicated billing plan. A prepaid phone may work well, but make sure you know about any time limit on unused minutes. Short-term users. Buy it, use it on vacation or while your regular cell phone is missing or broken -- and then throw it away.
Trial users. Generally, the larger your payments, the greater the amount of time before the expiration date. Larger payments purchase minutes that are good for longer than this. One way to add time and minutes is by paying your monthly access fee. If you fail to pay your access fee before it expires, you lose your phone service and may lose your phone number as well.
If, however, you use all your monthly minutes before the month is up, you may add more money to your account, which allows you to pay for additional time by minute.
You may add money to your account by paying with a debit or credit card online or by purchasing refill cards at licensed retailers. In addition to the common monthly plans, Verizon also offers daily prepaid services.
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