Prepaid Cell Phones
With prepaid cell phones you buy your minutes before you actually use them. Basically, you buy credit to use a provider’s network so you can avoid a contract and the recurring bills that come with a contract plan. They are often referred to as a “pay-as-you-go” plans.
With most wireless service providers, you can add credit, or minutes and service time, to your prepaid phone account at any time. This can usually be done by purchasing a prepaid card in a retail store, adding minutes online or using your credit card to buy the additional credit directly through your cell phone provider. In most cases you buy an allotment of minutes that has a service date that expires. If you don’t buy more minutes before this date you will lose any remaining minutes and your account will lapse, but with most service providers if you add more minutes your unused minutes will carryover.