The 4 things that make prepaid providers better than postpaid in 2024

It’s no secret that I’m a strong proponent of prepaid services, and I believe postpaid providers could learn a lot by looking at what some of their prepaid competitors are doing. Of course, I also freely admit that not everyone will find the prepaid experience good enough to meet their needs. The truth is that postpaid services still have benefits that users may not want to give up, including prioritized data, better roaming coverage, phone selection, and perks. Still, there are at least four key aspects where I feel many prepaid networks do things better than the big three.

Some might argue that inflation has driven up prices for the carriers, and when you take that into account, the increase isn’t as bad as it sounds. You could also argue that the prices and value for money aren’t as good because the carrier isn’t holding anything back. You’re getting the best version of their network unless you’re on the most basic starter/welcome plan, and you’re also likely to get better customer service, in-store support, and many other perks.

That’s a somewhat fair point, but at the same time, these carriers have additional revenue streams (like prepaid carriers that buy network access from them in order to operate). If Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T wanted to cut costs, they could afford to do so.

Boost Mobile, for example, technically offers its own postpaid and prepaid services as well, but still undercuts the competition with a starting price of just $25. It also has pretty good prioritization tiers on AT&T and T-Mobile’s network and also has its own satellite towers in some locations.

Every time I open my Verizon bill, I feel like I’m reading a foreign language, trying to decipher what an Admin & Telco Recovery Charge is, or a Fed Universal Service Charge, or any of the other random charges that pop up from time to time.

Even things like family discounts, autopayment discounts, and other special offers can be confusing. For example, when I first added a line to my Verizon account years ago, it took at least a month for the discount to appear. Technically, it’s in the fine print, but I long for a more direct experience.

I recently tested US Mobile, which made a massive overhaul of its plans earlier this year. Although the sudden change caused some controversy for existing customers, there’s a lot of good stuff for new customers. There’s no lock-in contract, no hidden fees, and complete transparency in pricing. Even when I add a phone through a payment plan (powered by Affirm), there are upfront terms about what you’ll pay, for how long, and whether there are any fees like taxes. And even better, there’s no activation fee.

I don’t want to pick on Verizon again, but I recently added a Galaxy S24 to our family plan and had to pay $35 to activate it. I guess you can forgive me for that, but recently I was charged the same fee to reactivate a hotspot I already owned and originally purchased from Verizon. These kinds of unnecessary fees are common with postpaid plans, and while the big three would cite the cost of running the network, it’s clear that many prepaid carriers do just fine without activation fees.

Here, too, prepaid has a big lead. First, let’s take a quick look at the international options from the big three:

As you can see, AT&T is probably the best choice here for international travel – at least if you only want to travel within North America or Latin America. While coverage in Latin America requires a more expensive plan, all AT&T unlimited plans give you free roaming within North America. Verizon and T-Mobile have similar offers, though they have data limits within Canada and Mexico.

Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T used to charge a fortune for roaming outside the US, so it’s good to see most plans include at least basic international options in 2024. That is, at least, until you realize that Google Fi costs a similar amount or less, yet offers much better benefits.

At the low end of the plan, Google Fi’s flexible plan gives you access to international calls, texts and data to over 210 destinations for just $0.20 per minute or $10 per data allowance. There’s also a $20 monthly fee for unlimited talk and texts in the US, with data in the US costing the same as internationally.

Google’s base plan, Simply Unlimited ($50 per month), doesn’t offer the same great prices, but you get free calls, texts, and data when you visit Canada or Mexico. Want an unlimited plan but plan on traveling a lot? Google Fi Unlimited Plus is just $65 per month and gives you unlimited texts and free calls to 50 countries, with $0.20 per minute in all other regions. You also get free data in over 200 countries. The difference between this and the big three’s offerings is staggering.

Although T-Mobile gives you a little more control here than the other major postpaid carriers, all three major carriers require you to call for more things than I find. Need to shut down a line? That’s a call. Need to reactivate a plan on an existing device? You have to call.

While you can add new devices and payment plans online, today’s carriers still do everything they can to make changes that don’t benefit the network cumbersome. You can easily upgrade a plan directly from an app, and while it’s technically possible to downgrade plans, I recently tried to switch my Verizon line back to a cheaper plan, but we had to call and confirm first.

To be fair, the same problem can occur with prepaid carriers, but some are better at it than others. I was able to activate Mint, US Mobile, and Visible without any problems and make any necessary plan changes, but again, not all carriers are that easy to do.