Latest Headlines on OCRegister.com
[x] Close
The Gadgetress ~ TV, mobile and Internet: Covering technology's monthly bill
« Previous Post
Next Post »

Best prepaid phone service rankings revealed — what a turnaround!

August 3rd, 2009, 7:53 am · 12 Comments · posted by

J.D. Power and AssociatesA mobile phone without a contract? Ever? If you haven’t looked at the prepaid phone industry lately, you might want to look again. Customers are more satisfied then ever before, plus it’s cheaper. 

According to the latest report from J.D. Power and Associates, the customer-service ratings group, prepaid service has changed from when it targeted credit-challenged customers. Today, a good chunk of new users are refugees of traditional post-paid service.

Results in this year’s survey ranked overall prepaid wireless customer service satisfaction at 750 out of 1,000 points (based on service, reliability, cost and performance of prepaid service — the higher the score, the better). Last year, the industry scored 719 points. Meanwhile, the post-paid industry this year hovered in the high 600s.

mobilephonePrepaid’s overall winner, Net10, earned the highest mark of 10 prepaid carriers — 774 on a 1,000 point scale. But just a few points away at 771 in third place was Irvine’s Boost Mobile, which has been overhauling its mission in order to compete in the crowded market. This is a complete turnaround from last year when Boost was No. 7 and below the industry average. Net10 was nowhere to be found on the J.D. Power 2008 list. 

“NET10 differentiates itself from other companies by simplifying the wireless experience with straightforward pricing, virtually no roaming charges and robust nationwide network coverage,” Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services at J.D. Power and Associates, said in this year’s press release. “Users find they don’t have to worry about restrictive calling areas and can maintain their account without hassle.”

While these two companies have improved, others completely tumbled, including last year’s winner MetroPCS, which landed at the very bottom this year. The company, known for offering generous unlimited plans fumbled on customer service, performance and reliability issues and promotions. Rival cheap carrier Cricket Communications also fell to ninth place, from last year’s perch in third.

JD Power also noted a major trend in the prepaid industry: Prepaid monthly plans with unlimited service, such as unlimited voice or texting. More than 40 percent of these prepaid plans are monthly, compared with less than 30 percent last year, says JD Power. However, those on pay-as-you go plans were more satisfied than those on monthly plans, at 756 vs. 742 points.

Interestingly, the study found that the average pay-as-you-go user is older and most likely retired. Monthly prepaid users looked more like regular wireless users on a contract.

In fact, two-thirds of monthly users said they had switched from a contract plan and they were now saving money. Prepaid monthly users spent $56 a month, compared to $81 for contract users.

But readers want the results, right? Here they are:

Prepaid Co. 2009 rank 2008 rank 2009 rating 2008 rating
Net10 1 n/a 774 n/a
TracFone 2 2 773 739
Boost Mobile 3 6 771 717
Virgin Mobile 4 4 755 732
Alltel 5 7 751 700
T-Mobile to Go 6 5 750 724
Industry average     750 719
Verizon Wireless 7 8 741 693
AT&T GoPhone 8 9 735 689
Cricket 9 3 732 739
MetroPCS 10 1 730 791

Source: J.D. Power and Associates, Prepaid Wireless Ratings, 2009

More on cell-phones:


Check out the Gadgetress Guide to local cell phone services

ADVERTISEMENT

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Reader Comments
Comments are encouraged, but you must follow our User Agreement.
  1. Keep it civil and stay on topic.
  2. No profanity, vulgarity, racial slurs or personal attacks.
  3. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked.

 12 Comments

  • itsme says:
    August 3, 2009 at 9:55 am

    I would have to say that my daughters T-Mobile Prepaid phone is awesome. For only $1.00 a day, she gets unlimited texting, and unlimited online service. Instead of calling people, which is $.15 a minute, she just texts people.

  • kat says:
    August 3, 2009 at 10:51 am

    I really can’t understand why anyone would want to be locked into a contract with there cell phone. If you don’t like the service, the contract is the cell phone company’s way of saying To bad! You signed a contract!
    I’ve had Virgin Mobile for year’s and I love it. not only that if another cell company has better pricing, you can always switch and keep your same
    phone #. Pre paid is the way to go.

  • Margaret says:
    August 3, 2009 at 11:32 am

    I love virgin mobile as well I have a plan I just have to get $30.00 worth every 3 months I am not a cellphone junky sometimes I get way more than that other times i stick with my $30.00 its the perfect plan for me I am very happy with there service and no contracts.

  • Jody Gable says:
    August 3, 2009 at 11:36 am

    Boost is the best

  • [Blocked by CFC] Phoney says:
    August 3, 2009 at 12:31 pm

    GREAT article! I will definitely use this.
    My Verizon contract is looking very precarious right now.
    Right now, I’m past my two-year contract and resisted falling for the “Free every two” gambit to get me to sign up for another contract.
    Since I’m now month-to-month, I can leave at will.

  • Techie714 says:
    August 3, 2009 at 12:38 pm

    AT&T=Worst phone company in U.S. history!

    • Jeff says:
      December 16, 2009 at 2:06 pm

      Agree…Perhaps the biggest rip off, based on personal experience.

      My Verizon pre-paid is not that great. It’s too restrictive, I think it’s because of the plan I chose and the fact that I use it regularly.

      I suggest not to take the “cheaper” prepaid plans because you would end up paying more compared to taking a monthly prepaid.

  • Aaarggle Baarrggle says:
    August 3, 2009 at 9:22 pm

    Like my Net10. Only 10cents a minute. Any higher than that and I don’t like it.
    Had Booost but quit cuz was a lousy 20 cents a minute so it was a dollar for juust five minutes which is hardly any tiime to talk to anybody, plus very costly if you’re waiting on hold. Plus was turned off by their whole Booost marketing ( at 20 cents a minute ‘Where you at?” is about all you got time to say) which seemed to be assuming you were some punk hanging out on a street corner wearing a hoodie – insulting.

  • Tony says:
    August 3, 2009 at 10:37 pm

    I don’t know much about the cell phone industry. In fact, I was relatively late in getting a cell phone. I got my first one about a year ago. I didn’t want to sign my life away so I go a Verizon Wireless prepaid phone. It was terrible. I would get text messages from people trying to contact the person who had the number before me, and it would eat up my minutes. I quit Verizon after about three days of this, and got an AT&T Go Phone. I have been very happy. I’m surprised to see it so low on the list. I wonder what the other companies are offering that make them so much better than AT&T?

  • Jim Smetzer says:
    August 5, 2009 at 6:02 pm

    I’ve been with Tracfone for about 3 years now. Excellent cell phone coverage (in my area they use AT&T’s cell phone towers) and very reasonable if you’re not a cell phone chatter box person. A couple of tricks to using Tracfone. When you buy your phone, be sure to get one that says “double minutes” on the box. When you buy a 60 minute card, you get 120 minutes… etc. Also, watch for promo codes that add additional minutes to your purchase. If you just use your phone occasionally (under 50 minutes/month) you can get away with a cost of about $7.00/mth, 90 minutes/month costs about $10/mth with the double minutes & promo code.
    Tracfone doesn’t have the coolest phones, but my Motorola W376g can make phone calls & text message. It’s a great, basic, easy to use phone.
    Congratulations, Tracfone on #2, and your sister company, Net 10 for #1.

  • JonathanBass says:
    August 14, 2009 at 3:07 pm

    I am with number 2 on the list, Tracfone, but they have been on the top of my list for a few years now. Their coverage makes them stand out from the rest. After that it is the price that is the most important thing for me. When things were really tough couple of months back, I bought a 1year card for a hundred bucks, which was hard to do at the time, but it kept me connected. It worked out to about $8 per month. That is a real bargain! I will definitely stay with them for now.

  • Chris Chan says:
    August 29, 2009 at 6:22 pm

    I’m a Net10 fan. Not having a contract is awesome and paying 10¢ a minute for calls and 5¢ for texts is great but what sealed the deal is 15¢ a minute for international calls. That’s amazing.

SEO Powered by Platinum SEO from Techblissonline