You can save money by purchasing a pre-paid cellular phone.

Pre-paid and pay-as-you-go cellular phone plans allow you to buy time as you need it. Minutes are usually purchased via a voucher card that is worth so many minutes. You simply activate the minutes when you need them.

You may have already looked at a pre-paid plan. You will notice that you aren't saving per minute. In fact, pay-as-you-go plans cost you more per minute. The plans are ideal for emergency use, for those who don't make hardly any calls per months and for teenagers and children.

With a pre-paid plan, you aren't locked into a typical cell phone contract that lasts two years. You are free to stop purchasing minutes at any time. The main advantage to pre-paid cells is that you can't go over your minutes and run up several hundred of dollars without knowing it. Your phone won't use more minutes than you have dollars.

In general, this is what makes pre-paid cell phones ideal for teens and pre-teens. It seems as if you are old enough to talk on a phone, you have your own cell phone. With a pre-paid plan, you know exactly how many minutes your children are using. Some cell phone companies offer phones for children that only dial three or four numbers that you preset. This also helps to eliminate a large cellular phone bill out of the blue.

Most pre-paid plans will cost you from $10 for 30 minutes to $80 for 400 minutes, depending on the company. Minutes often expire after one month to a year, so make sure you know how long your minutes are good before you start saving them up.

Pre-paid plans usually come with the basics of call waiting, voice mail and national long distance. There may be restrictions to calling within certain areas or other restrictions. Make sure you read the fine print thoroughly.

You know, with pre-paid cell phone plans, no one should have to ask you to put them on your account. They are a great option for your children, or for those who rarely ever use a cell phone.

Compare the price of the pre-paid service minutes with a regular cell phone package. You might find that one is absolutely cheaper than the other. But make sure you look at all the details before you make your decision.

Yes, a pre-paid plan costs you more per minute. But it keeps you from going over your plan and having $.40 a minute tacked onto your calls. For example, if you pay $80 for 400 minutes, you are basically paying twenty cents per minute. You could purchase a cellular contract plan for around $39.99 for 400 minutes. That equals around ten cents per minute.

But if you were to go over your contract minutes, you will most likely have to start paying $.40 per minute on all calls over your plan. You would only have to go over by 100 minutes to break even with the pre-paid plan. With the pre-paid plan, you can't go over.

With a pre-paid phone, you may be paying more per minute, but you have a control set in place that prevents you from spending more than you budget for your cellular phone.