In this article I will explain why prepaid cell phone services are gaining in popularity and which one offers the best value. Prior to this discussion, it’s important to clarify that prepaid phone services are also known as no-contract cell phone services. Another point important point, the opposite of prepaid cell phone services are contracted cell phone services.

Prepaid cell phone services are growing market share for one reason. On average, they cost less than the contract variety, often fifty dollars less or more per month.

The big four wireless carriers, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile, all sell prepaid cell phone services, also known as no-contract cell phone services. However, make no mistake about it, the big carriers would greatly prefer to sell you a heavily discounted cell phone in return for a two year contract. Since the average monthly cost with a contracted phone with unlimited, text and internet is well over $100, the big four make big money over the span of your two contract. In addition, with the big wireless carriers you pay about 25% in state and local taxes which is ridiculous. By contrast, under a prepaid cell phone services plan, also known as a no contract plan, you will only pay your state's sales tax.

Here's another decptive pricing game big wireless is running with their friends and family plans. Buy an individual plan and pay less per minute; but buy a friends and family plan and pay more per minute. This makes no sense and it's deceptive.

To grow their contracted business, the big wireless carriers spend over $6 million a day on TV and print advertising. By contrast, the no contract carriers spend almost nothing in advertising which is why most cell phone customers have not heard of the three prepaid cell phone service carriers reviewed below.

There are a number of prepaid cell phone services carriers. The four I will touch on are Lightyear Wireless, Metro PCS and Cricket. Each requires you to purchase one of their phones prior to activating service. Here a quick review of each:

· Cricket: Poor customer service and even worse coverage. Poor customer service. Avoid this carrier.

· Metro PCS: Competes with a teaser price. Be careful, if you’re looking for more minutes or internet speed better than 1G, which is super slow, you will need to pay more than the teaser price. Metro PCS coverage, although better than Cricket’s still is not very good. Poor customer service.

· Lightyear Wireless: offers a quality national plan, good customer service with an 800 line and unlimited talk, text and internet (with no data caps or slow downs) with no contract for $59.99 per month. Lightyear offers a number of phones, some as inexpensive as $50-$100. In addition, as a prepaid cell phone services plan, the only tax you pay is your state's sales tax.

Lightyear has another incentive called, You Plus Five. With You Plus Five , when you refer five or more people to Lightyear that sign up, your monthly bill is zero. As long as you maintain at least five referrals your service remains intact with no charges. Lightyear also allows your current cell phone number to be ported (transferred) over to your new Lightyear phone.

Although there are other prepaid cell services available, Lightyear, Metro PCS and Cricket account for over 80% of the prepaid cell phone services carriers. The key to finding a prepaid plan your happy with is to do your homework. Too many people just seem to accept that big wireless is the only answer. It's not. There are other options that can make a real difference in helping you reduce your monthly cell phone bill.