Prepaid mobile plans have evolved from only being great for scant use to becoming an actual alternative to one or two year contracts. Once only reserved to no-name companies offering cheap deals for sometimes subpar service, now most major carriers offer prepaid mobile plans. They may offer them specifically through their brand like Verizon does, or they may offer them through their offshoot companies. For instance, T-Mobile has MetroPCS and GoSmart, Sprint powers Virgin and Boost Mobile, and now AT&T has an innovative new program by the name of Aio Wireless.

Out of the many carriers, a few stand out for varied reasons. One of the newcomers, Aio Wireless, prides itself on outstanding customer service, flexibility and the use of the latest gadgets to provide nationwide coverage with straightforward plans. They certainly deserve kudos for enlisting the talents of local artist ambassadors to enhance their community connection.

The Sprint-powered Kajeet stands out for its concentration on children safety. Kajeet offers an Internet filter, online parental controls that allows parents the ability to monitor who their child talks to and how much money can can’t be spent on the smartphones.

FreedomPop is pretty special for the simple fact that it is actually free. The only phone available for FreedomPop is the more-than-tolerable HTC Evo 4G for $99, but the service only offers 200 voice minutes, 500 texts and 500MB before you have to pay for their pretty affordable upgrade plans. The phone quality can get grainy and they don’t have MMS capabilities, but its affordability definitely gives it an edge if that’s what you need.

Check out the choices today if a no-contract mobile plan is in your sights hearing distance.

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