Net 10 and similar... what's the catch?

Is there one? These cheap, no contract, unlimited everything phone services seem like an amazing deal, but there's got to be a catch. I know they use other carriers' cell towers, so I feel like if they became popular enough the big carriers would lose enough business to make it unfeasible to maintain said towers, which of course would lead to the now cheap services buying those towers and upping their prices to pay for maintenance. But aside from the potential long term effects, is there anything that should be stopping me from switching? Does anyone here have relevant experience to share?

If you don't use the phone a lot, Net 10 or in my case Tracfone is a great plan. I just renewed my wife's service, new phone,(free transfer for phone number) full qwerty keyboard, 15 months service, free wi-fi, 1400 minutes regular phone. 1/3 minute text. Our service is through AT&T which is the best in our area. YMMV... She gets a signal where others can't. It ends up costing around $5.00 a month. I've been a customer for 5 years and no complaints. My son uses Net 10 and his cost is comparable. You really need to shop around though to get this price or it could easily cost you double or more. I take it on as a challenge to get the best package deal.

The catch is they don't subsidize the phones so you are paying more for the phone or getting an older/cheaper model. The big carriers subsidize $300 or more of the phone and then charge you an extra $20-$30 per month. If you don't mind paying more for your phone or having an older phone then you can save alot of money.

True all but the main thing is the cell phone world is deregulated. So the company's like net 10 own no actual cell tower if they do it is a few . So there overhead is low compared to company's like Verizon . But if there is a issue with net ten coverage you have good luck they themselves have no control over that as would Verizon. Also if the tower u just so happen to be use ing at any time gets to crowed you are one of the first to be booted off the the nearest tower with open bandwidth

Probably good points depending on where you live, I can only speak from my area. I've never in 5 years lost a connection, and had people borrow my phone to make a call in areas they didn't have service.

Good points, all and thanks for the quick responses. I don't know about the other no contract services, but while Net 10 doesn't subsidize phone prices they do allow you to bring your own phone, which is fine by me because I love my Galaxy S3. The point about being the first to get booted off busy cell towers kind of concerns me, but to take my cell phone bill for me and SWMBO from ~$160 to $90 would be so awesome I might be willing to deal with it. I'll do a little more research and see what I can see.

nukebrewer said:

Good points, all and thanks for the quick responses. I don't know about the other no contract services, but while Net 10 doesn't subsidize phone prices they do allow you to bring your own phone, which is fine by me because I love my Galaxy S3. The point about being the first to get booted off busy cell towers kind of concerns me, but to take my cell phone bill for me and SWMBO from ~$160 to $90 would be so awesome I might be willing to deal with it. I'll do a little more research and see what I can see.

Click to expand...

Not so sure about net 10, I know that Tracfone only has a few phones available in a given area. The SIM card is different and specific to Tracfone. But if you pay $160 and think $90 a month is cheap for two phones I am on the wrong thread.