The competition is increasing for cell phone providers that only offer contracted plans.  Cell phone users have long complained of the penalties and fees associated with early termination of contracts.  Terminate a contract early, and the fees could be over $100.  Terminate a Smartphone contract early, and the fees are even higher.  Providers say that it is because it takes longer to recoup their costs.  Consumers, however, really don’t care whether their reasoning makes sense or not.  This has opened up the industry to a wave of new providers.  The new cell phone providers offer no contracts and no early termination fees while giving users unlimited minutes all at prices far below the main carriers.  However, there is another type of competitor that has succeeded in many foreign markets.  This competitor is known as the pre-paid cell phone.  Don’t be too hasty to over look the benefits of Prepaid Cell Phones.

When compared side by side, Prepaid Cell Phones offer many advantages.  First, subscribers only pay for minutes used.  Some contracted plans offer the opportunity to rollover unused minutes.  This is a kind gesture but if they are not used the following month then they roll again.  It is a never ending cycle.  Even with rollover plans the minutes have been paid for upfront.  Second, using a pre-paid phone helps curb spending and may help keep within an established budget.  They also provide inexpensive peace of mind by giving a loved one a chance to reach authorities in the case of an accident while traveling.

In terms of price, it may seem like they will cost more because they have a higher price per minute than the contracted plans.  This may be the case for those who require a large volume of minutes each month to conduct business or keep in touch with an extensive network of friends and family.  However, reasonably priced plans that offer less minutes are harder to find.  Going forward, they may be harder to find as companies continue to wage the war of offering more minutes for a lower price.  If you don’t talk more than 400 minutes per month, pre-paid phone plans will likely save you money.  Sure you can continue with traditional, contracted plans but then you would be giving your money away.  How much fun is that?

Everyone has been in the situation of receiving a mysterious phone call that peaks your curiosity.  This usually starts when caller identification feature shows a number that you have never seen before.  Usually, the phone didn’t associate a caller name with the number, either.  But they keep calling back and you keep letting it go to voicemail.  Uninterested, you think to yourself, “If this were a friend or someone who knows me then they would leave a message.  It is probably just  solicitor.”  In some cases, you would be correct,and it probably is just a solicitor.  But if you really want to find out who is calling you repeatedly, then you can use Reverse Look Up On AnyWho to try to find out who is calling.

The Reverse Look Up On AnyWho service, offered by the website www.anywho.com, offers to find people by searching for their phone number only.  You simply type in the phone number in question, and the search field returns whatever information is known.  Sometimes, it will answer your question; other times, it will not. Yet, the search feature is not limited to phone numbers only.  You can look up people by addresses as well.  For example, this can be helpful if you are driving by a home that is for sale by owner, but the phone number was faded and not legible on the sign.  Assuming you saw their address on the mailbox, you could then search the phone records by address, and hopefully locate a phone number and contact person that you could call about your interest in the home.

The Reverse Look Up On AnyWho feature can be helpful when you need to find the person associated with a particular email or a cell phone number.  Some services charge a fee for information that wouldn’t normally be found in the white pages.   Others have waived the fee in order to draw more users.  Although reverse look up on anywho by AT & T is free of charge, cell phone numbers are not available, nor can they be used to find people.  However, AnyWho can help you find both businesses and individuals with only a land line number.