Unlimited Texting Plans

Text, Picture and Video Messages with your Prepaid Plan

Unlimited texting plans have gained in popularity. You may have realized you don’t make that many voice calls on your cell phone, but you can often have extended text message conversations. This has affected prepaid cell phone users even more because of the fixed charges per text message sent and received. One reader of this site who uses a Tracfone complained about using up almost 30 minutes a day just from various text message conversations.

While some people may complain that these text messages don’t cost the phone companies anything, they’re too lucrative for them to just give up the income. Instead what some phone companies have come around to doing are creating unlimited texting packages where you pay a set monthly fee to send and receive as many text messages as you wish. These plans can be used in conjunction with their regular prepaid or no-contract plans and will save you money as you send and receive as many text, picture and video messages as you want.

Verizon $10 and $20 Packages

Verizon gives you two option for unlimited texting with their prepaid daily plans. For $10 a month you get unlimited texting to other Verizon customers plus 250 additional text messages. This is a good option if your family and most of your friends are on Verizon.

Otherwise, for $20 a month you get unlimited texting to anyone within the US.

AT&T Gophone Texting Plan $19.99

You can add an unlimited texting package to your 10 cent per minute plan for $19.99 per month. This will be slightly cheaper than the $2 per day if you text or call every day. AT&T wants you to get a monthly unlimited plan or their $2 plan where you can talk and text as much as you want for $2 for every day you use your phone.  The Simple Pay as You Go plan that charges 10 cents per minutes for voice calls. Text messages under the Simple plan are quite exorbitant however at 20 cents each to send and receive. That where the package comes on. For $19.99 a month, you can get send and receive all the texts you want. This unlimited texting package which includes domestic picture,video,sound and instant messages can be used with a prepaid GoPhone.

Note that the least expensive monthly plan is only $25 per month, so this messaging package is not really that big a savings.

Virgin Mobile $20

Virgin Mobile now has a $20 plan called the "WiFi Lovers Delight" that includes 300 voice minutes, unlimited text messages, and no data (you have to use WiFi).

The one advantage here is that they have a good selection of affordable phones.

T-Mobile Texting Plan $15

I can't find mention of a texting plan anymore on their site for prepaid phones. However, the cheapest plan that includes unlimited texting is the $30 plan that comes with 100 voice minutes, unlimited text and up to 5GB of high-speed data - could be a good choice for a smartphone user on a budget.

You need to activate this plan Walmart or online, but you get free shipping on phones and devices.

PTel Unlimited Talk and Text $20

PTel had an Unlimited Talk & Text for only $20 per month. The good thing about this company was that you could activate smart phones on their inexpensive plans as long as you were willing to forgo the data.

Kajeet Texting Plans

$14.99 Texting Plan

Finally, for the youngsters there’s yet another option that includes some additional perks. I’m talking about the Kajeet cell phones for kids. As an adult you may have noticed that some people almost never make voice calls. They only text. Kajeet has a basic $14.99 a month plan that gives you 60 voice minutes plus unlimited text messaging (does not include picture messages). The additional perks include award-winning parental controls as well as an optional GPS locator service for an additional $7.99 a month (included in the other plans).

$19.99 Messaging Plan

The unlimited messaging plan costs 19.99 but includes unlimited picture messages and gives you 150 voice minutes per month.

Republic Wireless Talk and Text $10 per month

Republic Wireless $10 per month plan includes unlimited talk and text, but no data unless WiFi is available. The have a limited selection of Motorola phones especially modified for their technology.

Which one to Get?

Of course, if you've already got a prepaid plan, you may want to stick with that provider's unlimited texting plan. However, if you're open then you have some pretty good options. If you want the best network, you probably want to go with Verizon or AT&T. If you want the lowest price you should consider Republic Wireless or PTel. Finally if you want some extra features like parental controls and GPS locator, you should try out the Kajeet plan.