| A weak economy convinced more people to | | | | Bluetooth capability. |
| switch or consider switching to prepaid or | | | | QWERTY Keyboards |
| no-contract cell phone plans in 2009. This new | | | | Those who preferred texting to calling were |
| group of users was accustomed to using more | | | | cheered by the introduction of phones with |
| minutes and doing more than just talking and | | | | QWERTY keyboards by all the major prepaid cell |
| texting. Companies responded by offering | | | | phone providers. Unlimited texting packages also |
| unlimited plans and offering better phones. Not | | | | made their appearance even as concerns grew |
| everything got better however, as customer | | | | that people were not only texting too much but |
| service issues remained the number one | | | | doing it at inopportune times such as when |
| complaint. In addition, as prepaid cell phones | | | | operating heavy machinery like their cars. |
| became more popular, cell phone companies with | | | | Enter Straight Talk |
| standard plans raised their termination fees to try | | | | Toward the end of the year, Tracfone brought |
| and lock in their customers and profits. | | | | out the Straight Talk plan based on Verizon's |
| Better, Cheaper Unlimited Plans | | | | network. Unlimited calling was lowered to $45 per |
| In 2009, Cricket and MetroPCS continued to have | | | | month while a cheaper plan which offered one |
| success in their local markets with their various | | | | thousand minutes and messages was available for |
| no-contract plans. These plans offered unlimited | | | | $30. Towards the end of 2009, Straight Talk |
| calling in limited areas. Seeing the potential, | | | | even brought out the Samsung Finesse, a smart |
| AT&T, Boost Mobile, and T-Mobile, and | | | | phone capable of running widgets - small |
| Verizon added unlimited calling to their prepaid and | | | | downloadable applications, though the extent of |
| no-contract plans. Even Net10 got into the act | | | | the planned offerings was unclear. |
| with an unlimited plan while coming out on top in a | | | | What didn't get better? |
| J.D. Power prepaid cell phone survey. | | | | Customer Service |
| Fancier Phones | | | | Complaints about customer service remained the |
| In addition to better plans, came better phones. | | | | number one complaint about prepaid cell phone |
| Though standard contract plans continued to offer | | | | companies. Calls to outsourced customer support |
| a greater selection of high-end handsets, prepaid | | | | call centers continued to be a badly-scripted play |
| cell phones took a big leap forward with better | | | | as well meaning service representatives with little |
| cameras, mp3 music players, Bluetooth | | | | authority tried their hardest to please frustrated |
| compatibility and QWERTY keyboards. | | | | customers. One exception to this trend was |
| Better Cameras | | | | Great Call's no-contract service targeted at older |
| Prepaid phones came with improved cameras, | | | | adults, Jitterbug, which retained U.S. based |
| with resolutions of 1.3 to 2 megapixels. In addition | | | | customer support. Luckily, the phones usually |
| to better resolution, more of these phones also | | | | worked fine. |
| offered on-board image editing and even basic | | | | What to Expect in 2010 |
| video capability. | | | | Prepaid cell phones will continue to get better, but |
| MP3 Music Players | | | | termination fees for contract plans will probably |
| More prepaid cell phones came with MP3 music | | | | continue to go up. It will be interesting to see if |
| players and a memory card slot to hold all that | | | | the improving economy will tempt people back |
| music. And to be able to actually listen to the | | | | into long term contracts or will they be too busy |
| music, more and more phones had stereo | | | | paying off their debts. |