What is a Hybrid Cell Phone Plan ?

Cell phones have become the talk of the day. With more and more players entering the fray the options of getting more talk time for a lesser value of money is also increasing.

In general there are two types of plans
1. Prepaid plan (pay as you go plans)
2. Post-paid plans (standard plans)
In Prepaid you pay for the services provided by the service provider in advance to get a SIM card and you get a number .As and when the talk time diminishes we can refill the card and use it. In Post paid plans they are like the normal phones where you pay a monthly bill for the usage which includes rentals, talk time etc. There is also a third genre of cell phone plans called the HYBRID plan. This plan is basically designed for those types of customers who don’t normally fit in both the above-mentioned plans. They want the combined facilities of both the plans so they opt for this plan, which gives the advantage of both the plans.

In this type of plan you don’t need to enter a contract or have a credit check etc it is very similar like your prepaid plan where you pay for use. But here you need to pay an initial pay off to purchase the plans minutes. This comes to around USD 30 –40. This type of monthly payment makes it look similar to post paid but we get more talk time per dollar as compared to prepaid and less talk time as compared to post-paid.

One more method by which we can get more talk time or reduce the cost of minutes is by purchasing a year worth of time at one shot e.g. you can opt to purchase talk time worth USD 330 and get 3000minutes for one year. The talk time lasts for one full year or till you have exhausted the last minute. If the minutes run out then the phone becomes inoperative i.e. there is no outgoing or incoming calls till you have recharged the account.

Some service providers immediately disable your phone thus making you lose your number. In contrast there are some who give a grace period for you to recharge your account so that you don’t lose your number but your phone number and account information is frozen. Still others automatically renew the account by debiting your credit or debit card. The customer then can add more minutes by adding more money to the account if minutes run out in-between the billing cycle.

Or the customer can stop using his phone and need not recharge his account till the next billing cycle if his minutes run out in between the billing cycle. The last option is best suited for parents who want to provide a mobile to their children but want to remain in control of the monetary aspect. The basic advantage of this plan is that they may offer reduced or free nighttime or weekend minute similar to standard plans but these are not there in prepaid or pay as you go plans. Concessions may be given on mobile-to-mobile minutes. And the coverage area also can be greater than the prepaid.

Unlike standard plans were phones are given for free or at a reduced rate wherein requiring a deposit and to subsidize the loss by mandatory long-term contracts and early termination penalties, the hybrid plan dose not need a credit check as it is more like a prepaid plan and a deposit is also not essential as you purchase the cell for the full price.

Hybrid cell phone plans have created a niche in the market as they are more cost efficient, without long term commitments or credit checks or deposits as required by prepaid and post paid cell phone plans. Another added advantage is they allow the parents to be in control of the cellular spending habits of their wards. But if credit check or contract is not a problem and if the cell phone usage if more than 120 minutes or more per month then a standard plan is more suited then both hybrid as well as prepaid plans.
 

Article Contributed By: Namrata Nayak

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