Over the past few years, prepaid has made quite the metamorphosis. Once a last resort for folks with poor or even no credit, it has turned into a true cost-saving alternative. It has its pros and its cons, but it is more useful for more people now than it was three years ago. So what’s the next step for prepaid? Well, in addition to unlimited calling plans, we’re starting to see some data plans emerge. What good is a data plan, though, without a proper device? Prepaid needs some low-end smartphones.

We’re back with another edition of the Prepaid Podcast. This month we’re talking about the growth the prepaid sector has provided to the wireless industry at large. There are a number of factors at play here, and it’s tough to get everything down at once. There’s the US wireless penetration rate, competing services, consumer confidence, and other issues at the root of the current wireless environment. We try to mete it all out in the podcast.

So click on over to hear the Prepaid Podcast.

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Highlights include:

Above is one of four phones Samsung has added to its website. It’s the M2310, and as you can see it is a basic, basic clamshell. It offers little beyond a music player (with up to 8GB expandable memory) and a VGA camera. This makes me think that it could be slated for a prepaid release, if in fact it hits the U.S. shelves. If so, look for AT&T or T-Mobile, since they’re the GSM providers in America. Also making an appearance on the website, all of which are music phones: M2510, a slider with a 1.3 megapixel camera, the C5510, a slider with a 2 megapixel camera and up to 16GB expansion, and the S6700, with the same expandable memory but with a 3 megapixel camera. There’s absolutely no word on pricing or availability, but they’re headed somewhere in the not so distant future.

For the third time in eight months, kajeet has impressed a set of parents. This time it’s the folks at iParenting Media. They’ve handed out awards and kajeet, the cell phone service which targets tweens, has won for Excellent Products in the Safety category. This is in large part due to kajeet’s parental controls, including the ability to set when a phone can be used and the ability to block certain callers. It also presumably stems from kajeet’s GPS locator, a touchy issue which we discussed with CEO Daniel Neal a year and a half ago. After the jump, some accolades for kajeet.

All the rage around the cellular world last week was the $5 international calling plan from MetroPCS. International calling has always been an expensive endeavor, with calls costing anywhere from two cents to two dollars per minute plus normal airtime rates. Metro’s new plan demolishes all of those per-minute restrictions. It sounds a bit too good to be true, of course, but there seems to be little tangible evidence that would lead to doubt. Still, something seems fishy, and Justin Brennan, business director for Boost Mobile, thinks that there’s something else going on with the offering.

Two storylines have emerged in the U.S. wireless industry in the wake of its first quarter. First is that prepaid accounted for the majority of total subscriber adds. Second is that it marked the lowest growth period ever. It’s this second one we’ve left mostly unexplored on Prepaid Reviews. That’s because there was a simple narrative to explain the prepaid growth: with the economy slumping, people are looking to more cost effective communications solutions. However, the second story gives some pause to that. After all, we’ve heard something in the past regarding prepaid adds once U.S. penetration reaches 100 percent.

The story of CTIA this year was Zer01, a company touting unlimited voice, messaging, and data services for just $80 per month. The remarkable part of the story is that they’d be doing this as an MVNO of the AT&T network. Of course, when we first heard of Zer01, the advertised price was $70. Now it’s $80. It looks like you might get something extra for that $10, if we’re to believe their most recent press release. Details after the jump.

Last week, Tracfone announced that the would cover an additional 101,000 households in New Hampshire. SafeLink provides a free cell phone and 80 minutes per month to low-income individuals. As we learned as part of a study last year, access to cellular phones can increase one’s earning potential. However, SafeLink isn’t completely welcome everywhere.

About two months ago, we learned that MetroPCS was offering unlimited calling to Mexico for $3 per month. Their newest international offering is even better. This one costs $5 per month and covers calls to over 1,000 destinations in 100 different countries. Have family in Australia? You can talk all you want (provided they’re covered) for that $5. Best of all, there are no asterisks or other notations in the ad. To make sure your friend or family member is covered, head to Metro’s number lookup. That will tell you before hand if you can call the person all you want for that $5 fee.

Looks like it’s time for yet another phone to hit Cricket wireless. This is the TXTM8, which you can see at mycricket.com. It looks like a reissue of the Verizon Blitz, which is the UTStarcom TXT8010. Behind the stubby face is a full QWERTY keyboard which supports mobile Web, email, games, and Cricket navigation. Also featured: stereo Bluetooth, a 1.3 megapixel camera, and an MP3 player with 4GB microSD expansion. There’s no word on when it will drop or how much it will cost. We’ll be sure to pass those along in due time.