pay as you go phone plans, most of the time they’re small ones. This time, though, it’s a bit different. STi Mobile has overhauled their prepaid plans recently, and we get word of it via Ian. So let’s dig in and see what they’re offering. Their first plan charges a 9 cents per day daily access fee, and then 8.9 cents per minute. Yeah, STi pulls the gas station pricing scheme on you. So the monthly fee checks in at a modest $2.70. From there, you’re about a penny lower than Net10. You need to use a little over 200 minutes a month for this to balance out. Which means that you’ll end up a better deal than Net10 if you use more than 200 minutes a month. And yes, text messaging is 5 cents per message with STi, just as it is with Net10. The next plan is not so nice. It’s 25 cents per day and 7.9 cents per minute. So to lower your rate by one penny per minute, you’re paying 14 cents more per day. This makes little sense to me. The fee is $7.50 per month, $4.80 more than the other plan. So you’d need to talk for 480 minutes just to break even. I suppose this could work better for big talkers, but at that point there are plenty of better plans from other companies. They also have a couple of unlimited nights and weekends plans. The first charges $29.99 per month, and then 15 cents per daytime minute. Nights start at 7 p.m., which is a plus. But if you talk at all during the daytime, this is not going to benefit you much. Even worse is their 9 p.m. nights and weekends plan. This checks in at $5 less, so $24.99, and daytime minutes are 20 cents each. So while it’s good that STi is changing things up to see what works, it appears these plans leave plenty to be desired. The first one, 9 cents a day and 8.9 cents a minute, works the best. But considering the other options, that’s not saying much.]]>
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