I’ve been angry with AT & T for some time now, so was happy to see that more Smart data phones will now be available on pre-paid phone plans. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, it has to be a really good phone plan before I’ll sign my life away for two-years ever again just for the privilege of using a phone carrier’s service.

From what I could see here, it seems that most of the phone companies are vying for customers and will be offering more pre-paid phone plans that now include data plans- the notable exceptions are of course, Verizon and AT & T who are presumably betting on their stellar reputations as leaders in the industry to keep customers. I’m not a telecommunications expert, but I think more and more consumers will be trying to get cheaper phone plans that don’t lock them in for the rest of their lives.

Most of the phones that are available with no pre-paid phones are Blackberries and the prices are mostly around the $300 mark. T-Mobile offers a larger choice in Smart phones with their entire stock available, but most of their phones cost around $400. The plans for most of the pre-paid phones are still relatively more inexpensive than the usual  monthly plans with the prices ranging from $50-70 per month for 500-1000 minutes and usually unlimited texting and data. Plus, the idea of not being locked into a single plan has got to appeal to more people out there than just me.

Sprint’s Boost Mobile was one of the first (if not the first) of the mobile phone companies to offer better options in the pre-paid phone market- their emergence in the mobile phone market set the bar a little higher for the larger mobile phone carriers in terms of service agreements and pre-paid plans and it will be interesting to see if AT & T or Verizon follow suit with the other carriers by offering some alternative rate plans to customers.

Today, the CEO of AT &T Wireless said that the future of the mobile phone industry lies “in data plan growth, and not in prepaid voice service”. While I agree with him to a certain degree, companies like AT & T are going to have to do more service-wise to keep their current employees satisfied.