Dollar-a-day pre-paid plans explained

Boost and T-Mobile are touting their new dollar-a-day pre-paid plans, but the practice of charging daily access fees for cheaper pre-paid minutes has been around for years—and it's not for everyone.

Both Boost and T-Mobile made their own respective splashes this month with their new buck-a-day pre-paid plans: Basically, you get daytime minutes for 10 cents each, unlimited nights and unlimited mobile-to-mobile (or in-network) calls—but you also pay a $1 daily access fee. (Boost also offers unlimited weekends and text messages in its pay-by-the-day plan.)

Other major U.S. carriers already offer similar buck-a-day plans. For example, AT&T has Pay As You Go Unlimited Talk, while Verizon Wireless offers INpulse Core—both charge 10 cents a minute and give you unlimited in-network calling, but no unlimited nights or weekends. (You can get unlimited nights from Verizon for $2 a day, plus unlimited weekends for $3/day.)

Meanwhile, regional carrier Alltel has a 75-cents/day access plan that includes 10-cent daytime minutes, plus you can choose and two of the following features: unlimited in-network calls, unlimited nights and weekends, unlimited "favorite number" calling, or unlimited text messages. (You can also pay more per day for more features.)

And here's another variable: Some pre-paid carriers make you pay the access fee every day, not just on the days you use your phone. Both Boost and Alltel ring up the access fee each day, while AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless only charge the fee on days you use your phone.

In any case, think carefully about your phone usage before picking a plan. If you're a heavy—and daily—phone user, the pay-every-day Alltel plan (with its cheap access fees) or the Boost plan (with unlimited weekends and free text messaging) might end up saving you the most money. If you're a moderate chatter and free weekends/texting aren't must-haves, try a daily pre-paid plan that only charges you on days you use your phone. And for those who rarely use their phones, consider the traditional buckets of minutes—you'll pay 25 cents a minute or more, but you won't have to pay daily access fees at all.

For the big picture on pre-paid plans, check out this feature (written by yours truly) over at CNET; the plan breakdowns are a bit out of date (the carriers change their plans on a near-daily basis), but it still gives you a good overview of how the various plans work and which phones are available on a pre-paid basis.