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A prepaid mobile phone (also commonly referred to as pay-as-you-go, pay-as-you-talk, pay and go, or prepaid wireless) is a mobile phone for which credit is purchased in advance of service use. The purchased credit is used to pay for mobile phone services at the point the service is accessed or consumed. If there is no available credit, then access to the requested service is denied by the mobile phone network. Users are able to top up their credit at any time using a variety of payment mechanisms. The alternative billing method (and what is commonly referred to as a mobile phone contract) is the postpaid mobile phone, where a user enters into a long-term (generally lasting 12, 18, or 24 months) or short-term (also commonly referred to as a rolling contract or a 30-day contract) billing arrangement with a mobile network operator or carriage service provider (CSP). "Pay-as-you-go", "PAYG", and similar terms are also used for other non-telephone services paid for in the same way. ==Overview of the prepaid service== A prepaid mobile phone provides most of the services offered by a mobile phone operator. The big difference is that with prepaid phones, payment for service is made before use. As calls and texts are made, and as data is used, deductions are made against the prepaid balance amount until there are no funds remaining (at which time, service is no longer available). A user may avoid such a break in service by making payments to increase the remaining balance. Methods of payment: *Credit card or debit card〔(Pay by Credit card )〕 *Direct draw from bank account using an ATM〔(up at a cash machine )〕〔(Euronet Worldwide Launches ATM Recharge Services for Hungary's Largest Mobile Operator. - Free Online Library ). Thefreelibrary.com (2002-02-05). Retrieved on 2013-08-20.〕〔(Top up for Prepaid mobile or mobile broadband | Vodafone NZ ). Vodafone.co.nz. Retrieved on 2013-08-20.〕 *Retail store purchase with a "top-up" or "refill" card at retail. These cards are stamped with a unique code (often under a scratch-off panel) which must be entered into the phone in order to add the credit onto the balance. *Retail store purchase using a swipe card where the balance is credited automatically to the phone after the retailer accepts payment. *Retail store or online purchase: a person can top-up a prepaid phone in another country by asking for “international top-up”. Often, migrant workers will send prepaid top-up internationally as a form of support. *Other mobile phones on certain networks which provide international top-up services, where the initiator of the top up is often a migrant worker wanting to add minutes to the prepaid mobile phone of a family member back home. *Direct from some open-loop prepaid cards featuring a mobile refill service. *Through electronic reloading where a specially designed SIM card (Retailer's SIM card as used to define in the Philippines and India) is used to reload a mobile phone by entering the mobile number and choosing the amount to be loaded. This process is widely implemented in the Philippines and India so that any person can be a prepaid load retailer, creating a nationwide availability of reloading stations, even in remote areas. Credit purchased for a prepaid mobile phone may have a time limit – for example, 90 days from the date the last credit was added. In these cases, customers who do not add more credit before expiration will lose their remaining balance. There is no compulsion on a prepaid mobile phone user to top up their balance. To maintain revenues, some operators have devised reward schemes designed to encourage frequent top-ups. For example, an operator may offer some free SMS to use next month if a user tops up by a certain amount this month. Unlike postpaid phones, where subscribers have to terminate their contracts, it is not easy for an operator to know when a prepaid subscriber has left the network. To free up resources on the network for new customers, an operator will periodically delete prepaid SIM cards which have not been used for some time, at which point, their service (and its associated phone number) is discontinued. The rules for when this deletion happens varies from operator to operator, but may typically occur after 6 months of non-use. By 2003, the number of prepaid accounts grew past contract accounts, and by 2007, two thirds of all mobile phone accounts worldwide were prepaid accounts. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Prepaid mobile phone」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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