With the economy as it is today most are feeling the pinch and having to tighten their belts; that is unless you are so filthy rich it doesn’t matter. But in general your everyday average person is feeling the economic pressure in one way or another.

In times when spending is at least cautious the first things to be thrown are those expensive mobile phones and hefty plans. So what happens? Well it seems PAYG is now the preferred option, with prepaid carriers reporting large growth in the 3rd quarter of 08.

One such PAYG carrier, MetroPCS reports to have extended their customers by a ¼ million; another, Leap Wireless reports adding 156,000, and even T-Mobile report a customer gain of 670,000 with over ½ of those on PAYG.

So it looks like PAYG is the way to go during an economic downturn.

Source – WSJ