Not Your Parent's Cellphones

The New York Times did a story on cool phone services for young adults. These days most teens have more than one phone, and Jupiter Research found that almost half of young people aged 13-16 own cellphones. So it's no wonder cellphone companies are eager to attract this population of tech-savvy mobile phone users.

Besides throwing celebrity-laden launch parties, and producing hip commercials for the MTV generation, companies are also attracting these young consumers with special plans, exclusive phones, streaming video and games. So what are the "it" phones these days? Among the contenders are:

• Sidekick 3 which costs $300 with a two-year contract.
  
• Helio's Hero and Kickflip which start at $275
• Motorola RAZRs
• Amp'd Hollywood, Jet and Angel models
  

Companies like T-Mobile, Earthlink, Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile, and Amp'd Mobile have teen customers on their crosshairs, but they offer these expensive pay-as-you go plans and pricey handsets that couldn't possibly be affordable to teens on a monthly allowance. Most cellphone reps I've talked to actually discourage folks from buying into pay-as-you-go plans.

My question to you is: How many of you actually have a pay-as-you-go plan? Are you happy with it?