A prepay mobile phone has access to most if not all of the services offered by a mobile phone operator, although the charges for these services may differ from customers with the same operator who have a postpaid contract.
In addition, a prepay phone has a balance which can be queried at any time, and also topped up periodically. Examples of ways in which the balance can be topped up are the following:
· a credit card or debit card
· direct from a bank account using an ATM
· in a retail store using a swipe card where the balance is credited automatically to the phone after the retailer accepts payment.
· from other mobile phones on certain networks which provide international top-up services, where the initiator of the top up is often an migrant worker wanting to add minutes to the prepaid mobile phone of a family member back home.
· through electronic reloading where a specially designed SIM card (Retailer's SIM card as used to define in the Philippines) 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 any person can be a prepaid load retailer creating a nationwide availability of reloading stations, even in remote areas.
