Churn
As described above, prepaid accounts require that a subscriber have funds in the account to make outgoing calls (except emergency calls which are always allowed). In some countries a prepaid mobile with zero balance may still receive calls and texts.
This results in an "on/off" or "all or nothing" proposition for the prepaid service providers and their clients (that is, the account either has enough credit to use the phone, or it does not). Some operators (for example Orange) allow their pre-pay customers to have a small negative balance to allow short calls or texts when the customer’s credit has been completely used. This is then deducted when the customer next adds more credit.
The time most likely for a prepaid customer to switch to a different service provider is when the prepaid account reaches a "zero credit balance". Like other service providers, mobile service providers losing a mobile account call it "churn."
Read more about this topic: Prepaid Mobile Phone
Famous quotes containing the word churn:
“the churn of stale words in the heart again
love love love thud of the old plunger”
—Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)
“The journalists think that they cannot say too much in favor of such “improvements” in husbandry; it is a safe theme, like piety; but as for the beauty of one of these “model farms,” I would as lief see a patent churn and a man turning it. They are, commonly, places merely where somebody is making money, it may be counterfeiting.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)