A pay-as-you-go phone or internet service is one you pay for before you use it. You put money or data on the account first. You use it. When the credit is gone, it stops until you add more. There is usually no long contract and no bill at the end of the month. The opposite is a monthly plan, where you use first and pay later. In Britain people say pay-as-you-go, often shortened to PAYG. In American English prepaid is the more common everyday word for the same kind of phone, though pay-as-you-go is still understood. Though actually the phrase has wandered: people also use it for parking, travel cards, and even some kinds of work pay, always with the same idea — you pay while you go along, not in one big contract. This entry is the phone and internet one. It feels informal and practical, not fancy.