If Verizon works well in your area, go with the Verizon pre-paid phone. That's what we have. Trac Phone did not work well in or area. All cell phones use the same towers, but the phones from the companies who own the cellular dishes in an area have priority over other cell phone companies, so in California our Verizon phone got kicked off the Sprint towers when they were busy, just as Sprint users get kicked off Verizon towers when they are busy. With the Verizon pre-paid phone, we pay for a year of service, add minutes if needed (we don't use it that much), and the minutes carry over as long as you renew before the time is up. We've broken 2 phones and we just buy another phone and have the minutes transferred. We go with the cheap phones - none of the "smart phone" stuff - and it costs just a little over $100 a year.