I have Verison pre-paid phone---cost me $10.00 a month---got a new phone phone last spring at Sam's--old one was out dated--have really had no problem since verison took over alltel--and that is mainly more area coverage---have had it for about 4 years now---and we live in a rural area---the $10 [actually $30.00 every 3 months] works for me as I am not very "yappy" unless something spetacular commes up I will stay with this

forgot to mention ---the charge comes out at fifteen cents a minute with my pre-paid phone

I just got my dad a TraceFone last month. Got the cheap ($10) phone
as it would be the easiest for him to learn to use (he is 84).

For his first month he had 260+ minutes and then he sent me a letter
in the middle (not even 2 weeks after getting phone) telling me that
he was upset because his phone died. I tried to tell him that would
happen if he used up all his minutes.

So when I bought more minutes for him this month I warned him not
to be calling every person he knows and talking for extended periods
of time or he would run out of airtime.

I HAVE to be strict with my dad and his phone usage or he will run
amuck.

Only thing about TracFone I am not pleased with is that I can't track
the minutes of my dads phone online. I thought about trying to find
another service that would let me do that, but don't feel like going
to the hassle of setting up another new phone and trying to teach him
how to use it again.

But so far I have heard MANY good things about the TracFones.

I have had a prepaid "Cingular" for years and I love it. I live in the country and get good reception.

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.

My husband and I use Tracfones and have for years with no problems. You can purchase the minutes right from the phone, online or buy cards. This tells you how much I use my phone. I put $100 on it and it last a year with minutes left to rollover. LOL!! Hubby uses his much more than I do mine so when he runs low he tells me and I purchase minutes online. I think they work great! There's also a program at Walmart where you pay $45 monthly for unlimited everything. That's what my son has and he's had no problems with his either. Hope this helps.

Get a ruggerized phone and put it on a bungee cord I love mine...

AT&T has a pay as you go plan where you're not under a contract.

Straight Talk (walmart) works great... when it works. Heaven help you when you have a problem. We had it for a while, and even tho it was affordable, it wasn't worth the hassle.
We also only get ATT and Verizon where we live, and we got the TMobile prepaid phones. I have 1500 minutes or texts every month for $30 and my texting-teen gets unlimited texts for $15/month. I put $20/month on there so he can make "emergency calls" at $.10/minute.
We have never had a problem with them at all. I don't even come close to my 1500, and I'm not afraid to call my parents and chat or text either. My phone was around $20-25 at Walmart and it's a basic flip phone. My son's phone is a "smarter" phone that we got used at a pawn shop for about the same price. He likes that touch screen but I like the keypad with numbers!

This is an interesting thread. I've been thinking about buying a Tracphone at Wal-mart since I saw the unlimted talk, text, data, 411 for $45 a month. I have had Verizon for years but never get close to using my minutes. I want to update my phone but then they will force me to buy a data package. I don't need that since I'm home most of the time and have my computers.

consumercellular.com has a plan for $10 a month, shared $15 a month, and the basic phone is free. I thought about that too.