Where should I buy the best prepaid phone, but not too expensive?

Answer 1

T-Mobile has very competitive prepaid rates. If you buy a $100 refill, you get 1000 minutes that won't expire for a year ($0.10/minute). Also, after the first $100, you qualify for Gold Rewards status which lowers the per-minute cost on refills. Subsequent refills also extend your minutes expiration by one year regardless of the dollar amount of the refill. Their selection of phones isn't great, but you can always get an unlocked phone and plug in your SIM card.

Answer 2

Net10 and T-Mobile are the cheapest on a per-minute basis, but expect to pay about $40 + tax for a basic phone. Tracfone has the cheapest phones, but the most expensive minutes.

Answer 3

Virgin Mobile is very nice. There prices aren't too bad, but if you pay by the minute it is 18 cents per minute. The monthly plans aren't too bad. They have a lot of little extras that you can get unlike TracFone like ringtones, and things like that. I currently have the Slice and it is real nice, but the keys are a bit cramped. They have real cheap phones, so you can replace them easily if you need.