CR is relatively useless for this kind of thing. For example, at least in our area, Sprint just declared 7 pm to be "night" for lower nighttime rates. Cool -- if they have usable service where you need it and you plan to talk a lot after 7 pm. But you likely won't hear about that from CR for months because of the lead time it takes to put the magazine together. What I hear of the Web site is that it is not particularly quicker with the news, either. If you talk a lot, don't bother with prepaid -- most is sufficiently expensive that by the time you're talking hundreds of minutes, it's much more expensive to go prepaid than it is to get a contract with anyone. It's not possible to give simple "Get [carriername]!" advice. It's just too individual a choice for us to make it for you. Verizon has an excellent network, but you may just happen to be in a low spot for them -- and, anyway, going with Verizon will mean buying a couple of phones and (likely) signing up for contracts. If you've been with Cingular since it was AT&T, chances are you have old AT&T TDMA phones, not the newer Cingular GSM phones. Since Cingy is no longer building out their TDMA network, it may simply be a matter of getting newer GSM phones for better coverage (try online auction sites for phones that may be usable but not brand-new and expensive). T-Mo seems to offer some great deals, but -- well, they have to. They claim they just about doubled coverage in my Twin Cities area, yet coverage (according to their coverage map) in my St. Paul neighborhood still is marginal. Who cares how cheap it is if it doesn't work where you want it? And, for that matter, you can hit the Cingular Web site or call their customer service (I know...), preferably at a slower time of the day, and poke around asking about cheaper plans. New ones are being introduced all the time; there might be something out there that makes more sense for you now.

I have and Use Page Plus. I bought the phone locally for $20 and it came with 100 minutes on it. I don't know where all they are sold, as I have only seen the actual phones sold in cigarette stores. The minutes are available at most gas stations, or you can call an 800# and have then added via a credit card. There is a small fee (75 cents I think) for putting it on your cr cd. I see now that the minutes are only good for 110 day (not 120 as I said/thought before), so the cost for the phone and adding $10 of minutes twice would not quite make it a full years time. From the link below: Your purchase includes: * Audiovox CDM-9000 Tri-Mode Cellular Phone* * Phone Battery * Home Charger * Preloaded with 100 minutes * 30 day warranty through LewisWireless.com PagePlus activated phones feature: * NO Contracts * Preactived with a USA Phone Number (local to area code 801) * FREE Nationwide Long Distance * FREE Nationwide Roaming through the Verizon Network, which covers the continental USA and Hawaii * Caller ID * Voicemail * Text Messaging Refill your minutes within 110 days and all unused minutes will roll-over, accumulating even with the smallest denomination. Additional minutes may be purchased below, at the following rates: * $10.00 = 83 Minutes ($0.12/Minute) * $25.00 =300 Minutes ($0.08/Minute) I recently replaced my phone as the battery went dead and I thought it was too expensive to just replace the battery. The new Page Plus I got was a flip phone, which I like a little better (cooler...lol). It was $29.95 in the store. When I then talked to Page Plus they switched my left over minutes from my old phone (with the dead battery) and put them on my new phone, along with the 100 minutes that came with it. They also switched my old number over to my new phone, and vice versa. She also told me where I could get a battery for my old phone on Ebay for just $1 (!!!)bless her heart. I ordered 2 batteries then as BF's battery went dead at the same time mine did on his 'old' phone. Now we both have back up phones. Also...I was able to get car chargers for both models at a flea market...$5-$6 a piece. Sue Here is a link that might be useful: Page Plus details

Update - after 2-1/2 months, my house project is proceeding well. Most of the wiring is done by my contractor's sub. I do have a few issues: 1. Last fall, we discussed the type and capacity of load center I would need, and before I could do anything, he installed a 200 Amp 40-breaker one. It was too late to change anything, so I let it go. Two days ago, he said that I need more capacity, and it would require a new meter, new underground service, and a new load center. He offered to buy the 200 Amp one from me with credit for the required 400 Amp one. Why do I need 400 Amps? Well, I am using electric heat and the boiler installed is 20 kW, which is 83 Amps. He said that the load should not exceed 80% of the breaker capacity, giving 104 Amps. The closest breaker available is 120 Amps. In addition, I have a 30 Amp domestic hot water heater, and plan to install a range with an electric oven, which requires 50 Amps. That totals 200! That's why he needs to run a new line. I could us a propane gas oven (we have no natural gas) and we don't plan to have any AC. I think the boiler was way oversized. The heat loss calculation gave 60,000 BTU/hr, which converts to 17.6 kW, and I think that calculation was over generous. So, I could ask that the boiler be replaced with an 18 kW one, which might help. I think that would be much cheaper than replacing the panel and feed wiring; what do you think? The house has been being heated with a 5 kW space heater in the basement during construction since January; this has included many days with sub-zero temperature. Even with windows and doors not yet installed and roof insulation incomplete, the inside temperature was held at 50 degrees. 2. He also told that current code requires "tamperproof" receptacles, which are very inconvenient to use (and more expensive too). I have about 40 boxes already wired, but the receptacles are not yet in. What do you think about that?

Unlimited is fine if you live on the phone. I have other things going on in my life so a phone is a tool, not a lifestyle for me. If you don't use it much, the prepaid is the way to go and you can easily go less than $10/mo. I don't look at the per-minute cost since to me, per month is what you're really paying. Actually, per year since I buy over a year's worth at a time. My cell use has now cut way down from before so the "per minute" rate is higher since I buy less but still when I look at per month it's cheap enough. I can't see not having one for $5-$7 a month. Joan_mn mentions a point that I always try to stress. With prepaid phones you need to check coverage areas. I have a CDMA which I wanted since it's better coverage in MN than AT&T, T-mo and Sprint's prepaid. My Tracfone cost me less than $7/mo last time I added. I didn't even do much searching for a deal. I've gotten time for as little as $2/mo when I worked the specials. This time I needed to add time quickly so just added some minutes and added extra months since I don't use it too much. I average about 30-35 min/mo use these days.