Virgin Mobile is cheap and has great service along interstates and most large cities (great in Duluth, zero in Ashland, for example).

I was a happy Sprint customer until moving to Morgan Park in '04.  Coverage out here was 0-1 bars at best so I moved to Cellular 1, now AT&T.  All 3 carriers were fine except in some rural areas.

I used to use Sprint, and if you leave an urban area, you're stuck. So I switched to Verizon and I LOVE Verizon, I don't have the problem with dead zones I had with Sprint. And I'm someone who uses cell phone to mostly talk, though I'm doing more texting.

Prepaid (Tracfone, Virgin, Net10, etc.)  Not the AT&T/Verizon/Sprint - They only use their own network. The independent prepaid companies have contracts with several different service providers so they will overlap coverage in most areas.  In many cases, if the phone can't grab one signal, it will look for the next one.  Look for online specials that offer the phone and double minutes for a lifetime. Buy the 365 day cards to keep the per minute costs to a minimum. I dropped my yearly mobile bill from $650 to $120 and an improvement in service ... and I pay only once or twice a year. Buy in bulk if you can.  It may be a bigger bite on the wallet but it's much, much cheaper in the long run.

Oh, I forgot to mention that Qwest and Verizon work together so I only have one combined bill (for home Internet +cell).

Thanks all. So nice to have this info. Here's the catch: I used 4,000 minutes last month, talk time, only 12 text messages. So is a prepay worthwhile for someone like me? Also, a friend has Verizon and can not use his phone unless he steps outside my home (West Duluth area).

4,000 minutes? The issue you will run into there is time of day calling and who. Sprints night minutes start at 7pm for most plans, you get pay $5 more and get it at 6pm. But you are still looking at $59.99 for 900 anytime minutes. 

At that point you could just as well get the 69.99 plan and have unlimited text, data, and calling to any mobile phone. Leaving you 450 anytime minutes for land line numbers.

I just noticed a service from Straight Talk...they are a pre-paid that uses Verizon's Network. 

I dont use them or Verizon but they do have some good plans for the casual user. Since they are pre-paid you only buy the cards or pay online and I don't believe that they have all the service fees and tax.

http://www.straighttalk.com/ServicePlans

$30/month  1000 min, 1000 text, mobile web

$45/month  Unlimited Everything

$5 a month unlimited everything?

to Bully> I'm leary of Verizon not working in my home due to friends unable to use their phones in my home. I have an old Cell one plan w/ old cell one sim card, unlimited minutes anytime anyone $40 per month, hard to find phones and have name change that is stuck on sim card worry it will not work someday.

I have Verizon, but the cost for four phones in our home is nearly $280 a month with two plans - ridiculous.  Sure we get service, but many time I think I got along for years without a cell phone - why can't I do it today?

Maybe it's time to get a $30.00/month house phone and just use the internet at home for alot less money.

What about Skype? As long as you are connected to the internet it's cheap. I paid just a couple bucks for a Skype # so people can call me on Skype using an actual phone #. Then I am charged around $3 every month to make unlimited calls. If you make most of your calls at home you could try that.

Nick-just a heads up, we (AT&T) have a new cellsite coming online in Riverside in the next few weeks. It is a TriSectored site with both GSM and UMTS 850 and 1900mhz/ It's designed to penetrate the Morgan Park homes and surrounding area.

I use Credo. http://www.credomobile.com/

They donate money to causes I believe in. And they didn't hand over people's information without a Subpoena like some of the other companies did. [warrantless surveillance program]