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Verizon is the most reliable cell phone network in the nation and has the most coverage of any network. If you can’t get a signal with Verizon, then cell phones don’t work in your area. (Straight Talk uses the Verizon network, too.)

Verizon Wireless has recently modified its prepaid plans, lowered pricing, and now even offers a competitively priced unlimited minutes plan (due mainly to competition in the marketplace). Most of their prepaid plans include unlimited mobile to mobile (calling another Verizon customer).

Unlimited Minutes Plan
This plan applies only to their basic phones. You gat unlimited talk, text and web access for $50. It’s very much like every other unlimited minutes plan on the market.

Unlimited Smartphone Plans
Verizon offers unlimited monthly plans for Smartphones. Their $60 smartphone plan provides unlimited talk and text along with  500MB of high speed data. Their $70 unlimited plan provides the same with 2GB of data.

Daily Plan
Verizon calls its daily plan “Pay As You Go” plan, but it is far from a traditional pay as you go. It is in fact exactly like the daily plan offered by other wireless providers (much like AT&T’s daily plan). For $1.99 a day, you get unlimited talk for that day. If you don’t use your phone, you don’t get charged the $1.99. So you’ll pay a maximum of about $60 if you use your phone every day. Texts cost an extra 2 cents each. In order to use this type of plan you have to set up an account.

Hidden Fees
Here’s the gotcha… To activate the phone it costs $35 (it’s free if you do it online.) They also have what’s called “Refill Expiration.” Here’s what the website says: “Any balance remaining at expiration will be removed from the account.” If you carry a balance in your account, for example extra money you put in there to cover future fees, the balance expires after a certain amount of time. That means your balance disappears.

Website: Visist the Verizon website.

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Kajeet gears its prepaid service towards kids and teens. It calls its service the “safest cell phone for kids” and Kajeet provides services that allow parents to manage their child’s use of the phone. A parent can set usage times and block content. The phones even have GPS capability so that parents can track where their children go.

Kajeet offers 5 monthly prepaid plans. All of the plans come with the parental controls mentioned above (the GPS features are extra on certain plans.) Also, most of the plans offer unlimited texts.

The $4.99 monthly prepaid plan offers 10 minutes of talk. The $14.99 plan offers 60 minutes of talk and unlimited texts. The $19.99 plan comes with 150 minutes of talk, unlimited texts, and unlimited picture messaging. The $24.99 plan offers 300 minutes of talk, unlimited texts, and unlimited picture messaging, and unlimited access to Kajeet’s GPS location service. Kajeet also offers an unlimited minutes plan for $50 a month which also includes unlimited texts, unlimited picture messaging, and unlimited access to Kajeet’s GPS location service.

Website: Visit the Kajeet website.

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US Cellular offers both pay as you go and monthly prepaid cellular plans. US Cellular is a large regional provider and therefore is not available in all areas.

Pay As You Go
Their pay as you go minutes are billed at 10 cents per minute for talk and 25 cents per text. All minutes expire at the end of the month and minutes don’t rollover. There is a $50 activation fee as well.

Monthly Plans
US Cellular offers a range of monthly prepaid plans as well. You can purchase 400 minutes for $35, and includes 400 texts and 400 pictures. They also offer two unlimited minutes plan. The basic unlimited minutes plan is $50 and includes unlimited minutes and text along with 1 GB of data access. The premium unlimited plan is $65 and includes unlimited talk, text, and 2 GB of data access. There is no activation fee for the unlimited minutes plans.

Website: Visit the US Cellular website.

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PlatinumTel operates on the Sprint Network and they offer a per minute plan and a monthly unlimited minutes plan.

Per Minute Plan (Real Paygo)
PlatinumTel’s per minute prepaid plan is called Real Paygo. It differs significantly from per minute plans offered by other companies. Most per minute plans on the market charge a set price for a certain number of minutes, so for example, TracFone offers a 450 minute card for $79.99. PlatinumTel differs in that they charge a flat 5 cents per minute for talk, 2 cents per text, and 10 cents per megabyte of data. You charge your account with either a card purchased at a local retailer or you can set up an account online.

Unlimited Minutes Plans
They also offer two unlimited plans. You get unlimited talk, text, and data for $40 a month. It’s unlimited data, but only the first 250mb are high speed. The second plan, a $50 per month unlimited plan, is geared toward data users and it provides unlimited data with the first 2 GB of data delivered at high speeds.

Opinion: PlatinumTel provides the cheapest per minute rates in the country at 5 cents per minute. If you use just a handful of minutes per month, then PlatinumTel will be a great choice for you. Their basic unlimited minutes plan is also one of the cheapest in the country at $40 a month. I don’t think you can go wrong with PlatinumTel. One downside is that they don’t offer any cheap, entry level phones.

Website: Visit the PlatinumTel website.

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Boost Mobile’s main selling point is content, targeting the younger generation of prepaid cell phone users. They offer cheap mobile web and an assortment of downloads. Boost Mobile uses its parent company Sprint’s network, which provides its push-to-talk walkie-talkie feature.

Boost operates with an account system. Add money to your account whenever you need to cover your calls and any extras used. Recharge at least once every 90 days to keep your account active (after 90 days any credit balance will expire). Once you hit a zero credit balance, you have 60 days to add money and keep your service and account active.

Boost Pay As You Go Plan
The Pay As You Go plan is a flat 20 cents per minute, 20 cents per text. Web access is an extra 50 cents per day.

Boost Monthly Unlimited Plan
Boost offers three unlimited monthly plans. For $50 a month you can get unlimited talk, text, and web access. The second option is a $55 a month plan for Android phones which gives you unlimited talk, text, and web access. The third option is $60 a month plan for Blackberry phones which again gives you unlimited talk, text, and web access.

All three unlimited plans come with SHRINKAGE which will lower your monthly payment by $5 for every 6 on-time payments (up to a total of $15 of savings per month.) So if you make 18 consecutive on time payments, the monthly plans will cost you $35 for the basic unlimited plan, $40 for the Android plan, and $45 a month for the Blackberry plan.

Boost Daily Plan
Like AT&T’s daily plan, Boost charges $2 a day for unlimited talk, text, and web access. You are not charged for the days you don’t use your phone (which includes incoming calls). If you use your phone everyday it will cost you about $60 a month which is ten dollars more expensive than their monthly unlimited plan. You can benefit by using this plan if you know that you’ll only use your phone a limited number of days during the month.

Website: Visit Boost Mobile