Most of the major providers have prepaid plans that allow you to put a certain dollar amount (for example, $50.00 or even $100.00) onto a pre-paid plan and then you just use it when you need it. I would suggest the plan where the minutes do not expire within 30 days, that way you won't have to worry about using the minutes before the 30 days are about to end. Companies even have prepaid phone cards, where you can purchase a dollar amount and use it for minutes on your cellular phone.

Cingular now has a plan where you can put money on your account and then you just pay $1.00 every day that you use your phone and $0.10 a minute. That's it! With Cingular's plan, if you put on $15.00, it's only good for 30 days and then it expires, however, if you put $100.00 on the account, then it is good for 365 days. So that's a good thing, you won't have to worry about adding funds, paying invoices, etc. The reason for that is simple, whenever you use the phone, the money would be deducted from the $100.00 that was originally put onto the account.

Verizon Wireless on the other hand offers an INPulse, which is very similar; however, the minutes expire after 120 days maximum (for example, $150.00 or more expires in 120 days). So that's basically the only difference between Cingular Wireless and Verizon Wireless.

Sprint offers a "Spending Limit Program", where as long as you don't go over your predefined limit (for example, you pay for your usage upfront and that's it), you are good to go and have nothing to worry about. You are basically choosing from their plans and pre-paying for the minutes. Just as long as you don't go over your minutes then you should be fine, so watch your minutes.

T-Mobile offers a very attractive prepaid plan, where your bonus minutes don't expire for one whole year, that's fantastic! You get more minutes added based on how much you put on the card, so that's another benefit. For $100.00, you would get 1,000 minutes added plus the minutes that don't expire for a year.

So, if you're looking to get a prepaid phone for someone or even for yourself it's a good idea to start by looking at the coverage maps for the area that you our whom ever getting the phone lives in (or drives in) and see what provider has the best coverage.

If you believe that T-Mobile or Cingular have the best of the very best coverage, then I would suggest that you choose one of these providers because I think they have the best prepaid plans (minutes that don't expire for 1 year, that's great!). It would be a good idea to put $100.00 on your account. That way you won't have to worry about next year, which is a big relief.