i am a dealer for verizon, sprint and cingular.

you can certainly get a non bell/whistle phone and a reasonably cheap monthly plan.

verizon has the samsung a650 and the LG vx4650 that are both non-camera and very basic and reliable. the 4650 has a speaker phone which is actually very useful.

sprint has the samsung vi660. same exact phone as the a650 for verizon, just carried by sprint.

cingular has the samsung x427m which i think is being discontinued, but again it is the same phone as the vi660 and the a650. small clamshell phone with no frills.

these phones are often free or $20 with a 2 year agreement.

as for plans, you're looking at about 40 bucks a month for 450-500 weekday during the day minutes. all plans include nationwide long distance and no roaming charges.

verizon gives you 450 weekday during the day mins, unlimited nights and weekends and unlimited verizon to verizon calling.

cingular gives you 450 as well, but they have rollover minutes.. this means that whatever minutes you do not use during the month carry over to the next for a full year. this plan includes unlimited cing/att to cing/att calling, and 5000 night and weekend minutes.

sprint will be 40 bucks for 300 weekday during the day mins, and their unique feature is what they call 'fair and flexible' which means that if you go over your 300 mins, they charge you 5 bucks for every extra 100 you need. this plan includes unlimited nights and weekends, and sprint/nextel to sprint/nextel calling is an extra $5/month

heres a pic of the phone i talked about most.

vi660


x427m


a650


like i said, same phone.

heres the vx4650. it was free at my store last week, but now i think its 29 or 39 with a new 2 year agreement.


the vx3300 is free this week.