Best no contract cell phone plan (1 Viewer)

It has come time for us to upgrade our phones and I need some advice. I am in the process of upgrading my business and my old Samsung slider keyboard phone, while great for texting, will not do other things I now need it to do like upload photos to Facebook. My wife's phone is dying a slow death after being drowned in tanning oil. Some things to consider here: we live in the mountains and as such reception can be spotty.

We have found that Verizon has the best coverage here. She pays $35 a month for a Verizon card and I pay $30 a month for a Straight Talk (which uses our Verizon network) card. In my initial search I found that Straight talk gets top rating although we would have to go to $45 a month each for unlimited everything, which is not a problem. What I've read sats the ST plan supports higher end phones like the Samsung Galaxy and the Iphone 5. Neither of us have ever used these phones before.

One other thing that would be nice is if the phones were wireless hotspots. Then we could dump our land line and internet, and our current costs for phones and i ternet would be cut in half. Your OBJECTIVE thoughts? I'm not looking for "I love my...", I want a serious comparison. Feel free to throw in other phones that may be good to, just keep in mind they have to work with our Verizon network.

Ok, thanks guys! Over 80 looks and nobody has anything to say? What was it that threw you all, the no contract part? As luck would have it I already got my answer from people I know who don't do contracts. I would bet the majority of you have cell phones, that would mean you bought in to being good little consumers who bought in to overpaying and being locked in to a contract. Sad, really, but it explains a lot. eace

I use Straight Talk. I like it.

Seanette and I have long been with Virgin Mobile. Seanette was the first of us to get a cell phone, and she started with TracFone (what is now, apparent, Straight Talk), and her experience with that carrier was very poor. She had quite a few technical issue,s and every attempt to seek customer support led her to a call center in India where she would speak with someone who spoke technically-perfect English but was completely incapable of any useful communication. A few months later, I got a cell phone under Virgin Mobile, and my experience with this carrier has always been quite good. I think I've had maybe two or three problems in all the time I've been with them, and every time, I was able to get the situation resolved quickly and easily. Seanette dumped her Tracfone and switched to Virgin Mobile not long after I started using them.

While on the phone with a Virgin Mobile tech support person, recently, getting my newest phone activated, the tech support person made note that I'd been with them for nine years. Apparently, that's a long time for one customer to stick with one cell phone provider, but the service I've received from Virgin Mobile has never left me feeling any desire to switch carriers.