I just got a Tracfone pay-as-you-go cell phone and am VERY pleased with it.
No contracts, no monthly bills or surcharges. Just pre-pay a chunk of minutes like on a phone card, and use it as you want. It piggybacks onto any cell phone tower in the area, so coverage is good all over the country. No roaming charges, does text messages, long distance is the same cost per minute as local, free voice mail and call waiting. All your minutes roll over as long as you keep your phone non-expired. The phone cost me $50 in Walmart, and it's a really SWEET little silver LG fliptop phone. Bought 4 months service with 200 minutes for $30. That's about .15 cents per minute, but I can get cheaper minutes if I buy like 400 minutes or more. Now I can just buy more months of service and/or more minutes, only as I need them. So for $80 I'm up and running. It really makes sense for people who don't need a big family plan setup, and also is great for people like me who don't gab a lot on their cell phones. I feel much safer now on my bike alone on the backroads miles from home, or when driving alone. Will also be handy when we go on vacation.
Here's their website: http://www.tracfone.com/home_page.jsp