We got our first cell phone about 4-5 years ago because daughter Missy was still home (and then college) and we wanted her to have it for emergencies. We have never gone with any plan - ours is used with prepaid minutes that get used up at 25cents a minutes. We top it off with new minutes every 60 days for $20. Hubby and I now use it to chat - like if he is late or I want to reach him when he is out. Text messages are also 25cents and I use them when he is in school to leave notes (he teaches school)-but mainly it is a tool to use for voice calls that are urgent. Our calls are usually only a couple minutes. $10 a month is great for us to be able to call from the car