I took the time to shop and compare the best prepaid pay as you go, go and month to month prepaid cell phone services providers and narrowed down the list according to: unlimited calling, service, coverage area, price, reviews and cell phone plans with the best options such as prepaid cell phone plans with night and weekend minutes, best text messaging bundles, cell phone/sim cards, and mobile web browsing. I even found a sim card to unlock an Apple iPhone so you can use it with a prepaid plan.

Tip: If you already have a phone that uses a sim card, you do not need to purchase a new phone. If the phone you have was provided through At&t and you want to go with T-Mobile, then you can take the phone into a T-Mobile and have the phone unlocked for a small fee around $20-30. So think twice before you pick up a prepaid cell phone at Walmart. You can also unlock your phone online at WirelessUnlocking.com

Tip: Do not go with the Pay by the Day plans, these are a total rip off.

Tip: If you already have a phone all you need to purchase is the sim card. You do not need to purchase a new phone.

The T-Mobile pay as you go plans offer a lot more then the sales site tell you about and a lot more than the sales people will tell you about as well.

-again, I just have to remind you to not go with the pay by day plan, it's a joke.

If you go the T-Mobile pay as you go site, it gives you a list of $/min amounts. Which is pretty misleading because all it says is 10 cents a minute or $10.00 = 30 minutes and then it offers you a choice of phone but you don't need to buy one. If you already have a phone then all you need to purchase is the sim card which cost about $10.00.

When you get the sim (cell phone card) you call in to activate the service, from there they will ask you what plan you want to go with. Tell them you want the month to month plan and don't let them dick you around okay because their plans are actually really friggin' great. I am sure their sales people get paid on commission so they want to push the other stuff.

Now with that said. You can get a month to month plan through T-Mobile for $30.00 a month, no contract. If by chance you can't pay your phone one month, they hold the number for 3 months so you don't lose your number.

For $30.00 a month you get 300 minutes plus free nights (after 9:00pm, not 7:00pm PST) and weekends but what really sets them above the rest is... For $10.00 more you can also add the My Favs plan to your plan. That means you get unlimited talk to any five people you want on any network, cell or land line. So if you are like me and really only talk to a few people a lot, this works out great.

So now you are up to $40.00, no contract, unlimited talk to your Five, unlimited nights and weekend minutes after 9:00pm, no roaming and a pretty good coverage area.

Now let's say you want to text. They will offer you a flex account. The flex account is an amount of money you can keep in a separate account for things like texting and downloads or just in case you run out of minutes before the month is up.

So you have to ask them for the texting package. Then for $5.00 a month you get 300 text messages a month or for $10.00 you can get 1000. So don't settle for the flex account deal at 20 cents a text when $10.00 in your flex account only amounts to about 50 text messages. Which is like 25 if you are receiving a text back.

For $45-50 a month you get unlimited calling to your five MyFavs, Night and Weekends, 300 whenever minutes and at least 300 text messages a month. Not a bad deal friends, not a bad deal at all.

For these reason T-Mobile is #1 on the prepaid list of service providers. Go T-Mobile!

See T-Mobile Network Coverage for more information.

For $30.00 a month you get 200 minutes, no free nights or weekends, and they charge 15 cents per minute mobile to mobile.

For $40.00 you get 300 whenever minutes, 500 night/weekend minutes and unlimited mobile to mobile on the same network.

For $50.00 you get 400 whenever minutes, 3000 night/weekend minutes and unlimited calls to others in the same network.

For $70.00 you get 650 whenever minutes and unlimited nights/weekends and calls to others in the same network.

Then if you want text messaging you can buy a bundle for $5.00 you can get 200 text messages, $10.00/1000 messages and for $20.00 you can get unlimited texting a month.

But even on att prepaid plans, unused minutes rollover to the next month and you have a year to use them before they expire.

So the only reason Att is on my list of the best prepaid wireless plans is for their unlimited call feature to others on the same network. So if the majority of your friends and family use Att, then this would probably be the best prepaid network for you.

Cricket has some good things and some bad things. We'll do the good things first. Their pay by the day prepaid plans start at $1.00 a day. With Cricket, you do not get charged on the days you do not use your phone. So if you receive an incoming call and don't answer it, you can call them back from a land line or something.

But for $30.00 a month it only covers local calls and long distance is 10 cents a minute, no texting and an additional $1.00 a day if you want to use the mobile web but that is unlimited.

For $60.00 a month you get unlimited calling to anyone, unlimited texting/picture/global messaging too! Unlimited web for a dollar on the days that you use it. Might not be a bad choice for Gabby McGabberson or Tina Textalot.

For $90.00 you get unlimited everything (excluding roaming which is 39 cents a minutes) including mobile web.

That's sounds pretty good until you check their coverage. They have terrible coverage so roaming charges apply. However, Cricket is #2 on my list because if you stay pretty local then $60.00 a month isn't bad for unlimited calling and text messaging.

T-Mobile because they do not limit you to inside their network, their coverage is good and their prices are fair.

I was going to add Verizon to the list but it's just too expensive and limited to make the list. Unless the only people you talk to are on the Verizon network.