Choices are T-Mobile To Go and Cingular/AT&T. Verizon and Sprint use CDMA, Nextel (now with sprint) is its own deal

• 130 minutes for $25 USD, 1000 minutes for $100
• Minutes usable only on T-mobile network, not outside USA
• Number normally expires in 6 months, sometimes expire is much longer due to promotions.
• Long distance to Canada +40 cents, overseas +$1.50 (total rip-off)
• $50 for SIM card includes $30 of minutes (ie. $20)

Cingular Gophone Pay as you Go:

• Either 10 cents/minute plus $1/day on days used, or 25 cents/minute
• +15 cents to Canada, +10 cents to mexico, Europe +39 cents (way better than T-mobile to go)
• Phones as cheap as $25, SIM card is free if you buy minutes
• Lots of stores

So: Which is cheaper depends on how much usage. T-Mobile to go has the remarkable feature that once you put $100 into an account, minutes last for a full year. In theory you can keep a cell phone and number for $10/year, which I haven’t seen anywhere else in the world.