Verizon has the worst pre-paid plan around. You have to pay $1 a day just to have access, not including minutes. So basically you pay approx $30-$31 a month which includes ZERO MINUTES. Luckily for me, I only needed a prepaid Verizon line for a week because we visited relatives on the reservation out in North Dakota and the only service towers available out on the rez were Verizon's. If you're looking for long term prepaid service, Virgin Mobile has the best. They are a subsidiary of Sprint and their service is totally easy, no hidden fees: 20cent minutes/10cent texts, and all you have to do is add $20 every 90 days to keep the line on. There are other Virgin Mobile plans that you can sign up for that make call minutes/texts cheaper, but that 20/10 is the most basic. I used Virgin Mobile during the kids' early cellphone years before I actually added them to my T-mobile plan and I was VERY pleased with Virgin Mobile's pre-paid service and plans. They also have the best variety of phones for a prepaid service.