I have a provider friend in the market for a new prepaid cellphone.  I know this has come up on the boards before, but I'm interested in opinions about who offers the best deals/best phones etc.  Also, if you've had a really bad experience w/a particular company plz share that info as well.  Thanks.

Go with T-mobile.... I have a tracfone right now and it it pretty expensive to use..

Buy anything except T-Mobile!!! Service coverage is about 30-50% of my Sprint phone. Also it doesn't work in western Wisc or ND.

I use them for my primary cellphone and i've been generally pleased w/service and coverage.  I'm just a complete neophyte when it comes to prepaids.  Does anyone know of a good comparison site - I tried Froogle, it was somewhat helpful.  Thx again.

I use tracfone, mostly due to the fact where I live I cant get any decent/ if at all service from much else, you can buy larger blocks of airtime/ minutes that make the cost quite reasonable, but I dont use my hobby phone all that much so I dont care, I would say I am averaging $10 a month to keep it active and the little minutes I use.

ahead of coverage.  You're not going to be romancing your ATF from the north woods, and when you are romancing your ATF you want to be able to hear what she has to say about missing your enormous personality.  First priority for me is to spend an extra $20 for a decent (even if it is a throwaway) phone.

not the occasional hobbiest phone call… So with that in mind I would stay away from tracfone... it costs a small fortune believe me I know!! It can run me 100 a month!!!... And the best that I have heard from providers is T-mobile… no one here in the north woods doing biz!!

You are right, it is for a provider and would be her main business phone, so I imagine she might use 300-500 mins per month answering client calls etc.  I don't think she travels much so coverage is not too important - she's mostly looking for a decent phone (color screen, txt msg, good sound quality) to use primarily in TC where the minutes are inexpensive.  She had mentioned Ver as a possible good option since they offer free nights/weekends.
Further opinions by all prepd users out there are welcomed.