I live in St.Louis MO. I have a tracfone and it's great. Never had any problems with the service. And when I called with an airhead question about viewing my recent recieved calls the tech person helped me get to it rather quickly.

They are very in-exspensive like most prepaid phones. You can even buy phones that has "double minutes" meaning if you buy a 30min card, when you load it in you will get 60min total. You can buy airtime cards at most local stores, or you can purchase it online via tracfone's website.

I suggest looking at ebay for some good deals on tracfones. airtime cards can run cheaper there depending

My Tracfone works great in Ga.  I don't know about the coverage in other areas but have had no problems with quality or dropped calls.  It does as well or better than my AT&T phone.

I have been using one for my "Hobby" phone for a couple of years. Worked fine for me both in Chicago and in Florida.

which is good in most areas of the country.  2nd, $20 for 90 days (I don't use a lot of minutes, or texts) is more than reasonable.  

Whatever you do, a hobby phone is a MUST.

BIG FAN over here.  also, on the Sprint network and available in iDEN (meaning w/o the chirp).  $50/mo unlimited or pay as you go.  but, the most appealing part -- no ID needed to register the phone, so it can be marked w/ an alias name and address.  i think i'm listed as a PO Box in NY that may or may not exist.  *shrug*

I bought a new Motorola flip phone  last year... which was more a matter of it fitting my belt case when I switched with my "real" phone.  (I just switch out phones when I'm playing.)  New phone has great battery life.  Rollover unused minutes if you extend before your end date...  I'm approaching 400 unused minutes, LOL!!    
As good converage as any cell in hilly New England...  really very good in my area.
When I registered mine the form had a default address...  presumeably a corp office somewhere.   Buy minutes at WM, market or convenience store with cash.  
skb