The project Dark prices are nothing to get excited about. I expected something more when I first heard about the coming release. Always looking for new deals... ;-)
But at the moment I'm sticking to the Straight Talk unlimited deal available from Wal-Mart: $45 gets you unlimited everything on Verizon's network. Kinda hard to beat that one.

I like where they're going with the no-contract idea but sadly, they are still too expensive. When I heard about 'Project Dark' I expected something a bit more radical than this. I mean, the current plan I'm on, called Straight Talk, is still a LOT cheaper than this and on a better network (Verizon). Why pay 79 bucks when you can pay $45?

I'm using this now after switching from Sprint. You won't believe how much better the network is that Straight Talk runs off. You'll only have joy switching to this plan, trust me. The $30 option is more value-for-money than ANY contract out there.

Tracfone's Straight Talk plans beat both Boost and Virgin with price and coverage. They offer two plans: $30 for 1000 minutes, 1000 texts (or multimedia messages) and 30mb of data or $45 for unlimited calling and texting. Both plans offer free 411 calls and international calls to more than a hundred countries. This service runs on the Verizon network and coverage is excellent.

Prepaid is just the way to go. It's actually cheaper than contracts now, with the benefit of being scalable on a month-to-month basis. No bills, no hidden costs. No 'overage' charges or exorbitant 'early termination' fees if you can't keep up the same level of cell usage. I use NET10 and will never look at another cell contract again.

Smart thing to do - checking your cell usage regularly and adjusting how you spend accordingly. New offers come out all the time and you have to be on the lookout for these if you want to save money. Of course, you can't do this if you are tied into a restrictive long term contract. That's why I like to use a prepaid phone to stay in contact. Almost all prepaid providers now have very competitive plans available, but my favorite is NET10. At call rates of 10c a minute anywhere, anytime it is the only choice that makes any kind of sense. They do not have 'daily use' charges and you don't have to worry about going over your plan and paying 'overage' charges. You just add more minutes at the same low rate!

I prefer using prepaid phones for so many reasons but now with Straight Talk being available at Wal-Mart it just made prepaid so much more attractive. I started using the Unlimited Straight Talk plan a few months ago and I'm very impressed with the low price but also with the network quality. This plan certainly is a game-changer in the cell industry.

I can definitely relate to your advice here.
On the most basic ($39.99) plan with VZ I paid more than $50 every month! This plan gave me 450 minutes of which I used only about 200. After taking a long hard look at my bill and doing some comparisons I found that I would save with a prepaid provider.

I switched to NET10 and am now paying $45 every THREE months ($15 a month!). Plus, if I run out of minutes I can top up immediately with no hassles using the phone itself.

So if usage is low you can save massively by using prepaid.

Tracfone recently launched Straight Talk, a prepaid offer with two options: $30 for 1000 minutes, 1000 texts (or multimedia messages) and 30mb of data or $45 for unlimited calling and texting. Both plans offer free 411 calls and international calls to more than a hundred countries. This service runs on the Verizon network and coverage is excellent. Best deal out there!

I had one of those fancy smart phones but realized quick enough that I'm paying for something I'm not using. The plan I was on was something bloody expensive! I switched to a NET10 prepaid phone and now I only pay for what I use. At 10c a minute with no contract and no hidden charges I'm much better off. I save about $30 a month now.