[General Topics] vbetts:
Verizon does offer prepaid for smartphones too, you just need to bring your own device. But, it's gonna run you $80.

Now, you can stay on Tmobile prepaid and use any GSM phone that's locked to Tmobile, or unlocked for any GSM provider(Granted that the phone has the right bands to support Tmobiles HSPA+ connection for full data speeds), but like any prepaid service you're gonna get the bottom of the barrel service. You do pay more with contracts 9/10, but you get so much better service and support. Sprint is going to be the cheapest and most flexible contract service at about $75-$85 after taxes with the starting 450 data plan(unlimited mobile talk, text, and data, 450 land line minutes nights and weekends start at 7), and phone selection isn't too bad either. Now you will be limited on 4g, since Sprint's Wimax service is next to nothing. If you don't have credit, you're looking at $50-$100 for a deposit.

AT&T is known to be the more expensive one out of the 3 carriers, but AT&T is actually just as much as Verizon would be. If you have no credit, you're looking at maybe $200-$400 for a deposit. For $90 a month, you get 450 land line minutes plus any minutes you don't use roll over to the next month, 5000 night and weekend minutes with rollover, unlimited texting, and 3gb of data. For service, it's hit or miss. AT&T will claim they have service in one area, but how AT&T does it is if they can even pull a single bar of service and connect to their towers, it counts as having service. Their LTE network isn't so big right now, but it's growing. Device selection is actually pretty decent right now, about the same as Sprint with the SII, the GS, a dual core Motorola device, a single core HTC phone, a dual core HTC phone, and the Iphones.

Verizon hands down has had the best service, and if you don't have credit maybe $125-$200 for a deposit. Verizon does have the biggest LTE network, and has a deal right now where you can get 4gb for the price of 2gb until the 31st of March on any LTE phone(but it has to be an LTE phone). Their plans are kind of limited though, $90 for 450 minutes, unlimited texts, and assuming you're going for an LTE phone 4gb of data. You only get unlimited to verizon phones, and nights and weekends start off at 9pm instead of 7 like Sprint. You can go up to 900 minutes for $20 more and get 10 numbers to get free minutes to however. Device selection is pretty decent for Verizon, but expensive. The cheapest LTE device Verizon pretty much has that's worth anything is the Stratosphere, but there's hardly any development for it. I love the service I get with Verizon, they're the only company in the Toledo area that has any type of 4g service, but the only reason I have Verizon now is because of the dealer plan Verizon offers to Radioshack employees.

If you're looking for your first contract phone, I wouldn't recommend Tmobile right now, but after they get the spectrum they got from AT&T setup then I would probably consider them, but easily for first contract go Sprint. Flexible, requires almost nothing to be approved, and decent service for Sprint. EVO 3d right now through Radioshack is $50 as well as the Photon, which would be the 2 most cost effective phones on Sprint right now.