When we are in the U.S. for the winter, we use Net10.
You can get a basic cell phone & a 300 time card for $30 (I paid $40 to get a flip phone) at WalMart. I've also seen them cheaper at Target.
The time card is depleted @` $.10 for all calls in the U.S. To replenish you can buy the new time cards @ WalMart, Target, etc in many different values (300, 600, etc). Or you can download the time from Net10's website using a credit card for payment.
We have always got good reception. I wish they had this service covering Canada also.
Eh!