I have used a few tracfones in the past when I didn't want to be easily tracked down, as they can be activated with a fake name and address.

I carry one now because my contracted Sprint phone finds a lot of dead spots, whereas Tracfone does not. Once my Sprint contract is up, I'll be all Tracfone.

Expensive? If you buy and use the minutes in quantity, it is a dime per minute. The youngsters here hate Tracfone because the phones don't have music players, video players, and the other flashy doo dads. If all you want is a phone, it's not a bad deal, and it uses all the other networks' signals.