New Wal-Mart Family Mobile Wireless service is a cheap alternative.

Wal-Mart announced plans to introduce its own wireless service to run on the T-Mobile's network. Called Family Mobile, the new service will offers unlimited talk and text for $45 a month for the fist user with additional lines costing $25 each a month. To be available in Wal-Mart stores starting September 20, the new service will be offered with a choice of phones from major brands like Samsung, Motorola, and Nokia with prices starting at $35 and the possibilities to upgrade a phone any time.
This will be the third Wal-Mart offering of prepaid wireless services coming on the heels of two other services, Straight Talk in partnership with Verizon Wireless and Common Cents offered with Spring Nextel. The new Family Mobile costs the same as the Straight Talk service but is a better value with the possibility to add additional lines and comes preloaded with 100 MB Web Pak Internet access to be shared by all lines in the same account. Any unused data credit can be indefinitely carried over the next month. On the other, additional WebPak can be purchased pre-paid at a rate of $40 per gigabyte.

For more, see tgdaily.com