Wife and I both have Tracfone. Her phone came with triple minutes for life and mine came with double minutes for life. I rarely use my phone, as I also have a Google Voice number that allows me to make unlimited voice calls and text messages. I'll text my wife from the laptop, she'll respond and it goes to both the phone and the laptop. I simply delete the message w/o viewing in on the phone to save the cost. However, for those who need a bit more airtime for voice or data, you might check out an outfit called ting.