In reading their web site, it says:

    "If you refill before your prepaid account expires, all your
     minutes will extend to the new expiration date."

I take the phrase "all of your minutes" seriously.

I take it to mean this:  if I buy $100 worth right now, I get 1000
minutes that don't expire for a year.  If I use 10 minutes this month,
next month I have 990 minutes left.  If next month I buy another $100, I
get another 1000 minutes (more, actually, thanks to Gold Rewards, but
let's keep this simple).

Now I have 1990 minutes.  But since I re-upped in month 2, the original
990 minutes don't expire at their 12 month anniversary anymore.  They
stay on and expire when my latest purchase expires, which is month 13 of
my doing business with them.

Or, let's say I buy $100 this year, get 1000 minutes, and don't use them
at all.  In month 12 I buy another $100.  I now have 2000 minutes, and
all 2000 of those minutes are good until 12 months after my LAST
purchase, which is 24 months into my doing business with them.

Or am I reading this wrong?

If I'm not reading this wrong, then T-Mobile has the best deal going, I
think.  But their pay as you go coverage is crummy, because there's no
roaming.

My new situation (company supplied/paid phone) is making me look for a
couple prepaid plans.  I currently have postpaid Cingular blue service
with two lines, 7pm nights, free incoming text messages, and free
voicemail checking with 2300 minutes for $98 plus tax/month.  I won't
need that anymore, but I do want a couple personal phones just to have
for emergency and VERY casual personal use.  1000 minutes/year for $100
is fine--but the bad coverage area worries me.

I don't like anything else I see in the prepaid world.

I could keep my current $98/month (plus tax) plan, and spend over
$1200/year for VERY casual use.  I think that's kinda stupid....but when
I compare it to what I can get in a postpaid Cingular plan, with
corporate discount, at $65/month out the door...I'd save $40/month and
get rollover minutes, which would pile up like nobody's business (let's
see, 12 x 700 = 8400), but I still don't want to pay $780/year if I
could reasonably get away with spending $200/year.

I'm looking at getting onto a family member's Sprint service at
$10/month per line for two lines.  Call it $25/month or $300/year for
two lines, again for emergency and mobile to mobile calling.

(Speaking of, I just became aware that Sprint, unlike Cingular, allows
family share lines on one account to be in different parts of the
country.  Radically different parts of the country.)

Per Joseph:

Even in a non-rural setting, I'd try to test a tMobile phone under intended use
conditions.  

I've got tMobile in a suburban setting (about 23 miles west of Philadelphia PA)
and, compared to the Cingular CDMA service that I dropped, find it quite
frustrating.   Changing phones helped noticeably, but I'm still a candidate for
Cingular once the contract's up.

got to watch out cause cingular has the 1$ a day thing plus the minutes if
you use your phone.

I might end up with vM. Their  plans look good.

The problem with Cingular is that their minutes expire too soon. $100 card
expires in six months rather than a year. That makes it well over $10/month
to keep a low usage phone. Otherwise, the $1/day, 10c minute plan is good.

Jim Burks