I had a Tracfone for about 16 months and experience was very positive. Depending where you live, it may be tied to one of the major networks. There are ways to "cheat" the system. Howardforums.com is a good resource. Mine was on ATT network. I converted my mom to one. It is on the Verizon network, and I did what needs to be done to get a phone that would otherwise not default to ATT in her area.
After my Tracfone experience, I bought an unlocked LG Google Nexus 4, and ordered a SIM from StraightTalk, related to Tracfone (parent company is the same). For me ATT works everywhere I need it to. I tried T-Mobile for a month (the beauty of non-contract is you can do that, just for a month...) and the data speeds were better, but signal coverage was not available everywhere where I needed it. Data speed is really irrelevant to me since I do not watch movies or do any data intensive stuff.
My monthly prepaid expense is $43.22 for unlimited talk, text, and "unlimited" internet, which is believed to have a cap of 2GB per month (again, refer to Howardforums.com for discussion). I am almost always in range of a wi-fi, and my monthly data usage rarely exceeds about 600MB.
Don't want to dwell on the Safelink program, but subsidized landline services were long available to the poor and elderly, funded through the USF and other fees, which are more propertly user fees not taxes. Landlines are just too much of a pain, and many poor people move around a lot so they're impractical. Its really impossible to function in society without a phone, so the program effectively just shifted from yesterday's to today's technology.
