Yeah, I don't get why people use the big-name providers unless they have a family plan. Prepaid services like Net10, Straight Talk, Cricket, Metro PCS, Boost, H2O, Jolt, Redpocket, etc are less than half the cost of the bigger ILECs/CLECs and most of them are or have GSM offerings. I like that Net10 and Straight Talk give you T-mobile or AT&T sims to bring over locked phones.
My personal favorite combo at the moment is Straight Talk's "Unlimited" 30 day service for $45, combined with an AT&T Radiant pre-paid phone ($70 cash). This phone is the same specs as a new Moto-E smartphone but for half the price. (I find it hilarious that I can lose or break my phone 7 times and still pay less than for one iPhone 5)
Just to be clear, most of those are MVNOs -- they basically buy wholesale network access from the big name providers and resell it (and provide support) under their own name.
My personal favorite combo at the moment is Straight Talk's "Unlimited" 30 day service for $45, combined with an AT&T Radiant pre-paid phone ($70 cash). This phone is the same specs as a new Moto-E smartphone but for half the price. (I find it hilarious that I can lose or break my phone 7 times and still pay less than for one iPhone 5)