An entire generation of young people has now grown up without any familiarity with black Bakelite Bell Phones that weigh more than a stack of phone books and feature a rotary dial. A cell phone is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity, and it’s especially a necessity if you are under 21 and all you friends have one. If you don’t have a credit card or a credit history, and you can’t live without a cell phone (of course you can’t!), Virgin mobile is not a bad way to go.

Virgin sells an entry level flip phone, the Kyocera TNT, for only $19.99 that comes with a 30 day guarantee. Shipping and activation are free, and when you buy a phone from Virgin Mobile there are no contracts to sign, no credit checks, nothing to deal with except the phone itself and however many minutes you want to buy. Prepaid minutes are not the cheapest way to go, but until you can afford to get involved in horribly complex cell phone service contracts that will leave you swearing at the corporate overlords who concoct them, prepaid minutes are definitely the easiest way to go. Details are available at virginmobilusa.com.