I don't know exactly what "relatively few" means, but I use almost no minutes and it's way cheaper for me to do prepaid (via Virgin) than to use any other plan. $0.25 per minute sounds like a lot until you realize that that is the only fee you have to pay. (411, international calls and so on cost extra, but there are no in-US roaming charges.) And there is no expiration for minutes. Their only requirement is that I pay them at least $20 every three months, and that's often about what I do. Even if you are forced to pay more money when you don't need to, you still get the full benefit of that money, so just start using it a little more.

Of course, to you "relatively few" probably means ten times what I use, so this may all be irrelevant. And none of their phones are terribly fancy. But it's a great deal for the wife and me.