(for Wichita KS residents)
There are several things to take into consideration in terms of buying a phone.  The first and most important question is: Do you need one?  Really... do you need one?  Do people actually call you?  Do you actually call people?  Do you want to pay between $30-$100 a month extra to carry around a little plastic box with buttons?  Do you want people to see you talking on the phone all the time?  Do you feel important if you buy a phone?

I bought my phone because I'm in college and I'm never at home at any given time.  It is simply impossible to reach me, and I would have to give someone three numbers just so they could get a hold of me.  I used to have a pager but I soon got tired of having to call people back, and I personally loathe paging people.  Pagers are more of a fashion statement than anything.

In Wichita there are two major companies that are worth looking at.  Voicestream and Sprint.  Cellular One is no good, the places in the mall fall into the same category as well as Baysinger's.  Why you ask?  Because they try to pawn off cheap phones and 2-3 year contracts to make it seem like you can get a phone for free.  In actuallity you get a worthless phone that is the size of a home, 5 extra batteries because you have no standby time, and a contract that penalizes you if you break it.  And what about those 584,543,353 minutes your get "free a month."  All that is is free weekend and/or nite minutes.  I.E. there are ____ amount of minutes after 7pm-7am every weekday and they add it all up and make it seem like you get a zillion free minutes.  You really only get weekend and/or nites free.  Hypothetically if you talked on your phone 12 hours every nite you could use all those minutes.  Otherwise just don't deal with the smoke screen they try to shovel you.

To be honest, I don't even bother to keep up with any company but Voicestream and Sprint... they all have similar plans and deals so you don't lose anything by sticking with the top two competitors.  Voicestream has a very awesome phone known as the NOKIA6190.  It has a calendar, 5 hour talk/11 Day (claimed) standby Lithium Ion battery, Calculator, Games, and tons of other little toys... check it out at the Voicestream homepage.  The other phone are ok... good not great.  The NOKIA 5190 is similar to the 6190 but less ergonomically correct and missing a couple options.  The 6190 is priced between $150-180.  Depending on the plan, you may or may not have a one-year contract.  If you want more free minutes a month you have to sign a 1 year contract, but they usually throw in free weekends for you.  One year isn't bad... I've had a phone for almost 2 years and I will probably always have one.

Sprint has no contract, which is good for college kids or shaky job situations.  They have the best customer service (debatable) and the best technology in billing.  They can go in and change items on your CURRENT billing month, as opposed to V-Stream who has to wait until you complete your billing month.  They have a variety of phones, none as spectacular as the 6190, but then again, not everyone needs little toys with their phones.  I had the original Sony Digital Phone, but then switched to V-Stream for the 6190.  Sprint has some very nice phones and some very bad ones too.  The initial Samsungs were notorious for having a pathetic standby and talk time.

So what's the bottom line?  Buy the best phone you can afford.  Make sure you know how the phone works and how friendly the menu is before you buy it.  If you want buy the cheapest phone available then don't bother getting a digital phone.  In fact, just buy those plastic phones filled with candy.  If you buy a phone you need to be able to use it, it has to be reliable, and it has to be more than a fashion statement or an expression of importance.  If you're gonna pay for and keep a phone for over a year then make the right choice.  You wouldn't buy a Geo Metro because it's the cheapest thing out there and you get a lot of miles to the gallon would you?