Around this time last year, I switched from my old analog phone service to digital GSM through T-Mobile. Service was prepaid, so I loaded $100 onto it and forgot about it for the rest of the year.
Just a few days ago I got a message stating that the funds I had loaded on were about to expire. To my surprise I still had $16 left. That works out to just seven dollars a month. By comparison, the cheapest plans I've been able to find start at $19.99 a month, and even then I do know people that can rack up between $200 and $600 per month in overages by excessive texting and long-distance calling, at the respective ends of the spectrum.
Dear world: landline phones, e-mail, instant messaging, IRC chat, and Skype work just as well as this highway robbery...