I intend to go back to tracfone when my lousy expensive verizon contract is over this fall. no more 2 year contracts for me. I much prefer the tracfone service because I don't use the cell phone much and I am wasting money on a contract phone with so many minutes I never use and just waste. yes you do have to keep them charged up, the only phones that don't need to be charged regularly belong to Jack Bauer and they must be a government secret.