I beleive virgin mobile uses the sprint network, fyi.
Cricket is a pretty good deal, unlimited local calls for 30 a month. Depends what your usage is.
The sprint sero plan is 30 bucks a month for 500 peak minutes (2 year contract), with all the bells and whistles.
Just depends what your usage is. I need free internet and all that bullshit, so i go with the sprint, but just local basic phone, ghetto cricket is a good deal.