For years, most people have been purchasing their cell phones on cellular networks that require contracts -- typically one to two years. That's probably due to a variety of factors, including the easy availability of the phones, the prices of the phones (which are subsidized by the carriers), and because the contract-carriers (AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint) advertise a lot.

Noncontract phones, also known as pay-as-you-go phones, are more likely to be used by people who don't have great credit. But pay-as-you-go phones are becoming more popular as they become more mainstream. Although the cost to acquire the phone is still usually higher than buying a phone subsidized by a contract, the monthly costs are often lower.

Boost Mobile, part of Sprint-Nextel, has done a good job of making its service more mainstream, as it has widened its phone offerings and made it easier than ever to select a service at a favored price. You can still buy your phone and pre-paid cards so you can avoid the monthly charge; but recently, they have been touting their low-cost monthly plans -- for $50 a month, you can have unlimited talk, text and Internet service.

If you have never used a pre-paid, no-contract phone, you might think it's hard -- and in many cases it used to be. But the Boost experience has gotten very easy. You create an account online, link it to your phone, and pay the bill via your Web account by credit card or pre-paid card you buy in the store or online.

If you want the pay-as-you-go type of plan, you select the per-minute charge -- in Boost's case at 10 cents per minute to talk or 10 cents per text to send or receive. If you want a monthly unlimited plan, you choose that and pay the appropriate amount for the next month. You can choose to pay for only that mont, or have the account save your credit card information and charge you every month.

The choice is yours, and you can change it at any time. Then, when you're done, you have a working cell phone, connected to the Nextel network. It's not the biggest network in the world; but for many people, it will have the needed coverage.

I started up the Boost plan with a Motorola Clutch i465 cell phone. This phone has a full QWERTY keyboard in a light package. I like the feel and weight; but it has a number of drawbacks, including the keyboard and the display. The keyboard has all the keys, but they're very small -- even my teenage daughter thinks so -- making it difficult to send text messages.

The numeric phone keys are hidden within the QWERTY keypad, making phone calling difficult too. The display is similar, with a small font and a default color scheme that is hard on the eyes. It does support the Nextel Walkie-Talkie feature if that appeals to you.

The clutch i465 suffers from that common Motorola condition in which the connector for the charger looks like a micro-USB port, which should make it compatible with almost any micro-USB charger or computer. But I can't get it to charge with any micro-USB A/C charger except those that come from Motorola, a practice that I wish Motorola would stop.

I also found an annoying practice from Boost Mobile: It sends you lots of text messages. It's not that it charges for them; but they're very spammy -- reminding you when it's almost time to re-boost your phone (that is, pay for the next month).

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