Which phone & plan for you?

Like 34 percent of readers in our survey, you never or rarely access websites or e-mail from your phone, which you use almost exclusively for voice calls and, probably, texting.

Leading option: A plan with less than 450 minutes per month at a reasonable price from a carrier with decent reader scores. If you send and receive more than a couple of dozen text messages per month and want to avoid overpaying à la carte, you should also consider a messaging bundle or a free texting app.

Alternatively, you can opt for no plan at all. If you're like the 24 percent of readers who made only one or no calls on a typical day, consider prepaying for minutes and texts on an as-needed basis. Though the cost per minute or text may be relatively high, prepaying will probably still be less expensive than almost all traditional plans because your usage will be lower than the minimum for those plans.

Whether you go traditional or prepaid, choose the provider and service first and the phone second—a simple flip- or slider- styled phone. Pay no more than about $50 for the phone, and avoid smart phones and so-called feature phones, fancier conventional phones sold by some carriers. With smart phones, you must pay $15 or more per month for a data plan, which you won't need for voice calls and texting.

Service: If you're toward the higher end of "basic"—say, with 150 minutes or texts, or both, per month—consider Consumer Cellular, a national carrier that received our highest rating for value. It operates on the AT&T network and aims at older users with fairly basic cellular needs.

Consumer Cellular offers short-term contract options and bills you monthly like a traditional cell carrier does, which is less complicated than a prepaid arrangement. For example, you can buy a plan with 300 minutes per month for $20, inexpensively add a second line for your spouse ($10 per month), and get 100 text messages (and a small data package, for checking the Web two to four times a week—up to 4 megabytes of data) for only $2.50 more per month. (Prices and plan specifics for all plans was as of press time.)

If you're a true cell minimalist, consider TracFone, among the better prepaid carriers in our Ratings. Its options include buying 60 minutes of airtime for $20 that you can take up to three months to use, essentially giving you basic cell service for less than $7 per month.

See our latest Ratings of service providers (available to subscribers).

Phones: With Consumer Cellular, choose the Doro PhoneEasy 410, which has large buttons and other features the carrier says make it easier for seniors to use, or the Motorola WX345, which has outstanding battery life. With TracFone, the LG 420G also offers exceptional talk time (more than 7 hours) on a battery charge.

You're like the 18 percent of our readers who said they don't yet own a smart phone but want one. You're not stuck on getting a big-name model with the latest features, you're not yet sure how much you'll use a phone for e-mail and other data services, and you'd happily sacrifice some pizzazz for a lower monthly bill—no more than $80 per month, including voice, texting, and data service.

Leading option: A less sophisticated, modestly priced, competent smart phone from a low-priced carrier with decent, though not necessarily top, scores for data service. A plan that doesn't force you to overpay for a high level of data downloads you might not need.

Service: U.S. Cellular, a regional carrier that operates mostly in the Midwest, scored above average for value. If the carrier is available to you, consider its Single Line Primary Plus plan ($80 for 450 minutes, unlimited messaging, and 5 gigabytes of data) or for even less, its prepaid plans (450 minutes, unlimited messaging, and 2GB of data for $60 or 200MB for $40 per month).

Among national carriers, Sprint's Every-thing Data plans are relatively inexpensive and include one line for $80 per month (450 minutes and unlimited data and messaging).

See our latest Ratings of service providers (available to subscribers).

Phones: The BlackBerry Bold 9650, available from U.S. Cellular, is inexpensive and capable. With Sprint and Credo, value choices include the Samsung Replenish, free from each carrier with a two-year plan; see the smart-phone Ratings for details.

You're similar to the 41 percent of Consumer Reports readers in our survey who accessed the Web or e-mail at least five times a day, or the half or so that used apps in the past month, including Facebook and other social-networking tools. Although you don't want to overpay for service, you're willing to spend $100 or more per month for fast, widespread coverage for your phone.

Leading option: A new top-of-the-line Android phone or iPhone, to enjoy the widest selection of apps. A carrier with satisfying data service, including an ample (even unlimited) data plan, perhaps on a fast 4G network.

Service: Standard service (billed monthly, often under a contract) from a major national carrier is most likely to allow you to get the kind of phone you want.

Among the four major carriers, Verizon and Sprint offered more satisfying data service, according to readers. Sprint does so more economically with its Simply Every-thing plan, which includes unlimited data, voice, and texts and costs $110 for smart phones. By comparison, Verizon charges new customers $120 for unlimited voice and texting with a 2GB data limit. A data hog might need several more gigabytes per month, which cost $10 per gigabyte.

See our latest Ratings of service providers (available to subscribers).

Phone: Any of the high-rated recommended Verizon and Sprint models from our smart-phone Ratings should suit you. They include the Apple iPhone 4S (available on both carriers) and the top-rated  4G models—the Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch (Sprint), Motorola Photon 4G (Sprint), and Motorola Droid Bionic (Verizon).

You're a family, or a couple, that makes lots of voice calls and texts, often to one another. Different family members have varying priorities—say, texting for the teens, streaming sports video for Dad, and mobile banking for Mom.

Leading option: A family plan, which more than two-thirds of cell-phone users have, mainly because it probably saves money compared with multiple single-line accounts. If you need four cell lines, for example, a family plan can save through shared minutes, add-a-line prices, and free in-network calling between spouses and the kids.

Service: A major carrier that bills monthly will give you the widest choice of services with family savings. If it's available in your area, U.S. Cellular provides better than average value, our readers said. Its Family Basic plans let you start with a sufficient level of minutes for most families and add text or data—or not—as needed per line.

Our readers rated Sprint only average on value but better than Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T. Sprint offers multiline economy in its family plans and the option of unlimited and potentially lower-priced data. Verizon got the best text rating of the major carriers. Sprint and Verizon tied with better data ratings among the big four carriers.

Some higher-rated possibilities may disappoint. Consumer Cellular wouldn't be a good option for family members with big data needs; its plans have low data limits and its smart-phone selection is very limited. Credo, which uses the Sprint network, is generally more expensive than Sprint—$25 more per month, for example, for 1,400 to 1,500 minutes and unlimited messaging and data. So why pay more?

No-contract carrier Walmart Family Mobile is a great deal if all you need is unlimited voice and text; it delivers a $70 per month savings over the majors for a family who needs two lines. But its data plan (WebPak) is overpriced at $40 per gigabyte, even if all family members can share it and it doesn't expire until it's used up.

See our latest Ratings of service providers (available to subscribers).

Phones: Because family needs can be diverse, no single model of phone may be suitable for everyone who will share the plan; consult the Ratings. That said, if the needs of several family members are close enough, two-for-one sales can deliver substantial savings on phones.