best phone option for tourist in US

A friend of mine is traveling to US for 10 days. What is the best option for a phone service ? I was thinking about phone cards, but he can use them from hotel phones, payphones - but the access charges are high. Would you suggest a tracfone type of service ?
His phone calls would be within the country informing hotels if would be late coming in, only for emergency use.

Would appreciate any suggestion.
thanks

Where have all the payphones gone?
Long time passin'
...

A cheap tracfone is a good option. All the info you need can be found here

Tmobile prepaid - 100 dollar phone card and its 10 cents a minute.

Prepaid SIM is a good option, especially if no data is needed. My visitors usually use their unlocked phone and use the SIM I provide from T-Mobile. I load $100 and choose pay-as-you-go plan. Minutes last for a year and if I want to keep the simcard and phone number active, I load $10 every year). If I don't want to keep the simcard, I drain the funds by texting to charities until less than $5 then just let it expire.

I'd suggest an inexpensive multi-sim unlocked phone like an IceMobile Rock Mini or MX-12, and a Red Pocket SIM. The $13.99 plan (no taxes or fees) which would give your friend AT&T service wherever they go and unlimited talk and text for 7 days. They'd also have a local US phone number so you can contact them while they're here.

If they want, when they're ready to return home, they can also take the phone back to the country they're from and use it there with a local SIM card.

skibum43 said:   A cheap tracfone is a good option. All the info you need can be found here

Agreed. It's all my father in law uses. He just doesn't need a cell phone.

Only concern would be to check the coverage map and make sure it's good for him. It's a bit limited...but tends to be good in most major cities.

T-Mobile prepaid has a $2/day plan that includes unlimited minutes/text/2G data.
So if there is already a compilable phone, they just need the SIM and a $20 card.

Firstly you need to unlock your GSM phone. Most phones sold in the U.S. are locked though. So you must do it. As an alternative, you can just buy a cheap prepaid phone in the U.S. for about $20-$50 to get you started (which includes a SIM). If not, you’ll need a U.S. prepaid SIM to put into your phone.

Once you get the SIM, you could activate it online at www.att.com/activations/

Cheapest option: 99 cent Tmobile activation card to use with your own existing unlocked GSM phone. Comes with 10 minutes of voice for 30 days or something. You can easily buy more time if you need it, but if you have preexisting thoughts that you need a lot more time, then you'd probably be better off buying a prepaid phone with the minutes included at wally world or such.