I need to acquire a new cell phone and account. I am currently piggybacking off of the lovely and generous everlastingwhy as we were roommates for several years and had a family plan from Verizon, but need to strike out on my own as an adult.

I am looking for a phone that will enable my newfound addiction to texting with a QWERTY keyboard. I don't actually talk on the phone all that often - probably way less than 500 minutes per month, but would like email/web access.

I don't have a preference as to carriers.

So, suggestions as to carriers/phones/plan combos would be lovely!