I have two good friends who are very knowledgeable about the cellphone industry. (One used to own his own cellphone store).
Both told me not to get prepaid. Way too many headaches and hidden fees with prepaid.
If your credit is good enough for a regular cellphone, consider signing a contract. If not, perhaps you have a friend or family member who'll be willing to sign up for cellular service under their own name. Then, you pay the bill every month.
When some nut-job kept calling the cellphone I had gotten for my mom, I politely asked the lady why she kept calling. She said that it had been her cell number until recently. Okay. . . Doesn't really explain why she kept calling, or even why she called the first time to begin with. There was clearly something wrong with her. I made one phone call to T-Mobile customer service, and they changed the number on my mom's cellphone. Just like that.
Not sure if that can be done with prepaid. But that would seem to be the easiest solution to the problem.