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One option would be to use a pay-as-you-go "plan" with either a long validity of the credit when you top up a lot, or a low monthly fee. The T-Mobile page, for example, lists a $3/month Pay-as-you-go choice that includes a few minutes/month.
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You don't need a backup phone as a student in the US. This is for a few reasons:
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First factor you need to consider is that the USA uses different GSM frequencies than the rest of the world, so would your older handset work in the USA? Global frequencies are 900 & 1800 whereas the USA & Canada use 850 & 1900.
There are a number of non-monthly pre-paid plans available, where you buy $XX and get YY months of validity. Many of these tend to hover around the $25 gets you 90 days, $100 gets you one year, with calls costing 10 cents a minute (both inbound and outbound, a sneaky US phone company trick).
Some of these pre-paid plans allow you to bring your own phone and simply get a SIM. Others require you to buy one of their phones. AT&T and T-Mobile offer bring your own phone plans, Tracfone has buy their phone (but they offer some really cheap talk only models).
Finding out the best plans from afar is not easy, as the phone companies tend to bury information about their cheapest offering hoping you will sign up for a more expensive monthly plan. I found talking directly with the sale people in their respective stores revealed more low cost options than their websites do.