If your main concern is to avoid a contract consider Boost Mobile. There is no contract and they have a program of rate reduction every six months that you pay your bill on time, down to a basic cost.
You can "reload" your payments on line or with a card purchased at Walmart. I put my payments on autopay with my credit card and my monthly cost for use of my smartphone is $45. It started at around $65. To get into the program you have to buy your phone from Boost or a Boost phone at stores like Best Buy.
Boost actually uses the Sprint telephone network.
Here is the bad news. Since cell towers are "unsightly" there don't seem to be many scattered through The Villages. I don't know of anyone who claims to actually have excellent cell phone reception.