Verizon Smartphone without a data plan?

[Zatch]

Hey everyone, I have a loophole-y question. In theory it should work, and it makes sense to me.

My contract is up with Verizon and I desperately need a new phone. The enV touch is pure evil and just awful of a phone.

It's quite a shame that since smartphones took off, the dumbphones are left in the dust and because the money isn't in them...the engineers don't really show them much love. I'm looking for a good QWERTY keyboard or a good touch screen. I do not want a smartphone. I narrowed it down to the LG Cosmos (Verizon guy said the touch screen is like my enV Touch--that rules that one out), the Kin TwoM (everything Kin is scary to think of buying), and the Pantech Crux. But then I have to renew my contract and be stuck with it for 2 years. It's a candybar sliding phone, and that scares me because of how easy it seems to be able to pocket dial.

Then a guy at work suggested I get a smartphone without the plan. A good phone, use the internet via wifi or not at all, and it's a good phone for sure. He said I should just get the phone and not activate it at the Verizon store, because they wouldn't anyways, unless I got the plan. I tried that at the store and he said the plan goes on there as soon as I buy the phone and cannot be removed. Bummer.

Off to eBay I go! I just won an auction (which may be a mistake--if it is, I'll just resell and hopefully not lose much money in the process) for an LG Vortex. I saw it in the store and liked it, cheap and sleek. I don't want to go all out and get the best phone if I'm not using a plan anyways. So this will do just fine...I hope.

The tricky part, and the part that I have questions about, is what do I do next? I believe once I get the phone I should be able to call Verizon and have them activate it on their network. I believe I can be without a plan or a contract after this happens.

Am I wrong? Did I miss something?

I can't justify an extra $30 a month for something I don't think I'll use that much. I don't even think I'll use wifi on this phone that much, since it will be a battery drain anyways. I'll get the 3G toggle app for sure.

Please help! Or point me in the right direction.

[XFF]

You can get the Vortex activated without contract, but not without data plan. All smartphones require a data plan on VZW (unless they were released before 2009 I think), regardless of where you buy them.

You can activate the Vortex with PPC or another MVNO without a data plan, but not with VZW.

[flash007]

Verizon requires you to have a data plan for any smartphone, that's just the way it is. The only loophole would be the older phones like a Q9m or an XV6800 the catch is the phone had to be released before the data plan requirement. The LG Votex will require a data plan. Two options you have, you might want to wait and see what happens in a few weeks with teired data, rumors are there will be cheaper data plans with low limits. We might be seeing something for $15. The other option is to activate the phone with Page Plus. http://www.pagepluscellular.com For $29.95 you get 1,200 minutes, 2,000 text and 100MB of data. No add on data plan required.

As for feature phones that don't require a data plan with Verizon, the LG Cosmos is their best current phone with a qwerty keyboard or I would look for an enV2. The enV3 was a multimedia phone that required a $10 data plan. They have a Cosmos without a touch screen and that's what I would go for, I'm not real impressed with feature phone touch screens. Where you are willing to get a phone off eBay instead of signing a contract, don't plan to use data, I would suggest takeing a long close look at Page Plus. It's a prepaid service where you can bring your Verizon branded device and many are taking their high end smartphones over there because they want a high quality phone without a data plan and you get texting included many times for much less than you are paying only for talk from Verizon. Since Page Plus uses Verizon's towers, you get about the same coverage as you do with Verizon.

[DreamCatcher68]

LG Cosmos is a good choice. It may be best to use a separate wifi device, like an iPod touch, to get Internet on the go. Since no dumbphone has wifi.

Sent from my VZW Thunderbolt.

[LTE]

Another option since you did not sign a contract, and all that nonsense, you could activate the new phone on PagePlus, same coverage as long as you do not rely on verizon's roaming partners (check the map), it's cheap 1200min/2000txt and 100MB data for 29.99/mo not a bad deal Most of verizon's phones should activate I even have a Droid 1 on there now, working just fine!

Also unl talk/text and 20MB data for 45/mo... sure is cheap!

[brad76]

Get an ipod touch and a decent dumbphone, several have been mentioned so far. Its the best way to go, you don't want to deal with a q9m.

[Amiga]

A new or refurbished Microsoft / Sharp Kin 2m can be purchased on eBay for ±$100. It is a slider with a keyboard, Wi-Fi, and doesn't require a data plan. It's the newest model you'll be able to get without data. It's a bit different to use, but not so bad.

[CellKrazeDude]

Go with the Kin2M.

[music_man185]

does the smarthphone without data plan if released before the rule apply to blackberry's? for example, could i buy an older blackberry tour or bold and have it activated through my verizon account without a data plan?

[Vatothe0]

does the smarthphone without data plan if released before the rule apply to blackberry's? for example, could i buy an older blackberry tour or bold and have it activated through my verizon account without a data plan?

No you cannot.

Sent from my DROIDX

[pixidust]

Blackberries have always required a data plan because they run off the RIM server. Data plan were only optional for phones like the Palm Treo 650 or Motorola Q. The Q was greatly improved with the Q9m/Q9c but the phone is a very wide device, too big to fit in the average shirt pocket but most likely the best keyboard ever for a one piece device. There's no WiFi, you only get 1X speeds and the OS is way outdated, but Verizon will activate one without a data plan. If you are using it mostly for talk, it kind of feels like a computer that you hold to your head and that's without it being in a case.

There's no super perfect smartphone out there. Blackberries are seriously underpowered by today's standards, but what keeps them in business is the fact that they are required for employees of some companies because of their security and the ability to use BIS/BES. 4g/LTE is still too new and the bugs haven't been worked out yet. I even know people who don't like their iPhones because of the lack of a physical keyboard.

If you want a QWERTY keyboard without a data plan then the LG Cosmos (without the touch screen) or enV2 are going to be your best options. You could also take a look at Straight Talk, they are available at Walmart, run off of Verizon, but you are limited to several available phone choices. The R355C would make a good phone for you if you like the Blackberry style but don't care about data.