$80 Prepaid SmartPhone coming to Prepaid...with 1GB Data

[vmobi]

Wirelessly posted (HTC Wildfire S: Opera/9.80 (Android; Opera Mini/7.29703/27.1573; U; en) Presto/2.8.119 Version/11.10)

80 a month for a phone with a 3.2 MP camera with no flash or auto focus, a 3.5" HVGA display screen that washes out in the daylight, 512 MB RAM ......................................blah

If Verizon is the only carrier that will work for you, I guess you don't have much of a choice if your on a tight budget or have bad credit. Sadly, many qualifying people (who might think they are saving money) will not realize for 9 lousy dollars more a month you can go postpaid no contract with BYOD and get 4GB of data by just using an LTE device.

MVNO (and their shady hidden caps) aside with coverage being equal, the prepaid divisions of Sprint and T-Mobile are a much better value.

That's $80 a month for the service. You will need to pay for your own phone prior to initiating this value priced plan.
VZW contract service will set you back more than $9 per month when you factor in the numerous taxes and fees that many local municipalities apply to post paid wireless services. it might still be a better value for you to continue paying a service deposit and signing a contract if you have the urge to pay expensive overages for data/minutes/messages as required by post paid service. and do not forget to pay you monthly bills on post paid since all the carriers would love to suspend your service and provide you with a little gift called a late fee. VZW loves to show you that you are an important post paid customer and after allowing you to use a device on their post paid contracts they will invite you to get a new device before your contract renewal if you provide them with a small monetary gift (bribe?) for them to allow you.

Or you can avoid all the post paid nonsense and skip the contracts/service agreements with prepaid no contract service. We're talking @ phones and wireless service, not multi-million dollar real estate proprties. If you can't afford to prepay for your monthly service, maybe you should re-evaluate if wireless service should be a priority.

[Pabster]

The problem that Verizon has is that their prepaid coverage is essentially also their postpaid coverage. For Sprint that is a huge difference so they can offer lower prices and there is no roaming. That's the differentiator for them. Verizon cuts their own throat if they go too cheap. I suppose they could come out with regional plans as Boost did at first.

Not entirely, but in large part...Also I don't think $60 for 3GB or $90 for 10GB is much of a "low price" relative to other offerings. It's nice to see them offering a 4G (and a Novatel at that) with OK data plans (compared to the 3G pricing for previous hotspots--$50 a gig or $80 for 5GB)

AT&T is using Straighttalk to front for them while their own $50 plan with the data add on is pretty much the same as this Verizon plan.

Verizon may now give PP some more leeway to add more data.

From what I've seen AT&T's $50 unlimited is dirt slow data. Not surprising given the relatively small amount of devices allowed to use it. I haven't seen many reports on data speed for Unleashed customers but I'd wager they are probably better than AT&T on that plan.

And if PP gets "more leeway" I say about time, but I wouldn't exactly be holding my breath.

[offthegrid]

Yes, but I said with the data add on which is $25 for 1gig making it $5 less than Verizon for basically the same thing aside from the phone differences which are significant.

From what I've seen AT&T's $50 unlimited is dirt slow data. Not surprising given the relatively small amount of devices allowed to use it.

[The_Sweeper]

It seems the old smartphone talk and text plans are gone. I logged into my account and when I went to change plans, they were gone as well.

[HF305]

Yes the old monthly plans are gone, and along with them the unlimited 3G smartphone data. The only smartphone option now appears to be the $80 plan, available only on a couple of specific low-end phones.

On the positive side, the price of data-only plans for 3G / 4G tablets or MiFi's have been reduced. Options shown on the website are $20 / 1 GB, $30 / 2 GB, $50 / 5 GB and $80 / 10 GB. There was no mention of a $15.00 weekly plan.

[razr_fan]

So what happens if you go over the 1GB of data?

[The_Sweeper]

So what happens if you go over the 1GB of data?

Knowing Verizon, your data will probably just stop working for the remainder of the month.

[HF305]

They don't say anything about overage. Or if you have the option to spend another $80 and renew early.

This $80 plan seems like a non-starter; Page Plus has the same thing for $55.00 with BYOD.

[fonezfonz]

Yes the old monthly plans are gone, and along with them the unlimited 3G smartphone data. The only smartphone option now appears to be the $80 plan, available only on a couple of specific low-end phones.

On the positive side, the price of data-only plans for 3G / 4G tablets or MiFi's have been reduced. Options shown on the website are $20 / 1 GB, $30 / 2 GB, $50 / 5 GB and $80 / 10 GB. There was no mention of a $15.00 weekly plan.

The old monthly smartphone plans including Blackberry are still available, just not on the website. You have to call a rep. I just verified this. The data plans are more of an issue. There is conflicting information available as of now which is understandable, happens often when a new plan launches anywhere.

The old 3G monthly prepaid plans are still available apparently too. They did mention eliminating the option of using their overpriced $45, $65 plans for feature phones as the $50 unlimited unleashed plans make all of them redundant.

Daily and minute plans remain unchanged.

Call Verizon prepaid cs for futher clarifications...

[Pabster]

They don't say anything about overage. Or if you have the option to spend another $80 and renew early.

This $80 plan seems like a non-starter; Page Plus has the same thing for $55.00 with BYOD.

Except many don't know Page Plus even exists, and many more trust "Verizon" more than some carrier they've never heard of, and will gladly pay the $25 to $30 premium. Value is all in the eyes of the beholder, as they say.

[vmobi]

Wirelessly posted (HTC Wildfire S: Opera/9.80 (Android; Opera Mini/7.29703/27.1573; U; en) Presto/2.8.119 Version/11.10)

So what happens if you go over the 1GB of data?

Knowing Verizon, your data will probably just stop working for the remainder of the month.

This needs to be verified, but it seems data overage will be available for $0.05/Mb. I hope this is not accurate.
Maybe they will provide Opera Mini as the default browser to prevent anyone from reaching the 1Gb threshold.

[fonezfonz]

Wirelessly posted (HTC Wildfire S: Opera/9.80 (Android; Opera Mini/7.29703/27.1573; U; en) Presto/2.8.119 Version/11.10)



This needs to be verified, but it seems data overage will be available for $0.05/Mb. I hope this is not accurate.
Maybe they will provide Opera Mini as the default browser to prevent anyone from reaching the 1Gb threshold.

I have verified it several times with multiple CSRs, overage is 5 cents a meg on $80 plan data.

The New LTE mifi Jet Pack plan, the old legacy 3G usb broadband prepaid plans and the Tablet /iPad LTE data plans all coexist with different rates.

Prepaid Tablets Monthly Access
1GB Monthly Data Allowance $20
2GB Monthly Data Allowance $30
5GB Monthly Data Allowance $50
10GB Monthly Data Allowance $80

3G USB Modems & Dedicated Mobile Hotspots Access Charge Data Allowance
By the Day $15 100MB
By the Week $30 300MB
By the Month $50 1GB
By the Month $80 5GB
Prepaid Mobile Broadband Plans do not include Verizon Wi-Fi Access, Text Messaging or roaming.

The Jetpack 4G/LTE mifi plans are
$15 for 250 MB of data weekly

$60 for 3 GB of data monthly

$90 for 10 GB of data monthly


The tablet plans are the best deal. The 3G plans allow byod with clean esn postpaid Verizon usb modems, the Jetpack allows the most devices. Take your pick, they are all pricey.

[The_Sweeper]

Saw the Illusion at Best Buy Mobile in Manchester, NH today. Didn’t buy it, though.

[jarrett178]

I say you would come out better going on contract and paying $90 for 450 mins, unlimited texting and unlimited data. Thats only $10 more and the only trade off is you lose unlimited calling. Hopefully by 2013 when I plan to upgrade Verizon will come out with something better.

I think this new plan is a waste of money especially depending on if Sprint has good coverage in your area when Virgin Mobile is $35, and Boost Mobile and Cricket are $50 and $55 apiece. You can go to Straight Talk and Net10 and get that for $45 a month.

The old Verizon Smartphone prepaid plans are still available, they are just not listed.

[offthegrid]

A bit of a difference between 450 minutes and unlimited calling don't you think? Maybe not for you.

I say you would come out better going on contract and paying $90 for 450 mins, unlimited texting and unlimited data. Thats only $10 more and the only trade off is you lose unlimited calling. Hopefully by 2013 when I plan to upgrade Verizon will come out with something better.

I think this new plan is a waste of money especially depending on if Sprint has good coverage in your area when Virgin Mobile is $35, and Boost Mobile and Cricket are $50 and $55 apiece. You can go to Straight Talk and Net10 and get that for $45 a month.

The old Verizon Smartphone prepaid plans are still available, they are just not listed.