trying to justify the 55 plan

[shoptalk1]

Just curious, has anyone on the $55 plan been able to make the plan worth having in terms of using your phone to save money? I've found the 1200 plan to be more talk and text than I can use per month and some months the 12 might be the perfect plan for me when I use 150 minutes and 75 text. A friend of mine who just became a dealer gave me a Droid Pro to play with because he said PPC prohibits dealers from associating the Verizon name with the product and since he has a couple of Verizon branded phones he can't have them on display in his store or sell them to his PPC customers. I'm replacing an old E815 that wore out but now there's a phone on that line capable of using more data.

The guy at the Verizon store was giving me this line about how people nowdays were using their smartphones to save money with things like barcode scanners. Except when I buy into the hype, it feels like an expensive toy that can't be justified other than "I want an iPhone" or "I want a razr maxx" Right now I don't use much data but the 1GB for $55 might be tempting if I could justify the extra expense.

I may have to cancel my line with Verizon because it's too expensive, so this would be my only data. I have a Droid X, currently on a standard plan and haven't used much data at all. If I do use it, I use WiFi only. I can see times when WiFi is unavailable and cellular data might be helpful, but moving from the 12 to the 55 is a $43 expense and I was wondering how most justify it.

[cisasteelersfan]

What if you went to the $30 TnT 1200 plan? That offers 100mb for data and overage at a rate of 10 cents a megabyte. So an extra 100mB will cost you $10. The 55 is $25 more than the TnT, so it would be economical for you to go with TnT if you use less than 350mB and with The 55 if you use over that.

[davefrdd99]

What if you went to the $30 TnT 1200 plan? That offers 100mb for data and overage at a rate of 10 cents a megabyte. So an extra 100mB will cost you $10. The 55 is $25 more than the TnT, so it would be economical for you to go with TnT if you use less than 350mB and with The 55 if you use over that.

+1 for the above.

55 plan for lots of folks is just overkill

[rgg]

The $29.99 plan works well for me. Most of my data is on WiFi and I have never gotten close to using the 100MB.

[t6821hn]

Same here. I use about 70 mb per cycle. The rest are plentiful.

[pc.colfax]

ppc dealers are NOT prohibited from selling VZW branded phones, they just can't use the VZW name in their ads. If your friend is giving away perfectly good phones, I want to be a friend too! Is it just me or does something sound fishy here?

[shoptalk1]

My friend sent me this paragraph from his dealer agreement.

Verizon Wireless and Owl are complete and separate business entities regardless of any business
relationship between the two companies. Any and all uses of the Verizon Wireless name(s) or
identifiers in any form may not be used in conjunction with the use of the Owl or Page Plus Cellular
name or identifiers. Such use would constitute a violation of Owl policy and Verizon Wireless
policy. Violators of this policy will be suspended from distributing/selling Owl products and
services and may be prosecuted to the extent allowed by law.

According to this, a dealer can not sell a Verizon branded handset as a Page Plus handset. Myself, I think he sunk thousands into outdated junk phones to have on inventory and isn't selling anything. When dealing with a BYOD like Page Plus, nobody is going to pay a dealer's inflated price, they are going to shop around for the best deal they can get then expect the dealer to activate it for free.

[Boz1]

I've seen B&M PPC dealers selling used Vzw phones. They weren't selling them as PPC phones, they were selling them as used Vzw phones that are "allowed" on PPC's network.

[Bobby J]

The first phone i bought from page plus was a refurbished Verizon phone.

[desertbunny]

I was on the $30 1200 plan, i typically added $50 each month to cover the plan and data overage that I expected.

1200 minutes, 3k texts easily met my needs, and I was using 200-400mb of data.

Then I decided that was idiotic, and just bumped up to the 55 plan. I can care less how many minutes or texts i use or dont use, and the extra data is great. I'm ending the month with hundrends of MB's left over, and I stopped caring if I have wifi around all the time.

[Vchat20]

I was on the $30 1200 plan, i typically added $50 each month to cover the plan and data overage that I expected.

1200 minutes, 3k texts easily met my needs, and I was using 200-400mb of data.

Then I decided that was idiotic, and just bumped up to the 55 plan. I can care less how many minutes or texts i use or dont use, and the extra data is great. I'm ending the month with hundrends of MB's left over, and I stopped caring if I have wifi around all the time.

Pretty much ditto with this. I was on the 30 plan and usually had an extra 25 pin added that lasted 1 1/2 months to cover data usage. Even with conservative usage I typically used between 200-300MB per month. Figured for not much more I could go with the 55 and have enough data to not limit myself. I've since dropped using Droidwall and use heavy apps on a semi-regular basis and all is peachy. I even allow myself to install/update apps over 3G now without having to worry about chewing away a large chunk of my data.

[adam1991]

With all this talk, has anyone ever considered moving away from PPlus? Why or why not?

See my post further down. I'm evaluating options, and can't find a way to stay on PPlus and move to smartphone with data for anywhere near what the competition offers. Caveat: this is for very light voice use (currently on the standard plan), but it seems that one could easily spend $50/month--which is what I'm trying to avoid.

[Vchat20]

Depends on BYOD and availability of phones really. Only reason I am with PP now is the hand-me-down Droid I was given as an upgrade from my Sprint Q9c (run on Boost Mobile at the time). Given the chance to get a nice GSM Android device for cheap I'm seriously tempted to give T-Mobile's prepaid options a shot.

[TheMountainMan]

With all this talk, has anyone ever considered moving away from PPlus? Why or why not?

I am seriously considering moving from PP to ST/Net10 since the introduction of the new Unlimited everything plan on the same network as PP, and the introduction of an Android phone for ST/Net10 on same. For me, it will depend on what new offerings come out of PP in the next month or so. If PP FINALLY decides to lower data prices on the standard plans to no more than 25¢ per meg, and offers a decent group of data add-on plans that won't expire at the end of the month, I will likely stay with PP, but time is critical if I am going to stay on PP, so the changes need to come pretty soon. Once I have purchased a new phone for ST/Net10, I won't be likely to switch back.

[26.2]

With all this talk, has anyone ever considered moving away from PPlus? Why or why not?

See my post further down. I'm evaluating options, and can't find a way to stay on PPlus and move to smartphone with data for anywhere near what the competition offers. Caveat: this is for very light voice use (currently on the standard plan), but it seems that one could easily spend $50/month--which is what I'm trying to avoid.

I am probably (90 percent sure) going to port over to Straight Talk contingent upon the following:
1. Finding out from others, what is the true data limit allowed regarding androids via Verizon network:
Anything between 1gb and 2gb is perfect for me (unfortunately this is not an option with PP, 1gb being the ceiling with PP). This appears to be the data allowance currently available on the ST BYOB ATT/TMOBILE sims program.
2. Straight Talk introducing the Samsung Galaxy S Showcase S950C:
This phone is rumored to launch on Straight Talk by July/August. The specs are perfect for my requirements/needs. I have reviewed the feedback on this phone (Cellular South or whatever they call themselves now, what were they thinking when they changed their name, talk about wasted marketing dollars).
I have been with PP for several years. I love the BYOB policy. My current Droid 3 is perfect for my needs – screen size, keyboard, memory, processor speed. However, I have always wanted extra data. I could care less about LTE. Verizon 3g is great for my needs. I have always done my transactions with PP online and anticipate doing likewise with Straight Talk. While I will miss BYOB and a keyboard, I will make the trade off for more data (and @ 5-7 dollars less a month) on the same great network.