Upgrading cell phones on Verizon !!##

[Brat]

Husband and I have basic phones on a 'family plan' with Verizon. I have been wanting an iPhone for a while so we gave them a call about upgrading. The 'upgrade' discount was exactly the same as a new 'upgrade fee'. The cost of service would double our current monthly charge. OH WOW!

Husband just wants voice, and would like to be able to take and send pictures now and then but not at $0.25 cents each or the price of adding messages to our current plan with our current phones.

I would love to be able to use 'face time' on our wi-fi but a new iPad would suffice. There are other features that would be nice too, but for another $70/month? I think not!

 

[Bimmerbill]

Did that include the new Verizon shared family data plan?

 

[Animorph]

Check out Virgin Mobile. They have the iPhone 4s (for full price!) with semi-unlimited plans (voice minutes are limited, messages and data are not) starting at $30/month for the iPhone. I haven't been looking for long, but that's one option that looked appealing. If you keep your phones for a long time it should be cheaper.

 

[Brat]

Did that include the new Verizon shared family data plan?

Yes, we are presently paying about $70/mo for two basic phones incl taxes & fees.. the new cost would be $40 x 2 plus $50 for the lowest data allowance (plus taxes, fees).

 

[Bestwifeever]

There are a lot of articles about Verizon changing its family plan to share everything and who would save and who wouldn't. Sorry you're in the latter group.

 

[Brat]

What really got me was the CSR giving us the song and dance that 'everything is going up'. Our retort was 'not our retirement income'. What a lame excuse.

FWIW we have been a Verizon customer for over 20 years.

 

[Buckeye]

Check out Virgin Mobile. They have the iPhone 4s (for full price!) with semi-unlimited plans (voice minutes are limited, messages and data are not) starting at $30/month for the iPhone. I haven't been looking for long, but that's one option that looked appealing. If you keep your phones for a long time it should be cheaper.

We have been on the Virgin Paylo month-to-month for about 6 months and it's working out great. 1500 minutes/1500 messages/30MB data.

I have been coveting an iPhone but won't pay the rates on a contract plan like Verizon. I just looked at what it would cost to purchase an iPhone 4 from Virgin.......$649.99. Yikes!!!

 

[ERD50]

I have been coveting an iPhone but won't pay the rates on a contract plan like Verizon. I just looked at what it would cost to purchase an iPhone 4 from Virgin.......$649.99. Yikes!!!

Yes, but if you go on contract, you are paying that (and probably more), just not up-front. TNSTAAFL.

I prefer to pay up-front, and I can buy a new phone when I want/need. On contract, if your 2 year period is up, but you want to wait 6 months for some rumored new phone, or are just happy with what you have, you are essentially paying the monthly cost of that new phone that you didn't buy. No Thanks.

Easy for me to say, I have a cheap-o $19.99 flip Even though smart-phones have great features, I find this little flip to be much easier to just make/take a phone call. No screen unlock or anything.

-ERD50

 

[donheff]

I'm POd at Verizon. I upgraded to a Razr Maxx a few months ago and was able to keep my unlimited data plan. Unfortunately, the Maxx was faulty so I returned it. I just learned that they changed their policy a few weeks ago -- if I upgrade now I go on a new contract and lose the unlimited data. I will probably upgrade DW's new iPhone 4 (3G) to an iPhone 5 (4G) using my eligibility and use her old new phone on my account so I keep unlimited data for a while longer.

 

[Lakedog]

Yes, we are presently paying about $70/mo for two basic phones incl taxes & fees.. the new cost would be $40 x 2 plus $50 for the lowest data allowance (plus taxes, fees).

You might check out Page Plus -- prepaid on Verizon network with several options to buy blocks of minutes or monthly packages with data as well. Page Plus turns out to be way less expensive for me. No additional fees or taxes tacked on to the plans. You can also use most Verizon phones.
Prepaid Cell Phone Cards | Prepaid National Cell Phones

 

[W2R]

I have a Verizon iPhone 4 with unlimited data and have had this phone for about a year and a half. I think the iPhone originally cost me $199, and my total bill including voice time, data, and fees is $76/month.

It is definitely a luxury and not a necessity, but I can afford it and I do not feel that the monthly fees are outrageous. I do like having the internet with me everywhere.

Even now, I sometimes forget that I have access to all that information when I am out and about. Sign of my age, I suppose.

 

[Katsmeow]

Yes, we are presently paying about $70/mo for two basic phones incl taxes & fees.. the new cost would be $40 x 2 plus $50 for the lowest data allowance (plus taxes, fees).

OK but that really isn't comparable. You are paying now for 2 basic phones

The $130 for 2 new phones plus data would be for 2 smartphones, not basic phones. And, it would included unlimited voice minutes and unlimited texts.

Now -- if you don't need or want those things -- then the extra cost isn't worth it. If you were wanting to get a smartphone instead of a basic phone then its not so bad and does give you more than what you are getting now.

We have 5 phones on our Verizon plan and have determined that moving to the shared plan will save us a total of $2 a month. However, we do like the idea of sharing data since some people in the family use it a lot more than others.

 

[JohnDoe]

I have yet to find phone service that is affordable.

Any smart phone requires a data plan.

I have Verizon now but not under contract. I have the 'secret' family 550 share mins.

If I get 2 smart phones and 1 basic phone with unlimited text it would cost over $2000 a year. No thanks.

 

[REWahoo]

Any smart phone requires a data plan.

Not necessarily.

DW and I use AT&T and our (voice and text) contract expired a while back. Instead of getting new phones and getting tied up with another contract, we each purchased one of these from Amazon, stuck in our AT&T sim cards and now have WiFi only smart phones. Not perfect, but certainly less expensive than a data plan - and WiFi networks are available in many more places than you would think.

 

[Dawg52]

You might check out Page Plus -- prepaid on Verizon network with several options to buy blocks of minutes or monthly packages with data as well. Page Plus turns out to be way less expensive for me. No additional fees or taxes tacked on to the plans. You can also use most Verizon phones.
Prepaid Cell Phone Cards | Prepaid National Cell Phones

Thanks for the info. I may go this route when my prepaid tmobile expires.

 

[Buckeye]

I'm POd at Verizon. I upgraded to a Razr Maxx a few months ago and was able to keep my unlimited data plan. Unfortunately, the Maxx was faulty so I returned it. I just learned that they changed their policy a few weeks ago -- if I upgrade now I go on a new contract and lose the unlimited data. I will probably upgrade DW's new iPhone 4 (3G) to an iPhone 5 (4G) using my eligibility and use her old new phone on my account so I keep unlimited data for a while longer.

Virgin Mobile has an unlimited minutes/messages/data plan for $55 per month, $50 on autopay. You would have to purchase the iPhone for $650 but it's the 4s. They have a 4G phone, the HTC EVO ($300), with unlimited for $55/$50 per month. Not a bad deal.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Really good information about Virgin Mobile phones. We've been month-to-monthing on ATT and were ready to move to Verizon to upgrade to 2 smart phones on the all-in-one plan. But maybe DH will stay at ATT, get his subsidized upgrade to the iPhone 4S and keep his plan as is, and I'll go be a virgin!

Does anyone know if you can keep your existing phone number if you move to the month to month plan on Virgin?

 

[MichaelB]

Does anyone know if you can keep your existing phone number if you move to the month to month plan on Virgin?

Their FAQ sections says "yes'.

• Can I port my existing cellphone number to a new iPhone on Virgin Mobile?
  
  You can bring your Virgin Mobile phone number or existing phone number over from any carrier. After buying a Virgin Mobile iPhone, just go to www.virginmobileusa.com, click Activate, and select the option I want to switch my number from another company to Virgin Mobile.

This does look interesting. How is the signal quality around the US?

 

[Bestwifeever]

I missed that on the website, Michael--thanks!

I did see on the Virgin site that the phone service is on the Sprint network. I think there is a place on the site to check coverage.

 

[Chuckanut]

I missed that on the website, Michael--thanks!

I did see on the Virgin site that the phone service is on the Sprint network. I think there is a place on the site to check coverage.

+1

 

[misanman]

I was grandfathered into the vz unlimited data plan but never used significant amounts of data since I'm typically wifi connected. The new shared data plan (with unlined talk and text) makes more sense for our situation and will reduce out cost by about 15% I think there are clearly some winners and some losers with this vz change.

 

[Buckeye]

Really good information about Virgin Mobile phones. We've been month-to-monthing on ATT and were ready to move to Verizon to upgrade to 2 smart phones on the all-in-one plan. But maybe DH will stay at ATT, get his subsidized upgrade to the iPhone 4S and keep his plan as is, and I'll go be a virgin!

Does anyone know if you can keep your existing phone number if you move to the month to month plan on Virgin?

We transferred out numbers from Verizon, to StraightTalk, and then to Virgin. Took about 2 hours to move from StraightTalk to Virgin.

 

[Buckeye]

Their FAQ sections says "yes'.


This does look interesting. How is the signal quality around the US?

We've had no signal issues.

The other thing I like is the only tax we pay is 7% sales tax on the $30 month-to-month cost for a total of $32.10 per month (auto charge to credit card). This is for 1500/1500/30MB but no fancy phones. I have a Samsung with slide out keyboard.

 

[Buckeye]

I have yet to find phone service that is affordable.

Any smart phone requires a data plan.

I have Verizon now but not under contract. I have the 'secret' family 550 share mins.

If I get 2 smart phones and 1 basic phone with unlimited text it would cost over $2000 a year. No thanks.

Don't know how many minutes you need but you could get as low as $1200 per year (2 x $35 for Smartphone basic plan, 1 x $30 for basic phone & plan) using Virgin. You would have to purchase your Smartphones. Basis phones go as low as $20 for a flip phone.

 

[Brat]

I wonder how their sim cards work. Can one transfer a phone from one carrier to another?