Verizon contract is up this month, what say you?

[vi edit]

I think once you get past two or three smart phones the family plans start to be more reasonable. Even with the $40 prepaid plans, you are still looking at $160 for just the plans. Toss in phone costs and over the course of two years your savings aren't all that much.

For one or two phones...prepaid with your own phone out of pocket makes a lot more sense.

Carriers aren't dumb. They price things *just* competitive enough that most people don't care enough or are too lazy to really switch to save $20 a month and deal with the pre-paid hastles of porting numbers or dealing with buying their own devices out of pocket.

 

[sze5003]

Yea that is true. Overseas almost everyone buys their own phones. At least from what my friends that live there tell me.

Carriers here know people will pay regardless because every teenager has an iPhone with Facebook, Twitter, etc.

And they are coming out with faster data speeds but restricting your data allowance. No one cares about minutes anymore...we all depend much more on data today.

 

[firewolfsm]

I tried to use a VZW S3 w/ Straight Talk. It worked (received calls, etc) but data was limited to Edge. Would not recommend.

The phone actually picked up the 3G and H+ signal, but a verizon modification to the modem files prevented it from using that network. There are simple software mods you can do to your verizon phone to fix this. This was the case for the Razr m.

 

[squarecut1]

I'm on 2 line contract with Verizon. Both phones S4s.$120 plus tax. Will I get any discounts after the contract expires? If so, approximately how much? Thanks

Anyone? Thanks

 

[sze5003]

Anyone? Thanks

Only on the phone you subsidize from them. You don't get discounts for renewing unless you just go and change your plan to the cheapest available services.

 

[Wingznut]

Sure they do... From a Verizon Wireless press release:

No contract. No problem. Verizon Wireless is giving customers the ability to add a smartphone that is not currently under contract to a MORE Everything plan, beginning April 17. Starting this Thursday, existing customers who are on month-to-month contracts can move to a MORE Everything plan to experience savings immediately. Customers who choose plans with data allowances of 8 GB or below can add a smartphone for $30, a savings of $10, and customers who choose plans with data allowances of 10 GB and above can add a smartphone for $15, a savings of $25.

 

[v8envy]

Depends on where you live. I've been on prepaid for years and loving it.

Current carrier is Lyca Mobile. I mostly text (a few thousand/month), maybe an hour of voice, and not much data (since I'm almost always on wifi).

Currently on a $29/month plan including all bogus fees and taxes for unlimited voice, text, and 500M (2G after) of 3G data.

Wife is with Simple Mobile, another T-mobile mvno. For $40/month out the door she's getting 1G of LTE (then throttled), unlimited voice and text.

Looked into the family plan, and until you get to 4-5 lines it's just not worth it. Yes, they advertise 50+30+10+10+10, but the hidden fees + taxes bring that up closer to 62 + 37 + 15 + 15 + 15. It's too bad t-mobile got rid of corporate discounts.

 

[Thegonagle]

Got unlimited data? No family or roommates? Travel frequently and enjoy connectivity along the way? Get good 4G speed from the cell tower closest to home? Consider paying extra for a new phone to stay month to month and keep unlimited data, adding the $30 tethering option (still available to unlimited data users) so you can tether legit, then dropping your home internet.

That's what I did and it's awesome! I paid full price ($550 or so) for my newest phone in order to stay out of contract (and therefore stay on my current unlimited data plan), then added the unlimited wifi hotspot option for $30 a month.

In order to justify the added cost to my cell phone bill, I said goodbye to my home internet from Comcast.

Net savings? Next to none considering the additional cost of the phone, but I have legitimate internet for all my devices wherever I go, and I never need to hunt for wifi.

The obvious disadvantage is that I don't have home internet (more of a disadvantage to my leechy neighbor than me, LOL), and I need to keep my phone plugged in most of the time. Also, ping times--Verizon's LTE usually gets me 60-80 ms. Landline would be lower, but LTE is tolerable. Speed is fine though, no slowdowns or drops any time of day, just Verizon's workhorse network cranking out the throughput.

I use 40-60 GB a month for $59.99 ($29.99 unlimited plan + $30 unlimited wifi tethering add-on), which would cost several hundred at today's pricing. Since I'm month to month, they could theoretically cancel me at any time, but I'm already well over a year into this kind of usage, so I won't worry about it unless it happens.