<p>After several visits and a call to Verizon store, we are still not clear how adding a smartphone to our plan would affect the rest of us on the family plan. We are grandfathered on the unlimited plan but only DH and I have smartphones, our girls have basics. They keep telling us that adding a smartphone would add an additional $60 to our plan and 2GB. We have asked a variety of questions including what happens to our unlimited and I am still not clear. On the website it states that it is also additional $40 per smartphone. I feel they are only giving us little pieces of information. </p>
<p>Before we get committed into a 2 year Verizon contract, I am thinking of letting the Verizon plans expire to a month to month, keeping the grandfathering, removing D1 and D2 from the Family Plan and getting them the month to month Plan on Virgin Mobile. This would leave DH and I with the unlimited on Verizon and the girls with unlimited on Virgin Mobile.</p>
<p>Virgin Mobile seems like a simple $35 a month plan with unlimited data, once you purchase the phone. Voice is limited but they really do not use voice minutes.</p>
<p>I would like to hear about experiences with this VM or if you have done something similar. Also, if we buy the phone and we do not like the VM, can we eventually take it to another carrier and have it activated with them or will it be exclusively Virgin Mobile? </p>
<p>It frustrates me how much energy and time we have to devote to this. I wish it was like in Europe, buy a phone, buy the time and top it off as needed.</p>
<p>I went through this last July. The Verizon reps. were unable to explain the plan to me in a manner that I could comprehend. I ended up at Best Buys, they were offering the Samsung Nexus free of charge with an extension on our Verizon contract. Somehow, they explained the charges simply to me. We are grandfathered on our unlimited plan, the extra charge per month is $30, (only have one smartphone). They told me to call Verizon and they credited the one time $40 fee for me. The only one who slightly goes over the text limit is my daughter.</p>
<p>My daughter and I have VirginMobile phones and service. We really can’t afford more. It really, really, really does cost $35/month with 300 minutes; $45 for 1200 minutes. The only extra fee is sales tax in our city/state, so it’s $35 plus 8.75 percent sales tax for 300 minutes, unlimited texting and more than enough data for us–it slows down after 2.5 gb/month but that doesn’t count times when you’re logged onto wifi. I’ve never had it slow down.</p>
<p>Of course you do pay more for the phones since they are not subsidized like they are by ATT, Verizon, etc. And they seem to sell the less-popular/one generation back phones. </p>
<p>The company is owned by Sprint and uses the Sprint network so you can expect the same kind of service as other Sprint users. We both have Android phones and appreciate the free GPS!</p>
<p>We looked into VM. The cost of purchasing the phone was excessive. At the end of the day, when the phone purchase was included, it cost far less to keep DD on our family plan with AT&T and get a 4S IPhone from them.</p>
<p>We have been with VM since 2004 and haven’t had any major issues with them. DS and I are on the $25 per month - grandfathered until we get a new phone. DH and DD are on the $35 per month. DH has the HTC evo and loves it. Yes the really nice phones can be expensive, but they last a long time. I had considered going through verizon but the contract and all the added fees…data plan, and oh my god taxes for everyone and their brother drove me insane! Our 4 phones cost under $130 per month including taxes. You can’t beat that.</p>
<p>If we did verizon on one HTC evo phone with a two year contract, I think I could buy several new phones for the price of one year with VM. </p>
<p>Plus, if I don’t feel like paying for my DD phone - bad grades repeatedly, then I don’t pay for a month or two. No consequences with VM for stopping service and its easy to restart. Only had to do that one time and boy did my DD pay attention after that! Two months without a phone was just terrible! </p>
<p>We have had VM for years. Yes, the purchase of the phones are expensive but the price is cheaper in the long run. We have two iphones and two androids. Iphones are only $30/month for unlimited text, data and 300 min. voice. It runs about $130/month for all the phones. Have not had any issues with them.</p>
<p>If you average the cost of the phone and the price of the data plan, VM will be cheaper in the long run. You are paying for the phone upfront versus having the price spread out during a two year contract. It is whatever you are comfortable with. DS did the math and decided it was cheaper to pay for the phone upfront (yes, he used his own money). The link is to an old article and the prices of the Iphones have dropped since the Iphone 5 came out.</p>
<p>We went with Sprint and got subsidized iPhone5s. For 4 of us and 1500 minutes, unlimited data & texts, it is $225/month for 2 years. This is NOT cheap, but it is what the kids begged for and we decided to go with. After 2 years, we may switch to VM, who knows? The iPhones were only $128 apiece. We got the activation fees waived and will be getting a $400 credit. Still think the $225/month is high and like the idea of the $130/month VM charges better. Oh well, will see how Sprint works for our family for the next two years. </p>
<p>H & I are pleased that both kids ANSWER the phone and also respond to our text messages now that we’re all on this new plan. That was one of our conditions of getting the iPhones and switching to the unlimited
data.</p>
<p>I really was reluctant to leave Verizon (since they had such good coverage & reception), but they didn’t offer an unlimited data plan & it was what S really wanted. I think it will also be helpful to us & D, so that was our main reason for switching. Did like the reception with Verizon but didn’t like their high prices. We had 3 “dumb” phones, unlimited data & 700 minutes shared for $110/month with Verizon when we switched.</p>
<p>We got 1 4s I phone for D, we already had 4 smart phones on verizon, refused to add and change our contract, Best Buy told me we are losing our grandfathered unlimited come April (everyone is) anyway, was quite rude about it. Even subsidized the cost was $99 plus the coming months charge of adding line, plus activation charge. about $200. Did the math over 2 years way cheaper to get it thru Virgin Mobile.
Went to Radio Shack purchased the phone out right $439.
If you do automatic pay you can get the $35 plan for $30. Also as soon as your phone is in wifi area, no longer using your Virgin data.</p>
<p>WE are in a very good verizon coverage area, virgin mobile is EXACTLY the same coverage for us. Getting completely off verizon end of year, too much money.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for your replies. I think it is clear that I am better off buying the phones and getting the $35 service on VM. Our D’s will use data and text more than voice.</p>
<p>If I stay with Verizon, I am locked for two years and it will cost me $80 a month for the two smartphones plus $60 a month for 2 GB’s. That is $140 * 24months = 3,360 plus $199 for the cost of the phone $3,500 for the privilege. This does not include our phones (which I cannot calculate because it is unclear whether we will be granfathered, if we replace 2 dumbphones with smartphones). </p>
<p>We currently pay $250 a month (with tax and fees), maybe $210 net, for 2 smartphones and 3 dumbphones with 700- minutes and grandfathered unlimited data. This is with a company discount!</p>
<p>VM 2 Iphones 4S $449 * 2 = 898 plus $70 *24 = 1680. Total $2,578, plus tax of course. Plus I like the flexibility that I can stop paying for the service whenever I might need to.</p>
<p>Two questions still pending. Can I use the Iphone that I purchase with VM on another carrier? My D might move to California after college and VM service there is spotty. In the event, she might need another carrier, it would be nice if she could just port her Iphone to another carrier. SamiAmy bought the phone at Radio Shack so it leads me to believe that you own the phone and you do not need to necessarily buy it from VM. Would that be correct?</p>
<p>Has anyone else heard if Verizon is getting rid of unlimited in April? Samiamy mentioned this and I have been suspicious of this for a while.</p>
<p>The thought that Sprint might stop offering uimited data plans was one of the reasons we de ided to lock ourselves and Sprint into a two year contract. We figure we can see what the options are at that point. With the discounted phone prices and $400 credit sweetening the pot we felt it was an ok deal for us and better than wondering how long the prepaid plans would continue unlimited data. So far all of us have ok reception–S in VA, D in LA and us in HI. Good luck in your choices. Will say that if you end up using Sprint’S roaming you can have far less data or minutes than you expect. Since we are all in areas with good coverage that should not become an issue.</p>
<p>…existing customers who already have unlimited data plans with Verizon to keep those unlimited plans, they have to buy a device at full price. If you get a new phone and take Verizon’s subsidy with a two-year contract, you have to buy a tiered plan or family share plan.</p>
<p>I don’t plan on keeping Verizon next December when our phones are due for upgrades. I’m not paying that much for our physical phones. I hope people who are leaving Verizon let them know it is because they got rid of the unlimited data plans.</p>
<p>Barnardmom, thank you for the link. Very interesting.</p>
<p>You know, I would not mind paying for the service but you also have to pay for each phone monthly. Even the dumb phones are $30 a month. So, they lure you in with a $99 or a free phone and then you have to pay $40 a month for the phone plus $60 a month for the mere 2 GB service.</p>
<p>Ebay has excellent phones for great prices. Just be sure to get one that has your carrier name, clean Esn (means it wasn’t stolen) and reputable seller.</p>
<p>For those out there that are put off by the fairly high up-front cost of a smartphone on a prepaid plan, the Nexus 4 by Google/LG is $300 and comparable to a top-tier phone. It doesn’t work with Virgin Mobile, but you have the choice of a number of other prepaid companies including, I believe, T-Mobile and Boost.</p>
<p>VM has other phones that are less expensive. The most expensive are the Iphones at $449.99 and $349.99 but the androids costs less (samsung galaxy II, HTC evo etc.).</p>
<p>We purchased the Iphone 4s, currently Radio shack is allowed to sell the 4 and 4s thru virgin, the Iphone 5 is coming also thru virgin, but I heard late spring. Radio shack won’t let you just purchase and leave, they sign it up with virgin mobile to activate it which is free, you leave with a phone #, and instructions how to pay the $30 per month thru a phone call or on line. Automatic payments you get the $35 plan for $30. </p>
<p>Again, the Best Buy man told us April everyone was, he wasn’t in the mood to elaborate on the April changes. I have searched the internet to see if there is any whisperings about April, but haven’t found anything beyond the data bundling issues. I have a feeling something is up though, Verizon has been HOUNDING me to upgrade my old blackberry for a time and restart my contract, it was almost every day. </p>
<p>There are a few companies, and you could call them and ask about the virgin service phones,on other networks(virgin uses sprint network) verizon sells their 3g network to other providers and then they resell it much cheaper, beigephone.com and pageplus.com is another.</p>
<p>The below article was how I found out about the much cheaper ways to have smartphones and getting away from the ridiculous charges of verizon contracts.</p>
<p>We have had virgin phones for years. Dumb phones for H and I @ $20 every 3 months, smart LG slider ($100ish) for D at the 35/mo rate. I would not switch to a more expensive carrier with opaque plans and hounding. We are very happy with the quality - no complaints. H also has the hotspot, $35/mo (could not take the slow Internet at his small employer) so if we are on the road w/o Ds phone we can use that, or we can sign up for a month of 3G on the iPad.</p>
<p>We got our Iphones at Target. They will ask to sign you up before leaving the store but you can do this on your own via their website. For the 1st iphone we let them do the switching and authorizing and it took forever. Learning our lesson, for the 2nd iphone I just said it was a gift and I did the switching at home.</p>