<p>After 4 hateful years with Cingular (now AT&T), we are in the home stretch and are now starting to investigate switching (back) to Verizon Wireless. Can anyone recommend a cost-effective family plan without superduper features? We just want to be able to make calls and the kids want unlimited texting. Any suggestions? How about discounts (through AAA, employers or other means)? Thanks.</p>
<p>Many employers give a small discount, but in our case it is only on H’s main line. We have a family plan with 4 phones, one D has unlimited texting, and other D and I have a smaller text package (250 a month). It’s not cheap though, with taxes and fees it’s $119 a month! Coming from being trac phone users, it is a tough bill to swallow. We never use all the phone minutes allowed, which is several hundred, because calls to other verizon users and any calls on weekends/evenings are free anyway.</p>
<p>Sounds just like our current situation, the one difference being the frequency of dropped calls with Cingular/AT&T. Our kids have to stand outside on the quad in rain and snow in order to get reception to call home.</p>
<p>Verizon family plans are decent and can be inexpensive if your kids can restrict peak calling. If your kids friends have Verizon, free in network calling will take care of most of the voice calls. The Verizon unlimited messaging packages are not cheap, but the 250 message basket is reasonable. Unlike some plans, unused minutes do not roll over from month to month.</p>
<p>Several good discounts, some with cash back, are available. PM me for details.</p>
<p>The 700 minute plan for two lines is $70; same with unlimited messaging is $90. For either, additional lines are $10/mo. The 1400 minute plan for two lines is $90; same with unlimited messaging $120.</p>
<p>Note that Verizon, like most US providers, does charge for incoming calls.</p>
<p>If you are really ambitious, it is possible (and legal) to take over someone’s Verizon plan and phones and thereby avoid activation charges and long term commitment to Verizon (with $175 early termination fee per line).</p>
<p>Wow, thanks for your $0.02! Sounds like we’re in for a considerable increase in cost (which is why we had switched from Verizon to Cingular in the first place).</p>
<p>The current ATT family plans have rollover minutes and are priced like the Verizon plans: the 700 minute plan for two lines is $70; same with unlimited messaging $100; additional lines $10/mo. Depending on your usage patterns, you might be able to get by with 550 shared rollover minutes for $60/mo.</p>
<p>If you have a really inexpensive plan (perhaps originating as a Cingulair plan), it might be worth sticking with AT&T.</p>
<p>Switching to Verizon could net $25-50 per phone in rebates, depending on the phone choice. Costco often has Verizon deals that give free accessories and waive the $25-35 per line activation fee.</p>
<p>Whatever you do, be sure of that you want to switch before making any commitments. I lost one cell phone number in limbo and battled with Verizon for months over a deal canceled during the “grace period.”</p>
<p>I don’t see it listed on their website, but we have something called America’s Choice II which is $50 for the first line and $10 for each additional for 500 shared minutes. We never even use that much because most of our calls are off peak and weekends (which are free) or to other verizon customers (also free). We don’t have the unlimited texting, but I believe that adds another $10 per month per line.</p>
<p>Now that sounds good. I’ll have to see whether it’s still offered to new customers. Does anyone know of any deals that Verizon offers to lure customers of other companies?</p>
<p>We have 5 lines with Verizon, minutes are 1400, unlimited texting for all phones and it costs us $120 per month. Our college age kids pay us $10 per month for their line and $10 per month to cover the unlimited texting. ( we just got unlimited texting for all phones for $20 per month better deal than the $5 per line for 250 messages).</p>
<p>km, first of all, I’m glad to hear I’m not the only mom who charges my kids for their text packages. Secondly, I’m paying the same bottom line now for fewer minutes and fewer lines. Does your plan have a name?</p>
<p>The problem with Verizon is that they change plan names and features frequently, so what I have for my family is no longer available to new customers. They often drop the low minute plans if text features are included. We rarely use our voice minutes but there is no smaller plan that includes unlimited texts (and try telling college kids to tell their friends not to text them!)</p>
<p>H’s company pays for his Cingular/ATT phone but the erratic service/dropped calls are frustrating. The rest of us will stay with Verizon.</p>
<p>Hmm, my Verizon plan is cheaper than yours. Something like $60 (before tax) for 2 phones (we got free ones) and no activation charges. I was a customer first then added the 2nd phone when I renewed. We have 700 minutes. Since DH and I use the phones, we never use up minutes and we do not text.
We do get a break on pricing since we are state employees. Federal employees get a break on Sprint plans BTW. All bets are off when we add the 3rd phone for D2 when she goes off to college in September.</p>
<p>mominva, I’m so glad to hear that I’m not the only one complaining of erratic service/dropped calls with Cingular. I scoff every time I see their commercials claiming the best record.</p>
<p>We switched from TMobile to Verizon a year ago. We hated TMobile most of the time we had it, because we had to go out on our front porch to talk … BUT it was so much cheaper than anything else! When D went off to school in the south, we decided we needed either ATT or Verizon, so checked into them. Turns out H’s employer had a discount … 21% off main line, then $10/month each for the other 3 lines we need. With taxes, our 700 minutes and unlimited text/picture package is $113/month. We are VERY happy with the package!!! We weren’t sure about the texting stuff … thought we might drop it & save money … but we LOVE it!!! It’s a great thing. You can get it & drop it if you don’t text much. With the employer discount, we didn’t have any activation fees & our phones were free (except S’s, which was $35, which he happily paid to get his Chocolate phone). ACTIVATE ONLINE, THOUGH … we went to a local authorized dealer. He told us he would give us the same deal we could get online. Not true, as I later found out. I got him to refund our money, but I don’t recommend going through the hassle!</p>
<p>You can also check to see if your kid’s college has a deal. D’s college has a Verizon discount (we don’t need it, but I do know that it’s available).</p>
<p>kelsmom: Just trying to compare. You have: 4 lines, primary with the discount, 700 minutes and unlimited texting on each line? Going to check my bill now. Sounds like we have the same except the texting on ours I believe is inherent to the plan and really can’t be dropped without changing plans?</p>
<p>Bluejay,
When we recently made some plan adjustments I found out that the unlimited texting I thought was included was actually an add on to our voice. The bill lists all the features with one price, but actually each feature(text or web) has its individual price and can be dropped.</p>
<p>Our plan is 4 lines with 700 minutes & unlimited texting/pictures. The discount is on the primary line, and the total is $113-$114 each month, including all taxes and fees. If we want, we can drop the texting part, which I think would reduce our bill by $30 … actually, around $24 with discount. Verizon allows changes within your plan. You may have to extend your contract from the change point.</p>
<p>we have 1000 minutes on 4 lines and 500 text on three lines( text is $10 per line- H doesn’t want to check his voice mail let alone send a text)</p>
<p>I would like it if we could share text or have a smaller plan-we used to have 250 text but now 500 is smallest.
We do go over 700 minutes though although not by much some months, but enough that staying with this plan is worth it.
I also have Navigator ( GPS$10).
Mobile web as well ( $5) so I can check the news/weather</p>
<p>The phone choice is not so hot, but the service is good- very few dropped calls- good reception.</p>
<p>Ive been debating whether to just get a GPS thing for the car- but both Ds have the potential to have it on their phones & you can use it for just a day or so if needed & I have told them to download it if they need it.
( and the way I get distracted and lost sometimes- I have used it alot)</p>
<p>( with taxes- which is about $40- the plan for 4 is about $170- I think my H company has a discount, but he would need to set it up with his work email and the poor soul refuses to try)</p>
<p>I should be more specific on our plan … the 700 min. are shared, and the unlimited text/pics applies to all lines on the family plan. We pay extra to get a family plan that includes text/pics, and the added lines are included in that at the same price they would be without text/pics ($9.99/line). Calls to each other & anyone else on Verizon are free, as are calls after 9 & on the weekends. The text/pictures can be sent to anyone on any carrier, which helps if your kids have friends with other carriers.</p>