Re: New Every Two?

George wrote:

I don't care for contracts but on the other hand if you don't use NE2 you are leaving money on the table. I have used it numerous times and haven't had any issues and I have no plans to leave VZW at the moment. And as others suggested politely asking especially in a slow economy is a good strategy.

I don't think that's what Larry was referring to. Unless you need the features of the Verizon network that aren't available on PagePlus, it's much more cost effective to sign up with PagePlus and pay full price for a handset than to spread most of that handset cost out over 24 months as part of your monthly cost. You still get Verizon's network on PagePlus-- with some trade-offs. I have my kids on PagePlus, while my wife and I are still on Verizon proper for now, though I'm about ready to switch us all to PagePlus pretty soon.

Here are the pros and cons of PagePlus.

Pros
● Per minute cost is the lowest of any prepaid carrier, as low as 5.3¢.
● Minimum monthly cost, for low volume users, is as low as $2.30 per month. Only T-Mobile has a lower minimum monthly cost (once you become "Gold" on T-Mobile prepaid, by spending $100, future refills (including the $10 refill) last 365 days).
● Coverage is the best of any prepaid carrier (equal to the coverage on Verizon's own prepaid service); far better coverage than AT&T, T-Mobile, Virgin, Boost, or Tracfone GSM.
● Coverage is better than all postpaid carriers other than Verizon.
● No taxes, E-911 fees, or garbage fees (there is a 50¢ per month service charge).
● Expiration time of 120 days applies even to their lowest cost cards.
● Roaming off Verizon allowed, albeit at extra cost, so your phone will work on any CDMA network in the U.S. (many prepaid carriers don't allow roaming at all, or they limit roaming).
● Online account management of multiple phone numbers from one PagePlus login.
● Low cost unlimited plan ($33/month) which includes voice, texts, and 20MB of data (3G if your phone supports it). Additional data cost $0.60/MB.
● Low cost high-volume plan ($25/month) which includes 1200 voice minutes, 1200 text or MMS messages, and 50MB of data (3G if your phone supports it). Additional data cost $0.60/MB.
● 3G and 2G data is available for $1.20/MB (not cheap but the few other carriers that offer 3G data at all charge much more for it).
● Low speed QNC data available at no cost. This is an unofficial feature and is not supported by all handsets, and is not guaranteed to be available forever. Press for a Google Search of PagePlus & QNC. QNC is fine for text based e-mail, but is really too slow for web browsing.
● Low $6-10 start-up cost (actually it's possible to get started for free).
● Automatic refills available to protect against account expiration.
● Phone number porting available at no cost.
● Smart Phones are supported on all plans, with 3G data.
● Wide availability of low-cost handsets, both new and used, including handsets sold for use on Verizon InPulse service.
● Verizon back-door numbers for voice mail access work with PagePlus.
● Verizon e-mail to text messaging works with PagePlus.
● Excellent, U.S. based, customer service, though lately it's been overwhelmed due to the popularity of the PagePlus unlimited and 1200/1200/50MB plans.
● Retail dealers available in many areas.

Cons
● Roaming costs 59¢ per minute so it isn't a suitable carrier if you spend a lot of time outside Verizon's network footprint. On the other hand, at least you have coverage, unlike many prepaid carriers that don't allow roaming at all.
● 50¢ per month service charge, while many prepaid carriers have no service charges (though most have much higher minimums).
● The maximum period for automatic refills is 30 days so you can't have it automatically add $10 every 120 days (there is a workaround though).
● If your account expires you lose your accumulated money, though customer service has been known to restore all or part of it on a case by case basis.
● No mobile to mobile free calls to or from Verizon's regular customers, all calls are charged (calls from Verizon customers to PagePlus customers are NOT considered mobile to mobile, and the Verizon customer has minutes deducted during peak periods).
● No free off-peak calls, all calls are charged.
● No Blackberry server support. Blackberry devices will work as a smart phone, but the Blackberry specific features will not work.
● No high usage or unlimited data plans (other than unofficial QNC data).
● No official support for international roaming, though there have been reports that it sometimes works in Canada and China (does not work in Mexico).
● No subsidized or free handsets with contract or contract renewal.
● Automatic refills are at full retail price, you can't set up automatic refills with refills purchased at a discount.
● If you port in a number to a temporary PagePlus number you lose the balance on the temporary PagePlus number so be careful not to have too much of a balance prior to porting
● You can't transfer balances from one phone number to another, even if the subscriber dies.


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Relevant Pages

  • Re: New Every Two?
    ... features of the Verizon network that aren't available on PagePlus, ... a handset than to spread most of that handset cost out over 24 months as ... ● Per minute cost is the lowest of any prepaid carrier, ... work on any CDMA network in the U.S. (many prepaid carriers don't allow ...
    (alt.cellular.verizon)
  • Re: New Verizon Data Plan Details
    ... "Verizon's new "Share Everything" plans, announced Tuesday, include unlimited phone calls and texting, and will start at $90 per month for one smartphone and 1 gigabyte of data. ... Verizon isn't all that much more expensive than Pageplus when you factor in the value of the subsidized handset for an iPhone. ... On Verizon, that would cost $170-175/month, including taxes and fees. ...
    (alt.cellular.verizon)