yolo
Well-known member
Every time the Verizon bill comes in ($174 per month) my wife tells me about the good ole days when a pots landline cost only $15 to $20 per month. Our Verizon account had one smartphone (Droid Razr Maxx), one dumbphone and a 4G hotspot with 5 gB per month. The phones share 700 minutes per month and 0 text messages. The smartphone had 4G unlimited access.
Where we have been parked all summer we always get 3G service on the Hotspot or the Droid. My wife's dumbphone has been turned off for several months.
I first called Verizon to cancel the dumbphone. They tried everything to make me keep it and finally told me that they would turn it off at the end of the billing cycle, a couple of days. I decided to turn it off quicker by porting to PagePlus Cellular on a plan that provides 100 minutes for 120 days (4 months) for $10. By the way, Page Plus rides on the Verizon network. That phone worked well on the network.
I read up on putting the Droid on Page Plus and it seemed to be only a minor flash which I could do to move it.
On the last day of the billing cycle I said what the heck and ported the last phone to Page Plus. After a bit of problems getting the Droid flashed, I got on the online chat and had Page Plus change ESNs to and old Droid X phone that I had laying around. Worked perfectly. Now back to the 4G Droid Flash. I completely wiped the phone back to Jelly Bean and had to go to Verizon to buy a new SIM card ($15) and had Page Plus do another ESN change back to the Droid Razr Maxx. Works fine now.
Bottom line: I still have the 5gB Verizon Hotspot for $50 per month. My wifes phone costs $2.50 per month and my phone cost $29.95 for 1200 minutes talk, 3000 texts and 500 mB data. We'll see how I get along without the unlimited data. I have the phone programmed to use WiFi when available. Down the road, I may buy the $70 unlimited voice and text and 5gB plan and drop the Verizon hot spot. Then my bill will be $72.50 per month.
Some people on the forums complain about PagePlus customer support via phone, but, I found that the online chat works wonders. I changed ESNs twice and it only took a couple of minutes each.
So if you're feeling cheap like me, check out http://pagepluscellular.com and maybe save a few bucks per month.
I know that I lost 4G LTE service and went back to only 3G data service, but I haven't missed it yet.
Warning: If you want to use a Verizon 4G phone, it will have to be Flashed for about $45 or you will have to hack it yourself as I did. PagePlus can use about any Verizon phone dumb through 3G phones as is, but they don't support any of the 4g phones.
For info only, I don't work for Verizon or PagePlus, but I retired from AT&T.
Where we have been parked all summer we always get 3G service on the Hotspot or the Droid. My wife's dumbphone has been turned off for several months.
I first called Verizon to cancel the dumbphone. They tried everything to make me keep it and finally told me that they would turn it off at the end of the billing cycle, a couple of days. I decided to turn it off quicker by porting to PagePlus Cellular on a plan that provides 100 minutes for 120 days (4 months) for $10. By the way, Page Plus rides on the Verizon network. That phone worked well on the network.
I read up on putting the Droid on Page Plus and it seemed to be only a minor flash which I could do to move it.
On the last day of the billing cycle I said what the heck and ported the last phone to Page Plus. After a bit of problems getting the Droid flashed, I got on the online chat and had Page Plus change ESNs to and old Droid X phone that I had laying around. Worked perfectly. Now back to the 4G Droid Flash. I completely wiped the phone back to Jelly Bean and had to go to Verizon to buy a new SIM card ($15) and had Page Plus do another ESN change back to the Droid Razr Maxx. Works fine now.
Bottom line: I still have the 5gB Verizon Hotspot for $50 per month. My wifes phone costs $2.50 per month and my phone cost $29.95 for 1200 minutes talk, 3000 texts and 500 mB data. We'll see how I get along without the unlimited data. I have the phone programmed to use WiFi when available. Down the road, I may buy the $70 unlimited voice and text and 5gB plan and drop the Verizon hot spot. Then my bill will be $72.50 per month.
Some people on the forums complain about PagePlus customer support via phone, but, I found that the online chat works wonders. I changed ESNs twice and it only took a couple of minutes each.
So if you're feeling cheap like me, check out http://pagepluscellular.com and maybe save a few bucks per month.
I know that I lost 4G LTE service and went back to only 3G data service, but I haven't missed it yet.
Warning: If you want to use a Verizon 4G phone, it will have to be Flashed for about $45 or you will have to hack it yourself as I did. PagePlus can use about any Verizon phone dumb through 3G phones as is, but they don't support any of the 4g phones.
For info only, I don't work for Verizon or PagePlus, but I retired from AT&T.
