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Verizon $50 Prepaid Unlimited Goes Nationwide
Unlimited Talk, Text and SMS Starts Tomorrow
Verizon has confirmed earlier reports that the company will be expanding their prepaid $50 unlimited "unleashed" plan nationwide. Verizon tells Dow Jones that the $50 plan, which offers unlimited Internet, SMS and voice, will be offered in Verizon stores as well as at Target, Best Buy and Walmart starting tomorrow. The plan was initially unveiled back in April, but was only offered in Southern California and Florida -- presumably so Verizon could see if the offer would cannibalize on their post paid plans -- which no longer offer an unlimited option. Verizon presumably found the plan didn't hurt postpaid sales, in large part because this deal has only been made available on select feature phones -- namely the LG Accolade, LG Cosmos slide-out QWERTY candy bar phone, and the Pantech Caper.
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mech1164
I'll Be Back
join:2001-11-19
Lodi, NJ

mech1164

Member

Ok yeah,

I looked at this last week. The plan isn't bad. Just not full featured. Unlimited talk and SMS. The data is quite paltry. That and there was nary a true smartphone allowed on the plan. VZW needs to step it up if they want to compete. Oh wait, silly me I forgot who we are talking about.

kdwycha
join:2003-01-30
Ruskin, FL

1 edit

kdwycha

Member

Why?


LG Optimus V
It is a ripoff. I currently decided when my contract was up with Sprint to try out Virgin Mobile. I was able to get a LG Optimus V and have a 300 minutes talk plan with unlimited data/text for 35 a month. Comes out to be 37 a month with tax.

The phone has worked everywhere I needed it to and the 3G network works well for streaming music and video and such.

And the phone itself benchmarks up there with the expensive phones and I only spent 149 on the android phone.

I dont mind the 300 mins talk because I probably use less then 30 minutes of voice a month anyway. Mainly use my phone for data.
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT

BiggA

Premium Member

Re: Why?

VM is Sprint-only and can't roam on VZ, so the coverage is lousy.

Text AND SMS? WOW!!!

atuarre
Here come the drums
Premium Member
join:2004-02-14
EC/SETX SWLA

atuarre

Premium Member

Re: Why?

said by BiggA:

VM is Sprint-only and can't roam on VZ, so the coverage is lousy.

Text AND SMS? WOW!!!

Sprint coverage is just fine here.
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT
·Frontier FiberOp..
Asus RT-AC68

BiggA

Premium Member

Re: Why?

If you travel outside of Sprint's small coverage area with a contract Sprint phone, you'll roam on VZW, if you roam with VM, you'll be SOS-only on VZW. These phones are a good deal, and for the right people they're great, but I just can't see giving up the coverage of one of the big two for a slightly cheaper plan.

atuarre
Here come the drums
Premium Member
join:2004-02-14
EC/SETX SWLA

atuarre to kdwycha

Premium Member

to kdwycha
said by kdwycha:

It is a ripoff. I currently decided when my contract was up with Sprint to try out Virgin Mobile. I was able to get a LG Optimus V and have a 300 minutes talk plan with unlimited data/text for 35 a month. Comes out to be 37 a month with tax.

The phone has worked everywhere I needed it to and the 3G network works well for streaming music and video and such.

And the phone itself benchmarks up there with the expensive phones and I only spent 149 on the android phone.

I dont mind the 300 mins talk because I probably use less then 30 minutes of voice a month anyway. Mainly use my phone for data.

You're still with Sprint, just under one of their brands. They own Virgin Mobile and Boost in the US.
pvera
join:2001-12-01
Reston, VA

pvera

Member

Re: Why?

Yup, VM is a Sprint brand.

I also did the bailout, only ours was from AT&T. In this particular area of North Virginia we are getting better reception than we ever did from AT&T, and we are paying a fraction of what we were paying before even if taking into account the cost of the phones. My wife was on the Blackberry Curve first, then the Samsung Intercept. I started with the Curve, then the Intercept and now am on the LG Optimus V. The phone swapping cost me close to nothing, I was always able to ditch the older phones on eBay for more than the depreciated cost of the handsets.

Her phone is on the $45 plan since hers is the designated "emergencies" phone. Mine is on the $35 plan, but I use Google Voice whenever I can so my actual cell minutes usage is really low. For what we need them, both phones work very nicely, at at least half of what we were paying AT&T for two iPhones.

Thaler
Premium Member
join:2004-02-02
Los Angeles, CA

Thaler to kdwycha

Premium Member

to kdwycha
300 minutes is kinda a deal-breaker for me. While I use data much more than I do voice...pretty sure I use more than 300 minutes.

I currently use very few minutes, but only because of Sprint unlimited mobile-to-mobile and night & weekend. Maybe if there was a good Google Voice VoIP solution for android, I could cut some of those down.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: Why?

NetTalk or Skype. I know Skype works over 3G...

Thaler
Premium Member
join:2004-02-02
Los Angeles, CA

Thaler

Premium Member

Re: Why?

I thought Skype for Android only offered Skype-to-Skype calls?
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: Why?

Good point; not 100% sure about that. I have enough minutes on my phone plan so I don't use Skype, and my friend who has Skype on his OV just calls other people with Skype.

Thaler
Premium Member
join:2004-02-02
Los Angeles, CA

Thaler

Premium Member

Re: Why?

Yup, just looked up my Sprint usage - I got about 600 or so minutes when you include nights & weekends and mobile-to-mobile in the picture.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx to kdwycha

Member

to kdwycha
Depends on what you use your phone for. My mom and one of my brothers both have Optimus V's and they were able to snag the 300-minute plan before the price went up by $10/mo.

If, however, you talk a ton (and possibly text a ton) but don't use data for much beyond Facebook, you could get by with Verizon's offering which, whatever way you slice it, has better coverage than Virgin Mobile on Sprint. I say this as a current Sprint customer, with several friends/family on Virgin mobile (though my dad has a VZW-based Tracfone and my littlest brother has an AT&T based one).

buddahbless
join:2005-03-21
Premium

buddahbless

Member

Its Not aimed at Sprint or its MVNO's...

It's Aimed directly at ATT !

less we forget recently ATT changed it up and started offering unlimited prepaid "gophone" for $50 a month. and it carries almost identical limitations as this Verizon "unleashed" plan

NO real smartphone (android or Iphone)
NO 4g or even "3g at times" data.
NO way to bring your own up-to-date phone onto this plan ( ie Android or Iphone)

This is however a clever (sneaky) way to cut in on MVNOs profit on sprints network and Tmobile prepaids. However Boost still has a niche with dropping your Bill $5 every 6 months with continuous service,and Virgin as theres plans are priced below $50. Tmobile IMHO is who will suffer the most even though you can use ANY gsm phone on Tmobile's prepaid as far as pricing goes there now on par with ATT and Verizons unlimited prepaid plans, TMO may have to become real creative with there prepaid plans again. IE: drop the $50 unlimited plan to $45 allow calling and txt to the USA and Canada included ( we all know they can at no additional cost). and give 2 GB of 4g speed instead of 100MB and raise there incredibly slow throttle speed significantly! Well thats just what I would do from a business perspective If I was Tmobile to stay competitive.

openupshop
join:2000-11-25
Chandler, AZ

openupshop

Member

Not the same coverage map

Also keep in mind people this is on Verizons pre-paid coverage map, has a lot less coverage than the post paid map. You will not get extended roaming. Since Verizon and & various carriers have roaming agreements, you will not get this.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: Not the same coverage map

if you zoom in on the VZW map you'll find out that many of their "coverage areas" are extended- thus means ROAMING.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: Not the same coverage map

Anymore, that's not really the case. Remember that VZW bought operators like Ramcell and...well...Alltel. They have more "own network" coverage than anyone in the US.
Crookshanks
join:2008-02-04
Binghamton, NY

Crookshanks

Member

Re: Not the same coverage map

The only areas I've roamed off Verizon's network in recent memory were I-81 through West Virgina and Maryland and I-65 through part of Kentucky.

Oh, and I wound up roaming on some other network at Gouldsboro State Park in Pennsylvania a few months ago. There was actually Verizon coverage there but it was very spotty and my phone decided to lock onto another network (I'm guessing Sprint?) for the duration. Kind of surprised me actually, I've seen phones hold -100dBm of native network signal in favor of -60dBm of roaming partner in the past.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: Not the same coverage map

If you can get the SID (system ID) of the network you're roaming on, I can probably figure out who it is/was. Then again, you probably wren't recording that information while enjoying Gouldsboro State Park
Crookshanks
join:2008-02-04
Binghamton, NY

Crookshanks

Member

Re: Not the same coverage map

I'm guessing it was Sprint because I don't think there are any other CDMA providers in that part of PA. I could be wrong though. Obviously I didn't bother to record the SID when I was having a BBQ with my girlfriend

I found it interesting that my phone opted to lock onto a roaming partner even though native Verizon coverage was available. Regardless of provider (Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile) I've always seen cell phones prefer crappy native signal to good roaming partner signal. Back in the day with T-Mobile you could manually force it to switch (not sure if you still can?) but there was never a way to do that with CDMA that I'm aware of.

buddahbless
join:2005-03-21
Premium

buddahbless

Member

Re: Not the same coverage map

said by Crookshanks:

Back in the day with T-Mobile you could manually force it to switch (not sure if you still can?)

Crookshanks....

Yes you still can with certain Tmobile phones ( I do with my G2X )

JaM4150
Premium Member
join:2005-10-27
Matamoras, PA

JaM4150 to Crookshanks

Premium Member

to Crookshanks
Probably was the CDMA network of Cellular One.

BillRoland
Premium Member
join:2001-01-21
Ocala, FL

BillRoland

Premium Member

I was considering

I was considering this plan for the coverage, but, it doesn't seem to include international text messaging like AT&T's $50 plan does. I guess this is a move in the right direction but it still leaves a lot to be desired.

I would go with T-Mobile but the coverage is a bit thin outside metro areas.
exeter
join:2011-02-07

exeter

Member

after dumping unlimited data.....

So they talk it up that this is the next best thing. That they realized after testing in the Florida market that they didn't see major losses in post paid accounts, now I Can see why.

They talked this up as if you could take any phone and put it on the $50.00 plan. However now you look at the release on their website, and the talk is about (basic phones). So your pretty much doing the same as a straight talk, or boost mobile phone.

Even with the Straight talk $45 phone plan, you can get data on some of their 3g data units. No they are not android or iphone, but still...

I am not surprised that Verizon Wireless pulled this deal. All they did was make their $1.99 per day plan cheaper by $10.00 per month and included SMS. Data is a wash, cause there isn't anything you can do with a basic phone with Data.

SCAM all the way!