CDMA company you can use Verizon phone with. Pay as you go cheap?

[lokiju]

I recall seeing some company mentioned I think here awhile ago that'd let you use a Verizon phone on their pay as you go plan for voice and data. I think you just had to provide the ESN.

Does anyone recall what that was?

I need to get personal phone service again and need to have voice and data.

I have a Verizon Moto Droid and AT&T iPhone 3G that I outright own. I don't care which one I use. I just need to have voice and data so I can forward my Google Voice number to it and get my email.

It's just to hold me over until the new iPhone 5 or something better comes along.

Data allotment is my biggest concern point. AT&T's pay as you go data offerings are pretty terrible for the money.

 

[cardiac]

Page Plus cellular. They are wonderful.. I use an HTC Droid Incredible, and my wife has a Moto Droid. Here is the dealer I use: http://www.kittywireless.com/pageplus/index.html They provide wonderful service. They have a plan, the 1200TNT, that gives me 1200 minutes a month, 2000 texts, and 100mb of data for $29.99 a month (No other taxes or fees).

Check 'em out. This is what you are looking for.

 

[boomhower]

As cardiac mentioned Page Plus is what you were likely thinking of. Also check for local resellers. We have one that resells Verizon service with unlimited voice/text/data for $50 a month.

 

[abaez]

I really wish someone would offer a unlimited and/or a large amount of data (2gb) per month with no texting and like 60 minutes of voice.

 

[lokiju]

As cardiac mentioned Page Plus is what you were likely thinking of. Also check for local resellers. We have one that resells Verizon service with unlimited voice/text/data for $50 a month.

$50 for unlimited data?

Whats the name of the place?

I don't even know where to begin to find local companies that'd offer something like this.

 

[lokiju]

I really wish someone would offer a unlimited and/or a large amount of data (2gb) per month with no texting and like 60 minutes of voice.

This is exactly what I need/want.

I use a lot of data. Don't care about texting since I'm using Google voice and don't talk on the phone much.

 

[alent1234]

I really wish someone would offer a unlimited and/or a large amount of data (2gb) per month with no texting and like 60 minutes of voice.

doubt it since data is expensive to provide and voice/texting is dirt cheap these days. that's where the subsidy probably comes from

 

[s44]

Your only big-data option with these phones is to do the Straight Talk SIM hack. This requires buying a crappy Symbian phone for ~$200 though.

Better idea: sell your Droid and 3GS and get something either on Virgin (Optimus V) or T-Mo/Simple Mobile (Vibrant? not sure if there's something cheaper from a generation before that).

 

[cronos]

I really wish someone would offer a unlimited and/or a large amount of data (2gb) per month with no texting and like 60 minutes of voice.

AT&T GoPhone is still expensive but it has a potential and getting close.

Their data rate is now $25/500MB/month (5c/MB), but the data will rollover if you refill it with any of their data package (the cheapest is $5/50MB).

Calling rate is decent at 10c/min, although text is expensive at 20c/txt (they do have a package that will drop the rate significantly down but this shouldn't concern you if you're not using it for text).

Now that everyone is aware about the rates here's why I said this has potential:

The optimal refill PIN is $25 and it's good for 90 days. The good thing is, after you load your account with this $25 you can use the $25 balance to buy the data package above, and then you can just refill with more PINs each month depending on your usage and then converted any amount you want to the data package.

Basically, whatever the amount of dollars you put into the account, you can convert them 100% to data. You can repeat this forever.

For example, if you start with a fresh account:

1. Load up with $25 (your account now has $25 balance and is good for 3 months, or until the balance hit $0). You can do this from http://myprepaidrefill.com (AT&T website) for $25+tax or buy discounted PINs somewhere else (Target B&M/callingmart.com/etc)

2. Go to http://paygonline.com (again, AT&T website) to 'buy feature'. If you choose the $25/500MB data, then you will have:
a. 500 MB data (good for a month or until it hits 0 MB. check with *777*3# from your phone)
b. Your account balance is now $5 (that you can use for talk/text as per the rates above) - this apparently doesn't work after I realized the correct price for the data. Your balance will now be zero and you may need to refill some more money ($10 for 30 days is the cheapest) first to use the phone, but hopefully you get the idea. sorry

You can repeat this each month or whenever your dollar balance hit zero. If you don't use it for voice and text at all, you can see that this allows you to basically have a 'data only' line for $25/500MB/month. These are also stackable up to three times so you can have a data line at $75/1.5GB/month.

Like I said, it isn't great if you use a lot of data. But if you have wi-fi at home and at work and mostly need data access for when you're out and about and you're not streaming music and movies like crazy, this is perfect.


Remember that if at any month you're using less than 500 MB or whenever the period ends and you still have data balance, all you need to do is buy another data package. Your data balance will rollover for another month.

Also, I think one of the best things about it is that it's GSM BYOD, so you can use whatever GSM phone you want.

Edit: sorry I messed up the data rate. It's supposed to be $25/500MB/month so my example is all messed up I'm fixing now.

 

[abaez]

I used to do that with ATT, but the phone selection was not that great. I just checked and they have nothing that is very interesting android-wise.

Plus the caveat is that the data is throttled and slower than regular data customers (check howardforums for this).

 

[lokiju]

AT&T GoPhone is still expensive but it has a potential and getting close.

Their data rate is now $25/500MB/month (5c/MB), but the data will rollover if you refill it with any of their data package (the cheapest is $5/50MB).

Calling rate is decent at 10c/min, although text is expensive at 20c/txt (they do have a package that will drop the rate significantly down but this shouldn't concern you if you're not using it for text).

Now that everyone is aware about the rates here's why I said this has potential:

The optimal refill PIN is $25 and it's good for 90 days. The good thing is, after you load your account with this $25 you can use the $25 balance to buy the data package above, and then you can just refill with more PINs each month depending on your usage and then converted any amount you want to the data package.

Basically, whatever the amount of dollars you put into the account, you can convert them 100% to data. You can repeat this forever.

For example, if you start with a fresh account:

1. Load up with $25 (your account now has $25 balance and is good for 3 months, or until the balance hit $0). You can do this from http://myprepaidrefill.com (AT&T website) for $25+tax or buy discounted PINs somewhere else (Target B&M/callingmart.com/etc)

2. Go to http://paygonline.com (again, AT&T website) to 'buy feature'. If you choose the $20/500MB data, then you will have:
a. 500 MB data (good for a month or until it hits 0 MB. check with *777*3# from your phone)
b. Your account balance is now $5 (that you can use for talk/text as per the rates above)

You can repeat this each month or whenever your dollar balance hit zero. If you don't use it for voice and text at all, you can see that this allows you to basically have a 'data only' line for $25/500MB/month. These are also stackable up to three times so you can have a data line at $75/1.5GB/month.

Like I said, it isn't great if you use a lot of data. But if you have wi-fi at home and at work and mostly need data access for when you're out and about and you're not streaming music and movies like crazy, this is perfect.


Remember that if at any month you're using less than 500 MB or whenever the period ends and you still have data balance, all you need to do is buy another data package. Your data balance will rollover for another month.

Also, I think one of the best things about it is that it's GSM BYOD, so you can use whatever GSM phone you want.

Edit: sorry I messed up the data rate. It's supposed to be $25/500MB/month so my example is all messed up I'm fixing now.

Thanks! This actually sounds like it'll work for my needs. I should only need to do this for about 4 months if all goes to plan.

I can do wifi at work and home and only want data for emails. Don't care about using it for web all that much.

Just a way to get me by and make sure I'm getting my emails for a few months.

 

[cronos]

I used to do that with ATT, but the phone selection was not that great. I just checked and they have nothing that is very interesting android-wise.

Plus the caveat is that the data is throttled and slower than regular data customers (check howardforums for this).

Like I said it's BYOD and I personally never cared about what an 'AT&T phone' is. They just need to provide me the service, I'll buy my phone somewhere else. I have always used an unlocked phone on my GoPhone line (Nokia smartphone for more than 5 years and then the Dell Streak since last year).

And yes, I'm a regular on howardforums as well and figured out that AT&T may throttle but they can only do it on one of their phones. The Dell Streak is technically an AT&T phone and my latest test was giving me a data rate of ~1.2 Mbps but I have experienced 2.5 Mbps when using a custom ROM. This was enough for me.

 

[cronos]

Thanks! This actually sounds like it'll work for my needs. I should only need to do this for about 4 months if all goes to plan.

I can do wifi at work and home and only want data for emails. Don't care about using it for web all that much.

Just a way to get me by and make sure I'm getting my emails for a few months.

Lokiju, I don't know for sure if your iPhone 3G will work without a hassle. It may need to be jailbroken and unlocked first to work.

I'd actually suggest you to pursue both possibilities and see which one fits you best. In fact the first time I read your post I missed the fact that you have an iPhone and was going to suggest PagePlus just like a lot of others already mentioned. It is really a good option for anyone who has access to a Verizon phone.

 

[abaez]

Like I said it's BYOD and I personally never cared about what an 'AT&T phone' is. They just need to provide me the service, I'll buy my phone somewhere else. I have always used an unlocked phone on my GoPhone line (Nokia smartphone for more than 5 years and then the Dell Streak since last year).

And yes, I'm a regular on howardforums as well and figured out that AT&T may throttle but they can only do it on one of their phones. The Dell Streak is technically an AT&T phone and my latest test was giving me a data rate of ~1.2 Mbps but I have experienced 2.5 Mbps when using a custom ROM. This was enough for me.

No. They throttle prepaid data plans by alot actually:

http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/1618594-Prepaid-Data-Speed-Appears-To-Be-Throttled

 

[simonizor]

Page Plus cellular. They are wonderful.. I use an HTC Droid Incredible, and my wife has a Moto Droid. Here is the dealer I use: http://www.kittywireless.com/pageplus/index.html They provide wonderful service. They have a plan, the 1200TNT, that gives me 1200 minutes a month, 2000 texts, and 100mb of data for $29.99 a month (No other taxes or fees).

Check 'em out. This is what you are looking for.

This. PagePlus is pretty much the best prepaid service if you're not in Sprint's coverage area and are unable to use Virgin Mobile.

 

[cronos]

No. They throttle prepaid data plans by alot actually:

http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/1618594-Prepaid-Data-Speed-Appears-To-Be-Throttled

And here's the (more recent) thread showing that not everyone is throttled, or at least not throttled really bad. I posted in this thread as well:

http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/1712862-Post-your-GoPhone-data-speed-tests-here

Now I don't know what kind of speed you're expecting from your mobile phone, but 1.5-2.5 Mbps is enough for me.

Also, we had a discussion in one of the Android forums (not HoFo) and we have come to the temporary explanation that AT&T can only throttle GoPhone speed for people who use AT&T phone. AT&T phones that were flashed with custom ROMs also did not appear to be throttled.

 

[NetGuySC]

Kittywireless.com

 

[boomhower]

$50 for unlimited data?

Whats the name of the place?

I don't even know where to begin to find local companies that'd offer something like this.

I found this one on craigslist. They are about an hour away. 724 Communications if I am not mistaken. I haven't tried them. I'm currently on Sprint and moving to Verizon because my wife wants an iPhone.

 

[lokiju]

I found this one on craigslist. They are about an hour away. 724 Communications if I am not mistaken. I haven't tried them. I'm currently on Sprint and moving to Verizon because my wife wants an iPhone.

I looked them up and contacted them. Data is not unlimited.

Looks like I'll have to do Verizon prepaid at around $75 per month for 450 talk mins and unlimited data since it's the only option I can find that the data won't be an issue.

The price is fine though. As long as it's $100 or less total per month.

 

[simonizor]

I looked them up and contacted them. Data is not unlimited.

Looks like I'll have to do Verizon prepaid at around $75 per month for 450 talk mins and unlimited data since it's the only option I can find that the data won't be an issue.

The price is fine though. As long as it's $100 or less total per month.

Do you live in an area where Sprint has coverage? If so, go with Virgin mobile! You can get unlimited everything for $60 a month! Why would you pay $75 for 450 minutes? lol

 

[abaez]

Because that is the cheapest thing you can get on Verizon with unlimited data. He just wants data and very few minutes and no texting, like many others do but the companies are clinging to the expensive minute plans for whatever reason.

 

[simonizor]

I'm just saying that paying $75/month for 450 minutes/unlimited data doesn't make any sense just because you already own a compatible device. For $40 on Virgin Mobile you could have 1200 minutes and unlimited data. They have the LG Optimus V for $200 which should be at least as good as if not better than your Droid 1. You'd save $35 a month or $420 a year, which is over double what the LG Optimus V would cost you.

Sticking with expensive service just because you already have a compatible device just doesn't make sense.

 

[Pliablemoose]

New contract, get an iPhone, sell it, use your droid. Profit?

Keep your eye out for a used ThunderBolt or other 4G phone over the coming months, activate it, sell you old phones, profit again...

 

[ponyo]

What about MetroPCS? Can't you get them to flash your Verizon Droid? $40 a month for unlimited talk, text, and web.

 

[Bman123]

Sell your phones, buy a t mobile phone and go to simple mobile for $60 a month unlimited everything