Page Plus through Verizon Network

[Ballatician]

I know a lot of people read SD's already but there is a lot of phone discussion in this forum so I thought it would be worth posting here rather than Hot Deals.

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=1593646

Fwiw, I have been out of contract from verizon for many months. I don't really need data and use way less than 1200 min or texts. However, this is a really good price if you want to add some basic data usage to your plan. If I come across a phone I really like, I will consider switching over. I like Android a lot so maybe I need to wait.

I don't know what kind of data an average BB user goes through in a month (Anyone who monitors this want to chime in?) but you could easily check email, google etc hundreds of times and stay under 50mb.

Anyway, the SD thread as well as the howardforums links within the SD wiki provide a lot of info so enjoy.

Anybody using this already?

 

[AstroManLuca]

Awesome, I am going off my family plan soon and I wanted to get a plan with a little data but without costing an arm and a leg. VZW is expensive but they have the best coverage. This seems like the natural choice for me (I use about 200-300 texts per month and only a few hundred minutes at most). Might go pick up a used Blackberry Curve or something like that from eBay... I can't get the best hardware without paying out the ass up front for a recent model that is out of contract, but I could get something a bit older from eBay without paying too much.

Since my needs are not too great I'd much rather pay about $100 for a couple-year-old smartphone and $30/mo than spend a bunch on a brand new one but have to pay $70/mo (and be locked into a contract). Over two years, I'd save almost $1000.

EDIT: Apparently BlackBerry devices aren't ideal for Page Plus since they don't work with the Blackberry Internet Service. You can still use third-party internet apps though, like Opera Mobile. There are some non-BB devices you can get too. I was thinking a Samsung SCH-i760 for the keypad and WiFi.

It also seems as though you must get a phone with a clean ESN, not in a contract, and have a Page Plus dealer activate it. All in all, sounds like you'll want to hit up Howard Forums if you plan on doing this; otherwise, stick with one of Page Plus's phones.

 

[Ballatician]

Good info in your edit, I just came across much of the same as I was reading some more. BIS might work but the 3rd party apps do for sure. I need to research phone possibilities some more. My first thought was BB as well and I've used the SCH-i760 which works fine but is a bit slow os-wise. Still on the fence but a lot of people seem to be switching over.

 

[AstroManLuca]

I found some really useful info here: http://wiki.howardforums.com/i...Handsets_and_Page_Plus

Windows Mobile might be kind of slow, especially on phones that are old enough to be affordable now, but at the same time they also seem to be the most compatible with PP. Really, there aren't many options for smartphones. Most of the ones on that list are WinMo devices, and it seems WinMo is just a bit slow on all of them. One that probably won't be slow is the HTC Ozone, but it's still new enough to be pretty expensive to get without a contract.

 

[shortylickens]

This is pretty good although not quite what I need.
I am more the kind of guy who uses 30 minutes a month and needs like a 1GB data limit.

 

[TemjinGold]

Originally posted by: shortylickens
This is pretty good although not quite what I need.
I am more the kind of guy who uses 30 minutes a month and needs like a 1GB data limit.

You sure you should be getting a phone instead of a say a netbook?

 

[shortylickens]

I have a netbook. Believe me its not nearly as convenient as a smart phone. You cant keep a netbook in your pocket and you can only use it where theres wifi. You also cant navigate with it.
Also it has all the normal shortcomings of a netbook, like difficulty typing and inability to use CD/DVD. Overall, I'm not happy. For convenience on the move my G1 was much better.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Unfortunately, for heavy data users, it seems there aren't many options. None of the small prepaid carriers are ideal, even the ones with lots of data (such as Boost Mobile, which has unlimited talk + messages + data for $50/mo). Boost offers unlimited data, but it is not fast, and it takes some messing around just to get many phones to work.

Of course, you could just get something like an iPod Touch and use the WiFi for browsing, which costs $0/mo and provides a much better experience than most smartphones. Then you could just keep a little prepaid phone around for when you do need to make a call.

Sprint seems to be the only carrier that even offers a data-only plan, but it's only $10 less than their data + limited minutes plan. 5 GB of 3G data is $60/mo, while 5 GB + 450 minutes is $70. And that's pretty much par for the course with most carriers.

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: AstroManLuca
Unfortunately, for heavy data users, it seems there aren't many options. None of the small prepaid carriers are ideal, even the ones with lots of data (such as Boost Mobile, which has unlimited talk + messages + data for $50/mo). Boost offers unlimited data, but it is not fast, and it takes some messing around just to get many phones to work.

Of course, you could just get something like an iPod Touch and use the WiFi for browsing, which costs $0/mo and provides a much better experience than most smartphones. Then you could just keep a little prepaid phone around for when you do need to make a call.

Sprint seems to be the only carrier that even offers a data-only plan, but it's only $10 less than their data + limited minutes plan. 5 GB of 3G data is $60/mo, while 5 GB + 450 minutes is $70. And that's pretty much par for the course with most carriers.

Yes but the difference with Sprint is that you get unlimited texts as well.

 

[JDub02]

seems like a good deal. i wonder if it's worth the $15/month to switch my 2 phones. we're at a 700min/month family plan (2 lines) + unlimited m2m voice and text

line 1 - $60 for share service - 20% discount + $5 unlimited m2m txt
line 2 - $10 charge for 2nd line + $5 for txt
-----------------------------------------------------
$75/month

for $15 less / month we get 50 mb data per line. doesn't sound too bad.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Just remember that with Page Plus, you don't get any free nights/weekends and no free m2m (not even between your two Page Plus lines). A lot of people look at their post-paid plans and see 200 minutes a month and think they hardly use any airtime, forgetting that they're also using hundreds of m2m/n&w minutes.

Another thing people brought up on Howard Forums about Page Plus is "data transport fees." Apparently, they count the data used to send and receive text messages (and by extension, MMS messages) against your data allocation. Of course, even MMS messages tend to be pretty small, but if you are a heavy MMS user and also use mobile internet, you could go over the 50 MB limit. It doesn't help that the "unlimited" talk & text plan has only a 20 MB limit, meaning you might theoretically pay MORE for text messages on the unlimited plan if you send a lot of MMS. But you'd have to be a crazy MMS user for it to really matter. It would probably take hundreds of MMSs to hit 50 MB.

 

[JDub02]

i did some looking. over the past 6 months, i'm averaging about 750 minutes/month with peak usage around 1000. my wife is averaging about 850 with the peak around 1200. txt messages are somewhere between 100-300/month.

that 1200/1200/50 plan is looking really good.

 

[HopJokey]

Shameless plug, but I have a VZW LG enV2 phone for sale that would be perfect for someone who wants to get on this plan. Check it out:

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2341762&enterthread=y

Thanks!