Anyone have prepaid Verizon cell plans?

[2squared]

I am considering switching from our contract to a prepaid plan to save money. The plan with $0.99/day access fee is intriguing to me. Since my dh has a Verizon plan for work, I could call him every day of the month for only $30 which is cheaper than my contract price. But...what's the catch? Do they send you text messages and charge you for those? Do they charge the daily access fee if someone calls me but I don't call out? Do they charge the daily access fee if I access my voice mail but don't make an actual call? Do I really have to get a different phone if I already have a Verizon phone?

 

Any experience?

 

BTW, I dearly miss my T-Mobile prepaid phones. I wish Verizon had competition where I live.

[KrissiK]

Both DH and I have AT&T prepaid and it's really worked for us. We have a $1 daily access fee and then it's 10 cents/minute. But, we rarely use the phone, so it works for us. We do have to pay to access voice mail. We pay $25 each every three months and never use up the $. I think I have $60 on mine right now. It works for our lifestyle and is very economical.

[tex-mex]

I have an older Verizon pre-paid account and we pay 1.99 per day fee and 5 cents a minute for calls. The daily fee is charged if someone calls you or texts you. Even if you access voice mail -- the daily fee is charged. Texting is 15 cents and photos are 25 cents. I am not happy with the overall use -- as 20 dollars pre-paid really only boils down to like 6-7 calls.

[OrganicAnn]

We had the Verizon pre-paid. We don't use our cell phone very much so it made great sense for us. We used to pay $30+ per month for each phone. So now we pay about $100 per year (instead of $360) per phone. We don't text message so I don't know how that work. We have family on Verizon, so it is nice that we are all still in-network.

[Beth S]

Our Verizon Plan (probably in place for about 4 years?):

We pay $30 for minutes that don't expire for 3 months.

So it's basically $10 per month.

Recharged on their website. (One phone only)

 

We are charged 25 cents to connect a call, then 10 cents per minute after that.

Any unused minutes from the previous 3 months carry over if I remember to renew before they expire. ;-)

 

We use it just for logistics--pickup/drop off kids, things we need at the store, etc. We use our landline for regular calls.

 

It allows for texting, I think 5 cents per text. But we don't use it.

 

We really, really dislike contracts and high monthly fees. I think we would use this even if we used our cell phone a lot--just to control household expenses.

 

We would likely consider a Tracphone if Verizon removed this plan.

 

Good luck on your quest!

[tex-mex]

We had the Verizon pre-paid. We don't use our cell phone very much so it made great sense for us. We used to pay $30+ per month for each phone. So now we pay about $100 per year (instead of $360) per phone. We don't text message so I don't know how that work. We have family on Verizon, so it is nice that we are all still in-network.

Agreed. If the cell is to be for emergencies only -- not for just chatting -- then the $100 for one year is a good deal. I wish my family were all on Verizon. :glare: