Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Uncle Gary Went Prepaid

Uncle Gary reluctantly went wireless last year. He strolled into a Verizon Wireless store and walked out with a phone with a touch screen and all the bells & whistles. Uncle Gary thought it was cool, but he was paying over $75 a month. After the first month or two, he was using less than 100 minutes a month. He tried to switch to a cheaper plan, but he couldn't because that model of phone requires certain plan minimums.

A few months ago, Uncle Gary dropped his Verizon account knowing that he will save more than the Early Termination Fee within a couple months. He was ready to dump the phone, but it's shiny screen and cool features made it hard to part with.

After creating our Converting to Prepaid page, I suggested activating his snappy new phone on Page Plus Cellular. Page Plus uses the Verizon network, any Verizon phone, and activating on Page Plus is only $12. If you search around, you'll find people online who can activate it for free. Then, Uncle Gary can refill his account for as little as $10 for up to 120 days of use. The only limitation is that he must pay roaming fees when traveling off the Verizon network. As you can see on the right, the new Verizon native network includes a lot of real estate.


I'm guessing Uncle Gary will need a little more than $10 worth every 4 months...maybe $25. There are even discounts available on that. So the result is: before: $75 a month, now: $6.25 a month. He could even save by switching to Verizon's own prepaid depending on how many days he uses his phone.


Uncle Gary is now a happy wireless user, it just took some time to get him on the right plan. You can be, too.

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