Verizon Prepaid Plans Review

Verizon’s prepaid plans and cell phones work with the latest phone models and are very cost-effective. Although a late-comer to the prepaid plans business, they are now up to speed with their new prepaid offerings and plans. Customers have the peace of mind knowing that their cell phone plans are through one of the fastest and most established networks in the country. An iPhone plan with unlimited talk and text with 3 GB of high-speed data cost $40/month for a start.

Note: Both Post-paid and Prepaid plans with Verizon are no contract plans. A contract only comes into play if you are paying monthly for the phone, that is leasing a phone instead of paying it off outright. Plans and phone offerings change with time, so please visit Verizon Wireless’ Official Website to verify before you purchase.

Background

It’s hard to imagine, but the Verizon corporate name did not come into existence until this century. In 2000, two telecommunications behemoths, GTE Corp. and Bell Atlantic Corp, merged to form Verizon. The company is currently based in New York City. Verizon’s prepaid network is CDMA. They also manage one of the country’s major all-fiber broadband networks, as well as the biggest 4G LTE wireless network. With its advanced technological infrastructure, the company can offer quality services to the US mainlands, Hawaii and Alaska.

Verizon is a multi-award-winning communication technology company. It is recognized for its diverse workforce, business sustainability and advocacy on environmental and social responsibility.

Why Verizon Prepaid?

Verizon’s prepaid plans offer several differences compared to their regular post-paid plans. Both prepaid and regular postpaid plans have no contracts. Since August 2015, Verizon has eliminated contract plans altogether for new phone activations. In the past, people flocked to prepaid since a main advantage is the freedom from being tethered to a contract.

Verizon’s prepaid wireless plans still make sense for other reasons. They are less expensive for individual users, and Verizon has also upgraded their prepaid plans to make them even more cost-effective.

For example, they offer a smartphone plan that costs $40/month with unlimited talk/text, use of the mobile hotspot feature and 3 GB of high-speed data with auto-pay. A similar plan for a regular post-paid Verizon user with 2 GB of data costs $50/month in comparison ($35/month for the plan PLUS a $20/month line access fee minus a $5/month auto-pay discount).

For $50/month, Verizon’s prepaid plan allows for 7 GB of data with mobile hotspot tethering, compared with $55/month for 5 GB with their regular post-paid plan.

With prepaid plans, there are also no credit checks to get started and users have control over their monthly phone spend (no overage charge surprises).

Check out Verizon’s prepaid plans and phones.

It’s not all rosy. Verizon’s prepaid plans have less options and flexibility than their regular no contract plans. They have more limited options for international roaming as compared to regular Verizon plans. Their regular cell phone plans allow for sharing of plan minutes and data with friends and family, but prepaid does not. However, there are monthly discounts offered when you purchase additional lines under the same plan.

Check out Verizon’s regular plans and phones.

Rates and plan details mentioned in this review is subject to change. For the current rates and details, please visit the Official Verizon Website.

Verizon Prepaid Phones

Verizon prepaid phones can be purchased directly from Verizon. Most Verizon (VZW) post-paid (ie regular plan) phones can also be set-up to work with a Verizon (VZW) prepaid cell phone plan. Although they have a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) program, their prepaid plans are meant to work only with Verizon phones, and not any unlocked phone (like Straight Talk’s BYOD program). Purchasing a prepaid phone from Verizon is the surest way to get a compatible device.

Fortunately, Verizon offers a wide variety of prepaid phones, from noteworthy brands like Apple, Samsung, HTC and LG. These include smartphones and more basic phones. Getting a Verizon prepaid iPhone 6 can be a really good deal when you factor in the total cost of phone ownership plus the ongoing monthly cost.

The prepaid plans and their corresponding compatible devices are as follows:

Smartphones (iOS and Android) – Apple iPhones, including recent models, iPhone X, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus iPhone 7 and older ones like the iPhone 6 series models. Motorola Moto Z2, Google Pixel, HTC Desire 626, Kyocera Brigadier, LG G Vista, LG G4, LG Stylo V2, Motorola Droid Turbo, Moto E, Samsung Galaxy J7, Samsung Galaxy Note8, Samsung Galaxy S8, and Samsung Galaxy S7.

Basic Phones/ Feature Phones – LG Cosmos 3, LG Extravert 2, LG Revere 3, LG Terra and Samsung Gusto 3. Verizon’s basic prepaid phones include Flip phones and slider phones with Qwerty keyboards. See Verizon basic prepaid phones and plans.

For a current selection of phones, please click here to visit the Verizon Prepaid Phones section of their official website (scroll down).

Verizon Prepaid Plans

Verizon’s no contract prepaid plans offer users flexibility and a lower cost when compared to typical regular no contract phone plans. Verizon has been very sensitive to competition in the market and they have continually improved their rates and plan features to very attractive levels.

As mentioned earlier, there are three classifications of Verizon prepaid plans. Below are the specifications of each prepaid plan.

Smartphone Plans

Pricing subject to change. Please check Verizon’s Official website for the latest rates.

Verizon offers 4 prepaid plans under the smartphone category, which are good for iPhones and Android phones. The entry level smartphone plan is $40 monthly. It covers unlimited calls and texts to US subscribers as well as unlimited texts to Canada and Mexico. This is a budget option that with 3 GB of high-speed data included for internet or wifi connections. For another $10 a month, customers can upgrade to a plan with 7 Gb of high-speed data included as described below.

The second option is $50 monthly. Subscribers enjoy the same privileges from the $40 monthly smartphone plan with total data allowance of 7 GB at high-speed. It also includes unlimited calls and texts to US subscribers. In addition, it offers unlimited texts to over 200 countries, including Canada, Mexico, the UK, India, China, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia and more.

What’s great about Verizon’s smartphone plans is that they allow for Mobile Hotspot tethering. If you are on the go a lot, this feature will allow you to connect other devices online and get your work done. This can be a very convenient to have, and their is no reason anymore to wonder about jailbreaking a phone to create a mobile hotspot.

Video streaming is limited to 480p resolution, sometimes described as DVD-quality. While this is not HD high-definition quality, it appears to work well for most videos on a smartphone.

There is a $30/$35 activation fee to add service to a new phone. However, they may have an offer that will waive this for customers who sign-up online.

Family Plans

Verizon Prepaid makes it easy for families to enjoy their services at even cheaper rates. When two or more people are signed up for additional lines of service under the same plan and the same account, the cost of the second line and all subsequent lines will be $10 to $20 less than the first line.

For example, Sherry buys a $40/month Verizon prepaid plan, and she buys a second plan (same plan as what Sherry has) for a second line of service for her son. The second plan costs $10 less a month ($30 per month for each subsequent family member or group member). The total for two people is $70/mo ($40/mo + $30/mo), or $35 per month per person.

The savings per month per person go up to $20/month, depending on the plan you are purchasing. A family of 4 on the $50/ month (7 GB) plan will get a $15/month discount for 3 of the plans. On average, the cost is less than $40/month per family member or group member.

When you have a family of 4, Verizon’s regular post-paid plans are almost similar in pricing. Verizon’s regular plans are usually more expensive, but with multiple lines under the same account, the average cost drops quickly. See Verizon Wireless Review.

Basic Phone Plans

The basic phone plans are composed of two prepaid plans. The first one costs $15/ month while the second one costs $30/ month. The $15 basic phone plan allows subscribers to send and receive a total of 300 units of use, whether it is voice minutes, text messages, or multimedia messages. The $30 basic phone plan covers unlimited calls, texts and mobile web. Roaming charges may also apply.

Data Plan

Data plans are available for users of smartphones, tablets, iPhones and iPads. There are five options to choose from: 500 MB for $15, 1 GB for $20, 2 GB for $35, 5 GB for $60 and 10 GB for $100. The 500 MB plan will expire after a week while the 1 GB plan will expire after a month. The 2 GB, 5 GB and 10 GB plans will expire after 2 months.

Options to Refill a Verizon Prepaid Phone Account

Verizon makes it convenient for customers to refill their prepaid account. Customers can do this online or directly thorugh their phone. For a set-it-and-forget-it experience, customers can also set up auto pay and have their accounts paid monthly.

International Calling

While Verizon’s prepaid plans are geared towards US-based subscribers using their prepaid cellular services for domestic calls, they offer options for international calling/texting while in the US. Verizon offers prepaid phone plan options that allow subscribers unlimited texting or calling Canada and Mexico (see $60/month prepaid plan option).

US-based VZW users can call someone in another country at per-minute surcharge rates (except for those who availed of the $60 smartphone plan where users can have unlimited calls to Mexico and Canada). The rate for calling a landline in Mexico is $0.10 per minute. Calling a mobile in Mexico as well as calling someone in Guam, Canada, Northern Mariana Islands and the US Virgin Islands surchange costs $0.29 per minute. For those calling to Puerto Rico, the surchange rate is $0.25 per minute while calling to other locations costs $1.49 in surchange per minute.

Calling back to the US when traveling internationally is not possible through the Verizon Prepaid service. That said, calls back to the US using Verizon Prepaid is possible from places like Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, but extra charges apply.

International Texting

Smartphone plan subscribers can enjoy unlimited texting to friends and family in over 200 countires like Mexico, Canada, China, India, and many destinations all over Latin America, Europe and Asia.

For other countries not on their main list, internatinal texting is still possible but with additional messaging charges. Each text message sent and received cost $0.25. Although $0.25 for a text message sounds high, it is still a great option compared to not having the option at all. Some prepaid companies block international texting on their phones.

Keep in mind that international messaging is easily accessible and inexpensive these days with the availability of messaging apps. The plethora of smartphones apps like WhatsApp, Skype, WeChat, Line, Snapchat makes it easy to bypass the traditional SMS set-up and exchange your messages through wifi or data. This results in mostly free or low connection charges.

Note: Plans and phone offerings change with time, so please visit Verizon’s Official Website to verify before you purchase. If you are specifically looking for prepaid offerings, Click Here for Verizon Wireless Prepaid or type “prepaid” into the top search box.

Limitation: We make every effort to share the most accurate information on this site but we cannot provide any warranties on this content. Please always do your own verification to make sure.