Verizon Prepaid Cell PhonesSearch this Site: Verizon Inpulse prepaid cell phone plans come in four flavors: Basic, Core, Plus, and Unlimited Talk. But before we look at the plans lets check out the . . .Improved CoverageAccording to Consumer Reports, Verizon has the best coverage overall nationwide. However, the prepaid coverage map is a little worse than their standard coverage map.Here is the Prepaid Coverage Map in purple now (Sept. 2009) followed by the prepaid coverage map from a year or so ago. You can tell that it's improved quite a bit.
Now let's compare it to the coverage map for contract plans:
The two types of coverage are now almost the same, so unless you're in an area that's not covered, this is no longer an issue.
Your Local CoverageYou can look at coverage in your local area by entering your zip code on their coverage locator (be sure to set the InPulse/EasyPay button).Sample Local Coverage MapWe live in the Chapel Hill, NC area. Looking east to Wilmington Beach, Kittyhawk and the Outer Banks, coverage is pretty good with thick bands along most of the highways, with coverage even in the Outer Banks. They also provide a national coverage map. You are only considered to be roaming when you are outside their digital coverage area for your plan. So you can be outside your local area, but as long as you're within their national digital network, you're not roaming.All in all, the coverage looks okay, except for some states out west which aren't covered that well by other carriers either.
All in all, the coverage looks okay, except for a few states which aren't covered that well by other carriers either. If you do live in a sparsely populated area, then you might be better off with a standard Verizon plans with the slightly better coverage because you do need to be able to make your calls. In that case you can go for deals like this: Android Blow-Out Sale! Includes the Droid by Motorola only $19.99 through 4/30 So now let's look at the plans. Basic PlanThe Basic plan is just what it says. There is no daily charge on the days you use it.CallsBasic prepaid calls cost 25 cents a minute, which is pretty high so you should consider this plan only if you really don't make calls every day.MessagesText messages cost 20 cents each to send and receive. So you don't want to receive texts every two minutes as some people do.Still if you buy a $100 airtime card that's good for one year, then you'll get 400 minutes. A little less if you also receive a few text messages. All in all, this is not a good deal compared to plans from Tracfone, etc. So if you're a very occasional user, I still don't recommend this plan. (Inpulse) Core Plan (99 cent plan)Daily Usage ChargeThis plan charges a daily access fee of 99 cents only on the days you use your Verizon prepaid phone. This comes to at most $31 per month if you use it every day, but less if you don't.CallsAll domestic calls cost 10 cents per minute whether daytime or night-time. The roaming rate is 20 cents per minute.Free Mobile-to-MobileThe Core plan does allow unlimited free Mobile to Mobile calling with other Verizon customers. This makes it perfect for those friends and family members who also have Verizon phones (they don't have to be prepaid).Text MessagesText messages cost 10 cents each. Sending or receiving a text will probably trigger the 99 cent daily usage charge.Yearly CostBecause you are charged only on the days you use the phone, it's hard to estimate what your yearly cost would be without making some assumptions about your calling habits. If you use the phone every day you would have a minimum charge of $361.35 plus the activation fee of $25 plus 10 cents per minute of calls or text messages. If you use 600 minutes or text messages a year (less then 2 minutes a day) that comes to $60. This give an approximate minimum cost of $400 a year.This would go down quite a bit if, you used the cell phone less than seven days a week and if your frequently called numbers were also Verizon customers. I definitely recommend this plan if your friends and family already use Verizon and if you have infrequent (but long) phone talks with them on the phone. Compared to a contract plan or even to some of the other Verizon prepaid plans, you could save maybe $400-$500 a year or about the cost of a nice diamond ring like a 5/8 Carat Diamond Marquise 14kt Gold Bridal Set (Inpulse) Plus PlanDaily Usage ChargeThe Plus plan charges a $1.99 daily access fee only on the days you use the phone.However, for the higher charge, you do get . . . CallsFree night-and-weekend minutesThe Plus plan gives you free night-and-weekend minutes. Nights start at 9:01 pm to 5:59 am) and the weekend starts at 9:01pm on Friday. That's admittedly a little late for some.5 Cent Standard minutesDaytime and weekend calls cost 5 cents per minute, and roaming calls still cost 20 cents per minute.Activation fee and setup feeThere is also a $35 activation fee and a setup fee of either $15 or $20 depending on where you live.Yearly costIf you use the phone every day, the minimum yearly cost for this Verizon prepaid plan (including the activation and setup fee and 600 minutes) is a little more than $800 a year.Adding airtime to your Inpulse accountYou can buy up to five $30 or $50 refill cards at a time.Depending on how much you add to your Verizon prepaid account balance, your minutes will expire in either 30, 60, 90 days or one year. This plan could be great for someone who calls home on weekends. Unlimited Talk PlanDaily Usage ChargeThe Power plan charges a whopping $3.99 daily access fee on the days you use the phone. For this even higher fee, you at least get . . .Unlimited CallsUnlimited calls include . . .Unlimited night and weekend minutesNight and weekend calls are free.Unlimited moible to mobile callsCall to Verizon customers are still free.Unlimited daytime callsDaytime calls are also free.Text messagesText messages cost 1 cent each.Yearly CostIf you use the phone every day, this will cost you . . .3.99 x 365 days = 1456.35 Or about $1600 once you add the activation fee and a decent phone. I wouldn't recommend this plan unless you use it for work, and you get back many times that amount in increased business. You can get a standard contract plan that will probably give you these same set of features for less than $100 a month. Additional CostsYou can buy downloads, text messaging bundles, web surfing bundles for a reasonable fee.Picture and Video MessagesPicture and video messages cost 25 cents each. These are apparently(?) not included in their . . .Text messaging bundlesIf you have a prepay plan that charges a lot for text messaging, and you know you're going to want to send and receive a lot of texts, then you can buy either a $20 a month bundle for unlimited mobile messaging to anyone in the US, or if you're mainly going to be texting some who has a Verizon phone, you can get their $10 a month bundle which also includes an additional 250 messages to anyone outside the Verizon network.Mobile WebIt will cost you 99 cents per day. The day last for 24 hours. This is not bad. Having mobile web, means you can access most common email accounts like Yahoo, etc.Ringback tonesRingback tones cost 99 cents per month and 1.99 per year.Music DownloadsIt looks like it's cheaper to download songs to your PC and then upload them to your phone than dowloading them directly. Downloads to PC cost 99 cents. Downloads to phone cost 99 cents plus a 99 cent download fee.There is again a $25 activation fee.There is also a $25 activation fee. There used to be an additional setup fee of either $15 to $20, but it looks like that has now been eliminated.Adding Inpulse AirtimeYou can add Inpulse airtime by buying airtime refill cards online or in stores, or you can add minutes directly via a "My Prepay" account at Verizon's website.Inpulse Airtime Refill CardsYou can buy airtime refill cards in many locations. The cards range in denomination for $15 to $100 and last from 30 days to one year for the $100 refill. Verizon has extended the length of some of the calling cards to match those of other companies.Here are the current refill options: 30-day cardsIf you buy airtime worth $15-$29.99 then your airtime expires in 30 days.90-day cardsIf you buy airtime worth $30 to $74.99 then your airtime expires in 60 days.180-day cardsAirtime bought for $75-$99.99 expires in 90 daysAnd finally, airtime bought for $100 or more expires after one year. It makes sense then, to buy airtime in $100 increments especially if you don't use a cell phone all that much. Buying Refill Cards Online DirectIf you want to buy individual refill cards, you can buy up to 5 $30 refill cards online. To buy refill cards in other quantities you have to look in retail stores.For more flexibility, you should get a Verizon Prepaid AccountYou can get an online Verizon prepaid account called . . .My PrepaySigning up for a My Prepay account allows you to purchase and add airtime balance in various amounts to your phone without going to the trouble of purchasing airtime refill cards.When you sign up for an account, you are asked if you want to receive any offers and promotions. Make sure you choose what you'd prefer there. PhonesYou can choose from a few phones which are constantly changing. A year ago you these phones ranged in cost from $50 for a basic Samsung Sch-U410 phone to $135 for a Samsung Alias phone. The Alias is hard to get but they now also have some other good phones like the LG VX5500 and the Motorola W755 with music player. You can also get them from retail locations such as Best Buy and Walmart.Samsung Alias – SCH–u740 The Verizon Inpulse Alias from Samsung is a Verizon Inpulse Prepaid cell phone which offers a QWERTY-style keyboard for composing text and email messages. The Qwerty keyboard is the main upgrade from the Razr offering. The phone which costs $135 also offer a 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth capability. Like the Razr it has a slightly flat squarish look different from the more rounded looks of most flip-style cell phones.You can see more Verizon Inpulse Prepaid phones here. Do you get any free minutes?Yes, you get 10-15 minutes upon activation (though there is an activation fee).
International Calling and MessagingCallingYou can call internationally using your Inpulse phone. In most cases there is a surcharge added to your normal rate. Also you can actually make roaming calls from a few places like Puerto Rico, Mexico, Canada, the Virgin Islands and Bermuda.To Puerto RicoPuerto Rico is treated as being in the USA so there's no additional charge from making calls to Puerto Rico.In Puerto RicoRoaming calls made while you're in Puerto Rico cost 69 cents per minute.To MexicoCalls to Mexico landlines cost an additional 10 cents, and calls to Mexico cell phones cost an additional 29 cents per minute.In MexicoRoaming calls made while you're in Mexico cost 99 cents per minute.Canada etc.The same additional 29 cent charge also applies to Canada, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Saipan.These rates are somewhat reasonable, but not the rates for calling anywhere else. Rest of the WorldIt costs a whopping additional $1.49 to anywhere else in the world, which means you'd only do it out of desperation. Most of the time you'd want to use those calling cards with a toll-free number.Text MessagingVerizon has a good setup for sending international text messages from the USA. You can access it through their website as well and send a text message to almost any country. Clicking on their text message map brings up the various mobile networks in that particular country.Mexico and CanadaIt costs an additional 10 cents to send or receive a text messages from participating carriers in Mexico and Canada.Rest of the WorldIt costs an additional 25 cents to send and receive a text message via participating carriers from elsewhere in the world.This page allows you to select your country and click "Display" to see the list of carriers. Okay, so International calling is acceptable for Mexico, Canada and some protectorates. For any other country, you're better off using another phone or buying an international calling card. PromotionsYou can get discounts for purchasing Verizon prepaid cell phones directly from their website.Porting your numberSince offering local number portability is the law of the land, you can port your current cell phone or home phone number to Verizon. (Note if you port your home phone number, that line will be disconnected.)Customer Service Phone NumberHere's the customer service phone number as well as a link to their forums.Customer Service - Pay As You GoTo get Verizon Prepaid customer service you can either:Dial *611 from your cell phone or Call (888) 294-6804 Customer ForumsUse their customer forums to find out if others are having similar issue. This forum is for all voice and broadband issues, but the search button seems pretty effective for finding a particular issue. Thanks for reading this Verizon (Inpulse) Prepaid review.
Customer ReviewsCheck out these Verizon prepaid customer reviews.Do you already use Verizon Inpulse Prepaid? Tell us about it! Your Verizon Prepaid ReviewShare your experience with Verizon Prepaid! What Other Visitors Have SaidClick below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...
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