But before we look at the plans lets check out the . . .
Improved Coverage
According 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 Coverage
You 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 Map
We 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.
So now let's look at the Verizon Wireless Prepaid Plans
.
Daily Plans
Basic Plan: 25 cents per minute
The Basic Pay As you Go plan is classified by Verizon as a Daily Plan. However, since the daily fee is $0.00, it's really just a pay as you go plan with every minute costing 25 cents.Calls
Again, 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.Messages
Text 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 unless you really want Verizon's coverage.
(Inpulse) Core Plan (99 cent on day)
Daily Usage Charge
This 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.Calls
All domestic calls cost 10 cents per minute whether daytime or night-time. The roaming rate is 20 cents per minute.Free Mobile-to-Mobile
The 99 cent 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 Messages
Text messages cost 10 cents each. Don't know if sending or receiving a text triggers the 99 cent daily usage charge.Yearly Cost
Because 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!
(Inpulse) Plus Plan 1.99 per day
Daily Usage Charge
The 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 unlimited calling on the days you use it. In fact, this plan replaces their unlimited plan which used to cost $3.99 (!) per day.2 cent Texts
Text messages cost 2 cents each.Activation fee
There is also a $25 activation fee Yearly cost
If 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 account
You 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.
Monthly Plans
The Verizon Prepaid monthly plans start at $44.99 for regular phones and $64.99 for Blackberry and Smartphones. These plans are really like their contract plans, but without the contract. Consequently, you pay more for the phones than you would with a two-year agreement.Regular 450 Minute Talk Plan $44.99
For $44.99 per month you get 450 minutes on anytime minutes plus unlimited night and weekend minutes and unlimited mobile to mobile calling. Note the anytime minute rate works out to 10 cents per minutes, but your actual cost per minute is less if you really make use of the night and weekend plus mobile to mobile minutes. Regular 900 Minute Talk Plan $64.99
You get 900 anytime minutes in addition to the unlimited night and weekend and mobile to mobile minutes. The anytime minutes works out to about 7 cents per minute, but again your effective rate might be less if you make use of the unlimited calling and use up all your anytime minutes.Unlimited Minutes Talk Plan $74.99 per month
The unlimited minutes plan costs just $10 more the the 900 minutes plan.These plans do not include text messaging discounts, so text messages cost 20 cents each (ouch). To include text messaging, you have to get a Talk and Text plan which basically add $20 to the above plans.
Additional Costs
You can buy downloads, text messaging bundles, web surfing bundles for a reasonable fee.Picture and Video Messages
Picture and video messages cost 25 cents each. These are apparently(?) not included in their . . .Text messaging bundles
If 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 Web
It 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 tones
Ringback tones cost 99 cents per month and 1.99 per year.Music Downloads
It 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 Airtime
You 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 Cards
You can buy airtime refill cards directly from Verizon, but they only sell the $30 card. You can buy up to 5 of those at a time.In other locations you can cards in denomination for $15 to $100 which 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 cards
If you buy airtime worth $15-$29.99 then your airtime expires in 30 days.90-day cards
If you buy airtime worth $30 to $74.99 then your airtime expires in 90 days.180-day cards
Airtime 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.
For more flexibility, you should get a
Verizon Prepaid Account
You can get an online Verizon prepaid account called . . .My Prepay
Signing 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 also asked if you want to receive any offers and promotions.
Phones
Different phones are available depending on whether you choose the basic prepaid plan or the 3G Monthly plan. For the basic prepaid plans you can choose from about five or six phones ranging from a basic flip phone like the Samsung Gusto or LG Revere to QWERTY slider phones like the Pantech Caper and even a touchscreen or two like the LG Extravert.Do you get any free minutes?
Yes, you get 10-15 minutes upon activation depending on the phone.Avoiding the Activation Fee
Officially, there is a $20 activation fee, but you can avoid that by purchasing your prepaid phone online directly from Verizon.
International Calling and Messaging
Calling
You 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 Rico
Puerto Rico is treated as being in the USA so there's no additional charge from making calls to Puerto Rico.In Puerto Rico
Roaming calls made while you're in Puerto Rico cost 69 cents per minute.To Mexico
Calls to Mexico landlines cost an additional 10 cents, and calls to Mexico cell phones cost an additional 29 cents per minute.In Mexico
Roaming 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 World
It 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 Messaging
Verizon 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 Canada
It costs an additional 10 cents to send or receive a text messages from participating carriers in Mexico and Canada.Rest of the World
It 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.
Promotions
You can get discounts for purchasing Verizon prepaid cell phones directly from their website.
Porting your number
Since 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 Number
Here's the customer service phone number as well as a link to their forums. Customer Service - Pay As You Go
To get Verizon Prepaid customer service you can either:Dial *611 from your cell phone
or Call
(888) 294-6804
Customer Forums
Use 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 Reviews
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