In 12 months I will be done with Verizon.

[Disneyliscious]

Ok, so after nearly 20 years with Verizon, this time next year I will be out of contract with all four of my lines and I am going to go pre-paid for the cost savings. Right now by bill is $220 a month for 4 lines. Two of those lines have the unlimited data on them. At the end of this year both of those lines will no longer be under contract and Verizon will be raising the price of them by $20 each!

But by July of next year, all four lines will be done, and I will be done with Verizon. I am thinking of going with either Straight Talk or ATT Go Phone. Any advice on either. I live in the North Georgia/Tennessee Valley area. I travel here and there in this area, also in North East Alabama, and to Dalton and Calhoun in Georgia. And to Orlando, of course.

Unless Verizon can offer me a more reasonable priced plan at the end of this year, I am going to be done with them.

I have used Straight Talk for about 8 years now. I LOVE the freedom of not being tied to a contract. I don't use the internet on my phone but there is data included. If you are someone who is glued to their phone all day it prob wouldnt be good for you. I pay $45 a month for UNLIMITED talk and text. 5GB of data is included at that price. Straight Talks plans have never had a price increase since I have been with them and they have a LOT of snazzy phones you can use now. I absolutely recommend them.

 

[dclpluto]

Make sure you think about all the taxes. Federal, state, 911 etc. the price someone gives you might look cheaper than what your paying now until you get the bill and see what it really costs.

 

[havaneselover]

Make sure you think about all the taxes. Federal, state, 911 etc. the price someone gives you might look cheaper than what your paying now until you get the bill and see what it really costs.

That's the nice thing about straight talk. My taxes for the whole year were less than $8.

 

[cvjw]

Verizon customer. 4 phones. 15 gigs of data per month. 2 of the phones have insurance on them. All for $175 per month. All taxes and fees included.

 

[kydisneyfans]

We are at $397 for Verizon for 4 lines, 2 tablets, and 18 gigs of data.
We are also long gone as of February, 2017 when the contract is up.

One line is for our small business, we had "gone green" and not received any printed bills for years. We then were audited by the IRS for 2014 and they charged me $5 per month to print the bills. Every service provider either allowed us to print from their website or printed for us at no charge, except Verizon.

Ridiculous prices+not so good customer service=new company in February, and I can't wait.

 

[dhardawa]

We moved from AT&T over to Sprint about a year and a half ago. I've got two iPhones on unlimited everything (we use a ton of data and a limited plan won't work) for $160 (including cost of the phone). Before that, I was paying $180 and I was unlimited, but Emily only had 2GB of data and would go through that in less than a week.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

We pay $250 for 3 iphones on Verizon. And that's with my 22% employee discount. That includes unlimited talk, text and 30gb of data. My son eats through our data. I have him capped at 17 gb. After that he can only use data when he's connected to wifi. My SO uses about 8-9 a month and I use maybe 3 a month.

My XH just left Verizon after 10 years and went to Sprint. He's paying almost $200 a month for his and DD with unlimited everything. If he added DS it would be around $250. When DS's contract is up he is taking DS onto his plan and I'm downgrading my data plan.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

We have MetroPCS. We have just 2 phones on an unlimited plan, pay $86.xx a month (after taxes). We're adding DS on the next time they have a plan deal (right now, we just buy him 100 minutes every other month or so as needed).

 

[msb578]

Ok, so after nearly 20 years with Verizon, this time next year I will be out of contract with all four of my lines and I am going to go pre-paid for the cost savings. Right now by bill is $220 a month for 4 lines. Two of those lines have the unlimited data on them. At the end of this year both of those lines will no longer be under contract and Verizon will be raising the price of them by $20 each!

But by July of next year, all four lines will be done, and I will be done with Verizon. I am thinking of going with either Straight Talk or ATT Go Phone. Any advice on either. I live in the North Georgia/Tennessee Valley area. I travel here and there in this area, also in North East Alabama, and to Dalton and Calhoun in Georgia. And to Orlando, of course.

Unless Verizon can offer me a more reasonable priced plan at the end of this year, I am going to be done with them.

If you're on a contract now, you're paying a subsidy for 4 new phones every 2 years. When your contract is up, you can switch to a no-contract plan. The subsidies will be removed from your rate and you'll pay less. But of course you'll be on a "bring your own device" system from that point on.

 

[JohnDaleswife]

If you're on a contract now, you're paying a subsidy for 4 new phones every 2 years. When your contract is up, you can switch to a no-contract plan. The subsidies will be removed from your rate and you'll pay less. But of course you'll be on a "bring your own device" system from that point on.

Well, not really. When my contract is up on the two lines with unlimited data on them, they are going to raise the price of those by $20 each a month. I love the coverage I have with Verizon, but not enough to keep paying through the nose for it.

 

[laceyinwonderland]

I just switched from At&T to straight talk on Saturday! I went to walmart and bought the BYOP kit and set it up at home myself with my galaxy 5 that ive had for 2 years and is still working fine. It was super easy to do online!! I wanted to keep my same number, so I was with out phone service for about 4 hours waiting on the number to "port" or something like that, but I could still use my wifi at that time. I didnt understand how to set up the APN settings, but I did an online chat and they were super helpful!! Unfortunatly, I can tell a slight difference in my reception.... which makes no sense b/c I had at&t before, and I thougt it would be the same!

 

[Sagginit]

Do you have the unlimited data plan from years ago? I had that and with my old phone being 3G (I couldn't change devices if I wanted the plan) so I wasn't really able to use unlimited data. I switched to a different plan and with a new iphone (I got a 5S when the 6 came out so prices had dropped on it a bit) and it came out to less than my old plan and worked better. I have just 2G a month as I only use data when commuting or out on weekends. I don't stream music, instead I listen to what's on my itunes and amazon when I am out, saving Pandora for around the house.

I have Verizon as they have great coverage and my husband has AT&T as its a bit cheaper. His logic is if we are both with different carriers we should always have service on one phone lol. The interesting thing is on the most part you aren't paying for texts or calls these days, its data, so I would start with that as a base point for finding a new plan. Verizon actually tried to tell me I could use a plan with 1G but I had to point out that my old phone could hardly connect which is why my data use was so low and the 2G plan at the time was CHEAPER than the 1G plan. Do your research before you go anywhere because I have found across the board that the people are there to sell and not really help you.

 

[usnuzuloose]

I really liked sprint when I had it. I haven't needed a cell phone since 06 , and love saving that money. I thought about going with consumer cellular, for the 15 a month I think the plan I was looking at was. But decided against it. I am happy with my land line, and dear husband has the phone for business.

 

[wenrob]

Well, not really. When my contract is up on the two lines with unlimited data on them, they are going to raise the price of those by $20 each a month. I love the coverage I have with Verizon, but not enough to keep paying through the nose for it.

I take it they're raising the unlimited price? If you're going to prepay or another company you'd be giving up the unlimited correct? So why not look into their family plans and see how much that would be? Look at offers for new customers and tell them you want those prices. Looking at the examples given here for prepaid you will be paying around the same amount your are now and getting much less. I understand you are upset they're raising the price of your plan but you are not tied to that plan. I would really have a hard look at the other plans and see how you can maximize what you're already paying, especially if you are happy with the service. Unlimited data seems awesome on the surface but it limits everyone on the plan in terms of how it can be used, giving it up on my DH's phone was one of the best things we did and now we all can actually use our data to our benefit and our bill is cheaper.

We have five iPhones and two iPads on our plan (all paid for, no subsidies) unlimited talk, text and 20GB at the 10GB price with AT&T. With an employee discount we were paying $205 with taxes, fees etc but they just lowered the iPad's down to $5 from $10 and am now paying $185. When they were doing the double your data promo for new customers I called and said as a 20+ year customer I wanted it too. Took some pushing but I got it. Everything is negotiable, I would use being a long time customer to your advantage and be willing to part with the unlimited. You might be pleasantly surprised at what kind of deal you can swing.

 

[JohnDaleswife]

Well I have a good 6 months to really look and shop around. If Verizon were to offer me a deal that was affordable, I would go with that. One thing I am going to do is not base my monthly price on an employee discount. That might come and go with employment, so I don't want to be dependent on that for pricing. I just think that is a good rule of thumb going forward.

I don't use a whole lot of data, around 3GBs a month I guess if I stay on wi-fi. I just have a 20-year-old and a 11-year-old who do use a lot of data. One reason being is that they have the two lines with the unlimited data. Imagine that. So if I were to go to prepaid with ATT, they would get like 5GBs of data and the rest is throttled. I think that might be right. That would be a major concern off of my mind. And to refill a line each month through Walmart is $45.75. Hardly any taxes at all on that. I just don't think I can beat less than $185 a month for 4 lines.

Bad thing is that if I go this route, at the end of this year I will have to pay another $40 a month on my bill for 6-7 months until the last two lines run out.

 

[havaneselover]

Well I have a good 6 months to really look and shop around. If Verizon were to offer me a deal that was affordable, I would go with that. One thing I am going to do is not base my monthly price on an employee discount. That might come and go with employment, so I don't want to be dependent on that for pricing. I just think that is a good rule of thumb going forward.

I don't use a whole lot of data, around 3GBs a month I guess if I stay on wi-fi. I just have a 20-year-old and a 11-year-old who do use a lot of data. One reason being is that they have the two lines with the unlimited data. Imagine that. So if I were to go to prepaid with ATT, they would get like 5GBs of data and the rest is throttled. I think that might be right. That would be a major concern off of my mind. And to refill a line each month through Walmart is $45.75. Hardly any taxes at all on that. I just don't think I can beat less than $185 a month for 4 lines.

Bad thing is that if I go this route, at the end of this year I will have to pay another $40 a month on my bill for 6-7 months until the last two lines run out.

Have you looked at Cricket? For four phones with 5 gb of data each it's $140 ($50 each less $60 for their group save discount). I love straight talk but if I were paying for more than one line I would seriously consider straight talk.

 

[JohnDaleswife]

I have not looked at Cricket. Just Straight Talk and ATT Go Phone, and Verizon Pre-paid as well.

 

[havaneselover]

I have not looked at Cricket. Just Straight Talk and ATT Go Phone, and Verizon Pre-paid as well.

Definitely take a look at their website. Pricing for families is very reasonable.

 

[HeatherC]

Our contract with Verizon is up in two months and I am trying to figure out what to do as well. We have 4 lines with unlimited talk and text and 10gb data for around $250 a month.

My problem is that all our phones are breaking or broke. Sons IPhone 6 was completely destroyed when he dropped it and my two daughters and myself have phones that keep locking up or ****ting off. Even had Verizon look at them to see what the problem was. Had them all reset, etc....still don't work great. One was an LG G3 and other two were Samsung Galaxy 4 and 5.

So now we all need new phones and of course the three teens want the latest and greatest which is ridiculous to pay out of pocket.

Not sure what we will do yet. It is such a scam. Right up there with cable tv.

 

[havaneselover]

Our contract with Verizon is up in two months and I am trying to figure out what to do as well. We have 4 lines with unlimited talk and text and 10gb data for around $250 a month.

My problem is that all our phones are breaking or broke. Sons IPhone 6 was completely destroyed when he dropped it and my two daughters and myself have phones that keep locking up or ****ting off. Even had Verizon look at them to see what the problem was. Had them all reset, etc....still don't work great. One was an LG G3 and other two were Samsung Galaxy 4 and 5.

So now we all need new phones and of course the three teens want the latest and greatest which is ridiculous to pay out of pocket.

Not sure what we will do yet. It is such a scam. Right up there with cable tv.

Save up and buy used (but fairly new) on eBay from a reputable seller and go to a no contract carrier like cricket or straight talk. I'm okay with spending $400 or so on a "new" phone when I'm paying less than $40 / month for service on my line.