Postpaid vs Prepaid on Verizon

[Shimon Mor]

I'll be purchasing two Moto X Pure phones soon for me and my wife. We've been on Sprint but the coverage and speed are awful. Will try Verizon first since they purportedly have the "best" coverage/speed in this area (mostly rural). After going through the Verizon website and reading a bunch of articles and forum posts, I'm still a bit confused.

1. Are the "T-shirt" plans (The Verizon Plan) postpaid only? Would I even want to consider these plans?

2. Or...should I go with the Prepaid plan? It shows two options..1 or 2.5GB and then if you want more data you you pay the access fee to "Add Data" ($20/3GB for 90 days).

3. Are there any downsides to the Prepaid plans like throttling or roaming charges or other "gotchas"? I assume there are no fees/taxes with the Prepaid.

I do want the ability to switch carriers/plans monthly for a while until I find which carrier has the best coverage/speed for me.

Thanks for any advice/help.

 

[dpham00]

There are usually better phone promotions fit post paid and post paid customer service is in the usa (prepaid is over seas).

The Verizon plan is post paid only

 

[sulla1965]

I've been on both postpaid and prepaid. There is no difference in terms of coverage and speeds. Prepaid is 1 GB, but 2 GB if you go with auto pay. Obviously if you use a lot data Verizon prepaid isn't a good choice.

 

[Shimon Mor]

I've been on both postpaid and prepaid. There is no difference in terms of coverage and speeds. Prepaid is 1 GB, but 2 GB if you go with auto pay. Obviously if you use a lot data Verizon prepaid isn't a good choice.

Thanks. Do you see any reason to go with with the Prepaid option? I guess the only advantage is the no fees/taxes and no chance of going over your data limit since it when it runs out you are cut off unless you buy more, right? It definitely seems like Verizon doesn't want people going the Prepaid route by making it less enticing.

I may try the Prepaid option for the first month to see how good the coverage and speed are and then switch to a postpaid "T-shirt" shirt plan once I'm satisfied that Verizon will work for me.

 

[sulla1965]

Thanks. Do you see any reason to go with with the Prepaid option? I guess the only advantage is the no fees/taxes and no chance of going over your data limit since it when it runs out you are cut off unless you buy more, right? It definitely seems like Verizon doesn't want people going the Prepaid route by making it less enticing.

I may try the Prepaid option for the first month to see how good the coverage and speed are and then switch to a postpaid "T-shirt" shirt plan once I'm satisfied that Verizon will work for me.

Well the service quality is exactly the same, both use the full Verizon network. You also can't finance a phone with prepaid. So its up to you which is best for you.

 

[Since9600]

I prefer to be on a plan because I like connected devices. I have my Gear S watch, Delphi car hotspot and my daughters GizmoPal watch (Soon to be GizmoGadget), all on my plan for just $5/month each. Not to mention, they always just over-night and bill new devices to my bill so I don't even have to worry about it till next month.. Everyone has different needs.

 

[Inundated]

Prepaid works for me on Verizon.

* I have the 2 GB monthly data due to Auto-Pay. Last month, it showed up in "credits" but not in the data bucket. I called, and they ended up adding a 1 GB bridge data (no charge). With the Auto-Pay 1 GB bonus this month, I actually ended up with 2.6 GB (the Bridge Data didn't expire until February and I'd used about 400 MB of it).

* The service/performance/etc. is identical to the postpaid Verizon service. I believe it even does 4G XLTE at the same speeds. (I say "I believe" since I only have a 3G Moto G 1st Gen.) I believe VZW prepaid now roams off the network, though I don't know the details/cost - I haven't left a strong VZW service area since I moved to prepaid. You have to go pretty far here in Northeast Ohio to get off the network...VZW coverage is solid here. I went to Dallas earlier this year, and had no coverage problems.

* There are taxes, at least in Ohio. It works out to $48.72 a month to transfer $45 into the account. I have no idea if the tax situation is the same elsewhere.

* The Bridge Data mentioned earlier is painless and pretty cheap.

* The data situation (2 GB/mo.) works for me because I have WiFi pretty much everywhere, from home to work to even the local public transit buses (work in progress there, so I do have to use 3G sometimes).

I have saved a boatload of money. I was paying nearly $100/mo. for a single line unlimited VZW postpaid plan!

 

[Inundated]

There are usually better phone promotions fit post paid and post paid customer service is in the usa (prepaid is over seas).

I've gotten Canadian reps. Last guy was from the Dominican Republic - and was very, very good!

 

[Shimon Mor]

I ended up going prepaid for a month to check coverage. Coverage and speeds are great everywhere except for my house where I have no bars but still have a signal. Texts sometimes don't go through unless I'm near a window. I'm considering a femtocell but Verizon charges $250 for it (greedy slugs). I may try AT&T next month and even give T-Mobile a shot. I'm coming from Sprint and don't want to go back to their poor network in my area. That's the nice thing about the Moto X Pure...can use it on any network. Another reason I don't need a post-paid plan is I like to buy my own phone up front. Don't need any carrier-locked phones with their bloat. And it come out to about $49 with some taxes and 911 fees for the 1GB prepaid plan.