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I got a prepaid phone from Verizon when I came to Houston because I wanted a local number but didn't know how long I would be here. A recent incident rendered my phone hors de combat. I went to a nearby Verizon Wireless store to buy a replacement phone, and the salesman said I would have to pay approximately $200, instead of the $30-40 the phone cost originally. I looked at him like he was nuts, but he assured me that was correct. Naturally, I left the store empty handed rather than an empty wallet.

Let me get this straight. I can go to Target and buy a new Verizon prepaid phone for less than $50 if I'm willing to get a new number. If I'm attached to my number, I can buy a new prepaid phone from another carrier for less than $50, and transfer my number to the new carrier. under the number portability law. However, if I want to stay with Verizon and keep my number it will cost around $200. How does that make sense?

Does anyone want to suggest a prepaid plan with good coverage in the Houston area?

Why not just buy the new 50 Verizon phone and put the sim from your broken phone in it and you are good to go? Even if the new phone is locked to Verizon, your old sim should work in it as it is Verizon. Phone number is the sim, not the phone, so you keep you same number and same minutes used and payments due....etc..... am I missing something here?

Verizon & Sprint phones don't use removable SIM cards. Using logic won't work either. It took me over a year to convince Verizon that I did not own them a $450.00 charge. The day they finally admitted it was bogus I switched to Sprint. I'm not saying Sprint is better, I just wasn't going to pay verizon any longer. If it was me I'd go with the new number.

OH, ok.......
I had no idea that Verizon PP phones were CDMA (no sim).

I sent an old used 3G AT&T phone (not PP) up to my Son in Canada and he got a PP sim card to put in it from AT&T and he has a US phone while driving from Canada to Texas. He will activate it when he reaches the Can-US border and he is good to go.

My bad, I didn't realize that the Prepaid phones were different.

So, what do you mean then?
Is the Verizon PP a 3G (sim) phone or a CDMA (non sim) phone?

The AT&T prepaid GoPhones have SIM cards. The Verizon prepaid phones do not.
At least in my experience. (The newer "4G" phones from Verizon may be different, IDK.)

As far as reception in Houston, it varies. I generally have my personal phone on a different carrier than my work-provided phone, and I've been places inside the loop where Verizon was worthless while AT&T was clear as a bell - and vice versa. This seems particularly true in office and apartment buildings, and is the reason for my wireless diversification.

Oh, and yes, I agree Verizon is being foolish, unless they're trying to get out of the prepaid segment.

While not prepaid, I am satisfied with Sprint. We have a small business corporate plan and none of the other major carriers can come close to the what we are paying for the services we receive/use.

Another option is to find a used phone--eBay, Craigslist, etc.--you can then activate it without having to commit to a contract term. Insure you research the carrier you want to use and get a phone that is compatible with that carrier.

You can find prepaid comparisons here: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=comparing+pre-paid ... hone+plans" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I've used TracFone prepaid for about 10 years and have had no problems when I needed to change phones. Go to a local department store, buy a TracFone phone for $35+/-, call TracFone on a different one and they transfer the phone number and remaining time to the new phone.........BUT I don't do texting or other things with my phone. I pretty much just use it only for voice communication and that is very limited (my desires). I have used it all over the east coast, north Texas, and southern Ok and seldom get dropped.
We have been considering going to one of the major companies to get the use of a "smart phone" but every time we look at the monthly charges it makes us reconsider.

So I've been helping folks to convert to StraightTalk. Its just Walmart's version of Tracfone. But the deal they have is $45 for unlimited everything. That's voice, texting, and data. And the thing that is cool is that its actually on the AT&T network. What that means is that you can buy a phone that is locked to AT&T and then just put in their SIM, make an APN change and be using that phone.

Why this is important is that you can pick up an iPhone, drop the SIM card in and be using an iPhone for $45 a month unlimited with no contract. You DO have to acquire an iphone or other smartphone somewhere but it doesn't have to be unlocked which makes it a little easier to do. And I know that they are out there since I have an Android and iPhone both up on CL right now . Though both of the ones I'm selling are actually unlocked. NOTE: to use MMS on the iPhone you will have to jailbreak to put in a setting that you aren't normally allowed to get to.

Now for myself, it doesn't make sense because I have 5 phones and plans and the more you have on a family plan, the less it makes sense because its $10 for another line and $25 for the data plan per phone and now when you want to do upgrades you pay full price. But if you only have 1 or 2 phones, it makes a lot of sense.

I've helped 4 folks get on there in the last couple months. Its working great!

I had a friend who had an at&t bill follow him around for 4 years. He might still get them but I haven't caught up with him recently. It was for -$0.02

I suggest Cricket, they have good coverage in Houston and great prices.

phrogg wrote:So I've been helping folks to convert to StraightTalk. Its just Walmart's version of Tracfone. But the deal they have is $45 for unlimited everything. That's voice, texting, and data. And the thing that is cool is that its actually on the AT&T network. What that means is that you can buy a phone that is locked to AT&T and then just put in their SIM, make an APN change and be using that phone.

How does that work with roaming?

Dave2 wrote:How does that work with roaming?

Its the same sort of roaming you would have with Tracfone/AT&T. It is seamless in the US and there are no charges. If you go out of the country, I'd suggest a local SIM. I'm not sure how if they have roaming agreements out of the country at all but haven't seen any issues within the US. Coverage is just the same as AT&T.

Check http://straighttalksim.com for more info.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. It turns out the guys in the Verizon store were wrong, either through incompetence or greed.

I called customer service and got a code that let me transfer my phone number and balance to a replacement phone purchased off the shelf at Target. I didn't even have to threaten to leave, just said I wanted to upgrade my phone.