There are a couple of reasons why prepaid phone plans can be a good idea for you. If you are a big traveler you could potentially just not even pay your regular phone for one month and just stick to your foreign SIM. This is going to make using your phone abroad much more affordable without a doubt. It really depends on what you want to get done. Verizon is one of the more popular networks in America. Therefore we decided that it would be a good idea to explore the options that are provided as far as prepaid phone plans Verizon go. Just right off the bat one thing that can be said is that they are not the least expensive option on the market. Therefore, if you are looking for that, you may want to look elsewhere. If you are looking for decent value though, this could be one of the main options that you are going to have.
As was mentioned before Verizon is one of the largest networks in America. Therefore, buying one of their prepaid phone plans Verizon offers just makes sense if you are looking to have decent coverage across the United States. Also, the more GB that you buy the better value that you are going to be able to get out of the deal. You can add lines to your package and you are going to be saving money. If you are not sure though what the benefits are of having a prepaid deal over the regular contract that is also one of the topics that we are going to cover in this particular article.
- Prepaid Phone Plans Verizon vs Long Term Contract
- International Use
- Prepaid Phone Plans Verizon: How much is it going to cost me?
- What is going to happen if I don’t renew my monthly fee?
- The Benefits of these plans for travelers
- Is it worth buying a new phone internationally?
- What is the main difference in costs versus a long term plan?
Prepaid Phone Plans Verizon vs Long Term Contract
We usually like to say on the site that we don’t like to pick sides when it comes to any type of comparison that we make. Usually, the reason why there are contrasting options is the fact that some are a better fit for certain people others work great for different folks. In this case, there are a couple of things that may surprise you. Verizon actually is pretty fair with their prices in the sense that they stay pretty much the same in price when you have a contract versus when you have a prepaid plan. You are going to be able to get an unlimited plan starting at 70 dollars. This is the same price that you are going to pay for a long term contract or a prepaid plan.
The difference is that with a prepaid plan you usually have to bring your own phone. The company may offer you a phone, but you would not be able to finance the phone on a prepaid plan. You would have to pay for it upfront. With a contract, you are going to be able to obtain lower prices and other types of benefits on a group or a family plan. To be honest, if you can get four people on a contract you are probably going to be able to obtain a better deal. With prepaid plans, you have the freedom to literally pay for only what you need. You are not going to have to worry about damaging your credit because of your wireless service. This is usually the main reason that people go with Prepaid over regular plans.
International Use
Prepaid plans are usually the best option for a person that travels a lot. The reason behind this is that you are going to be able to pick and chose when to buy and what to buy. This last part is the one that not a lot of people understand. On a prepaid plan, you can essentially make the decision to get the unlimited plan this month or not. Maybe you are just looking for some type of coverage. Ideally what you are going to be able to do with a prepaid plan while going abroad is paying the minimum fee which is around 30$ for 1GB a month. The reason why we would say it is a good idea to pay that fee is so that you can still use your phone internationally with Wifi. You don’t have any type of issue with losing your regular phone number or anything like that. Which, could happen if you don’t pay anything on your prepaid plans for a couple of months.
You can use the money that you save to get an international SIM card and have local coverage. With a prepaid plan, you are going to have leverage. That is going to allow you to have essentially two SIM cards for the price of one if that is the way that you want to look at it. Now, there are benefits also with international use of your prepaid plan. You are going to get lower rates when using your phone in Canada or Mexico. If you are just taking a short trip you could pay the extra dollars and forget about the SIM card issues.
Prepaid Phone Plans Verizon: How much is it going to cost me?
We have been throwing some numbers out there so we want to make sure that we are able to pretty much make sense of this. With Verizon, you are going to have the option of paying 40 dollars for 6GB of data on their 4G network. This is the basic plan that you are going to be able to obtain as a prepaid deal. The middle package is going to cost you 50 for 16GB of data. Finally, it is going to cost you 70$ for the unlimited plan that includes calls to Mexico and Canda. You can obtain a 5 dollar discount on any of these by enrolling in the autopay service. All you are going to have to do is register a credit or debit card that is going to be charged monthly. You are getting all of the “benefits” of the regular plan at similar prices.
If you are buying one line on a regular plan the unlimited plan is going cost you 70 dollars. As was mentioned this is pretty much the same thing that you are going to be paying for the unlimited plan on the prepaid side of things. The real difference that you have with Verizon when it comes to prepaid vs regular plans is that you can get 5G coverage for 10 dollars more on long term deals. Prepaid plans don’t have access to the 5G network. You are only going to be getting 4G coverage. Again, if you are someone who travels a lot or just someone who doesn’t have a steady source of income prepaid plans can work out great.
What is going to happen if I don’t renew my monthly fee?
The first thing that is going to happen is that you are not going to be getting coverage. That is just the number one thing that will happen. That is also something that is going to happen when you run out of data if you are not on the unlimited plan. Once you don’t renew you are going to lose all of the services, but you may not lose your number just yet. So you are going to be able to use your number and receive messages and calls if you are connected through a wifi connection on apps like Whatsapp and Telegram. Your social media accounts are also going to remain active if you have a wifi connection. You can go for about a month without paying a dime and you are probably not at risk of losing your number.
After about a month you start treading those waters where you could literally wake up one day and find out they gave your number to someone else. That is why if you are going to take a long trip it is a good idea to not pay for the unlimited plan. Since you are not going to be able to take full advantage of it. Still, paying for the minimum amount of coverage could be a good idea since this is going to prevent Verizon from literally potentially taking your phone number away. Obviously, without a wifi connection, your phone would be virtually useless. What you can do is switch mobile carriers. All that you are going to have to do, to do that, is remove the SIM card and put in a new one. Assuming that you have an unlocked phone.
The Benefits of these plans for travelers
This is something that we mentioned a bit beforehand when you have a prepaid plan you are going to have different options when it comes to the things that you can do to have service and save money. The most extreme thing that you could do is to just go ahead and not pay for the service if you are leaving the country for a month. Just use a local SIM card for your phone. When you get back home you are not going to owe anyone money. The only issue that you could have is that of losing your regular number. It is an option though if you are looking to save money. Technically you could be spending the same amount of money that you spend on your regular plan for an international plan. If you have a long term plan with a company you are just not going to be able to leave without making a payment. That is a fact that cannot really be refuted.
Usually, if you have one of these plans you are already going to own an unlocked phone. This means that you are going to be able to switch out SIM cards from different companies both international and domestic. This is a great bonus for people that are always looking for the best deal. While you could just unlock your phone through a quick YouTube tutorial not having to deal with that in the first place can really make life easier. At the end of the day that is what you are going to be looking to obtain as a traveler.
Is it worth buying a new phone internationally?
We just mentioned that as a traveler you are always going to be looking to make life easier on yourself. It is a natural thing and it makes a lot of sense. Having two phones can be a good idea for a variety of reasons. You are going to be able to use your regular phone when you have a wifi connection. So, a lot of your apps and things are going to be running pretty much in the same manner. If you are someone who communicates a lot through messaging apps then you are going to be able to do so in a normal manner with a wifi connection. If you are going to have another phone with you it is important that you turn off your regular data from your phone. That way you won’t be incurred in any type of charges. As was mentioned before what you can do is just check your messages when you have a wifi connection.
We usually say it is worth it to have another phone. If you are someone who travels across the pond a lot having an actual local device is a good idea because you won’t have to deal with voltage converters and those types of things to charge your phone. These days you can buy a a whole bunch of gadgets for those types of needs. Still, having that one phone that you can charge on the local voltage and have a prepaid plan from local companies can really make your life easier. If you are just traveling occasionally it may not seem like a worthy investment. Plus, it may not be overly practical to carry two devices around all the time. You can fix that with the dual SIM feature that a few of the newer phones have. Still, it can be said that there is still some value in keeping 2 devices. If you have read through some of the other articles on the site you know that this is something that we recommend most of the time. So there is no point in backing down at this moment in time. It certainly would not be a great look for us.
What is the main difference in costs versus a long term plan?
The main thing that you are probably going to find that is different is that you are not going to be able to access the benefits of buying multiple lines. On a family plan, you are going to be able to get a line for around 35 to 40 dollars or even less for an unlimited plan. As long as you have 4 lines minimum on the contract. If you are an independent person that is not looking to even become part of a family plan then the price per line is going to be pretty much the same. With Verizon, the main difference is that with a prepaid plan you are not going to have access to their 5G network. This is something though that is bound to change over time. To the point where maybe even as you are reading this, this information is no longer relevant and you are able to access the 5G network for Verizon at a regular price.
At the end of the day if you are just going to be paying for one line the prepaid plans make more sense because of the freedom that you are able to obtain from them. As an avid traveler that freedom is going to equal savings at the end of the day. Not only that, but you are going to have one less bill to worry about when you get back home. Plus, prepaid plans are basically immune to the hidden fees that a lot of companies like to charge. On a long term plan, just a couple of days of international roaming could effectively double what you owe at the end of the month.
Are The Prepaid Phone Plans Verizon Offers Worth It?
If you are a traveler or you are on your own and things like that you are not going to be able to obtain some of the main benefits that a long term deal offers anyway. So, really making the call to go with a prepaid plan just makes a lot of sense. As far as going with Verizon, it really depends on what type of coverage you get in your particular area. This is something that we can’t lose sight of. If you get decent coverage in the area that you live in though, there is no reason why a prepaid plan from Verizon would not be a good idea.