Confused about which verizon plan to get

[IGBT]

We need to get a data plan and phone (currently using pre-paid T-Mobile and 5 year old Nexus One smartphone)

We only need one phone line but we need data for laptops (boondocking so this will be our only connection when not near hotspots).   Even if we don't steam any shows, I am thinking we need at least 10GB data per month.

I would like to use a beam antenna (YAGI) at some times to boost range.  I have been able to tap into wifi from several miles using a fairly large unit.   I am not sure what is out there for 4G that has an external antenna connection.

We have good credit (score around 820 last I checked) but we froze it and I would rather not go through the hassle of unfreezing to sign up for a contract, so prepaid sounds good.

It looks like with prepaid you pay about 45/month for a line and 1GB of data and you can add 3GB blocks for $20 that last 90 days.   Alternatively you can go with something called Edge and pay $80 + $15 for a line and 10GB of data per month but requires a contract?

Any recommendation for what I have outlined our requirements?   One phone line, data for a couple of laptops sharing a connection, 10GB or so per month

 

[LeeRevell]

I will find this info very interesting too. I am not doing much traveling yet, but when I do, I want good data capability. One thing I have read of, is even if one is paying for 10Gigs, sometimes one gets throttled after using three Gigs. That would be a total deal breaker for me. I would consider that a breach of contract and terminate immediately.

 

[minimotos95]

My OG droid a855 taking a serious tumble onto steel put final the nail in the coffin, I'm ditching my grandfathered verizon UDP in favor of prepaid GSM(cricket) simply because verizon hasn't offered a true android device since the galaxy nexus in 2012 and paying $80 for unlimited 2g* is ridiculous when I can pay $60 a month for 10gb of 4g then unlimited 2g with a newer phone that's built to be tinkered with.
If I could put up with vanilla android or jailbroken IOS I don't think I would be ditching verizon. But I like the freedom to safely load whatever ROM, kernel, or an entirely new OS on my phone without risking a brick because the service provider decided to make the bootloader locked and encrypted.

*for some reason I was only getting 2g speeds on 3 different phones and countless ROMs, never cared to call verizon and ask because the difference between slow and ssllooww is minimal.

Verizon prepaid is something I haven't done any research on but $45 for 1gb then 3gb more for $20 is a much better deal than the $80 basic 2gb contract plans verizon offers(offered?).

 

[IGBT]

I also see if you go with a Jetpack prepaid plan you can get a MHS800L Jetpack for $49.95 and then 3GB for $60/month or 10GB for $90/month

No contract and the Jetpack supports 8 devices connected to it and has an external antenna port (two actually, one for cell, one for cell/wifi)

 

[mockturtle]

I use Straight Talk, which accesses the Verizon network, for voice & messaging [I never use their data, although I can, as it is soooo slow] for a total of $32/month for 1500 minutes. I have a Verizon Jetpack that gives me 4GB of 4G data per month for $50 total. I could get more but I don't really need more.

 

[StarEcho]

I got my husband a TracFone from Amazon for $5 - it's a dumbed down smart phone LOL - IE, it's touch screen and swiping and apps, but it's not android or anything fancy.  But for him it's just fine as all he needs or wants to do with it is make calls and an occasional text.  The tracfone I got has a model number that ends with C which I was told indicates it uses the Verizon towers.  He gets triple minutes with the phone and he signed up for a prepaid plan that is $6 per month for a 90 day plan with 1800 minutes, basically 60 minutes per month and any unused rollover as long as you renew the plan before it expires.  The minutes are just one pool of minutes to use for texts, calls and data, with semi-complicated rules for x amount of data = x number of minutes and 1 text = 1 minute.  He'll never use it for data, and hardly for texts, so this amount is probably even more than he needs, but it's pretty much the least expensive plan they have.

I have a Verizon plan with a Galaxy S3 which I'm stuck with until November this year.  At that time I think I'm going to go with the Tracfone as well, as I've realized I just don't need the smartphone since I own an android tablet.  So I figure I'll keep the jetpack that I have a contract for with the 10GB of data for $80, then use the tracfone for any calls and my tablet for any apps I need.

 

[wayne49]

It looks like with prepaid you pay about 45/month for a line and 1GB of data and you can add 3GB blocks for $20 that last 90 days.   Alternatively you can go with something called Edge and pay $80 + $15 for a line and 10GB of data per month but requires a contract?

Edge is an installment plan to pay for the device over 24 equal monthly payments with 0% interest rate. At anytime the Edge loan may be paid off for the remaining balance.

Service plan, Share Everything, is month to month with no contract, with an Edge payment plan for the device.

 

[IGBT]

For now I decided to go with a StraightTalk ZTE288L hotspot with prepaid data cards (ZTE288C at Walmart).   This particular model number uses the Verizon network and is $80.   Data is around $10 per GB and lasts 60 days on the 4GB+ cards.

It does seem to work well, but the hotspot does not have an external antenna port.   The reason I did not go with the Verizon MHS800L jetpack, which does have an external antenna port, is it will only do 4G.  It does not have the capability of using 3G networks like the ZTE288L.  

The only annoying thing right now with the StraightTalk is that the check data balance on the website does not work.  It always shows 0.0MB left, even when you load a new card.  I have read about this problem from forum posts dating back to 2013!   What a company huh?  Can't even fix a probably simple software bug in 2 years!   This bug has probably cost them millions of dollars in lost business from people who get frustrated, yet they can't hire a software dev to spend a day fixing it.

 

[K1ngN0thing]

Harbor Mobile is a T-Mobile reseller and for $50/mo you can get non-throttled unlimited 4G LTE, with 5gb tethering. While shopping around for a phone for myself, I found this to be the cheapest one compatible with T-Mobile's LTE bands. Harbor Mobile is for business, but they do accept sole proprietors. You'll need an EIN to register.

 

[IGBT]

Harbor Mobile is a T-Mobile reseller and for $50/mo you can get non-throttled unlimited 4G LTE, with 5gb tethering. While shopping around for a phone for myself, I found this to be the cheapest one compatible with T-Mobile's LTE bands. Harbor Mobile is for business, but they do accept sole proprietors. You'll need an EIN to register.

I wanted the Verizon network.

I did finally get a email response from StraightTalk about the website check of balance.  They said they fixed my account so that the check balance would work (this is strange, why do you have to fix this basic thing?).   It does work now.

I modified Firefox browser to be my low usage browser.   Turned off javascript which cuts data usage by 90%.

 

[RVTravel]

IGBT, how did you go about turning off javascript? With an app or what? Thanks for any info.

 

[IGBT]

IGBT, how did you go about turning off javascript? With an app or what? Thanks for any info.

I found a Firefox add on that resides in the tool bar and has checkbox options for Just enable/disable JavaScript and Just enable/disable Images.

Browsing something like Yahoo for 5 min with JavaScript enabled uses 100MB or more.  With it disabled, I use about 10MB.