Is Your Cell Phone Bill Outrageous? Go Prepaid
Recently I moved from Europe to the US and had to get a new Cell Phone. Verizon has the best coverage of my area, so I decided to get one of their phones, and plans.
In Europe, as long as you are in your home country, you don't pay for incoming calls or SMS (text). Here you pay for everything:
You get a package of so many "minutes" per month (incoming and outgoing) and after that, the rates are outrageous.
So after three months paying three times more than my usual European monthly bill, I started to wonder if there was a cheaper option.
So I looked for a Virtual Mobile Operator (VMO), very popular in Europe. These companies do not have their own network, they use one of the main cell providers' signals. They buy large amount of "minutes" from Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and they sell them to individual users for a low price.
I wanted to keep my current phone and use the Verizon network, so I searched for one using the same network; there are several available. After a bit of research online, I found the best offers for my needs were from Page Plus and Straight Talk. Both offer unlimited plans for $45 and a $30 plan with 1,200 or 1,000 minutes, plus 1,200/1,000 text messages. Also you can just buy some minutes cards and use them until they are gone.
I selected Page Plus because I was able to port my exiting Verizon number and keep my phone, and the process took 10 minutes online. I believe Wal-Mart (owner of Straight Talk) offers the same option, but you need to go there.
There are many VMO's using the other networks, you can check a list .
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