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Well, I’ve been talking about it for a while now but I finally made myself actually DO IT! I finally switched my wife’s phone (our main phone since we don’t have a landline) from Verizon Wireless to Page Plus. Since we weren’t under contract there really wasn’t any reason for us to stick with Verizon. But Verizon’s coverage in our area is superior to that of AT&T and Sprint so we knew we wanted to stay on the network. And that’s where Page Plus comes in. Page Plus is a no-contract, no-frills prepaid wireless company that operates on the Verizon network. So you can take any Verizon wireless phone (that’s not under contract) and activate it under Page Plus.

But why do such a thing? Well for folks like the wife and I that aren’t constantly on our cell phones, it’s a better deal. Now for those of you that are addicted to your smartphones and need unlimited data, Page Plus most definitely isn’t suited for you. but for basic usage with occasional need for data, paying just $29.95 a month is the way to go.

so, for 30 bucks you get:
1200 voice minutes
2000 text messages
and 100 MB of data.
all on the Nationwide Verizon Network.

And being on the Verizon Network is the BIG PLUS in my opinion. Most of the other prepaid companies (such as Virgin Mobile and Boost Mobile) are using Sprint’s network which has spotty coverage. Believe me, I know. I’ve used Virgin Mobile for years and I could never get a good signal while at work and plus, there’s a huge dead zone right in my neighborhood. not good. And don’t get me started on Boost Mobile. My current personal cell is a Boost iDEN phone which is very long in the tooth. And as my wife has always said, it’s butt-ugly. and after owning the phone for a while, I have to agree with her now. I get decent coverage on the iDEN network but unfortunately iDEN isn’t equipt for multimedia, web or data so the network’s days are numbered.

So needless to say, I’m going to port my own number from Boost to Page Plus very soon.

Anyway, I was able to port my wife’s phone onto Page Plus with no problems. She’s up and running. And so the next step is to replace her existing LG phone with a smartphone. I’ve been researching various unlocked smartphones for the last couple weeks and it looks like I can get a “new in box” HTC android phone (unlocked, no contract) for around $130. Granted, it won’t be the latest version of an android phone but at least we’ll have something that’s at least considered “contemporary”!

Definitely no mo’ f-ugly phones for this old man!