Author Topic: Anyone have an iPhone 4 formerly of Verizon and now with a cheaper plan?  (Read 7926 times)

Begonia

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Hi Mustachians,

I know there's been a ton of stuff written about this on the forum, but I'm hoping for a quick and dirty  of options for my particular situation. My Verizon contract is up in mid May.

Thanks so much for weighing in.

Begonia

GBR

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I cancelled my verizon Iphone contract early to switch to an Airvoice wireless plan. I now pay $10/mo instead of $50/mo (I don't have a data plan, but I run off wireless). You can get an Airvoice plan that is similar to your Verizon plan for at least $10/mo cheaper.

Ohio Teacher

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Yes, we've had iQ with my wife's iPhone 4s for the last few months, but we are switching to Republic and their Moto G soon. 
The Bring Your Own Verizon Device carriers are still very limited, so iQ was the best choice at the time.  It's $50 for unlimited talk/text and 500MB of data, something Republic is going to blow out of the water.
« Last Edit: April 27, 2014, 07:10:36 PM by Ohio Teacher »

plantingourpennies

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We have 2 iPhone 4s and were with Verizon until a few months ago ($161 family plan).  Switched to Ting (had to sell and buy equivalent iPhones compatible with Sprint network), and our bills are now $43/month or less so far. 

Daley

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I'm hoping for a quick and dirty  of options for my particular situation.

Always relevant, as is this.

The first link is a bit dated at this point as Sprint is allowing older iPhones onto their MVNOs like Ting, but the same still holds true on the Verizon end.
« Last Edit: April 27, 2014, 06:46:22 PM by I.P. Daley »

Begonia

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Thanks, everyone, for weighing in. I really appreciate it. And I.P. Daley, I'm devouring the Guide (along with a bowl of homemade frugality, split pea soup). I'll report back my decision when I figure this out. Can't wait to kiss my Verizon contract good bye!

Sebastian

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I have an iphone 4 and switched over to pageplus cell. It's been the exact same service as verizon was but I pay 30/month instead of 85/month now :)

Begonia

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Sethbahookey-- thanks for your post. For me I think it's between Ting and Pageplus, still researching. I also pay $85 and think how nice it will be to put that $55 difference to better use, like an emergency fund. Or a trip to Hawaii.

ChadPennington

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+1 for PagePlus.

Was on Verizon for years and was pumped to finally make the move.  Super easy to switch to PagePlus (lots of guides in these forums, etc).  $30 month for exact same service, you can get it down to like $27-28 if you purchase the monthly plans on a secondary site.


87tweetybirds

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Another for page plus. We use iPhone 4 with the 12 plan. Good service as is still verizon towers, and as I'm not much of a talker & the hubby uses FaceTime or messenger or other apps our $12 a month prepaid plans have been working pretty well for us. I looked at other prepaid companies, but the coverage was often through other networks that didn't have towers here in my rural Idaho. May not be an issue for you though.

Begonia

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@ChadPennington - thanks for sharing. do you have an iPhone? if not, what do you have? I was told today by the Page Plus gal that they do not accept any iPhones now (they used to, then they stopped, started again, and now they don't again). Frustrating for this iPhone user.

@87tweetybirds - thank you too. I assume you're one of the lucky ones that got in when it was still working with iPhones...how long ago was that?

Page Plus seems great except for this piece. They said Samsung or Motorola would work, must be CDMA, and to stay away from 4G. Haven't looked into this, but does anyone know if this limits my phone options a lot? Thanks for any advice :)

TheDude

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OP I haven't tried recently but if you got through a dealer you shouldn't have any problem activating an iphone.

Begonia

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@thedude - I got it at an Apple store. need to stop by and see if any of the *geniuses* can give me insight. Thanks.

Daley

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@thedude - I got it at an Apple store. need to stop by and see if any of the *geniuses* can give me insight. Thanks.

I'll save you a trip. The "geniuses" are going to tell you that it's blasphemy to use your iPhone on anything but on one of the big four carriers for anything less than $60 a month.

chasesfish

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Just listen to IP, his superguide is outstanding.

I was in your situation, using an iPhone 4 with Verzion.  I'm a heavy data user and get a nice work reimbursement, so T-Mobile plus just buying two iPhones was best for me.  Depending on your area, the service may not be as good as Verizon, but why drive a Cadillac when a Chevy will do?

ChadPennington

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Begonia-

I do have an iphone 4s, as does my wife and we were both able to switch over successfully.  I did it about 3 months ago, she did it around 2 months ago.

The big catch is you can't use an iphone with 4G - so no 5 or 5s.  If you are on a 4s,4 - you should be fine - just try and go through the online/chat service to switch and avoid mentioning phone type if at all possible.

Begonia

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@chasesfish - thanks. i agree with the chevy/cadillac philosophy and will take a closer look at T Mobile.

@chadpennington - hmmm. sounds kind of scary, not the chat so much as the what happens if they find out, do i get cut off? etc. anyway, i think i'll try it. what do i have to lose?

@IP - thanks for saving me a trip! thought maybe i could find a rogue genius who was willing to share intel.

timmoney

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I'm so mustachian I have a flip phone

Daley

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@IP - thanks for saving me a trip! thought maybe i could find a rogue genius who was willing to share intel.

De nada. Even if they were rogue, there's nothing they would know that I haven't already covered in depth in the guide and on my website as far as options go. Odds are though, you just would've gotten a sales pitch about how you could trade in your current iPhone and between it's trade-in value and the low-low monthly payments of a new 5S on Verizon... yadda yadda yadda SPEND MORE MONEY!

Anyway, always glad to be of help. Any other questions, you know where to find me!

Begonia

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Hello people who helped me thus far and anyone else reading this --

Reporting back to say that I used a free port-in Page Plus activation website today, about 8 hours ago, got a "thank you for your form" on the site, and since then haven't heard a peep. There's a mention that activation could take 30 minutes to 3 hours, and they would send me an email once they knew if my number was accepted or denied. I emailed them about 2 1/2 hour after the form submission, and nada. On the site they warn that I shouldn't try to activate any other way once I submitted the form because it could result in my # being cancelled altogether? I'm nervous now; is this normal? Have I been scammed? Didn't pay anything, but gave my Verizon acct. # and passcode, MEID, etc. Any advice? Thanks.

Daley

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Who did you use? What website?

Begonia

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@IP - everything turned out fine, thankfully, and now I'm a happy camper saving those 50 bucks a month. ended up getting an email late that night telling me my number was good to go and everything's working fine. am i allowed to name dealer websites? let's just say that it had the words free and pageplus in the url. did a refill through them too for a tad less than on PP. so, all is well on this front!

Daley

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Glad to hear, Begonia. Sounds like you got lucky. A lot of those sorts of sites are fly by night dealers who crop up and vanish. In the case of Page Plus, the only master dealer I'd deal with outside of PP directly in the future would be Kitty Wireless. The website's simple, but they've got a very solid and long standing history, also this.

Begonia

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Thanks for the tips, IP.  Solid and longstanding are good.

greenmimama

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Thank you, I plan to do this also and have the same phone and carrier. I'm excited to save a bunch of money.

Daley

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On the subject of iPhone 4/4s devices on Page Plus, many many moons ago I said I would never recommend porting an iPhone over to PP until the day Denny Scher of Page Plus corporate said it was safe.

I'm still getting conflicting info regarding iPhone support with Page Plus and Verizon, but I'll always tow the official line. The dealers I've talked with have said things consistent with what I've been saying regarding "official" iPhone support, and they all point to Denny Scher at Page Plus corporate and his official line. Plenty of evidence online from dealers saying the same thing, too. That official word is that iPhones are not permitted for activation on the Page Plus network. Have a couple:

http://www.phonenews.com/page-plus-to-increase-data-on-the-55-plan-to-2gb-on-june-6th-20465/#comment-58615
http://www.iphoneforums.net/forum/verizon-iphone-51/verizon-iphone-pageplus-cellular-8238/index2.html#post204038

There's also no information backing any claims of official support for any iPhones on Page Plus within the HoFo community, not from official channels and documentation, anyway. People will cite CSRs at Page Plus for "official" word on iPhone support, but they're wishy-washy and highly inconsistent. This is one of the reasons why I say what I do about the quality of customer support... most of the people there really don't know what they're doing or what official policy is. It's inconsistent at best.

As of May 15th, Denny Scher said it's safe.

http://www.prepaidphonenews.com/2014/05/iphone-4-and-4s-are-now-officially.html

Hopefully Selectel will be able to follow closely behind, so people don't have to deal with America Movil just to do an iPhone on a Verizon MVNO.

Desert

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Glad to hear, Begonia. Sounds like you got lucky. A lot of those sorts of sites are fly by night dealers who crop up and vanish. In the case of Page Plus, the only master dealer I'd deal with outside of PP directly in the future would be Kitty Wireless. The website's simple, but they've got a very solid and long standing history, also this.

+1 on Kitty Wireless.  We just moved my wife's 4S from Verizon to PagePlus via the online dealer Kitty Wireless.  It was very simple, and PaqePlus uses the Verizon network, so there was no change in signal strength or coverage. 

Begonia

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@IP - Fun to know I made the move within hours of it being official!

@greenmimama - you won't regret the move!

@desert - thanks for the firsthand report on Kitty Wireless.