Please help us [H]. Disheartening looking for a new phone for the wife and I.

[Haste266]

Still have a 2GB plan with Verizon and older Motorola Moto G power(3 1/2 yr old) phones. Love the phones and plan but absolutely hate the cameras. Our plan costs us $112 month. It used to be $100 month until Verizon decided to phase out our plan and add an administrative fee to it....blah.

Wife and I really want new phones with better cameras and good battery life without having to go crazy with the $$$. Seems like the only options are to buy an unlocked phone to keep our current plan but the prices seem outrageous and battery life abysmal. NONE of the newer phones let you expand the memory with an SD card and buying anything with more than 128GB of storage makes the prices just out of reach. We currently have 64GB internal memory with 256gb expanded storage and it works perfect(music and photos).

Need some guidance here and possibly some options I am not seeing.

Overall budget is MAX $1500 and I really don't want to go more than $130 month with the plan. Honestly don't care about sticking with Verizon but the coverage they offer us with the little bit of traveling we do seems like the best. Just so much shit out there nowadays I'd like to hear some opinions from the gurus.

 

[Dreamerbydesign]

Any reason to stick to a limited data plan for that price?

 

[Haste266]

Any reason to stick to a limited data plan for that price?

Well, that is one of the reasons I made this post. What do you all pay for plans with more data? We HARDLY ever go over the 2GB limit due to the way we travel and WIFI coverage everywhere we go. Even if we go over the limit once or twice a year it ends up being cheaper keeping the plan we have now.

 

[Dreamerbydesign]

Well, that is one of the reasons I made this post. What do you all pay for plans with more data? We HARDLY ever go over the 2GB limit due to the way we travel and WIFI coverage everywhere we go. Even if we go over the limit once or twice a year it ends up being cheaper keeping the plan we have now.

I pay $45 a month on Verizon, unlimited data and 5g. That’s with a $10 loyalty discount for staying a year.

 

[BlindedByScience]

We got our phones connected with Xfinity and love it. With all their hotspots our data usage is quite small. $35.00 / month for our two phones...very nice.

 

[Haste266]

I pay $45 a month on Verizon, unlimited data and 5g. That’s with a $10 loyalty discount for staying a year.

Sounds like we need to cancel our current Verizon account and start a "new" account with the significant others name.

 

[Dreamerbydesign]

Sounds like we need to ditch Verizon and start a "new" account with the significant others name.

Actually i use their prepaid service but it’s not exactly prepaid. Years ago post paid accounts had priority over prepaid but Verizon stopped that now a few years ago. Essentially the “prepaid” has the same network priority and data as post paid.

Downside? You can’t finance phones. Which is fine for me. I buy my phones outright so no issue there.

You also don’t get “perks” like discounted Netflix etc. I don’t use the services the post paid accounts sometimes offer discounts on. And even if you did use the services, the amount extra you pay Verizon to have them, is more cost than the actual savings.

Ip say “prepaid” because it’s not really. It can be setup to automatically take the money from your account, involves nothing from Verizon. No prepaid cards, no interacting with Verizon.

Just the same exact network and priority as post paid, but without the extra expenses. It’s half the price of what most people I know pay, for the same service. They probably finance phones and aren’t aware of the other services Verizon offers.

I was always post paid for years, until Verizon essentially made the “prepaid” accounts unrestricted and having the same priorities as post paid. Then I was sold. No extra costs, no hidden fees, and is withdrawn each month with no interaction with Verizon. It’s been a real winner for me.

 

[toast0]

If you're happy with Verizon and 2GB data, consider getting their lowest branded prepaid plan at $35/month with autopay should be plenty for you and save $42/month (prepaid is usually taxes included). That savings can pay for an unlocked phone every year, your wife gets one this year, you the next. Or she gets one every year and you get the hand-me-downs.

My wife has verizon prepaid (might be a slightly different plan?) and the main downside is visual voicemail isn't available, and roaming in canada didn't work (it's supposed to work for $5/day, and I set that up before her trip, but it didn't work while she was there, but wasn't a big enough deal to contact customer service while there)

I've got a t-mobile connect $15/month plan; the downside is the data cutoff is hard; no 2g data over 3GB, just dead. Gotta be aware of things while on vacation, but otherwise it's fine. Having two different networks is important for us, where we live coverage varies a lot, so it's nice if we're together usually at least one of our networks will work. AT&T has poor coverage at our house, so Verizon and T-Mobile win.

 

[Haste266]

If you're happy with Verizon and 2GB data, consider getting their lowest branded prepaid plan at $35/month with autopay should be plenty for you and save $42/month (prepaid is usually taxes included). That savings can pay for an unlocked phone every year, your wife gets one this year, you the next. Or she gets one every year and you get the hand-me-downs.

My wife has verizon prepaid (might be a slightly different plan?) and the main downside is visual voicemail isn't available, and roaming in canada didn't work (it's supposed to work for $5/day, and I set that up before her trip, but it didn't work while she was there, but wasn't a big enough deal to contact customer service while there)

I've got a t-mobile connect $15/month plan; the downside is the data cutoff is hard; no 2g data over 3GB, just dead. Gotta be aware of things while on vacation, but otherwise it's fine. Having two different networks is important for us, where we live coverage varies a lot, so it's nice if we're together usually at least one of our networks will work. AT&T has poor coverage at our house, so Verizon and T-Mobile win.

Yes, sounds like a good deal at the moment. Will look into it. Thanks.

 

[grim4593]

Why not something like the Motorola Edge? I just bought one a few days ago. 8GB ram, NFC, and wireless charging. No SD slot but it has 256GB internal storage.

 

[Zepher]

$112/mo for 2 lines with 2GB data is way overpriced.
We have T-Mobile with 6 lines unlimited and it's $120/mo out the door.
I would look at other carriers or plans.

 

[jfreund]

If T Mobile signal is good for you - https://www.mintmobile.com/

 

[buttons]

I pay $90 a month for 4 lines, unlimited through google fi(tmobile). service isnt as good as cricket(att), but were saving $45 a month. When we switched to google fi, the promotion was port a line and get an S22 unlocked for $299 each.

My kids use a motorola G power, i cant fathom being stuck with that. lol

 

[Starfalcon]

I was having a tough time myself a few months ago deciding on a phone as I had a 7 year old samsung note 5 and had no idea what to go with. After some help and recomendations I ended up going with a refurbished samsung note 20 ultra 5g that I got off samsungs website. It was unlocked and came with a brand new battery, and was only $850. Ive been completely happy with mine, and will likely buy another refurb in the future. They have a wide variety of phones from new to older models but they all get new batteries so it makes them worry free versus buying a used one.

 

[kyang357]

If you are satisfied with Verizon, I'd recommend getting a phone that is compativle with Visible. I have plenty of family on Visible and they all seem to be happy.

 

[Beaflag VonRathburg]

On the phone front do some research and just buy a couple phones from ebay. You can get something like an LG V60 for $200 / phone. https://www.gsmarena.com/lg_v60_thinq_5g-10103.php . It's a roughly three year old flag ship phone, but has everything you could ever want other than a replaceable battery. You should be able to shop around for a phone plan easily. Ours is $75 total for two phones with unlimited everything on T-Mobile.

$75 * 12 = $900 + $400 in phones = $1300. Under budget and you don't have to keep buying new phones.

 

[DWolvin]

Seconded on T-mobile being cheap and good. And if you want to save even more there is always the resellers like Mint Mobile...

 

[Haste266]

Thanks for all the help y'all. Went with new 256gb Pixel 7s, unlimited plan from Visible, plus their "insurance" for $80/month for the wife and I. We are super excited. =D

 

[matt167]

you will like visible. I’ve used them for almost 2 years. My home internet is actually using a cheap phone stuck on hotspot and bridged through a router set on a WISP function. It’s not the fastest but for rural and no other option it is truly unlimited. I have an iPhone SE now through them and my fiancé just got a 12 through them

 

[The Mad Atheist]

I want to get a Moto G100, had 1 ordered from from scAmazon, but looks like one of their employees decided to steal it out of the package before being left in their Hub Lockers.
Phone's about 400-500usd. Has a SD870, 8/128GB RAM/ROM, 3.5mm jack, dual SIM or SIM/SD tray, and video out with the included USB C to HDMI cable. I don't really care about phone cameras but I think it's a 64mp.

I'm planning on using Mint Mobile as my carrier and last time I checked they have a $45 for 3 months plan with 4GB/month data for new customers, then $105 after. Not sure how they are tho.