Verizon is still THE BEST service you can get PERIOD, I know this from experience in my business I'm on the phone constantly And I have used cell phones since 1990 when they were giagantic and 90 cents a minute.
. If you want to still have great service on verizon look into pageplus cellular, same service and way cheaper and you can still use your verizon phone.
They even have a 2000 minute plan for 80.00 that lasts a whole year and any unused minutes are credited back. For years I paid 29.00 a month and then 9.99 a month+ dumb fees for my mothers phone, and I swithced to PPW .
It is "prepaid" but you can auto refill with a CC its the best bang for the buck. ATT is big but you will still get dropped calls constantly, don't even consider sprint they are the bottom of the barrel, T mobile a bit better but still not great.
Pageplus