Verizon Gone -- next best??

[monkey44]

Got tired of over-billing, Robot calls that never resolve the issue, and three trips to Corp Office ... even two hour long conversations with "problem resolution real voice" ... will not bore anyone with Loooooong story - but after over ten years of phone and hotspot, Verizon is dead to me !!

What is the next best coverage for phone ONLY, do not need internet or hotspot on it - just for one phone line for emergencies and messages. Mostly in Florida, but some travel - when traveling, I only care if it takes messages so I can call in and get contacts.

Wife does all the family stuff on her Android - just need a phone that only does a phone call.

Thanks M44

[steveh27]

georgelesley wrote:

LadyRVer wrote:
My little Tracfone does me just fine on trips. Buy airtime as you need it.
Phone around 10.00 for a fliptop and 20.00 for a 60 min card (good for 90 days) which basically is 30 minutes of talk time. If you do not renew it timely, you lose the number, so you have to keep up with that. Tracfone cards are sold in a lot of stores.

I have been buying $25 every three months of trac phone minutes for years now. Phone is seldom used, mostly when DW (who now has a smart phone) is away and calls me or I call her to pick up something. Because of rare use and promotions over the years I now have something like 1700 minutes which just keep rolling over as long as I buy more by a certain date.

Because I have so many minutes now I use it sometimes when I want to make a call and DW is using the home phone. When we moved three years ago and lived in the RV it was the only phone we had for six months. Worked a treat and we never got close on minutes.

I also use a tracfone when on the road. Mine is not a smartphone & only does calls and texts. I buy the 3 month addon service time w minutes and then get the extra 1 year of service time without minutes as I also carryover minutes. Spend about $100 a year. As I don't use it at home unless voip goes down I tell people not to call me on it unless on the road. I don't remember the number so have masking tape on the back with the number written on it. I figure I'm saving $800 a year from the avg smart charge fee.

[shastagary]

what plan with verizon do you have that you are getting over billed on. what is the actual over billing on are you going over a data limit? the new plans have unlimited talk,text and data with a slow down cap, your bill would be the same every month. i still have a older plan with a mifi i watch my data usage with there app and my bill is always the same every month.

[htwheelz67]

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

[T18skyguy]

What happened to you is exactly how unethically they operate. When you quit, or threaten to quit, and they convince you to stay, that is called a "save" and the tech's get credit for that. It's a save when you come back also. The bill from ATT is not that much or any better than Verizon. To make the move worth it, I would go to T mobile. Yes a bit less coverage, but a lot more savings, plus your not feeding the Verizon monster. Some people have to have Verizon based on their location, so you have a balanced look at it.

[monkey44]

OP Results:: I've been with Verizon forever, it seems. But several times lately over the past couple years, I got over-billed, A LOT. And, I was able to go into the local Verizon store and resolve it.

Now, with recent changes in policy, many of the "fixes" are no longer available at a store, and we must call a specific number - which I did, on hold, and several times. Each time, it was "resolved" on the phone, but then same issue on the billing next cycle. After numerous wasted hours, I decided to change.

I refused to pay the bill unless adjusted. Once the bill was past due, and late fees added, Verizon called ME and threatened to shut me off ... GO ahead I told them, I'm changing companies anyway, and hung up. At that point, within ONE HOUR, I received a new and accurate billing via email ...

I paid it, and will think about changing still, but have been with this company so long, it's best not to wiggle the phone lines at this time. And, of course, I'd have had to buy a new phone for more money than the bill itself. But, if it happens again, that's the end of Verizon for this family.

My time (and yours, all of ours) is as valuable as any Verizon employee, and when it's spent on-hold, and repeating the same story up the lines of management numerous times, then it becomes more than just annoying ...

Verizon might be the best coverage, but is also the most expensive. At some point, we have to weigh the worth against the hassles.

[Bachelor]

I like Verizon. Their customer service has been fine for me.

[T18skyguy]

There is no doubt that Verizon has the best coverage, but is also the most spendy. Been with them all my life, but just switched to T Mobile for half price and their fine if you stick to the main arteries. I just learned something very interesting. In the more remote service area's, a flip phone will work when a smartphone wont. The reason is a smartphone requires 2 towers, but a flip phone only one tower. My daughter has a flip phone and it worked fine when my smartphone wouldn't. Another competitive site for phones and service is Ting.com Buy the phone, then very inexpensive per minute charge.

[haydoracin]

I have a smart phone on Verizon. Works fine. DW has no desire for anything other than a basic phone. We pay $100 annually on Verizon for 400 minutes for her phone. Plenty of minutes for her use. Can be set up to renew automatically but she gets a notice on the phone when the minutes or time expires and I renew on her phone with a credit card. Works great for us. With taxes works out to about $9 per month.

[georgelesley]

LadyRVer wrote:
My little Tracfone does me just fine on trips. Buy airtime as you need it.
Phone around 10.00 for a fliptop and 20.00 for a 60 min card (good for 90 days) which basically is 30 minutes of talk time. If you do not renew it timely, you lose the number, so you have to keep up with that. Tracfone cards are sold in a lot of stores.

I have been buying $25 every three months of trac phone minutes for years now. Phone is seldom used, mostly when DW (who now has a smart phone) is away and calls me or I call her to pick up something. Because of rare use and promotions over the years I now have something like 1700 minutes which just keep rolling over as long as I buy more by a certain date.

Because I have so many minutes now I use it sometimes when I want to make a call and DW is using the home phone. When we moved three years ago and lived in the RV it was the only phone we had for six months. Worked a treat and we never got close on minutes.

[Captain_Happy]

I have the Straight Talk phone from Walmart. I was camp hosting at a park up in Utah this summer and my phone won't work in the town I was in, but people with pure Verizon phones will work. Found out that the town I was in was in what's called a dead zone. Had to drive 9 miles north to get a signal. My brother came up for a week and his At&T phone wouldn't work there either. He got rid of it and went back to straight Talk.

[neschultz]

If you have Comcast, look at xfinity mobile....they use Verizon towers and their WiFi network. If you are not aware, every router rented from Comcast includes an additional “Comcast WiFi” network also that any other Comcast user can sign onto using their credentials so we often have WiFi whenever we stop anywhere.

There is no line charge and each phone line has 100M of data/month. You must buy one of their phones though.

Our highest bill for a month was just under $38- $21 for 2 new iPhone 6S, $12 for 1G of shared data, almost $5 in taxes/fees. We have had a month as low as $25 by not using more than the 100Mof data. Haven’t done it yet but will get unlimited data on one line ($45/month) and use it as a hot spot when traveling.

Our Verizon bill for 2 phones + 2G of data was $110/month and over $200 for unlimited data when traveling.

[Bill_Satellite]

AT&T is likely the next best carrier. I plan to leave Verizon for AT&T in a month or so to take advantage of the DirecTV savings and better pricing on the plans.
If you stay in 1 place for long periods of time you will want to check coverage at that location as any of these services can be terrible in specific spots and great 1/2 mile away.

[ksg5000]

I went from Verizon to Straightalk (using Verizon tower) which cut my bill in half ... and now use Xfinity (using Verizon tower) which is free because my usage is low. If your an xfinity/comcast user - worth a look otherwise suggest you look at Tracfone/Straightalk.

[BB_TX]

We gave up on AT&T due to poor customer service. Verizon has been great. And coverage better. To each his own.