Mary2e

It's time for a new cell phone. I think I've been using my old LG flip for about 4 years. Don't want a smartphone. Another flip or similar will be just fine.

I really don't want to re-up the Verizon contract. Right now we're month to month on a family plan with 3 phones.

Can I just buy a phone that works on Verizon and activate it myself? If so, can you suggest the best place to buy it?

If not, I'll just head off to the Verizon store and hope they still sell old-fashioned phones

Flahusky

Depending on the store (Corp. or Auth. Retailer) they will have a few 'dumb' phones. I'd say Online is cheaper (WireFly or Amazon) but for instant gratification good ol' brick and mortar. I'd try for a Corp. store then an Auth. retailer as listed on VzW's site.

Mary2e

Thanks. I'll check it out.

gfunkdave

You can do either buy a used phone off eBay or a new one from Verizon.

If you buy a used one, ensure that it is a Verizon-branded phone (that it says "Verizon" on it somewhere and was originally sold by Verizon). If it's not, you will have great difficulty getting Verizon to activate it. If it is Verizon branded, you can activate it on Verizon's website yourself.

If you buy one from Verizon, you can avoid extending your contract by paying full price for the phone. This will likely be 3-5x the advertised 2 year contract price for the phone - be sure it's worth it to you. Be prepared to stick to your guns on this course of action, too. The in-store sales reps will push hard for you to re-sign a contract since they don't make much, if any, commission on just selling a full price phone.

peersteve

Hi....going through same situation with Sprint..... deep in the Sprint website, there is an option to buy a refurbished simple phone for $50 with no requirement to extend contract.....maybe similar offer with Verizon?

jimquan

Just go pick up a cheapie Verizon prepaid phone and have it activated on your postpaid account. You might even find a leftover black Friday or cyber Monday deal.

Jim

Letitride3c

Search around on eBay or Amazon, there are many, many brand new, in-box, never-activated "flip" phone for Verizon's CDMA network - inexpensive and no contract. Corporate & indirect/agent stores will likely steer you toward a "free" smartphone, which comes with mandatory data requirement ($20 for 300MB or $30 for 2/4 GB or higher) - their current select of plain ("non-smart") phones are rather poor, IMO.

Take a look at the Motorola V750 Adventure - (similar to the older V3m classic) - nice size screen with 2.8 MP camera, big keyboard, has Mobile Web 2.0 (no data required) + SMS/MMS, etc. Standby time of 2 to 3 days, unlike today's smartphone that barely last 10 to 20 hours. Reception is excellent on 3G/1XRTT, and I still have mine around, plenty of universal mini-usb accessories around.

New/overstocked priced under $45 shipped free - http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-MOTOROLA...item45fed7bc0e

Go to phonescoop.com to do a bit of research with plenty of reviews & user feedback.

weekilter

As long as the phone's been on Verizon's network you can get a phone either on eBay or craigslist. As long as the ESN is clear i.e. the previous owner didn't stiff Verizon for charges and blacklist the phone any recent Verizon phone should be OK. If you get a phone from Verizon you will be beholden to them for a couple years likely.

Doc Savage

If you want Verizon network for the cheapest price and no long term contracts, simply get a verizon compatible phone with a "clear ESN" and activate with Pagepluscellular.com. They have a number of different plans, as cheap as $10 for 3 months (100 minutes total), with cheaper prices if you buy more minutes, or alternatively monthly plans with 1200 minutes/2000 texts/100mb data for $30/month. Numbers are ported over within minutes.

Basically, you are on the Verizon network so signals are great, but you aren't stuck with their long term contracts and high prices. I've been using them for several years. (Note that you can't just pick up one of the Verizon prepaids at the store and use it for this company. They won't be activatable for 6 months or so.)

This is probably a good phone, check to make sure the ESN is clear. http://www.amazon.com/Verizon-Wirele.../dp/B002UHS0UI

More than you ever wanted to know about pagepluscellular :http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1593646

Pete838

+1...we do this for field employees at my companies. Our maintenance guys are always losing or breaking phones. The office manager buys several at a time and calls VZW as needed to put them on the account.

A prepaid flip phone can be had pretty cheap and with no contract.

Mary2e

Thanks for all the great ideas. I will check them out. I suspected there was a way to do this

Upstate

I second this.

If you are not using a smartphone then there is not much reason to be on postpaid these days. Page Plus has Verizon coverage with lower rates. I like my smartphone so I use Sprint, but my parents only want a basic phone so I have them on Page plus

jfe

Paging Mary2e, paging Mary2e, please pick up the white courtesy phone, the 1990's are calling, and they have a phone for you.

I say just go to a Verizon store, I am sure that they still have some old phones that are being used as packaging material that they can sell you. But seriously, go for the phone with the best camera that you can find, and play with the phone at the store.

I would send you my wife's old LG Touch phone, but the screen is busted, and the camera doesn't work

Mary2e

Actually, I have an ipod Touch that suits me very well for non-talking phone type use. There's wifi just about everywhere now, at least where I go.

The reason I don't want a dataplan is because I'm cheap. I believe they want either $30 or $35 a month for it. There's nothing that important that I can't wait until I'm in wifi range. If it is, they can call me

Thanks for the advice.... I think

dranz

Mary2e,

Are you aware that there are VoIP (tele) appls for the iPod Touch?
MagicJack as a free appl for the iPod Touch ... free phone number
and free minutes too. I am quite happy with it. It's not perfect, but
it is good enough.

One step further up the food chain would be any of the VoIP providers
that allow softphones. You'll pay for this option. I have used Acrobits
with VoIPO.com

Skype is another (fee) option for phone calls to:from the iPod Touch.

I'm fed up with contract phones. My Sprint BB just died. I'm out of
contract, so I just cancelled everything ... and am experimenting with
living with (only) free-WiF service.

To help find businesses offering free-WiFi service, I have created a
waypoint file for Garmin and TomTom. It is avail for download from:
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/30753