Verizon's prices are killing me (compared to Sprint)

[Jaxidian]

So I have my Droid X reserved but I'm still torn between the Evo and the Droid X. I'm past the whole 4g thing and am more stuck on the carriers. All things being equal, I want the Droid X on Verizon, but the price difference between Sprint and Verizon is a killer!

For instance, me and my wife can get unlimited data/text and 1600 minutes on Sprint for $110 (+Evo fees).

However, on Verizon, it costs $120 for 1400 minutes and unlimited text, plus another $30/line for data. So with just 1 data line, that's $150/mo.

This is a HUGE difference in cost! And I've already checked - neither of us gets any kind of employee discounts with Verizon. Is there anything that I should be looking into for Verizon to help bridge this gap?

 

[titans]

Government/state worker discount, if that applies to you.

 

[jntdroid]

do you travel much? and if not, which carrier is better in your area?

i live in the DFW area, and pretty much all 4 of the major carriers are solid here... however, the rare times we've traveled over the past couple of years, having verizon has been nice... but the other 99% of the time it hasn't really mattered

 

[carbonnoid]

I say go with verizon, because one day, you may see the network. All you will get with sprint is the CEO will tell you some lies.

 

[Johnly]

So I have my Droid X reserved but I'm still torn between the Evo and the Droid X. I'm past the whole 4g thing and am more stuck on the carriers. All things being equal, I want the Droid X on Verizon, but the price difference between Sprint and Verizon is a killer!

For instance, me and my wife can get unlimited data/text and 1600 minutes on Sprint for $110 (+Evo fees).

However, on Verizon, it costs $120 for 1400 minutes and unlimited text, plus another $30/line for data. So with just 1 data line, that's $150/mo.

This is a HUGE difference in cost! And I've already checked - neither of us gets any kind of employee discounts with Verizon. Is there anything that I should be looking into for Verizon to help bridge this gap?

You have answered your question by reading your post, yeah, go ahead and do what is good for you bud...

 

[tiggerxplur]

i would look into using google voice it will save you a great amount of minutes if you get a friends and family plan and it has free texting plus alot of other cool features

 

[Jaxidian]

Government/state worker discount, if that applies to you.

Nope, I work for a small 4-person company and my wife is a student at a college that, as far as I can tell, gets no discounts (we tried her email address here and it said no discount).

do you travel much? and if not, which carrier is better in your area?

i live in the DFW area, and pretty much all 4 of the major carriers are solid here... however, the rare times we've traveled over the past couple of years, having verizon has been nice... but the other 99% of the time it hasn't really mattered

I probably take 4 trips a year plus pseudo-local weekend trips occasionally. Reception has been an issue with T-Mobile but I suspect it will be less of an issue with both Sprint and Verizon. My concern about reception between the two is that with my G1 on T-Mobile, it's kinda sucked because 3G connectivity is VERY spotty, even in a "covered" city. I hear from people with Verizon around here that if they get ANY connection, it's pretty much ALWAYS a 3G connection. With Sprint, we don't have 4G yet but will some day. But my largest concern is steady 3G connectivity. Spotty 3G speeds just don't cut it on Android imho and I'm afraid that might be what I get from Sprint since that's the best I could ever get w/T-Mobile. However, the difference in prices are just night and day between Sprint and Verizon!

What I REALLY want is the Droid X on Verizon's network with Sprint's plans, prices, and policies. I LOVE that they say unlimited data on both 3G and 4G on top of being able to share that unlimited data across all lines on a family plan. I don't really want the Evo (I HATE the "buttons" on that thing). I don't really want Sprint's network (althought it's ignorance-based fear). I do like the 4G functionality with Evo vs Droid X but I've decided the other factors that come with the Droid X win the phone vs phone decision for me. So all of that said, it sounds like the Droid X + Verizon is the right choice, but then there's that not-so-little difference in price where with Sprint we can get 2 Evos w/ unlimited text/data for $109+20=129/mo whereas with Verizon we're talking $129+30+30=189/mo for the same thing. That equates to being $1,440 more expensive over 2 years and THAT is what makes this hard to say, "Let's go with Verizon." That is a HELL of a lot extra money without a lot of tangible returns. Even if my wife goes with a simple feature phone with no data, we're now talking $119 vs $159 = $960/mo difference in costs. I guess the bottom-line numbers is what makes this hard to swallow.

I REALLY wish there was some all-inclusive way to shave some of those costs off (like Sprint offers with the Everything Plus Referral Program). And since I work for a small 4-person company with no relation with Verizon, it sounds like I pretty much lose with them despite wanting to go with them...

 

[Jaxidian]

i would look into using google voice it will save you a great amount of minutes if you get a friends and family plan and it has free texting plus alot of other cool features

There might be something to this. Can you help me to make sure I understand this correctly (in my googling on how I would do this)?

My understanding is that with Verizon, I get 10 numbers that are unlimited talk. To utilize this, I would get a Google Voice number and give that out to people (in my case, that would be my "work" cell number and my friends/family will keep my "real" cell number). I understand that Google Voice always goes out over one number and always comes in under another number. So if I set up 2 of my 10 unlimited talk numbers as those, then I effectively have unlimited minutes over Google Voice. This will also allow me with 8 other unlimited minutes numbers for friends/family for use with my "real" number. So why this helps me is that this will allow us to pick a cheaper plan (say, the 700 minute plan which saves $20/mo).

Now part of the concern here is that my wife won't be getting an Android phone (and she may just be sticking with a feature phone, which means no Google Voice integration), so the Google Voice option isn't much of an option with her. However, she's not really on the phone that much and her 10 unlimited numbers will help with that, so this may not kill this idea.

Does this sound like I'm understanding this about right?

 

[jev]

We all wish for lower prices. I have verizon because the coverage is the BEST period. My dad has sprint and half the time when he calls me his coverage drops or he constantly breaks up. I pay $200.00 per month for a family plan with 700 voice, unlimited texts (14 yr.old daughter), and two smartphone data plans(my droid and my wifes Eris). That also includes a flip phone for my son. You need to weigh the coverage for your area and the networks strengths. For me, it's worth it to have coverage almost everywhere I go. I like it when I can go ride in the mountains and have a signal with verizon in some pretty remote locations.

 

[sic0048]

So I have my Droid X reserved but I'm still torn between the Evo and the Droid X. I'm past the whole 4g thing and am more stuck on the carriers. All things being equal, I want the Droid X on Verizon, but the price difference between Sprint and Verizon is a killer!

For instance, me and my wife can get unlimited data/text and 1600 minutes on Sprint for $110 (+Evo fees).

However, on Verizon, it costs $120 for 1400 minutes and unlimited text, plus another $30/line for data. So with just 1 data line, that's $150/mo.

This is a HUGE difference in cost! And I've already checked - neither of us gets any kind of employee discounts with Verizon. Is there anything that I should be looking into for Verizon to help bridge this gap?

That link is for a employee referral discount program. I assume you can qualify for that? I really isn't fair to compare a discount program with Sprint to the non-discount program with Verizon.

If you CAN get the Sprint Discount plan, then that is a no brainer IMHO.

 

[Jaxidian]

That link is for a employee referral discount program. I assume you can qualify for that? I really isn't fair to compare a discount program with Sprint to the non-discount program with Verizon.

If you CAN get the Sprint Discount plan, then that is a no brainer IMHO.

So the Sprint discount link can be used by ANYBODY - you just have to have a Sprint employee's email address and 3-digit number. One of their VPs blogged his info for people to use (look on the right side in the list of links under "About"), hence ANYBODY can use it. For Verizon, either myself or my wife needs to be employed by a company in a select list - unfortunately neither of us work for a special company.

The fact that ANYBODY can get the Sprint's discount program is what's making this difficult to swallow Verizon's substantially higher price. We're not talking $10-20/mo.

 

[JhankG]

i would look into using google voice it will save you a great amount of minutes if you get a friends and family plan and it has free texting plus alot of other cool features

There might be something to this. Can you help me to make sure I understand this correctly (in my googling on how I would do this)?

My understanding is that with Verizon, I get 10 numbers that are unlimited talk. To utilize this, I would get a Google Voice number and give that out to people (in my case, that would be my "work" cell number and my friends/family will keep my "real" cell number). I understand that Google Voice always goes out over one number and always comes in under another number. So if I set up 2 of my 10 unlimited talk numbers as those, then I effectively have unlimited minutes over Google Voice. This will also allow me with 8 other unlimited minutes numbers for friends/family for use with my "real" number. So why this helps me is that this will allow us to pick a cheaper plan (say, the 700 minute plan which saves $20/mo).

Now part of the concern here is that my wife won't be getting an Android phone (and she may just be sticking with a feature phone, which means no Google Voice integration), so the Google Voice option isn't much of an option with her. However, she's not really on the phone that much and her 10 unlimited numbers will help with that, so this may not kill this idea.

Does this sound like I'm understanding this about right?

If you don't care to have a new phone number, Google Voice is great option to increase your minutes. The problem is that you MUST have the 1400 min plan before you get the 10 friends and family list. You just add your Google Voice number to your friends and family list and you will have unlimited minutes. Sounds like you would still save money using Sprint. I have never used them before, so I can't really comment on their 3g coverage and speeds.

 

[Jaxidian]

If you don't care to have a new phone number, Google Voice is great option to increase your minutes. The problem is that you MUST have the 1400 min plan before you get the 10 friends and family list. You just add your Google Voice number to your friends and family list and you will have unlimited minutes. Sounds like you would still save money using Sprint. I have never used them before, so I can't really comment on their 3g coverage and speeds.

Darn, seems you're right. I just assumed the 700 min plan had the F&F option. It doesn't. Saving the $20/mo from the 1400 plan is what my goal was. And getting a "new cell phone number" for work is just fine although I'd still use my old # for personal calls (which would fit within the 700 min plan).

All in all, this sounds like a very good plan except for the fact that the 700 min plan doesn't come with the F&F option. So I'm back to the drawing board in trying to find a way to make Verizon at least comparable with Sprint... :-(

 

[JhankG]

Yeah, my wife and I were disappointed to find out that too.

 

[tiggerxplur]

im sorry i didnt realize that it had to be 1400

but you could still use google voice to save minutes even if you didnt have a smartphone you would just have to call out to the gvoice number then diaal the number you wanna call and you could also use gvoice for multiple different phones here is a link to the fetures if your still interested

Google Voice - Features