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I use 3000-4000 minutes a month with Verizon as I drive all over the city about 20k miles a year. I don't think I've ever once had a dropped call or no service. I think the internet is slower than it should be, but the phone service is pretty darn good.
Edit: Got greedy and tried to switch to Cricket once, it was shamefully bad.
Could you please tell me more about the pros and cons of "family plans"?
I think that all I can contribute is mainly the pros of a family plan. There are four of us on my plan. I had added my 2 sons 5 years ago and while they have gone on to their own independent lives, they remain on my plan. We've discussed them getting their own plans because at first it was a bit of a hassle to figure out how to pay their portions of the bill, etc. But, on the verizon website you can set up different payment options and save them and also "name" them. So my sons trust me enough with their checking and/or debit card information so I have that saved on the verizon site. So I have their names next to their account payment information and you just have to be super careful when submitting the payment that you put the individual amount per each person's payment and click that submit button. Once I hit submit and my son got stuck with the whole Verizon bill drafting from his account. I called Verizon immediately to cancel that particular payment and it took weeks for it to correct and for my son to get his money back. So now I am extremely careful and double check everything before submitting payments. But, my sons have looked into getting their own Verizon plans and it would cost them $40 to $50 more per month than on the family plan. So there you have the benefits of a family plan with Verizon.
I think that all I can contribute is mainly the pros of a family plan. There are four of us on my plan. I had added my 2 sons 5 years ago and while they have gone on to their own independent lives, they remain on my plan. We've discussed them getting their own plans because at first it was a bit of a hassle to figure out how to pay their portions of the bill, etc. But, on the verizon website you can set up different payment options and save them and also "name" them. So my sons trust me enough with their checking and/or debit card information so I have that saved on the verizon site. So I have their names next to their account payment information and you just have to be super careful when submitting the payment that you put the individual amount per each person's payment and click that submit button. Once I hit submit and my son got stuck with the whole Verizon bill drafting from his account. I called Verizon immediately to cancel that particular payment and it took weeks for it to correct and for my son to get his money back. So now I am extremely careful and double check everything before submitting payments. But, my sons have looked into getting their own Verizon plans and it would cost them $40 to $50 more per month than on the family plan. So there you have the benefits of a family plan with Verizon.
So many thanks. Seems to be a nice plan!
If I understood well, one person in this plan is Master, who can access website, .... what's her\his level of accessibility?
To be honest, we are 4 friends and wanna to get a family plan to reduce costs. Is there any privacy problem?
We have the Verizon family plan. It works for us. My favorite part is that texts from other verizon users don't count towards our allotment. We also have a group of 10 numbers we can chose that have unlimited texts and calls. Our plan shares minutes and texts. We were switched from Alltel, so its a carry over from that original plan - not sure how it works now. I also get a 20% discount on service and products since I work for a county government.
My phone is a smart phone, so there's an extra data charge for that. My dughter has a super cheap data plan on her non-smart phone so she has basic internet, email etc.
The only time we don't get a signal is in deep gourges in the mountains. I get 4G 95% of the time.
Verizon started a family share plan a few days ago. Unlimited phone and messaging and 1 shared/pooled data plan that everyone uses.
Some say saves money, others claim it will cost more due to data being shared. If you have kids who use tons of data (with 4G they say its easier to eat up data) it could really run the bill up. $15 per GB after using data limit I believe.
I'm thinking of getting a share plan for the wife and I because Virgin Mobile sucks. When I inserted what 2 smartphones with 4GB of data the bill was 149 before taxes.. roughly $75 per person. Not sure if we can get away with 2GB...
click on data calculator to see what your cost would be. I'm not a verizon rep or fan but I've heard they have the best reception and after being with ATT for years I left out of frustration. I'm still open to ATT though given my experience with a prepaid. I heard Sprint is good but Virgin Mobile uses sprint towers and they are horrible and I've heard sprint customers struggle with reception indoors. I need the best reception possible because I don't have a land line.
Last edited by Feltdesigner; 07-01-2012 at 12:38 PM..
So many thanks. Seems to be a nice plan!
If I understood well, one person in this plan is Master, who can access website, .... what's her\his level of accessibility?
To be honest, we are 4 friends and wanna to get a family plan to reduce costs. Is there any privacy problem?
Yes, you understood correctly, the person who opens the account is the account holder and the main person that has control over the account. You can name another person to be able to make changes to the account (I named my husband but my name is still solo on the bill), otherwise there's just the one person who is allowed to make changes (minute/data plan changes, add a phone line, upgrade phones, etc.). If for instance you and your friends did this and were on a plan together and down the road one of them wanted to upgrade their phone and went to a Verizon store, the sales associate would call you or the primary account holder, confirm some information and get YOUR permission to allow the friend to upgrade their phone.
As far as privacy issues.....when you receive the paper bill it's a general breakdown of charges per phone line, nothing detailed. BUT....the account holder can set up an online account (which I have done primarily to pay the bill). That primary account holder can look at every single line on the account and get a detailed look at all the phone calls made to and from each line.
I would make sure these are friends you can trust, who will be around, who will pay their portion of the bill. Because with Verizon you sign a 2 year contract. If one of your friends doesn't pay their portion, the account holder is ultimately responsible for that total bill. And Verizon will give you warnings if you're late paying them but make no mistake they will disconnect service to all phones on the account, if you don't call and make payment arrangements. It's then $15 per line to reconnect service. I speak from experience on this one.
Last edited by butterfly57; 07-01-2012 at 05:36 PM..
Reason: edited link
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I called Verizon immediately to cancel that particular payment and it took weeks for it to correct and for my son to get his money back. So now I am extremely careful and double check everything before submitting payments. But, my sons have looked into getting their own Verizon plans and it would cost them $40 to $50 more per month than on the family plan. So there you have the benefits of a family plan with Verizon. 
