A Verizon prepaid phone is any phone labeled and marketed specifically for prepaid use. The most expensive Verizon prepaid phone is currently the $430.99 HTC Rhyme Prepaid so your $550 phone should be OK.

Page Plus is also unable to activate any phone that was last used on a Verizon prepaid plan. These phones can be cleared for Page Plus activation by temporarily swapping them on to a post paid Verizon account.

The latin phrase is caveat emptor. If you plan to spend as much as $550 for a phone, then you really need to perform your own due diligence. As a general comment, prepaid handsets purchased in big box stores will not work on Page Plus based on the numerous posts on Kitty Wireless homepage and forums. The good news is the most expensive Verizon labeled prepaid smartphone found at Walmart is the Samsung Illusion and retails under $100.

One more thing. Page Plus currently supports 3G phones. If you want the latest 4G LTE phones, then you are S.O.L. If I am not mistaken, the Droid X2 has the largest screen for a 3G smartphone that works on Page Plus.

Also, iPhones are not officially supported on Page Plus.

Based on the aforementioned facts, I passed on Page Plus and might get an iPhone 5 from Straight Talk for $45 a month.

Good luck.

You can check the ESN of a Verizon phone before buying it to activate on Pageplus.

I would be real careful about considering Straight Talk. Here are the significant downsides of dealing with them: their customer service is in Manila (Phillipines) and there are many reports of being double charged and having service shut off without any given reason. This is too much of a risk to pay a lot of money for an iPhone only to have it cut off - especially because I'll bet that the Straight Talk version of the iPhone is crippled to work for Straight Talk only. iPhones activate just fine on Page Plus. You're better off buying a Verizon iPhone 4 or 4S on Amazon with a clean/clear ESN and activating on Page Plus. This is what I've done. I've been using an iPhone on Page Plus since July 2012 without any problem.

Anonymous, Page Plus only supports the handful of phones they sell. They allow any clean-ESN, non--Verizon prepaid phone to be activated including LTE phones. The problem with LTE phones is programming them which is difficult and with at least one model, the Galaxy Nexus impossible. The LTE programming issue effects all Verizon MVNOs not just Page Plus.

@Yeswap -- I apologize for not being clear. You can't have the latest 4G LTE phones, the one with big displays with the fastest processors along with bells and whistles while running 4G speeds on Page Plus. And, as you correctly pointed out, the average user is not a programmer and instead just want a buy and then proceed to use the phone. So to be clear, you will end up with an expensive LTE 4G phone running on 3G and then ask yourself why perform the Chinese Fire Drill?

@paleomatty, I am happy you still get your iPhone on Page Plus. For every one success story about the iPhone on Page Plus, I read about two failures. Again, as I stated earlier iPhones are not OFFICIALLY supported by Page Plus.

Going to Straight Talk is a personal choice. I can get the iPhone 4S or 4 with Verzion, but it will cost me at least $60 a month (or cost me as low as $30 a month with VM). I prefer to get the latest iPhone 5 and pay $45. I am not a talker nor send texts, and I don't play on using much data on the phone. But, I really want to replace my aging iPod Touch 4G and my current Android device (currently $25 a month with VM) with an iPhone. For me, the iPhone 5 would replace two devices with one and I get a better network at a cost of $45 a month.

According to Cellguru.net's review of TalkForGood, "Voice coverage appears to be identical to postpaid (free voice roaming on other providers such as U.S. Cellular and Sprint). Can't confirm text or data roaming." http://www.cellguru.net/prepaid_compare.htm

Thanks for the updates, CellGuru is a reliable source and I found the reference to tethering being allowed on the Talk For Good site. I've corrected the post.

I trust CellGuru but I just took a look at Talk For Good's coverage map and it's clearly Verizon native network only.

Note the big rectangular area of no coverage in the middle of Wisconsin or blob no coverage just North of Nashville TN. These a extra cost roaming on Verizon prepaid and Page Plus. I also spoke to Talk For Good's customer support who told me that there is no roaming. Perhaps the map was updated recently.

I have straight talk and just learned it really isn't unlimited everything. If you go over a certain amount they will turn it off, for example, apparently I used the internet too much and they shut it off until I the next cycle. Also, their fine print says you can't download music, or videos and there are certain other things they don't want you to do or you will be kicked off the plan. This is why I am looking for a new company.

Done

Here you go: AT&T and AT&T MVNOs Compared

Alternately, is the Straight Talk sim slot unlocked like the real Verizon iPhone? Then you could use an ATT or Tmob sim.

I realize that LTE will not work with the alternate method.

The ST sim slot is NOT locked. If you do not activate the iPhone at Walmart, first activate the phone with iTunes,
then the ATT or Tmob / MVNO sims will work.

I prefer the unlocked GSM model, so I can use ATT or Tmobile LTE once it is available without a contract.

Yes, AT&T or T-Mobile HSPA+ (in refarmed 1900 Mhz areas only) are capable of significantly higher data speeds than Verizon EV-DO.

The Straight Talk iPhone's GSM side is unlocked so you could use it on AT&T or T-Mobile without modifying the phone. Nothing needs to be changed on the phone to activate it on Straight Talk after using it on AT&T or T-Mobile

The footnote was wrong. It was supposed to be 3. Taxes and fees... not no smartphones

Do you have the MSL? To complete the activation on Verizon or a Verizon MVNO you need to make an outgoing call. So you would need to be able to manually program the Sprint phone and have some call credit. It would probably be easier to do it through a Page Plus dealer that has free activations and gives $2 in strater credit

I would like to do this too. I tried two Sprint phones on Pageplus, since I have their MSL. ESNs are OK, Pageplus activates them, and I program them manually but cannot make a call. I do not know how to manually update the PRL, which may be the problem. The Sprint phones will not auto-program on Verizon to do this.
Any ideas that do not involve using phone software?

Sprint phones on Page Plus should work. If you aren't using a modified PRL you need to turn on roaming in the phone settings. If you are unable to make a call with roaming on possible reasons are:

Page Plus has the wrong MEID or ESN. If the phone has an MEID, (most phones made in the last 5 years do), use the MEID not the ESN. Never use a pESN.

Wrong MDN and/or MIN entered in the phone or the phone didn't save the MDN and MIN.

No call credit on the account. If you activated directly through Page Plus you do nnot receive any intial credit and will need to add some to make a call.

Thanks. I will try again.

I turned on roaming after programming the phone. I have call credit on the line. Now I can make calls, but Pageplus requires me to enter the dialed number a second time, so I must be roaming on Sprint.

I guess Pageplus will charge me the 29c/min roaming fee on all calls unless I can manually change the PRL?

Pageplus is charging me 29c/minute for outgoing and incoming calls.
Their call records list each of my calls twice now, but they only charge me once.

Yes you are roaming. I though your goal was just to get a local number to port to a different operator. Now that you are active on Page Plus you should be able to port.

If you want to use the phone on Page Plus without roaming you probably need to load a Verizon PRL.
If you can't load a PRL, some phones have a menu option to manually select the network, either a list of available networks or a choice of Automatic A or Automatic B. One of those might get you Verizon.

Thanks again. My K1m has an option for Roaming Only; I will try that. None of my Sanyo phones give me those other options.

My Sprint/Boost/Ptel Moto K1m is now working fine on Pageplus, using your tip to force Roaming Only.
The screen says Digital Roaming, and I must OK the call "at roaming rates" every time, but Pageplus is only charging me their regular rate.

Thanks very much!
One less phone to recycle after Ptel closes Sprint service this summer.

The shorter pagepluscellular.com version used to work the same with or without the leading "www." which is the way it should be for searcg engine optimization.

The recent PagePlus redesign seems to have has broken the http://pagepluscellular.com version. Thanks for letting me know, I've added the www. although I expect that PagePlus will fix the broken link eventually.

No, no one has found a way to use an unlocked iPhone from the Apple Store on any US CDMA opperator.

You can use a Verizon iPhone 4 or 4S on Page Plus, Talk For Good or Next G. The Straight Talk iPhone 5 may also work.

I see... How about using an iPhone 5 on T-Mobile's $30 5gb plan? Will I be able to get 5gb of "4G" speed before being throttled or do I have to be in one of those select cities that have been re-framed to be "iPhone friendly" to get high speed data?

The Verizon iPhone 5 will not activate through the PagePlus dealer portal from what I have read. The SIM slot is unlocked, so you could use a Verizon iPhone 5 on Tmobile or AT&T for now (no LTE).

You need to be in one of the 47 Metro areas that have been refarmed to get 3/4G on the 1900 MHz channel.

At leat one person claims to have successfully activated a Straight Talk iPhone 5 on Page Plus: iPhone 5 from Straight Talk activated on Page Plus with Success

I read the forum and it looks like a good deal if you're lucky and it works. But say I tried that and I'm a proud owner of an iPhone 5 on Page Plus and (scenario time), lets say something surreal happens like... AT&T lowers data rates for it's mvno's and actually makes data relatively affordable. And now I want to switch to a AT&T mvno, could I do that?

The GSM side of the Straight Talk iPhone 5 is unlocked and it will work on AT&T MVNOs.

Nice! Well I don't see why someone wouldn't get the straight talk iPhone 5 from Walmart and at least try and get it on a Verizon mvno and if all fails you can still use it on a AT&T or T-Mobile mvno.

You could also go with:
1. GoPhone $25 plan with 250 min, unlim texts and $25/$5 data option. 500mb/month for $40. Less than Consumer, since you will not pay postpaid taxes.
2. AirVoice $40 Unlim plan + 500mb. Less than Consumer; no taxes.
3. PureTalk Unlim+, $44/month for unlim + 600mb. Not much more than Consumer, since you won't pay postpaid taxes.

If you have the $10/month data addon MMS should work.

I checked with NextG CS in TX, "Please tell me whether I can use the $10, 250mb data option with the Pay-Go service plan."

They just sent me this note:

"The $10 - 250mb Add-On can only be added to a $40 Voice and Text plan or higher... Thanks"

You may want to update the Pay-Go table above, NextG data column.

Thanks for letting me know. I've updated the table to indicate that there's no data on the NextG pay as yo go plan.

I know Amazon takes paypal.

I currently use a touchscreen Android phone. I've owned three portrait QWERTY phones. I liked the keyboards on the Nokia E71 and Pixi Plus. I rate them roughly equal. The other QWERTY phone was a Nokia Asha 303. I did not like the Asha's keyboard at all. Lots of typos with that one. Keyboards with prominently rounded keys like the Pixi's seem to work the best for me.

Talk for Good's plans pay has been down for maintenance for at least a day now. I wonder what's happening with their plans?

I've fixed the footnote and updated the post to include TracFone's new Android phones. Thanks for letting me know.

Updated, Thanks.

Your best bet is probably Page Plus which has free activation that includes an initial $2 credit if you activate through a dealer like Kitty Wireless. I'm not sure if it the Straight Talk BlackBerry will work but some of the Straight Talk Android phones have been successfully activated on Page Plus.

Only the Verizon iPhone 4 and 4S can be activated on prepaid. The iPhone 5 and latter can't be activated on any Verizon based prepaid plan.

The iPhone 4 and 4S can be activated on Verizon Prepaid or any of the MVNOs listed above. Verizon Prepaid is the easiest, with the best support although it's not the least expensive. To activate your iPhone on Verizon prepaid go to activate online at http://www.verizonwireless.com/activate or calling (800) 294-6804.

Page Plus (800) 550-2436 is a good less expensive alternative to Verizon Prepaid. Call them at

Not for phones. Millenicom does for mobile broadband.

There's a $35 activation fee if you buy a Verizon Prepaid phone from a Verizon store or the Verizon website. The fee is currently waived when you buy a smartphone on the Verizon site.

There's no fee for activating a new or used Verizon phone bought from Wal-Mart, Target, RadioShack, Ebay, Craig's List etc.

PagePlus terms of service do not probit tethering and I haven't heard of PagePlus taking any action against users who tether. Most Verizon handsets have hotspot and tethering disabled in the phone's software so you need to install a hotspot or tethering app which will require root or jailbreaking on some phones.

Every month for the last couple of years there's a new rumor that LTE is coming to Verizon MVNOs in a week or a month. It will happen when it happens, could be a next week, next month, next year or three years from now.

I don't know if you can but a competent flasher can flash most Sprint phones to PagePlus, Selectel or BYO but not REdPocket, NET10, StraightTalk or Tracfone. You won't have LTE of course.

If you don't care about data or MMS and have the MSL you can get most Sprint phones working for talk and text by changing the MDN, MIN and SID. To make the roaming indicator go away you need to load a modified Verizon PRL and that normally requires CDMA Workshop or equivalent PC software. For data and MMS you need a full flash,

I do have the MSL. Just two stupid questions. What is the SID and can I get data working just by changing the username and data settings ?
Thank you

The SID (System ID) is a 5 digit number that specifies the phone's home location. You can find your SID here: http://www.roamingzone.com/sid/

Disclaimer, I'm not a flasher, what follows is what I've been able to gather from incomplete instructions and comments by flashers. It's incomplete and possibly wrong. Errors in flashing can easily brick a phone. Unless you have way more time than money I recommend paying the $30 or $40 that flashers charge.

To get data working you need write unique keys to the phone. The keys are generated from your MEID and MDN by a secret algorithm that know one outside of Qualcomm has or at least is willing to share. Most flashers get the keys by writing the target phone's MEID to a Verizon donor phone (the MEID is the phone's unique serial number and changing it may be illegal), activating the donor, retrieving the keys and writing them to the target phone.

I see what you mean about getting data to work. Last question where do I find and change the SID on the phone?
Thanks

Do I also need to change the NID (what is it BTW) and why do I have to change the SID just for talk and text if the phone is in the same location ? And can I switch the phone back to Sprint if I need to?

You might not need to change the SID manually. I programmed my Sprint Moto K1m MDN and MIN for a Verizon MVNO number I had activated. The SID was changed to the Verizon SID in my area when the phone connected to the network and I locked it in digital roaming mode to Vzw.

On my Sprint phones, I see my SID by visiting: Settings>Phone Info>Advanced. Just look through your menus. Yes, you can change back to Sprint. Just activate the phone with a Sprint operator and the phone should autoprogram. If not, use your MSL code to manually program or reset the phone.

Hello Dennis
I think I found the SID under data settings but the number there is only 4 digits is this the right one? I also found something called the NID and this one does have 5 digits do I change this one as well? And if I program the phone for a Verizon MVNO will there be any problem going back to Sprint?
Thanks.

SIDs can be less than 5 characters. Just enter whatever the Verizon SID for your area is. I haven't heard of anyone changing the NID. I'd leave it alone.

To go back to Sprint you can do a factory reset or data reset and Sprint hands-free activation should automatically run and re-program the phone.

I don't believe their are any differences between Straight Tak and NET10 other than distribution, pricing and the amount included data.

No they don't block streaming. But some users have reported being throttled after streaming even though they hadn't used up their high sped data allotment.

On both NET10 and Straight talk or is one of them worse

Both, they are the same company, same service.

Throttled for how long?

Until the end of the current plan month.

Yes, if you refill though NET10 or Straight Talk they add:
1.5% Federal USF fee
0.2% regulatory cost recovery fee
applicable sate and local taxes and e911 fees including the e911 fees that are collected directly from the operator rather than from the user.

You can avoid the USF, regulatory cost recovery fee non-point of sale e911 fee by purchasing airtime cards or PINs from local stores or from Walmart for Straight Talk. You can avoid all taxes and fees on NET10 by purchasing PINs from online sellers like CallingMart.

Selectel doesn't charge for roaming on the Verizon's Extended Network, roaming on Page Plus is 29 cents/minute.

Does any other MVNO do the same?

Dennis: You are only correct if you are referring to The 12 plan on PagePlus. Roaming is listed as 20c/minute on other plans from $29.95 to $69.95 (unless PagePlus made a typo on all of those plan details pages).

Roaming also costs 29c/minute on PagePlus Pay-Go plan.

"Does any other MVNO do the same?" There's no extra charge for roaming on Verizon with CDMA feature phones on TracFone and NET10 pay as you go.

"Dennis: You are only correct if you are referring to The 12 plan on PagePlus. Roaming is listed as 20c/minute on other plans from $29.95 to $69.95 (unless PagePlus made a typo on all of those plan details pages)." Tree, except that roaming is also 29¢ on the PagePlus PAYGO plan.

What about NET10 unlimited plans?

PagePlus has Verizon prepaid coverage and Tracfone has Verizon postpaid coverage is that right?

Page Plus and Selectel have the same coverage. But off network roaming is free on Selectel and 20 or 29¢/minute on Page Plus.

There's no roaming with NET10, TracFone or StraightTalk Verizon based phones.

No, the law legalizes cell phone unlocking by individuals and businesses. It doesn't require that phones be sold unlocked.

Are unlocking services now legal?

Yes, the new law legalizes unlocking services.

That's impossible to say but I don't think it will have any effect on prices. It will increase demand but supply should also increase as mainstream sites like Amazon will probably start selling unlocks.

They used to work on Selectel but I'm not sure if they still do now that Selectel and all the other MVNOs can only activate Verizon phones.

Did PagePlus phones ever work on Straight Talk?

As far as I know, never.

At the moment all the phones on the Page Plus site are new except the LG Optimus Zip which is refurbished. PagePlus always labels their refurbs as such.

Yes

Maybe, Straight Talk's iPhone 5 is unlocked. It's a Verizon iPhone that's modified to disable LTE.

Call quality has been excellent on my PagePlus phones. Poor call quality on Sprint is likely due to the Sprint network being overloaded in many places. I'm not aware of any inherent voice quality superiority with GSM.

Verizon Android phones support simultaneous voice and data when connected to LTE (including XLTE), iPhones do not.

Data overage on the PagePlus $12 plan is 10¢/MB

You can add data to the BYO $5 plan bu purchasing an add-on package; $5 - 100 MB, $10 - 250 MB, $15 - 400MB. Add-ons expire after 30 days there's no roll-over.

Straight Talk, NET10 and Telcel America do with one of their Verizon network based phone's and an international plan.

As with all unlimited international calling plans you are limited to which countries you can call. With Straight Talk, NET10 and Telcel America you are also limited to calling no more than 15 different international numbers each month.

Verizon LTE phones are not locked. You can use the one's with GSM capabilities on T-Mobile or AT&T.

If you are referring to Verizon blocking their prepaid phones from being used on Verizon MVNOs that's not because the phones are locked. Verizon blacklists the prepaid phones by their serial number. As far as I know there no current or proposed law that would prevent them from doing that.

Not locking their devices is part of the open access requirements that the FCC imposed on the the use of the 700 Mhz C block LTE spectrum that Verizon won in the 2008 LTE spectrum auction. Those rules are permanent and have no expiration date.Verizon sued to have the rules overturned but eventually dropped the suit. They could sue again but unless they do and win the open devices requirement is permanent.

Does that mean Verizon MVNOs aren't allowed to lock their phones either?

Not currently because the rule only applies to LTE phones and Verizon MVNOs don't have any.

I don't know have the legal expertise to say if it will apply to the MVNO once they start selling LTE phones or not. I think it should because the phones will be using the C block.

Verizon most of the time.

Are Verizon and T-Mobile the best options in San Francisco? How bad is AT&T over there?

AT&T is OK if you have an LTE phone, 3G and 4G HSPA+ seems to be overloaded and slow sometimes but LTE is usually good.

Telcel America used to have some Verizon based phones and a Verizon CDMA BYOP program but they seem to have discontinued both phones and BYOP. The Telcel America site currently only offers T-Mobile based SIMs and phones.

Although anyone can sign up for Puppy now, it's still seems to bevery much in the testing phase. The official launch is supposed to happen next month. I will be covering Puppy as it launches but I think it's premature ti include it in the Verizon MVNO comparison until Puppy plans, pricing and features are stable.

"All of the other Verizon MVNOs only offer 500MB at that price." RedPocket will sell you 1GB for $19.99/month.

Puppy announced on the Forum there will be AT&T and Sprint plans, too. They "loaded them on the platform."

My sloppiness. There's no difference between the two.

Don't tell me nobody knows!

If you run out of minutes or texts on BYO you can renew early which restarts the plan with a fresh set of minutes, texts and data replacing whatever was left and a new expiration date 30 days in the future.

PagePlus PayGo is FIFO (first in first out) The $25 refill was added first so the rate is 6¢/minute until it's used up, then the $10 refill kicks in and the rate is 10¢/minute until the $10 is used up.

Will the $10 top up extend the $25 top up's expiration date or will the $25 top up expire and be replaced by the $10 top up with the 10¢/min rate?

On Page Plus a $10 top up will make the expiration date 120 days from the date it was added unless the expiration was already more than 120 days in the future (from an $80 top-up) in which case the expiration date would not change.

Updated and corrected, thanks.

Page Plus was the first Verizon MVNO to get LTE, in Nov 2014. Special programing (aka Flashing) is no longer required to activate a Verizon LTE phone on Page Plus.

See Prepaid Operator Profile: Page Plus for comprehensive and current information about Page Plus.

Verizon Prepaid allows hotspot on their $45 and $60 smartphone plans. Nost Verizon branded phones block it however so you will need to find a hotspot app or hack that works with your phone. I think all the MVNOs prohit hotspot but check their terms of service to be sure.

Verizon Prepaid allows hotspot on their $45 and $60 smartphone plans using included plan data. Most Verizon branded phones block it however so you will need to find a hotspot app or hack that works with your phone. I think all the MVNOs prohibit hotspot but check their terms of service to be sure.

Verizon will always use your autopay credit or debit card to renew even if there's a cash balance on the account. I seen reports of people using a prepaid debt card to sign up for auto pay, adding cash with CallingMart to cover their plan payment, then drawing down the balance on the card until it's too low to cover the plan renewal. It's claimed that Verizon will try to use the card to renew, find there's NSF and renew out of the cash balance and the auto-pay discount is retained. Sounds sketchy to me and unlikely to work for long however.

I am considering the HTC Droid DNA or the Motorola Droid Ultra...both seem to imply from these sections of Verizon's website that they have mobile hotspot capability. Do they just happen to be exceptions to the blocking that you describe, or am I still missing something, and would I still need a hotspot app or hack?

http://www.verizonwireless.com/support/knowledge-base-69566/

http://www.verizonwireless.com/support/knowledge-base-85409/

According to Verizon's press release when they launched the $45 plan hotspot should work on any Verizon phone that supports hotspot. ALLSET PLANS - 4G LTE Smartphones.

I though I remembered seeing some posts on HowardForums from users who said it didn't work but I can't find them. I think hotspot not working may have been a problem with Verizon MVNOs not Verizon itself.

If you try it let us know if it works.

It's possible but not easy as Verizon will always try to charge your card for autopay rather than using the credit you added with Cllingmart.

The trick is setup autopay with a prepaid debit card like Walmart's Amex Bluebird card which doesn't charge a monthly fee. Keep the balance on the card below your autopay amount. Verizon will try to charge the card and fail and and use the CallingMart credit to renew but still give you the 1GB autopay bonus.

Verizon could close this loophole at anytime, of course.

Corrected, thanks for the heads up.

Verizon and MVNOs will activate the unlocked Nexus 6 but they won't activate anything with the Sprint logo on it.

Yes, Total data is hard capped with the option to buy more if needed. In the table, if it doesn't say unlimited, it's hard capped.