Verizon Droid Smartphone on Pre-paid plan

I recently inherited a gently used Verizon Droid phone and intended to use it to replace my wife's dumb phone on Verizon prepaid.

I diligently went to the Verizon site and plugged in the ESN for the new-to-me phone to port the phone number from the old to the new.

I was surprised to see a "Service Level" selection that did not include my pre-paid plan. So I tried the process again a few times and had the same result. I then googled it and discovered that Verizon does not allow smartphones on their pre-paid plans.

Oh the humanity. Really, Verizon. The phone has Wifi, and that how I intended to get the data on it. I don't need your megabuck per month insane talk + text + data plan, since the phone will generally be used only in emergencies.

But nooooo, you have to bulk-exclude smartphones on plans that don't have data. Learn a lesson from your competitor, T-Mobile, where one can buy a prepaid plan including data if one so desires.

So I searched a little more and discovered a second-tier wireless company that uses the Verizon network and offers both inexpensive unlimited as well as prepaid plans. The company is Page Plus Cellular and it's carried by equally second-tier cell phone shops such as Truly Unlimited Wireless, located on Culver and Parcells (across from the old Arlene's Costumes).

For a $10 activation fee, I got a phone number and for another $10, I got 100 minutes of service from Page Plus. So $0.10/minute for their most expensive prepaid plan. No data though.

I'm prototyping the service now, so I'll reserve critical analysis until my first $10 is spent.