Switching from Verizon postpaid to PagePlus prepaid.

Hey all

Just wondering if anyone here has any thoughts about PagePlus Prepaid
good or bad. I currently have a Family Share Plan with Verizon and
myself and mom never come close to using all of our minutes (might use
10 or 20% percent at the most). I had in the past looked at some other
prepaid services like Tracfon and Verizon In-Pulse, but did not find
them to be very good values. I would like to know how often you have
buy new minutes and do any remaining minutes roll over. Also do I need
to buy a new phone from PagePlus or can just use the Motorola RAZR V3c
and Motorola T730 we presently use?

Thanks
Michael

mgrahm@trib.com wrote:
> Hey all
>
> Just wondering if anyone here has any thoughts about PagePlus Prepaid
> good or bad. I currently have a Family Share Plan with Verizon and
> myself and mom never come close to using all of our minutes (might use
> 10 or 20% percent at the most). I had in the past looked at some other
> prepaid services like Tracfon and Verizon In-Pulse, but did not find
> them to be very good values. I would like to know how often you have
> buy new minutes and do any remaining minutes roll over. Also do I need
> to buy a new phone from PagePlus or can just use the Motorola RAZR V3c
> and Motorola T730 we presently use?
>
> Thanks
> Michael

Add time every 120 days.

Minutes roll over.

Any old Verizon phone will work, as will the low cost InPulse phones
sold at Wal-Mart, Target, and Best Buy.

Other useful information
------------------------
You can port your existing number. Sign up with PagePlus first and
you'll get a number they assign, then call them to port your Verizon number.

If you're a contributor to Howard Forums, there are some PagePlus
dealers that will activate your phone on PagePlus, with 100 minutes, for
free (normally it costs $5.99 at "http://uglyeric.com".

Don't forget to add time every 120 days.

The most economical way to buy time is to buy the $80 card (1400
minutes), then buy $10 cards (83 minutes) every 120 days until you need
to buy another $80 card.

Buy cards at Calling Mart ("http://tinyurl.com/refillcallingmart") and
use the coupon code ca3p-1207 for an additional 3% off their already
discounted prices. This works out to a 5.91% discount off retail.
Periodically CallingMart offers coupon codes that discount a flat 7% or
8%. Sign up to their Facebook group and you'll be notified of these
discounts.

"Elmo P. Shagnasty" <elmop@nastydesigns.com> wrote in message
news:elmop-DE15EE.19260204102009@news.eternal-september.org...
: In article
: <7ae5fa99-7851-4d27-8f20-0b944eb7d5c6@f18g2000prf.googlegroups.com>,
: "mgrahm@trib.com" <mgrahm@trib.com> wrote:
:
: > Hey all
: >
: > Just wondering if anyone here has any thoughts about PagePlus Prepaid
: > good or bad. I currently have a Family Share Plan with Verizon and
: > myself and mom never come close to using all of our minutes (might use
: > 10 or 20% percent at the most). I had in the past looked at some other
: > prepaid services like Tracfon and Verizon In-Pulse, but did not find
: > them to be very good values. I would like to know how often you have
: > buy new minutes and do any remaining minutes roll over. Also do I need
: > to buy a new phone from PagePlus or can just use the Motorola RAZR V3c
: > and Motorola T730 we presently use?
:
: Head to Howard Forums, the PagePlus area, and all your questions will be
: answered.
:
: You should be able to use the phones you have today.
:
: Their business plan depends on people forgetting to refill and losing
: their minutes. So don't forget to refill every 119 days, at least $10
: worth, and that will keep all the money in your account.

Curious: someone state this service has the same coverage as VZN. Looking
at the coverage map it does not appear so. How do I very what's true and
what's not?

NotMe wrote:
> "Elmo P. Shagnasty" <elmop@nastydesigns.com> wrote in message
> news:elmop-DE15EE.19260204102009@news.eternal-september.org...
> : In article
> : <7ae5fa99-7851-4d27-8f20-0b944eb7d5c6@f18g2000prf.googlegroups.com>,
> : "mgrahm@trib.com" <mgrahm@trib.com> wrote:
> :
> : > Hey all
> : >
> : > Just wondering if anyone here has any thoughts about PagePlus Prepaid
> : > good or bad. I currently have a Family Share Plan with Verizon and
> : > myself and mom never come close to using all of our minutes (might use
> : > 10 or 20% percent at the most). I had in the past looked at some other
> : > prepaid services like Tracfon and Verizon In-Pulse, but did not find
> : > them to be very good values. I would like to know how often you have
> : > buy new minutes and do any remaining minutes roll over. Also do I need
> : > to buy a new phone from PagePlus or can just use the Motorola RAZR V3c
> : > and Motorola T730 we presently use?
> :
> : Head to Howard Forums, the PagePlus area, and all your questions will be
> : answered.
> :
> : You should be able to use the phones you have today.
> :
> : Their business plan depends on people forgetting to refill and losing
> : their minutes. So don't forget to refill every 119 days, at least $10
> : worth, and that will keep all the money in your account.
>
> Curious: someone state this service has the same coverage as VZN. Looking
> at the coverage map it does not appear so. How do I very what's true and
> what's not?
>
>

Get it from the "horse's mouth". Go to the Verizon Wireless store and
ask. Look at the coverage map.

Go to whoever is peddling PagePlus and ask. Look at the coverage map.

Someone here MIGHT have exact details but how do you know who knows and
who's just blowing smoke. . . ?

If you know someone who has PagePlus, ask him about coverage. Ask him
to bring his phone to your house. Test availability of service and call
quality. Ask your friend to visit the places where coverage is
important to you; e.g. home, work, favorite supermarket, shopping mall,
etc, etc.

Do the same for VZW.

Once you sign your name, you have to pay the bills for the next two
years. You should be careful to make sure that the service is actually
available and provides adequate quality where you need it!

On Sun, 4 Oct 2009 19:18:27 -0500, "NotMe" <me@privacy.net> wrote:

>
>"Elmo P. Shagnasty" <elmop@nastydesigns.com> wrote in message
>news:elmop-DE15EE.19260204102009@news.eternal-september.org...
>: In article
>: <7ae5fa99-7851-4d27-8f20-0b944eb7d5c6@f18g2000prf.googlegroups.com>,
>: "mgrahm@trib.com" <mgrahm@trib.com> wrote:
>:
>: > Hey all
>: >
>: > Just wondering if anyone here has any thoughts about PagePlus Prepaid
>: > good or bad. I currently have a Family Share Plan with Verizon and
>: > myself and mom never come close to using all of our minutes (might use
>: > 10 or 20% percent at the most). I had in the past looked at some other
>: > prepaid services like Tracfon and Verizon In-Pulse, but did not find
>: > them to be very good values. I would like to know how often you have
>: > buy new minutes and do any remaining minutes roll over. Also do I need
>: > to buy a new phone from PagePlus or can just use the Motorola RAZR V3c
>: > and Motorola T730 we presently use?
>:
>: Head to Howard Forums, the PagePlus area, and all your questions will be
>: answered.
>:
>: You should be able to use the phones you have today.
>:
>: Their business plan depends on people forgetting to refill and losing
>: their minutes. So don't forget to refill every 119 days, at least $10
>: worth, and that will keep all the money in your account.
>
>Curious: someone state this service has the same coverage as VZN. Looking
>at the coverage map it does not appear so. How do I very what's true and
>what's not?
>

It has the same coverage as VZW's *pre-paid* service.

"The Ghost of General Lee" <ghost@general.lee> wrote in message
news:hchic5plb4p0gvppgoct6jffat8vqro917@4ax.com...
: On Sun, 4 Oct 2009 19:18:27 -0500, "NotMe" <me@privacy.net> wrote:
:
: >
: >"Elmo P. Shagnasty" <elmop@nastydesigns.com> wrote in message
: >news:elmop-DE15EE.19260204102009@news.eternal-september.org...
: >: In article
: >: <7ae5fa99-7851-4d27-8f20-0b944eb7d5c6@f18g2000prf.googlegroups.com>,
: >: "mgrahm@trib.com" <mgrahm@trib.com> wrote:
: >:
: >: > Hey all
: >: >
: >: > Just wondering if anyone here has any thoughts about PagePlus Prepaid
: >: > good or bad. I currently have a Family Share Plan with Verizon and
: >: > myself and mom never come close to using all of our minutes (might
use
: >: > 10 or 20% percent at the most). I had in the past looked at some
other
: >: > prepaid services like Tracfon and Verizon In-Pulse, but did not find
: >: > them to be very good values. I would like to know how often you have
: >: > buy new minutes and do any remaining minutes roll over. Also do I
need
: >: > to buy a new phone from PagePlus or can just use the Motorola RAZR
V3c
: >: > and Motorola T730 we presently use?
: >:
: >: Head to Howard Forums, the PagePlus area, and all your questions will
be
: >: answered.
: >:
: >: You should be able to use the phones you have today.
: >:
: >: Their business plan depends on people forgetting to refill and losing
: >: their minutes. So don't forget to refill every 119 days, at least $10
: >: worth, and that will keep all the money in your account.
: >
: >Curious: someone state this service has the same coverage as VZN.
Looking
: >at the coverage map it does not appear so. How do I very what's true and
: >what's not?
: >
:
: It has the same coverage as VZW's *pre-paid* service.

Thanks, I'll pass.

Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:

> Their business plan depends on people forgetting to refill and losing
> their minutes. So don't forget to refill every 119 days, at least $10
> worth, and that will keep all the money in your account.

Oh please, their business plan is to resell the minutes they buy from
Verizon at a profit.

They don't make it hard to check the expiration dates. You can write it
on your calendar, program a reminder into the calendar on your phone,
check your account online, call them up to check it, or sign up at
"http://www.rememberthemilk.com" and have reminders sent to your e-mail.
You can also sign up for automatic refills, but you have to add a
minimum of $10/month so it's not a great deal.

I once forgot to add money to my daughter's account in time. I called
them up and they restored the balance. Very good customer service, based
in the U.S..

The Ghost of General Lee wrote:

> It has the same coverage as VZW's *pre-paid* service.

Actually it has the same, or more, coverage as Verizon's postpaid
service, but when you are not on Verizon's own network you will pay
roaming charges (actually there are some non-Verizon networks where
there are no roaming charges).

At 04 Oct 2009 21:02:57 -0400 The Ghost of General Lee wrote:


> > > Just wondering if anyone here has any thoughts about PagePlus
Prepaid...
> >Curious: someone state this service has the same coverage as VZN.
Looking
> >at the coverage map it does not appear so. How do I very what's true
and
> >what's not?
> >
>
> It has the same coverage as VZW's *pre-paid* service.


Mostly- what PagePlus also offers, however, is the ability to roam off the
map for $0.59/min. (or is it $0.69? I forget.)

Sure that's pricey, but essentially it's the only service that works
anywhere there's (CDMA) service, regardless of whether your carrier has cut
a deal with other carriers.

Back in the old days, when all carriers were regional, and cellphones were
powered by coal, there was no "free" roaming. There was also no PRL, so
your phone worked anywhere there was service, albeit at $1/minute or more.
When AT&T Wireless came up with "One Rate"- the first cell plan with
included roaming, they also had to ensure the phone never used the "wrong"
(non-preferred/expensive) carriers, with an internal, carrier-set,
preferred roaming list. For the first time, a phone could ignore perfectly
usable service, in the interest of costs, without the customer's input or
ability to override.

And, over a decade later, we're still in that world. A few times I'd have
paid a buck to make a call with my T-Mo phone when outside a T-Mo service
area; I had plenty of signal (generally AT&T) but wasn't allowed to use it,
because then T-Mo couldn't advertise "no roaming charges anywhere in the
USA!".

PagePlus fixes that- use any native Verizon coverage for pennies, and pay
extra to roam, just like the big cariers do for you, except they "hide" it
in your higher monthly fees and call it "free."

Todd Allcock wrote:

> PagePlus fixes that- use any native Verizon coverage for pennies, and pay
> extra to roam, just like the big cariers do for you, except they "hide" it
> in your higher monthly fees and call it "free."

Now that a lot of AMPS is gone, I'm not sure what the situation is, but
a couple of years ago PagePlus actually provided more coverage than
Verizon provided for its new customers. My old Verizon plan (the
original America's Choice) charged for off-network roaming, but would
work on all CDMA or AMPS carriers (like PagePlus does now). Up until a
couple of years ago Verizon maintained two sets of maps, one for plans
that could do extra-cost roaming, and one for plans that couldn't. The
plans with extra-cost roaming had some very large areas of coverage that
showed as "no coverage" on the newer plans that boasted about
"no-roaming charges." It was like AT&T's One-Rate plan that had no
roaming charges, but that didn't let you use a perfectly good signal if
AT&T had no roaming agreement with the other carrier. Most of the areas
that were excluded from roaming on the newer Verizon plans appeared to
be AMPS areas, and now many of those areas have no coverage at all
because the digital towers can't provide the same coverage that AMPS
provided.

I remember when AT&T started offering One-Rate in Sacramento, but the
carriers for the San Francisco bay area were Cellular One and GTE. A lot
of bay area users signed up for AT&T service in Sacramento, greatly
upsetting AT&T because they were doing nearly 100% roaming. Eventually
AT&T bought the Cellular One licenses for the bay area.

You've got to be really careful with prepaid these days because many of
the prepaid carriers prohibit roaming onto any available network, even
at extra cost, including Virgin Mobile (Sprint), StraightTalk (Verizon),
T-Mobile, Jitterbug (Verizon), SpeakOut (AT&T) (even though SpeakOut
claims to offer extra-cost roaming, in my experience they actually do not).

Richard B. Gilbert wrote:

> Do the same for VZW.
>
> Once you sign your name, you have to pay the bills for the next two
> years. You should be careful to make sure that the service is actually
> available and provides adequate quality where you need it!

Actually they have 30 days to find out. If it doesn't work for them they
can return the equipment and just pay for airtime used.

SMS wrote:
> Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
>
>> Their business plan depends on people forgetting to refill and losing
>> their minutes. So don't forget to refill every 119 days, at least $10
>> worth, and that will keep all the money in your account.
>
> Oh please, their business plan is to resell the minutes they buy from
> Verizon at a profit.
>
Statistically it is likely that a significant portion of their customers
do forfeit money to them. Often people have other things to do aside
from tracking the next time to refill their phone account. Logically
that income is part of their business model.


> They don't make it hard to check the expiration dates. You can write it
> on your calendar, program a reminder into the calendar on your phone,
> check your account online, call them up to check it, or sign up at
> "http://www.rememberthemilk.com" and have reminders sent to your e-mail.
> You can also sign up for automatic refills, but you have to add a
> minimum of $10/month so it's not a great deal.
>
> I once forgot to add money to my daughter's account in time. I called
> them up and they restored the balance. Very good customer service, based
> in the U.S..
>

George wrote:
> Richard B. Gilbert wrote:
>
>> Do the same for VZW.
>>
>> Once you sign your name, you have to pay the bills for the next two
>> years. You should be careful to make sure that the service is
>> actually available and provides adequate quality where you need it!
>
> Actually they have 30 days to find out. If it doesn't work for them they
> can return the equipment and just pay for airtime used.

Actually they already know that Verizon is okay for them since that's
what they have now. They can try PagePlus free for 120 days to see if
it's okay, but the reality is that PagePlus includes all Verizon native
coverage at the regular rate, and all non-Verizon CDMA coverage in the
U.S. at the roaming rate.

George wrote:

> Statistically it is likely that a significant portion of their customers
> do forfeit money to them. Often people have other things to do aside
> from tracking the next time to refill their phone account. Logically
> that income is part of their business model.

Nope. If a customer does forget to add money their phone stops working
and they call PagePlus who restores the previous balance. Technically
this costs PagePlus more income because of the cost of providing live
support. This happened to me. They were very nice about it.

Now I'm more careful. I program a reminder into my phone for a few days
prior to the expiration date, and now I use
"http://www.rememberthemilk.com" for this and other reminders.

Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
> In article <4ac9f7b8$0$1635$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>,
> SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
>
>> George wrote:
>>
>>> Statistically it is likely that a significant portion of their customers
>>> do forfeit money to them. Often people have other things to do aside
>>> from tracking the next time to refill their phone account. Logically
>>> that income is part of their business model.
>> Nope. If a customer does forget to add money their phone stops working
>> and they call PagePlus who restores the previous balance.
>
> Nope.
>
> Just give it a try, and you'll see.

Maybe its special treatment reserved for fanboys or just a nice story?

On Oct 4, 9:16*am, "mgr...@trib.com" <mgr...@trib.com> wrote:
> Hey all
>
> Just wondering if anyone here has any thoughts about PagePlus Prepaid
> good or bad. I currently have a Family Share Plan with Verizon and
> myself and mom never come close to using all of our minutes (might use
> 10 or 20% percent at the most). I had in the past looked at some other
> prepaid services like Tracfon and Verizon In-Pulse, but did not find
> them to be very good values. I would like to know how often you have
> buy new minutes and do any remaining minutes roll over. Also do I need
> to buy a new phone from PagePlus or can just use the Motorola RAZR V3c
> and Motorola T730 we presently use?
>
> Thanks
> Michael

Thanks for everyone's replies

I will look in to this after my mom returns from her vacation. I will
need to find out if she really uses her phone while his at my step-
sister in-laws in Muskogee, OK, as the coverage map I found at the
PagePlus website shows it being in a roaming area. Also I need to
check, as I was told by friend that he thought that they charged a
monthly service fee regardless of whether you use your phone or not.
As long, as the fee is too much I should be able to save several
hundred dollars a year with PagePlus.

Michael

In article <37815aae-19a5-4d77-bcdf-7fa984b9bde5
@u36g2000prn.googlegroups.com> on Mon, 5 Oct 2009 22:47:48 -0700 (PDT),
mgrahm@tribcsp.com wrote:

> Also I need to
> check, as I was told by friend that he thought that they charged a
> monthly service fee regardless of whether you use your phone or not.
> As long, as the fee is too much I should be able to save several
> hundred dollars a year with PagePlus.


The monthly service fee is 50¢, charged on the 25th of each month.

--
Seth Goodman

At 05 Oct 2009 20:10:54 -0400 Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:

> > >>> Statistically it is likely that a significant portion of their
customers
> > >>> do forfeit money to them. Often people have other things to do
aside
> > >>> from tracking the next time to refill their phone account.
Logically
> > >>> that income is part of their business model.
> > >> Nope. If a customer does forget to add money their phone stops
working
> > >> and they call PagePlus who restores the previous balance.
> > >
> > > Nope.
> > >
> > > Just give it a try, and you'll see.
> >
> > Maybe its special treatment reserved for fanboys or just a nice story?
>
> I think maybe it happened to him once, a long time ago, and he's hung
> onto that as "it always happens that way for everyone".
>
> It doesn't, especially now, and idiots letting their $80 die on the vine
> because they're too stupid to read a calendar or be bothered with it is
> a huge part of PP's revenue model.
>
> If it weren't, they'd use their generosity and "minutes never expire!"
> as a marketing tool go gain EVEN MORE subscribers.

Agreed.

I let one of my balances expire a few months ago (out of stupidity- I
forgot to re-edit the calendar alarm entry on my smartphone after the last
refill.) They restored half of it and warned me it was a one-time
courtesy.

The rep even asked me if I was sure I wanted to "waste" my one-time restore
this time, since the lost balance was only $25, and they'd only restore
$12.50 of it.

Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
> In article <4ac9f7b8$0$1635$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>,
> SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
>
>> George wrote:
>>
>>> Statistically it is likely that a significant portion of their customers
>>> do forfeit money to them. Often people have other things to do aside
>>> from tracking the next time to refill their phone account. Logically
>>> that income is part of their business model.
>> Nope. If a customer does forget to add money their phone stops working
>> and they call PagePlus who restores the previous balance.
>
> Nope.
>
> Just give it a try, and you'll see.

I have tried it and I did see. You have no idea what you're talking about.

Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:

> If it weren't, they'd use their generosity and "minutes never expire!"
> as a marketing tool go gain EVEN MORE subscribers.

All prepaid carriers have minimums. PagePlus's minimum of $10 every 120
days is about the lowest (T-Mobile, if you become "Gold" by spending
$100, allows you to subsequently add only $10 per year).

No MVNO can afford to keep accounts active that have no activity and are
not re-upped periodically.

PagePlus is very accommodating should you miss re-upping your account as
long as it doesn't become a habit, and as long as you don't miss the
re-upping by a long period of time. In my case I called as soon as the
phone stopped working, which was a couple of days after the 120 days
were up. If you rarely use the phone, and miss the re-upping by weeks or
months they are probably less accommodating.

To think that their business models is based on people forgetting to
re-up their accounts is ludicrous. The cost of them providing the
minutes represented by the lost balances is very small.

SMS wrote:
> Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
>
>> If it weren't, they'd use their generosity and "minutes never expire!"
>> as a marketing tool go gain EVEN MORE subscribers.
>
> All prepaid carriers have minimums. PagePlus's minimum of $10 every 120
> days is about the lowest (T-Mobile, if you become "Gold" by spending
> $100, allows you to subsequently add only $10 per year).
>
> No MVNO can afford to keep accounts active that have no activity and are
> not re-upped periodically.
>
> PagePlus is very accommodating should you miss re-upping your account as
> long as it doesn't become a habit, and as long as you don't miss the
> re-upping by a long period of time. In my case I called as soon as the
> phone stopped working, which was a couple of days after the 120 days
> were up. If you rarely use the phone, and miss the re-upping by weeks or
> months they are probably less accommodating.
>
> To think that their business models is based on people forgetting to
> re-up their accounts is ludicrous. The cost of them providing the
> minutes represented by the lost balances is very small.
>
Apparently you don't realize it but you have turned into an "oxford".

It is totally ridiculous to suggest that part of the income model for
any prepaid operation isn't forfeited money.

George wrote:

> Apparently you don't realize it but you have turned into an "oxford".

Hardly.

> It is totally ridiculous to suggest that part of the income model for
> any prepaid operation isn't forfeited money.

Of course you are perfectly aware that I never suggested any such thing.

What is untrue is what Elmo said, that the forfeited money is a "huge
part of PP's revenue model," when in fact it is a very small part of it.

If they wanted to make forfeited money a huge part of their revenue
model they could do so. They could change the duration of each value
card like most MVNOs do, so the lower value cards would have shorter
expirations, since 120 days for a $10 card is very long. They could
remove automatic re-upping from their accounts so people would have no
way of automatically preventing loss of their balance.

You're turning a situation that affects very few users, for very little
money, into some sort of a conspiracy.

For those interested in ensuring that their accounts don't expire,
rather than spending their time making up stories, here's what you do:

1. Log into your PagePlus account and set up an automatic monthly $10
refill to begin the day before your expiration date.

2. If you refill manually prior to that date than reset the automatic
refill to the new expiration date.

3. If the automatic refill does kick in, and you don't want monthly
refills, go in and reset the next refill to the new 120 day expiration date.

Yes, it would be really nice if they let you set automatic refills to
occur when your balance drops below $1 or when you are a couple of days
away from the 120 day expiration, but at least the option for automatic
monthly renewals is a fail-safe.

Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:

> And MOST people are stupid about the whole thing.

You just must hang around a lot of stupid people.

> MANY people--I
> daresay the younger crowd--pay little attention to their money, almost
> as if it grows on trees. It doesn't, but they think it does.

LOL, not my kids. It's pretty simple actually. When they mentioned that
their friends at school have fancy phones, I told them that they are
free to spend their own money on that kind of stuff, but that I will pay
only for basic phones and service. They wisely chose to not spend their
allowance, or money they earn, on phones and service plans since it
would leave them almost no money left.

>> For those interested in ensuring that their accounts don't expire,
>
> But wait a minute--you just said it's not a big problem to get the money
> back? So why should anyone worry?

They will not continually restore balances, or restore them after a long
period of time. They will do it as a courtesy to customers that don't
make a habit of it.

>
>> 1. Log into your PagePlus account and set up an automatic monthly $10
>> refill to begin the day before your expiration date.
>>
>> 2. If you refill manually prior to that date than reset the automatic
>> refill to the new expiration date.
>>
>> 3. If the automatic refill does kick in, and you don't want monthly
>> refills, go in and reset the next refill to the new 120 day expiration date.
>
> Gee, that sounds like quite a bit of work for something that YOU say
> isn't needed AT ALL.
>
> So which is it?

Hmm, are you sure you're not really John Navas?

As explained to you, they will restore your balance if you forget to
renew, but they won't do it if you make a habit of it.

Why do you think that it's a lot of work to log into your account and
set up automatic renewals? It takes only a couple of minutes, certainly
no more time than setting up automatic payments on a post-paid account.

> Why? When, as you say, that isn't needed at all? All you have to do is
> call PP, right?

As explained to you, they will restore your balance if you forget to
renew, but they won't do it if you make a habit of it.

I'm wondering why you're being so obtuse. Did you have PagePlus and
forget multiple times to add money to your account?

Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
> In article <4acb89c2$0$1615$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>,
> SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
>
>>> But wait a minute--you just said it's not a big problem to get the money
>>> back? So why should anyone worry?
>> They will not continually restore balances, or restore them after a long
>> period of time. They will do it as a courtesy to customers that don't
>> make a habit of it.
>
> The full amount, or something less?

They restored the full amount for me, and it was a lot, over $80.

> As a one-time courtesy, or ongoing as long as it's not a "habit"
> (whatever that's defined as)?

They didn't say that it was one-time.

Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
> In article <4acc777e$0$1599$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>,
> SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
>
>>> The full amount, or something less?
>> They restored the full amount for me, and it was a lot, over $80.
>
> When did this take place? Recently?

It was a while ago, not recently.

Note that they under no obligation to do anything at all for you, it's
at the discretion of the CSR. I don't know how they determine whether to
tell you to get lost, to restore part of your balance, or to restore all
of your balance--there's nothing in the terms of service that spells
this out. Perhaps it's how good of a customer you have been in terms of
length of service and amount spent. Perhaps it's how nice you talk to
the CSR. Maybe it's based on whether your Usenet posts about PagePlus
have been positive or negative.

SMS wrote:
> Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
>> In article <4acc777e$0$1599$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>,
>> SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
>>
>>>> The full amount, or something less?
>>> They restored the full amount for me, and it was a lot, over $80.
>>
>> When did this take place? Recently?
>
> It was a while ago, not recently.
>
> Note that they under no obligation to do anything at all for you, it's
> at the discretion of the CSR. I don't know how they determine whether to
> tell you to get lost, to restore part of your balance, or to restore all
> of your balance--there's nothing in the terms of service that spells
> this out. Perhaps it's how good of a customer you have been in terms of
> length of service and amount spent. Perhaps it's how nice you talk to
> the CSR. Maybe it's based on whether your Usenet posts about PagePlus
> have been positive or negative.

It could be determined by whether or not he always pays his bill on time
or even the phase of the moon when he makes the request. It's not
something anyone should count on!

On Sun, 4 Oct 2009 08:16:54 -0700 (PDT), "mgrahm@trib.com"
<mgrahm@trib.com> wrote:

>Hey all
>
>Just wondering if anyone here has any thoughts about PagePlus Prepaid
>good or bad. I currently have a Family Share Plan with Verizon and
>myself and mom never come close to using all of our minutes (might use
>10 or 20% percent at the most). I had in the past looked at some other
>prepaid services like Tracfon and Verizon In-Pulse, but did not find
>them to be very good values. I would like to know how often you have
>buy new minutes and do any remaining minutes roll over. Also do I need
>to buy a new phone from PagePlus or can just use the Motorola RAZR V3c
>and Motorola T730 we presently use?

Others have already stated the advantages and disadvantages of Page
Plus. Personally I've had very good luck with them.

If you are in a NATIVE Verizon area (which now includes the old Alltel
area) and don't travel outside of that area, the service is great. If
you go outside that area, you will be roaming. I don't go outside
native Verizon areas all that much, so it is great for me.

The service is good for those who don't use their phones that much.
Just renew the service every 120 days and you'll be fine.

You can even use phones that do not have GPS capabilities. You can't
use them on regular Verizon anymore, but PagePlus has no problem with
them. I used an old Motorola V120c phone (circa 2002) and it worked
just fine.

Your mileage may very, but I've been quite pleased with them. I still
have a VZW contract phone, but PagePlus is great for a second line. If
I weren't under contract, I would move to PagePlus for my needs.

On Sun, 04 Oct 2009 11:25:28 -0700, SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com>
wrote:

>mgrahm@trib.com wrote:
>> Hey all
>>
>> Just wondering if anyone here has any thoughts about PagePlus Prepaid
>> good or bad. I currently have a Family Share Plan with Verizon and
>> myself and mom never come close to using all of our minutes (might use
>> 10 or 20% percent at the most). I had in the past looked at some other
>> prepaid services like Tracfon and Verizon In-Pulse, but did not find
>> them to be very good values. I would like to know how often you have
>> buy new minutes and do any remaining minutes roll over. Also do I need
>> to buy a new phone from PagePlus or can just use the Motorola RAZR V3c
>> and Motorola T730 we presently use?
>>
>> Thanks
>> Michael
>
>Add time every 120 days.
>
>Minutes roll over.
>
>Any old Verizon phone will work, as will the low cost InPulse phones
>sold at Wal-Mart, Target, and Best Buy.
>
>Other useful information
>------------------------
>You can port your existing number. Sign up with PagePlus first and
>you'll get a number they assign, then call them to port your Verizon number.
>
>If you're a contributor to Howard Forums, there are some PagePlus
>dealers that will activate your phone on PagePlus, with 100 minutes, for
>free (normally it costs $5.99 at "http://uglyeric.com".
>
>Don't forget to add time every 120 days.
>
>The most economical way to buy time is to buy the $80 card (1400
>minutes), then buy $10 cards (83 minutes) every 120 days until you need
>to buy another $80 card.
>
>Buy cards at Calling Mart ("http://tinyurl.com/refillcallingmart") and
>use the coupon code ca3p-1207 for an additional 3% off their already
>discounted prices. This works out to a 5.91% discount off retail.
>Periodically CallingMart offers coupon codes that discount a flat 7% or
>8%. Sign up to their Facebook group and you'll be notified of these
>discounts.


So if I buy a $80 card, use 1000 minutes, and 120 days later buy a $10
card my unused minutes rollover making 483 minutes ?