Verizon Wireless is now offering customers two new Prepaid Smartphone Plans for a monthly flat rate. The first plan includes unlimited talk and text and 500 MB of data for just $60 per month. The second plan includes unlimited talk and text and 2GB of data for $70 per month.
Verizon's new Prepaid Smartphone Plans are being offered for Verizon's 3G data network and is available on 3G capable smartphone that run Android, Blackberry and iOS. This is good news for existing Verizon customers, since they can simply switch to prepaid from a tiered plan without having to purchase a new smartphone. "A new smartphone isn't necessary to take advantage of the prepaid plans. Often, a no-longer-used smartphone sitting in a drawer at home can be activated on a prepaid plan with no annual contract.", says Verizon.
Smartphone users tend to use more data than basic phone users, so when switching to an unlimited prepaid phone plan, users should know that often times, their data usage gets throttled. Studies show that many carriers tend to throttle 3G data, meaning that cell phone carriers slow down the data speeds. The purpose of this practice is to help reduce network congestion. Carriers like T-Mobile alert customers that their data will be throttled after 5GB of use. Sprint insists that they do not throttle user data unless it's noticed that a customer is abusing the network. Verizon claims to only throttle users that sit in the top 5% of heavy unlimited data use. AT&T throttles unlimited plan customers after 2GB of data use.
If you are a smartphone user switching over to the prepaid plan for the first time, there are a couple of things you can do to avoid being throttled. There are free downloadable apps like Juice Defender that let you manage your phone data and save battery at the same time. This app shuts off your phone's data when it's in sleep mode so you will see your data usage shrink drastically. Also, it's good idea to use Wi-Fi when available; this will also cut down on your data usage and avoid your carrier from putting you in the category of a "high data user".
