When I first found out about Page Plus, I checked out their official webpage and dismissed them. I saw a limited amount of phones and moved on to the next plan to check out. After procrastinating for a while and being "this close" to going with Straight Talk (more on that later), I ended up making my way back to Page Plus, but this time I happened to click on a link for a Page Plus dealer, Kitty Wireless, and my thinking completely changed. This is when I found out that you could take almost any Verizon postpaid phone (with a few exceptions) and "bring your own device" to activate it on Page Plus without being required to use one of the "officially approved" Page Plus phones (not to say there is anything wrong with them, I just didn't like the few official options available). And another great selling point--Page Plus utilizes the best network out there--Verizon.
What Sold Me on Page Plus and Kitty Wireless
So after researching Page Plus more, I realized there were many reasons that Page Plus was the best option out there, not only for me but for many people that just don't know about this option. Below you will find many of the reasons why I think Page Plus service beats the competition--postpaid and prepaid:
- Page Plus uses the Verizon prepaid network with the ability to roam whereas there is no roaming on Straight Talk if you use a Verizon-network capable phone. So if I am traveling outside of my normal area and I have an emergency, I want to be able to call if needed.
- You are not locked into a contract.
- You are not restricted to a basic phone for certain plans on Page Plus. You can have any type of Verizon phone, from basic all the way to smartphone (as long as it is not one of the exclusions of an iPhone, 4G phone, prepaid cell phone) on any of the plans depending on your preferences, so plenty of flexibility and phone choices, especially with the "bring your own device" option.
- For 2 phones, we were paying around $60 a month for just talk capabilities on our postpaid phones. I thought it would be nice to have texting and a little bit of internet (after all I have internet at home and work so I don’t need a lot) but didn’t want a large increase in our monthly bill. With Page Plus' multiple plans to choose from, this is entirely possible even using a smartphone.
- Page Plus is good for someone who doesn’t require the newest phone available (4G and iPhones aren't compatible yet) but just newer than they currently have. And considering we have always had flip phones with no texting or internet, any smartphone was a big change without having to have the newest one available.
- If you have good phones now that are no longer under contract, that are CDMA band (which is what Verizon uses where as AT&T uses GSM band) and are not prepaid phones, you can continue to use those phones and just port your number over to Page Plus without having to get a different phone. Even if you are under contract, if you pay so much that even if you took the early termination penalty you would save money, that would be something to check into.
- If you are on a monthly plan with Kitty Wireless, you have the ability to set up Auto Pay so you never have to remember when the monthly service ends.
- If you just want a basic calling plan, there are multiple pay-as-you-go options for people that don’t use their phone an excessive amount.
- Customer service is EXCELLENT with Kitty Wireless. Not only Kitty Wireless but the main Page Plus cellular customer service is in the United States. And if you go thru my link, you would be a customer of Kitty Wireless, a Page Plus dealer, and Kitty Wireless takes great care of their customers. On the other hand, even though Straight Talk has a national market by being sold in Wal-Mart, their customer service is in the Philippines and I personally was not impressed with their online help forum. If you check Straight Talk's forum with a problem and someone else had the same issue, most likely you aren't going to be able to resolve it without having to get a representative involved. I also didn't get answers to some of my questions so I was unimpressed.
- I found out that even though the big cell phone companies try to make you believe that if you have a smartphone you have to have a data package, however that is not true if you have access to wi-fi networks. When researching, I have found that as long as you are conscientious about your mobile data usage, even standard pay as you go plans with a smartphone are possible. You can either turn the mobile internet off and on on the handset itself or you can request that it be blocked by Page Plus to not use your cash balance and get by just fine. The only time you would have to have mobile data is for picture or video messages and if you don't have a need for those or prefer sending them by email, you can actually get by with never using mobile data and just using wi-fi, even with a smartphone. That was a real kicker when you don’t even have that option with the big companies.
- You can go through Verizon directly for a prepaid plan, but you will pay $50 a month for a non-smartphone plan or $70 for a smartphone plan. So for the same coverage, because you would pay for roaming with Verizon also, you can save a lot of money with Page Plus.
u
Here is a review posted online about Kitty Wireless and Page Plus:
There were only a few drawbacks to Page Plus that I could find and I could easily overlook them. They included: not being able to use 4G phones or iPhones yet (even though some do, which talk about this can be found at the bottom of the Phones page); the short few-hour period (overnight) while your phone renews every month reverts to the standard plan rates, but if you are on Autopay, any funds used are returned; no ringback tones; and since I was no longer going to be a Verizon customer, all of my calls to friends and family on their Verizon phones would no longer be Verizon-to-Verizon and would go towards their peak minutes. I have also encountered a few times where I get an odd message about my account balance instead of dialing my call, but I just hang up and try again. On the other hand, I occasionally had odd messages occur while I was with Verizon so I don't worry too much about these. To me these items weren't big deals, but to some they might be and I wanted to disclose them to make sure you are aware of them.