Verizon adds more eligible phones to prepaid smartphone plan

Verizion prepaid announced its $80 smartphone plan, most of us came away unimpressed. The plan added $30 to the already existing $50 unlimited talk and text plan, and provided just 1GB of data. Furthermore, it offered just one phone at first, the Samsung Illusion, which cost $170. The Motorola Citrus was also added, but that’s pretty much a non-factor in the Android realm. Thankfully, it appears that Verizon has made a number of handsets available on the prepaid smartphone plan. After the jump, a list of what’s eligible. Users with the following handsets can activate with the $80 prepaid smartphone plan: BlackBerry: 8830, 8330, 8530, 9330, 9370, 9530, 9630, 9850, 9930 Palm: Pre Plus, Pre 2, Pre 3, Pixi Plus Android: Droid 2, Droid X, Droid 2 Global, Droid R2D2, Droid 3, Droid Pro, Mage, Ally, Vortex, Enlighten, Nokia 7705 This isn’t an exhaustive list (well, except for BlackBerry), but it’s clearly an improvement over the previous selection of just two handsets. Of course, you must own the above-listed handset and then have it activated on Verizon’s $80 prepaid smartphone plan. My biggest gripe with this plan is that Verizon’s postpaid plans are close in price. Even with the new Share Everything plan, you can get the same unlimited talk and text plus 1GB of data for $90 per month. But there you get a much wider handset selection, and get a discount on it. Yes, you have to sign away for two years, but with such a tiny price difference it might be worth your while. (And yes, when a prepaid wireless site says that postpaid might be a better option, it’s a red flag I’d think.) It’s clear that Verizon recognizes the rising tide of prepaid wireless. They wouldn’t have changed their smartphone plans if they didn’t. But right now they’re charging a ton of money for very little data. And we all know that data is the backbone of any smartphone. Maybe they’ll get there soon, but right now there are simply better deals with other carriers. Via Howard Forums.]]>