Page Plus Mobile - New $12 plan and Unlimited price drop to $39.95

Thanks to whiterussian @ SD

Just got an email from Pageplus:

We are pleased to announce that effective December 7th, the price of the Unlimited Talk n Text plan will be lowered from $44.95 to $39.95! This plan now offers even more value for those customers who need unlimited calling and texting, but do not require much data usage or mainly utilize Wi-Fi for data.

Starting December 7th, Unlimited Talk n Text PINs will load at a $39.95 value. Customers currently on the plan will be charged $39.95 on their next monthly renewal following this date. Only the price is changing - all plan provisions will remain the same.

There is also a new plan included on them, which is The 12. The 12 includes 250 minutes, 250 text/MMS messages and 10 MB of data for just $12 per month. The 12 will launch on December 20th. It will be a very economical plan perfect for those customers who do not require a lot of cell phone usage, yet want to save money on their cell phone bill.

So December 7th:
Unlimited changes from $44.95 to $39.95 and includes:
Unlimited Talk
Unlimited text/mms(not including data)
20mb of Data

December 20th:
$12 plan starts and includes:
250 minutes
250 text/mms(not including data)
10mb data

So it goes back to $39.95 like it was a year or so ago.
Good deal on the $12 plan though!

Nice. That $12 plan is gonna be a niche market but PERFECT for low usage, or people who just prefer a traditional 'bucket' of minutes.

soccerref said:   been on prepaid for too long, so I have a noob question regarding plans.

Do the minutes carry over if not used in one month?

Thanks,

On the "monthly" prepaid plans, no, the minutes do not carry over.

The $12 plan is good only if you use ALL the minutes, some of the texts and value 10mb of data (which doesn't seem enough to do much). The standard plan, at .04 a minute, comes out pretty much the same, with the added flexibility of being able to go over or under the amounts.

Consider this: $12 for 250 minutes = 4.8c per minute. PP already have a 4c per minute plan ($80 for 2000 minute) which lasts for one year. With that said, I am not too sure how useful the $12 per month plan really is, considering the fact that the minutes are good only for one month. In other words, you get 333 minutes (in 12 months or 250 minutes in 16 months) for $13.33 per month with the "minute rollover feature".

I think this plan is good for people who need: some text, some minutes and some data.

Does anyone know if 10MB/month be enough if all I do is checking text-based email, no downloading attachments or show pictures in email?

uat1 said:   Does anyone know if 10MB/month be enough if all I do is checking text-based email, no downloading attachments or show pictures in email?

Probably not. My wife averages about 19MB a month, checking her emails, without push turned on.

I really hope Net10 comes back with something like 400 minutes (units) for $15 a month so they will have 750 for $25 or 400 for $15 or I'm switching to page plus!

yeah purchase a grandfathered virgin $25 beyond talk plan from eBay

Aapun said:   Consider this: $12 for 250 minutes = 4.8c per minute. PP already have a 4c per minute plan ($80 for 2000 minute) which lasts for one year. With that said, I am not too sure how useful the $12 per month plan really is, considering the fact that the minutes are good only for one month. In other words, you get 333 minutes (in 12 months or 250 minutes in 16 months) for $13.33 per month with the "minute rollover feature".

I think this plan is good for people who need: some text, some minutes and some data.

I'm new to PP. Can you tell me what you meant by the 13.33 per month? Is this a separate plan?

fatwalletexpert said:   

I'm new to PP. Can you tell me what you meant by the 13.33 per month? Is this a separate plan?

PagePlus offers both pay per minute/text plans (aka the "Standard Plans") and pay per month plans. The poster above was suggesting that for talk only, the $12 plan is not as beneficial as the pay per use plan if you buy $80 cards.

The math goes like this -- $80 gives 2000 minutes (at 4 cents per minute) and one year of service. So if you bought 2 of these cards, you would not only get more minutes, but the unexpired balances are retained as long as you renew. So two $80 cards = $160 / 12 months = $13.33 per month. That would let you use any portion of your 4,000 minutes at any time during the year.

However, the $12 plan is better if you use both talk and text, and use more than about 250-300 text OR minutes combined. For example, texts on the standard plans are 5 cents, so 240 texts would be $12.00. Similarly, 300 minutes at 4 cents would be $12.00. But if you use a combination of calls/texts (say 150 of each), then you'd be better off with the $12.00 plan since 150 calling minutes is $6.00 and 150 texts is $7.50, which totals $13.50.

On the standard plans, lower denomination PINs provide only 120 days of service and result in a higher per minute rate (e.g., the $25 card is 6 cents per minute, the $10 card is 10 cents per minute) -- texts are 5 cents regardless of which denomination PIN was added. Also, note the standard plans charge a 50-cent monthly maintenance fee, which isn't applicable to the monthly plans (and not included in the above math), and data is not reflected here since 10mb is a miniscule amount of data for anything except very infrequent WAP (old-school mobile text-based browsing).

Like ALMOST ANY cell phone plan, the intent is that you don't use the full allotment every month, since the overage rates are at a much higher rate.

dev77 said:   Anyone know of a plan that has unlimited(or 4000) texts a month, no data, and about 200 minutes talk time for $25 or under.

I can get close.

PP unlimited texting plan is $19.95/mo
PP 2000 minute airtime card is $80/yr (2000/12 = 166 min/mo)

(19.95*12) + $80 = $319.40/yr = $26.61/mo

Bizatch said:   Can you sign up for the $12/month plan for just one month, then quit?Yes.

borgified said:   Your not counting the texts and data, but I agree, for low usage phone, just use the prepaid plan.

on the standard plan, is there a way to buy/add data?

Just a reminder -- this plan is now active!

This seems like a good plan for my needs. But the problem is, I do not have a phone to begin with.
By going through one of the archived thread, I got to know that I can buy any verizon phone from wallmart or bestbuy and get it activated on page plus.

Does this still holds true? Can I buy the below mentioned phone and port-in my number to pageplus? Please help.

Phone link: Best Buy Verizon Phone

If this does not works, please suggest the most cost effective way to get one. Thanks.

VZW phone that are prepaid will NOT activate on PPC. PPC CSRs can tell by the ESN (electronic serial number).

But the Palm is an overkill for my needs and I am sure it will hog the battery.

Is there no basic phone easily available of the shelf?

cyclops13 said:   But the Palm is an overkill for my needs and I am sure it will hog the battery.

Is there no basic phone easily available of the shelf?
If you turn of data on the Pixi battery is pretty good

PP is awesome. My wife and I have been using them for a while now. I made the switch last year as soon as my VZW contract ended and got my wife on it several months before. We also got her parents on it as well - I had a couple of older VZW flip phones laying around so we gave it to them and have been buying them the $80 refills via Callingmart. We had her dad on the unlimited plan for a couple months but it just wasn't worth it because he doesn't consistently make calls that much.

It definitely beats paying $70~ a month I was paying previously. And yea, prices have decreased to around $50 for plans with data, but I'm still paying less. Of course, that's with pretty limited data. But I'd rather save $$$ than spend on data that I probably won't end up taking full advantage of.

If you're a heavy data user, PP is not for you. If you want a plan with plenty of minutes and if you're a crazy-heavy texter, the talk n text 1200 is great (3000 texts!!! 100mb data). Nothing else is really appealing to me. I'm just waiting for the day they announce an unlimited data plan LOL