Not interested in a contract plan with a major wireless company? Well now Verizon Wireless offers a new unlimited talk plan with 1 GB of data for a Samsung smartphone. Hit the jump for details on the device and the plan.
+TatWZA
Verizon Wireless said Monday that it will offer a new $80 prepaid plan, offering unlimited talk, texting, and 1GB of data.
In addition, Verizon added a new prepaid data plan, centered around the Verizon Jetpack 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot MiFi, which earned a PCMag Editors’ Choice award. Verizon recently launched an international roaming plan, to boot.
The new prepaid plan will be exclusively available on the Samsung Illusion (left), which will cost $169.99. Verizon will begin the plan on May 1, at Best Buy, Target, RadioShack, and Walmart, the company said.
Unfortunately, the Illusion is a mid-range phone. Normally $79.99 with a two-year contract, the phone doesn’t offer Verizon’s LTE service; it’s 3G only. Furthermore, the 3.5-inch, 320-by-480-pixel capacitive touch screen and single-core, 1-GHz Cortex A8-based Hummingbird CPU may seem a little underwhelming compared the other top-of-the-line phones being offered by Samsung via other carriers.
“Like many other Samsung phones for Verizon, the Illusion is a decent, midrange option, although it feels like it should be free with contract,” PCMag’s Alex Colon wrote in his review. “It lacks 4G, and you don’t have to look hard or spend more than $100 with contract to find something better.”
However, Verizon does offer a prepaid LTE option, via new prepaid plans for the Verizon Jetpack hotspot. Normally, the Jetpack comes bundled with 5GB per month for $50 or 10GB per month for $80, plus $10 per additional GB. Under Verizon’s two-year plans, the Jetpack costs $49.99; the prepaid version costs $129.99.
Verizon’s new prepaid data plans cost $15 for 250MB of data, $60 for 3GB of data per month, or $90 for 10GB of data. Up to five devices can be connected via Wi-Fi, the company said.
