No such thing as free phones

I was tempted to switch and have been crunching some numbers for my use case, but the taxes and fees are an issue for me as I believe they would come to an additional $25-30/month.

My current setup runs me about $80/m for 5 lines -
4 lines on a Pooled US Mobile account ~ average cost $55/m
1 line on Boost w/35 Gb of "premium data" + 12 Gb Hotspot ~ $25/m

If I switched to Verizon/US Mobile I estimate a new monthly cost of $140/m -
4 lines on Verizon ~ estimated cost $125-130/m after taxes and fees
1 line on US Mobile ~ estimated cost $15/m

I'm looking at at $60/m difference, or $2160 over 36 months, and Verizon has 36 months to increase costs through added taxes or fees (their price guarantee only seems to cover the plan, not taxes or fees).

I know that 'in theory' switching to Verizon saves me $1160 in phone costs, but there are a lot of "if's" baked into that and only if I "need" 4 new phones.

Really tempted to just nurse the iPhone 13s on for a bit longer and replace my 2 x 10 year old iPads.

Your situation of course may be completely different, but I wanted to show my thought process and if anyone saw any flaws in my logic :-P

I just recently switched from Unlimited Welcome to Visible, and will say it's night and day, Unlimited welcome was terrible, you don't get good 5g, you get nationwide 5g which is more like 4g, no hotspot at all, just really bad value for nothing really added to compete with prepaids like visible. The deals may sometimes be worth it, but you will get better service just saving money that you save from not getting regular verizon and putting that towards a new phone.

Had welcome plan for years . 45 with tax after I broke it down. Visible is 25 . Same plan same towers in town .

Don't forget taxes and fees from VZW

Deal link: Verizon (Check price on Amazon)

Verizon has for New Verizon Customers: 4 Lines of Verizon Unlimited Welcome Plan for $120/month ($30/month each line; after bill credits are applied w/ Auto Pay & paper-free billing discounts of $10 per line) + 4-Count iPhone 16 Pro 128GB for $4.99/month (after bill credits are applied) + $200 Verizon Gift Card when you follow the instructions below.

Note: $999.99 purchase on device payment or at retail price required. New line required. Less $999.99 promo credit applied to account over 36 mos; promo credit ends if eligibility requirements are no longer met; 0% APR. Taxes & fees may apply. Credits will appear on your Verizon Wireless bill.

Deal Instructions:* Click here to go to Verizon

• Select preferred color & 128GB for iPhone 16 Pro
• Select New Customer, then select Next Steps
• Scroll down to Start your own plan, then Start building
• Select the Unlimited Welcome plan, then select Continue without Perks
• Select No thanks to No Device Protection
• Select Keep Shopping, then Shop smartphones
• Select the iPhone 16 Pro and repeat the steps above for lines 2, 3 and 4
• When finalizing checkout, wait a minute or two for a popup to appear for a $200 Verizon Gift Card
• At final checkout, you should have 4 Lines of Unlimited Welcome at $30/month per line (after Auto Pay & paper-free billing discounts) w/ 4 iPhone 16 Pro 128GB at $0/month for 36 months per phone (after bill credit applied to each phone) + $200 Verizon Gift Card (appears in a pop up after waiting at checkout page)

The Visible base plan and Unlimited Welcome have the same network priority but 5G UW is throttled to 25Mbps on Welcome and may or may not be throttled on your current Visible service (it's hit or miss whether those lines get throttled while it's a guarantee with Unlimited Welcome as it's in the terms). They are the same otherwise.

It is not incorrect, corporate store reps can put on a $10 discount on up to 2 new lines that is good for 36 months. The limit is 2 per account.

Trying to figure that out right now too…

4x Unl Welcome at $35 (with autopay) is $140 -$5/line for close credits so, so $120.

Maybe an ECPD for another $20? u/Reom_76 are you or anyone on your account a first responder/teacher/nurse/military? That would put them at what like $90-$95 before taxes/fees?

Why? No guarantee that it will still be $1000 off device and includes unlimited welcome in the plan option.

I assume to wait for the iPhone 17/Pro, but there aren’t any game changer features for this question or more broadly expected with that either.

I can tell you right now your bill isn’t going to be 100 for 4 phones lmao

Thanks for the insight. I’ve had a similar experience with Visible. Concerts and large gatherings can end up with poor service but it’s also worked fine at places like Disneyland. Sounds like Welcome might be okay. What speeds do you get if you run a speed test? On Visible I can sometimes get over 200Mbps on LTE, they seem to limit my 5G to around 50.

Okay but how am I making my money on that? No insurance or perks or VDHP. I’d walk that sale tbh unless I needed new lines for the month. Which I don’t.

As a rep I wouldn’t even wanna do that. Like you’re gonna be hurting my metrics more than helping them. Yeah 4 new lines is pretty nice but like my vmp and perk rate is gonna get fucked

The retention deals are god tier and we know the phone isn't terrible

Can't say either will be true for the 17

You can mix & match plans on Verizon. Put 2 of the lines on Unlimited Plus. Their is a $10 addtional discount that store reps can put on up to 2 lines on the account makeing the difference a $5 difference for infinitely better service on the Verizon network because then you priority data and full access to the 5G UW network with uncapped speeds.

So $110+tax if done that way but its well worth, espeically since Welcome doesn't include any hotspot and unlimited Plus does.

Here are some thoughts on a per-plan basis:

• Welcome Unlimited: 100% worth it to switch to Unlimited Welcome. You get the exact same plan, the same price, and now with the added flexibility to add hotspot data or other perks.
• 5G Start: I think it’s worth it for 5G Start customers to switch to Unlimited Welcome. You save $5 - $20/mo per account depending on how many lines you have. Yes, you miss out on the 5GB of included hotspot data, but you also now have the option to add 100GB for $10.
• 5G Play More, 5G Do More, 5G Get More, One Unlimited for iPhone: I think it’s worth keeping your current plan. Getting the same perks you have now on the new Unlimited Plus plan will be more expensive.

Now, what about for new customers?

The bottom line is you need to add 2-3 perks to get extra savings that brings the net pricing to about the same as the competition.

The biggest variable right now are the phone promos. If Verizon gives away free phones for existing customers, the Unlimited Plus plan becomes more appealing. But as of right now, trade in credit is at around $400, which is substantially less than the $800 you get from AT&T or T-Mobile.

The extra savings on devices are a big reason why AT&T and T-Mobile end up as more affordable options for most people.

What if you don’t finance your device?

You can get Verizon coverage for around $25/line/month on US Mobile Unlimited Basic or Visible. IMO, these are some of the better options for people looking to save money.

I am. Recently came back and don’t mind the new highest tier plan. 13 Pro Max and 14 Pro Max on the plan. Along with a Ultra watch. I like being able to save $10 in perks I never wanted. I am also getting $30 off my bill for both BYOD for 36 months.

I did some more research on this, it looks like the $30 advertised is for new lines that bring their own device and go on the Unlimited Plus plan. They essentially charge those new users $45/month and give them a $15 credit per month. Smart on their end because once the user wants to upgrade their phone that promised "3 year price" is if you keep the same phone or pay in full for a device upfront. Wouldn't be surprised if the fine print says you have to have the same device to keep the $30/month.

Depends how many lines you have. 4+ lines gets you $30/month

I looked into moving over to welcome unlimited, but I got hit with I would lose my promo credits for the phones. The funny part is if I wanted to move to Unlimited Plus they would still honor the promo credits for the phones. I’m paying $40 for do more, which include Apple Arcade and Hulu/Disney Bundle where moving to Unlimited plus would be $42 and I would lose both entertainment perk and hotspot data would be reduced. I would have saved $42/ month moving some of my lines over to welcome unlimited that don’t need premium features, but they knew what they were doing restricting promos carrying over to certain plans.

Nope. Keeping my old plans because with what I have now I'd be paying more for the new plans.

As a Verizon employee it helps me remember most things about the two compared to the 6 very similarly named old ones

As an Indirect store manager, I get the negativity BUT it seriously simplifies it for guests, instead of walking through 6 different plans and comparing them with people who usually had no idea wtf was going on, you get these two options. I think that people looking at the perks as add one vs replacing what’s already being paid for is the issue. I personally switched the first day from get more to unlimited + with the Disney bundle, Apple one, and +play and I’m saving about $15 a month compared to before just paying for things I already was paying for. The flexibility of the perks is super nice too and if you don’t want any? Cool no problemo just enjoy uncapped data. I also think that unless the new plans were infinitely better people would’ve complained regardless so screw it 😂

I just switched. Went to the local store and got the standard $820 trade in, $200 redemption (takes 8 weeks) and they gave me $300 in account credit for getting device protection. Calling to cancel it soon. They said I had to keep it for 3 months but going to see if I can get out of it sooner.

Trade in promos: 400 off when on a low tier plan. 800 off when on a mid tier plan. 1000 off when on high tier plan.

Do you own a business or sell anything online?

It's no longer $20 off first month. It's now $20 off second month.

Just switched. Verizon was abysmal. They will pay to get you out of any contract on your phone. I got four lines for the price of three. Call to have them help you change; as the phone person had a “20% discount code” that was not offered to me online. With that code, I got a price better than Verizon with better perks

Switching through Costco or Sam’s Club is the best deal. It’s worth joining just for the additional promos. (Costco currently has an additional $400 per line you switch over right now).

For Verizon customers you can get pretty much any phone “on us” or really discounted. If you owe on your phones T-Mobile will pay up to $800 off on up to 4 phones.

If I were in a position to switch carriers, I’d probably save all the monthly money and go with a MVNO. Getting a good deal on a phone isn’t worth the extra $40+ per line you’d have to pay for 2 years and you won’t have the freedom to switch carriers for a better deal without giving up bill credits if you decide to go with T-Mobile with a new device promotion. Free isn’t free, it costs you a very significant extra in your y bill when there are $25 unlimited plans out there.

Of course, a lot of it depends on your usage but if you’re mostly connected to Wi-Fi at home and don’t regularly go to crowded places, a MVNO might save you a lot more money. Even if you do need more priority, Google Fi gets the same priority as T-Mobile postpaid customers at a lot lower price than T-Mobile.

Only way these plans make sense (other than to verizon) is if they lowered the prices further. Most current plans include more than 1 perk so they would be paying more to get the same thing on the new plans.

Lol my coworkers and I said the same. I love that it’s $10 more than start on a single line. I guess the upside is there are no more having to explain the different plans. What we really need is the individual $45 and $35 SMB plans back. That was bundle heaven. I think I can speak for everyone, thank God the Hum is dead.

going to be tough as shit selling these plans when you have AT&T and T-Mobile with better "perk" offerings and maybe even prices in some cases.

I am confused too. It is not like they’ll force anyone to switch. If you already have a plan you get to keep it….

I mean, this whole thing is a strange idea lol, but I feel people like me who only use like 2 perks of the ones included, might be about the same price wise, I have play more on 3 lines but I’m the one who uses Disney bundle, and under 5 gigs of hotspot, other line only uses call text hotspot and 3rd line uses only calls text and regular data, just depends what people use it for.

A commenter on another post claimed this was the original intent, but Verizon did what they normally do and gutted that option.

The article claims the + is cheaper, but I just looked and aside from + going unlimited premium data, the rest of it is comparable to Do More/Play More minus all the perks.

So, you are literally paying the same - or more - for a lot less.

As a rep I cannot recommend these plans. They are straight up ass. A big ole bowl of booty.

Very true. At first I thought that plans would either cost the same (or if you have 5+ lines, $2 more per line) and have no included perks, so it would cost more. But, in my case, since I have a couple lines that hardly use their devices, I could put them on the cheaper Unlimited Welcome (previously Welcome Unlimited required all lines to be on the perk-less and promo-less plan that’s $5 cheaper than 5G Start) while mixing them with Unlimited Plus on my other lines. Adding in 1 perk (the Disney Bundle), and my pricing would be a wash. I’d lose some other perks that I don’t use much (or at all), so why switch? I think the $15 +Play Perk for $10 is clutch, and since I spend just over $45/mo on other non-Disney Bundle streaming services, I can save a bit by adding 3 of those +Play perks. My Verizon bill would be $30 higher but I’ll spend $45 less on streaming services, saving $15 overall. Not bad.