Verizon is a great but has a huge price

I'm technically a Verizon customer. I was with Alltel since 2004, but my account transferred to Verizon last month. I don't think their rates are outrageous... then again, my service plan is still a modified Alltel plan, not an actual Verizon one. I'm impressed with how smooth the transition to Verizon was. The only thing that I have had a problem with is what happened when we went in to upgrade my husband's phone in the beginning of October. He found an Alltel phone that he liked. It would have been free with a 2-year contract extension, but they would not allow us to get it because it was an Alltel phone. Apparently any modifications to our plan at all require us to switch to a full Verizon service plan. All of the Verizon phones they had in the store were pretty expensive, and they all required mail-in rebates to get a decent price on them, even with a 2-year agreement. On top of that, if he'd upgraded his phone, I would have had to get a new phone as well. Same story--I'd have to pay up front for the phone even with a 2-year agreement, and then wait for my mail-in rebate to come. It was honestly more trouble than it was worth, and we couldn't afford to buy two brand-new phones at almost full retail price. In the end, we wound up going over to Sprint and porting my husband's number off of my Verizon account. He got a new phone, and even before the mail-in rebate it was cheaper than the phones Verizon was offering. Plus he's got a better service plan for only about $10 more than we were paying for his line every month. The only real complaint I have is that their network isn't as big as Verizon's, but his plan has no roaming charges at all so it's not a huge issue.

Verizon was my first cell phone service. I love the service that they had, I never had a problem with losing my signal or anything of that matter. I do agree that the price can be a little much for me. Especially with the many different plans that they carry now. I currently have Sprint. I like the service, even though I do lose it sometimes. It's not real bad, and its normally when I'm out in the middle of nowhere. I even enjoy their prices which makes its quite easy for me.

We have Verizon basically because it is the only service available in our area. We are evidently so far from the towers of other providers that there is no reception here. I do feel that the basic plan that we have is a little too expensive for just a couple of plain-jane phones with no bells/whistles - we don't use text messaging, email or web - just the basic phone and never use even near the total minutes on our plan.