Expert: DebiN - 9/28/2010

Question
I'm currently with Verizon and my plan is expiring as well as my cell is dying. I want to proceed without a contract, so I'm trying to figure out if I should A) buy a GSM phone outright and change to AT&T (due to greater phone selection and use a pay as you go plan) or B) stick with Verizon. I've heard that it's possible to get an unlocked GSM phone (I can't really find any unlocked CDMA phones) and pay for a 'basic' plan and have phone features work without paying for media plans. I have no idea if this is true....can you advise please? Bottom line is: I don't need a lot of minutes, but to cover my *ss, I pay more than I want to for additional txting plans. Thanks!

Answer
My recommendation is to have service with the carrier who will give you the best service. If Verizon is your choice, then switch to a pay as you go plan and get a new phone from them. If AT&T, then do the same. But what I wouldn't do is to get a phone and then try to get a basic plan. There aren't any basic plans ($39.99 is the lowest cost for a plan). You can't use any features without paying for them regardless. If you use data, you will be charged for data. A data plan for a phone is $15.00 for unlimited or you can pay as you use it. There are pay as you go plans with unlimited text these days. You may want to consider those, but I would definitely recommend the pay as you go and just buy the phone from the carrier. It's a lot less expensive that way and it comes with a 1 year guarantee also. Hope this helps.