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Verizon's prepaid plans now let you use LTE smartphones
Verizon got a little more serious about tackling prepaid cellphone service when it unveiled new Allset plans a few months ago, but it was hobbled by the lack of LTE. Why not just go to rival carriers who've had fast data for considerably longer? That won't be a problem after today. Big Red now lets you either bring your own 4G-capable Verizon phone to Allset or buy a fresh device with Allset in mind. You won't have a wide selection of hardware to choose from, but Verizon isn't saving all the good phones for its subscription customers. You can get the HTC One, Samsung Galaxy S5 or Moto X if you want something relatively fresh; the Galaxy S 4 and two LG devices, the Lucid 3 and G2, are on tap if you'd rather save money and get something slightly behind the times. The data buckets are still modest at 500MB (included with the $45 base plan), 1GB ($10) and 3GB ($20), but you at least won't have to pair them with outmoded gear.
Verizon's new prepaid cellphone plans let you buy rollover data
If you don't like commitment, a prepaid phone plan can be appealing -- but not if you have to predict your data needs well in advance. Verizon may offer a lot more flexibility with its new Allset plans, though. While there's only one base $45 per month plan for smartphones with unlimited calling, unlimited messages and 500MB of data, customers can tack on "bridge data" that rolls any unused megabytes over to the next month. If you pay $10 for 1GB of data or $20 for 3GB, you can hold on to any leftover capacity for up to 90 days -- a big help if you know you'll need some headroom during that summer vacation. There's a $5 pack if you only need 500MB of data for 30 days, and basic feature phone users can buy the same bridge packs. Basic feature phone owners can also use Allset, although their $35 base rate caps them at 500 minutes of voice. These aren't the cheapest prepaid plans we've seen in the US (see Virgin Mobile for a good example), but they may make sense if your internet usage varies wildly from month to month.
