Verizon Cheaper Prepaid 4 Droid Incredible or Hand-Me-Down Smartphones

Verizon Wireless is offering a new set of prepaid smartphone plans today, in an effort to compete in the prepaid market.

The prepaid plans for smartphones only use 3G data.. The plans are billed as for the budget minded and can be used with a compatible Verizon Wireless smartphone. Previously, Verizon prepaid options were limited to a few devices.

The lowest-cost prepaid smartphone plan is $60 per month for unlimited talk, unlimited text and 500MB of data.  the $70 per month plan includes unlimited talk and tax plus 2GB of data.

The prices for the smartphone start at $99 for the Samsung Illusion prepaid, the BlackBerry Curve 3G 9310 for $299 and the HTC Rhyme for $439.99 (read review).

Verizon Wireless blog post Brian Malina noted that customers can use the HTC Droid Incredible 2 or most BlackBerry models will work with the plan  This kind of plan is geared for those with hand-me-down smartphones or even people who buy  used phones online.

 "A new smartphone isn’t necessary to take advantage of the prepaid plans," wrote Malina.

If  you already have a phone you can activate online by inputting your zip code to determine the area code you want.  Then you enter HESN or MEID. Wireless phones are identified by an Electronic Serial Number (ESN) or a Mobile Equipment Identifier (MEID). These are found on your phone under the battery.

This plan then makes sense if you have Verizon smartphone already or if Verizon Wireless is the only carrier in the area.  We have received comments that Straight Talk fworks just as well in some areas for $45 a month, you do have buy your smartphone upfront, with that plan, you get unlimited talk and text with 2GB of data.

Other competitive prepaid options are MetroPCS ($50 for 2GB LTE and $60 unlimited LTE data) and Boost Mobile (Get 14% OFF Promo Code CALLME ).CowBoom pre-owned and refurbished Verizon smartphones.