last spring we got mom her first smart phone, an iPhone SE (basically the iPhone 5) at the same time as switching her to Pre-paid on Verizon(previously an off contract OLD lg vzw flipper - maybe 10 yrs old.)
Verizon prepaid had the SE for $250. (may still), the local VZW corporate store: 1)knew nothing of this deal, 2) gave us all kinds of flack about switching to an "inferior product" ie: prepaid vs contract. 3) couldn't or just plain wouldn't match the deal as apparently the Pre-paid side is a totally separate thing.... or at least operates thusly..
I had to call customer service, but was able to get her that deal, at the same time as converting the account to prepaid(keeping the number she's had forever)
she pays $35/mo for unlimited talk/text, with a mere 500MB of data, but it does carry over if you don't use it all. (if she wants to add more data a la carte, it's like $5 a gig(may have changed - they change the prepay plans all the time)
but there's wifi most everywhere she goes, and does most of her "surfing", etc on her iPad Mini.
and if that plan no longer suits you, you can change it once a month. you could change it every month if you wanted to.
(and even if you use up all 500mb, they don't just shut you off, you just get throttled way down...)
