Get ready for an $80 prepaid smartphone — from Verizon

I have to say, when I saw $80 prepaid smartphone in a headline, I did not think that Verizon prepaid would be the one to carry it. They were once a force in prepaid with their EasyPay plans, but they eventually junked them in favor of consumer-unfriendly pay-per-day plans that cost up to $3 per day. Now they have a $50 unlimited service that mimics the plans of many top vendors in prepaid. Now they’re apparently taking the next step by offering an ultra-affordable prepaid smartphone.

The catch: we don’t yet know what specific phone they will offer. Verizon merely made mention of this deal on their earnings call. All we know is that it will cost only $80, which is to say that it likely a low-end Android handset — perhaps from the LG Optimus family. We’ll find out next week which smartphone they intend to offer.

We’ll also find out the additional fee that the smartphone will incur. While Verizon does offer unlimited web access in its $50 prepaid plan, that apparently does not include smartphone data. That is, it’s more meant for feature phones that browse on WAP browsers and the like. The $80 smartphone will require a 1GB data plan, which Verizon will presumably price at a higher tier.

Even if that fee is $10 per month, that’s still $60 per month for unlimited talk and text, plus 1GB of data, on Verizon’s large nationwide network. That the phone itself will only cost $80 will serve as further incentive for consumers. At a time when some carriers are reporting heavy prepaid growth, it appears Verizon is ready to cash in. This is certainly a dramatic way to go about it.

Via FierceWireless.

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