Verizon MVNO Selectel Wireless has announced that it is phasing out free roaming for all plans. This move will happen immediately for new customers and current customers are expected to be migrated to the new Verizon prepaid platform sometime in the next week or so. Current customers with 3G phones will have to call Selectel to make the migration, but 4G customers need take no action. Effective immediately, all customers who are moved to the new platform will have to purchase a $10 Flex Card in order to cover the per-minute roaming charges, which are charged at the rate of $0.05 per minute/MB/text. The Flex Card does not expire. This is bad news for Selectel Wireless whose overly expensive plans were made valuable by its position as being the only prepaid Verizon dealer to allow for roaming. Without that, its plans are prohibitively expensive compared to other companies. According to Prepaid Phone News, dealers were originally told that the loss of roaming would be offset by more competitive pricing and possibly even roaming credit. However, as of the time of writing, neither of those things seems to have happened. Here’s what Selectel’s plans look like currently:
- $15 – 300 minutes, 300 texts, 15 MB
- $20 – 500 minutes, 500 texts, 2.5 MB (only available for MMS)
- $30 – 1,500 minutes, unlimited texts, 1 GB
- $40 – unlimited minutes and texts, 2 GB
- $55 – unlimited minutes and texts, 5 GB
- $70 – unlimited minutes and texts, 7 GB
- $75 yearly plan – 2,000 minutes, 2,000 texts