While elderly people have paid their dues and they would definitely deserve to enjoy a carefree retirement, in reality, they often struggle with money. Experiencing financial issues is sadly very common among retired citizens. In fact, according to studies, there is a staggering percentage of seniors below the federal poverty line and some of them can’t even afford food. Pensions tend to be low or even disappearing and the existing retirement benefits are simply inadequate. In addition to buying groceries, basic supplies, and paying the monthly bills, elderly people also tend to have high health care bills and the rising housing expenses are only making things worse.
As such, it’s only fair and fitting that they receive as many senior benefits and discounts as possible. Luckily, elderly citizens are entitled to affordable health insurance, free college education, senior services, affordable travel deals, tax deductions, bigger account limits, and all kinds of senior discounts, including cheap mobile phones and inexpensive plans.
Verizon Discounts Offer for Seniors
Due to the often inadequate financial situation of senior citizens, most telecommunication companies (including the big four – AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon) nowadays offer some kind of discounts for seniors. Verizon is one of the service providers that offer the largest variety of different discounts and other benefits for their elderly clients. As such Verizon is a great option for elderly people who are interested in purchasing either an affordable mobile device or a low-cost service plan. Check out the many Verizon discounts for seniors listed below-
Verizon offers a wide selection of discounts for seniors. They offer a lot of inexpensive service plans, including the 55+ Senior Phone Plan, the 65+ Senior Phone Plan, the Lifeline program discount, and other affordable plans. In addition, they offer internet discounts and provide a large number of low-cost mobile devices, including simple flip phones with basic features and the newest models of advanced smartphones. The large selection of economic services and phones enables Verizon’s elderly customers to choose the service and device that best fits their needs.
1) Verizon 55 Plus Plan
Verizon’s most popular plan for seniors is definitely their 55+ Senior Phone Plan. It is a very affordable service plan suitable for people age 55 and older. As the plan is considerably cheaper than Verizon’s standard plan, it’s truly a great option for elderly citizens.
What Do You Get?
Verizon 55+ Senior Phone Plan offers:
- Unlimited talk and text
- Unlimited 4G LTE data
- DVD-quality streaming
- Unlimited mobile hotspot with tethering speeds of up to 600 kbps
- Verizon up rewards
- Reliable nationwide coverage
- Service to Mexico and Canada included
Plan and Pricing:
The unlimited plan costs $60 with an AutoPay discount per month per line if you need one line. In case you need two lines, the plan costs $80 with an AutoPay discount a month, $40 per line. These prices are applicable if enroll in AutoPay and paper-free billing. The prices don’t include taxes or fees, nor the cost of your phone.
Verizon’s standard plan (Verizon Go Unlimited) in comparison, costs $75 a month for one line and $130 a month for two lines.
Requirements and Restrictions:
- The plan is only available in certain areas of the US. At first, this plan is only available in Florida, afterward, it becomes available in Illinois, Missouri, Texas, Michigan, and Detroit as well.
- The plan is available for both new and the majority of existing customers.
- The account holder must be 55 or more years old.
- The customer is required to have one or two phones on the account, depending on the number of lines he or she chooses.
2) Verizon 65 plus plan
In addition to the most popular 55+ Senior Phone Plan Verizon sometimes also offers a 65+ Senior Phone Plan, suitable for people 65 years old or older, who use regular cell phones with basic features. This plan comes with a two-year contract and it’s not available for new customers. While this plan doesn’t offer unlimited talk, text, and data, you can get unlimited services for a low additional cost.
What Do You Get?
Verizon 65+ Senior Phone Plan offers:
- No domestic long-distance charges
- Unlimited national mobile to mobile minutes to Verizon mobility customers
- Call Waiting, Caller ID, Call Forward, and Voice Mail features.
- The ability to add text or data plans
- Flexible talk, text, and data options
This plan enables customers to select a voice plan only or to add an additional message or data plan. The one-time activation cost of the plan is $35.
Plan and Pricing:
There are two different voice plans:
- The single-line voice plan comes with 200 anytime minutes as well as 500 on night available minutes (from 9:00 PM to 5:59 AM and on weekends). The plan costs $30 a month. In case you exceed the minutes, you simply pay 45 cents a minute as an overage charge.
- The two-line voice plan comes with 450 anytime minutes and 1000 on night available minutes (from 9:00 PM on Fridays to 5:59 AM on Mondays). The plan costs $60 a month. In case you exceed the minutes, you simply pay 45 cents a minute as an overage charge.
In addition to the two basic voice plans, you can also get a message and a data plan.
Message plans are available for both the single-line voice plan as well as the two-line voice plan. There are various different options.
- You can pay per message (20 cents per text message or 25 cents per multimedia message).
- You can get 1000 text messages a month for $10 with an overage charge of 10 cents a message if you exceed the 1000 texts.
- Also, you can get unlimited text messages for $20 a month.
Data plans are also available and the same for both the single-line voice plan as well as the two-line voice plan.
There are two basic cell phone data plans:
- You can pay as you go. The price is $2 per 1 MB.
- You can get 75 MB of data for $10 with an additional charge of $10 per 75 MB.
There are also two smartphone data plans available:
- You can get a monthly plan of 2 GB of data for $30 a month with overage charges of $10 per 1 GB. This plan is rather popular and it’s suitable for light data users – those senior citizens who may check their emails, use social media, and occasionally surf the web.
- The second option is to get a monthly plan of 5 GB of data for $50 a month with overage charges of $10 per 1 GB. This plan is suitable for seniors who use the internet quite often and for those who may want to stream music and videos. In case 5 GB of data sounds too little, you may want to upgrade to another plan with more data in order to avoid the rather pricey overage charges.
There are eight additional data plans for seniors:
- The Pay As You Go plan for basic phones for $1.99 per MB and $6 for personal email
- The 76 MB plan for basic phones. It costs $10 a month and the overage charge is $10/75 MB.
- The 2 GB plan for $30 a month and a $10/1 GB overage charge.
- The 6 GB plan for $60 a month and a $10/1 GB overage charge.
- The 10 GB plan for $80 a month and a $10/1 GB overage charge.
- The 4 GB plan with a mobile hotspot for $60 a month and a $10/1 GB overage charge.
- The 7 GB plan with a mobile hotspot for $70 a month and a $10/1 GB overage charge.
- The 12 GB plan with a mobile hotspot for $100 a month and a $10/1 GB overage charge.
As the data plans in the 65+ Senior Phone Plan are rather pricey, seniors citizens who tend to use a lot of data should consider switching to the 55+ Senior Phone Plan, which is more cost-effective for seniors who are big data consumers.
Requirements and Restrictions:
- The plan is only available in certain areas of the US.
- The plan is not available for new customers, but only for certain existing ones.
- The account holder must be 65 or more years old.
- The plan is available for customers with regular cell phones with basic features.
3) Verizon AARP Discounts for Seniors
AARP or formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons is an organization of more than 38 million members that focuses on citizens over 50 years old and their issues. The organization provides free financial advice to its members, discounts on home, life, dental insurance, travel deals, and AARP cell phone plan discounts for seniors. AARP has dealt with carriers like AT&T, Consumer Cellular, and Cricket Wireless, which all offer discounted plans for their members.
Verizon, one of the country’s largest service providers, especially in terms of senior-friendly Jitterbug phones, unlimited mobile hotspot plans, and network coverage, on the other hand, doesn’t offer special AARP plan or cell phone discounts, nonetheless, some of Verizon’s public plans for seniors are more affordable than most of the discounted ones from the carriers that offer an AARP member discount.
As such, AARP members can select any one of the large variety of Verizon public plans. You can choose between a Pay As You Go plan or a postpaid one.
For example, you can opt for the Go Unlimited plan, which comes with a contract and a reasonable price. This plan is currently available in a handful of states (Florida, Illinois, Missouri, Texas, and Detroit), but the territory will likely expand.
You can also choose the Go Unlimited 55+ plan, which we have described in detail in chapter 3.1.
Most Verizon plans come with the Verizon upward rewards, which are wonderful for AARP members, as they include bonuses, great rewards, and local Verizon Wireless offers.
4) Other Verizon Discounts for Seniors
Verizon also offers some other great discounts for seniors.
- For one, Verizon Wireless has special agreements with a large number of companies. Based on these agreements they offer generous discounts and other benefits for the employees of those companies. You can check if you work or have worked for any of those companies at Verizon or at your office.
- Secondly, Verizon also offers RPP (Retiree Phone Program) discounts for Verizon Wireless, Wireline Management, and Corporate Management retirees. The eligible retirees are entitled to a 25% discount on wireless services and a 25% discount on many accessories. To receive these benefits, you must enroll in the Employee Phone Program (EPP) as an employee before you retire or at the time of your retirement. Once you successfully enroll and retire you will automatically become a member of the RPP program and receive discounts and other benefits without additional steps or action.
- Moreover, senior citizens who are planning to switch to Verizon can get up to a $300 discount when signing up and trading in their old phones.
5) Verizon Device Discounts For Seniors
Not only does Verizon Wireless provide a large selection of affordable plans, discounts, and other service benefits for seniors, they also offer a number of discounted mobile phones for seniors. Verizon’s cell phones that are suitable for senior citizens range from basic flip phones to the most advanced smartphones currently on the market.
Verizon device discounts are general to the public – they are available to AARP members as well as other senior citizens. The brands, types of phones, and prices vary a lot, however, some of the most popular brands include LG, Samsung, and iPhone. Depending on the customer’s needs and preferences, you should consider purchasing a device with a large screen, icons, and dial pad for the visually impaired, a hearing aid-enabled device for the hearing impaired, a smartphone with many health apps, or a device with an SOS emergency button. At Verizon, you can pay for the device upfront or in installments, depending on the plan, device, and your preferences.
6) Verizon Internet Discounts For Seniors
Data plans are very flexible at Verizon. The majority of customers stick to the most popular Verizon 55 Plus Plan and its unlimited 4G LTE data. Others prefer the flexible data options that come with the Verizon 65 Plus Plan. Additionally, seniors can also opt for the unlimited data plan for $65+, which includes two lines of unlimited data for $65 per line.
When it comes to choosing the best Verizon data plan for seniors, take into consideration if the person is likely to browse the internet frequently and stream music and videos. If the answer is yes, then you should definitely opt for an unlimited plan with a discount for seniors. On the other hand, if the elderly person in question isn’t particularly tech-savvy and very unlikely to ever use the internet, it’s best to choose a plan with minimum amounts of data, as these kinds of plans tend to be cheaper.
7) Verizon Lifeline Discounts For Seniors
In addition to the many discounts and benefits for seniors listed above, Verizon Wireless also offers a monthly discount for Lifeline discount eligible customers and the ones who are receiving a government benefit program assistance, for example, Medicaid or Food Stamps.
The Verizon Lifeline discount is currently not available in all the states. The discount varies from one state to another – the minimum monthly discount is $9.25. If you are eligible for the Lifeline discount and if the service is available in your state, you will receive an automatic discount on your monthly bill.
8) General Verizon Benefits
As you can see, Verizon offers a number of amazing discounts and benefits for their senior customers. But in addition to the ones listed above, Verizon’s elderly clients will also benefit from the company’s general advantages. Their general benefits include:
- Nationwide coverage : As our main concern is to keep our elderly family members and friends safe at all times, it’s very important to make sure they have a reliable signal and that they are never out of reach, no matter where they are. Verizon will definitely put your mind at ease when it comes to coverage.
- Availability : As Verizon is one of the largest and most popular carriers in the country, their stores, products, and services are available throughout the country, so you never have to travel far to purchase or fix something.
- Reliable customer service : Verizon’s customer service is one of the best and most reliable ones in the country. They offer 24/7 customer service with friendly and competent employees that can fix your issues in no time.
