So first of all, Verizon has very bad service in many areas. All carriers will have "dead" areas, but in my area, Verizon has just plain crappy service. I had them for 27 days, and couldn't even call another Verizon phone without dropping a call, echo effect (revirb) or a sound blackout. I could call my daughter 175 miles away who has Sprint, and a friend 5 miles away who has Charter landline. Those calls were clear. I went to AT &T, found a better selection of phones, and am happy with the service. Prior to Verizon, I was with Qwest for 5 years, was perfectly happy, and only owned one phone. Verizon was to give me a free phone, but weren't even offering me a comparable phone. Don't go for a free phone from ANY company.