1. correct - there's pretty much no benefit unless you lay out a for a bunch of cards at 40, if they are even still available( a lot of people may have the same idea - and there's a limit to the supply)
2. These are pre paid as opposed to post paid - in addition to having the benefit of no contract, they are also not subject to all the cell phone taxes, fees, etc..., so 40 includes everything right now
3.PPC dealers are banned from using any verizon signage, and are not even supposed to invoke the vzw name. Its all in the branding. If I am not such an educated consumer, I want the best (vzw). Additionally, verizon recognizes that there are a lot of prepaid players in the business of the lower end, and a lot of consumers as well. If they can leverage their towers to make more money - then theyre interested. PPC pays verizon by the minute used a set amount and ppc bets that the average unlimited customer uses x amount of minutes making it kedai for them to charge 40 (now 45) a month, taking a loss on a few customers, but overall making money on the customers who use not as many minutes. There is no downside for the user, except for the occasional glitch hearing ur balance after a call, and if u hav to call ppc, theyre impossible to get thru to except late at night, they limit which phones u can use, amd there's no such thing as a free upgrade, phone, etc. Oh, and if you need data regularly, u cant use them. See the howard forums thread for more info...