Verizon's prices are killing me (compared to Sprint)

So I have my Droid X reserved but I'm still torn between the Evo and the Droid X. I'm past the whole 4g thing and am more stuck on the carriers. All things being equal, I want the Droid X on Verizon, but the price difference between Sprint and Verizon is a killer!

For instance, me and my wife can get unlimited data/text and 1600 minutes on Sprint for $110 (+Evo fees).

However, on Verizon, it costs $120 for 1400 minutes and unlimited text, plus another $30/line for data. So with just 1 data line, that's $150/mo.

This is a HUGE difference in cost! And I've already checked - neither of us gets any kind of employee discounts with Verizon. Is there anything that I should be looking into for Verizon to help bridge this gap?

 

Nope, I work for a small 4-person company and my wife is a student at a college that, as far as I can tell, gets no discounts (we tried her email address here and it said no discount).

I probably take 4 trips a year plus pseudo-local weekend trips occasionally. Reception has been an issue with T-Mobile but I suspect it will be less of an issue with both Sprint and Verizon. My concern about reception between the two is that with my G1 on T-Mobile, it's kinda sucked because 3G connectivity is VERY spotty, even in a "covered" city. I hear from people with Verizon around here that if they get ANY connection, it's pretty much ALWAYS a 3G connection. With Sprint, we don't have 4G yet but will some day. But my largest concern is steady 3G connectivity. Spotty 3G speeds just don't cut it on Android imho and I'm afraid that might be what I get from Sprint since that's the best I could ever get w/T-Mobile. However, the difference in prices are just night and day between Sprint and Verizon!

What I REALLY want is the Droid X on Verizon's network with Sprint's plans, prices, and policies. I LOVE that they say unlimited data on both 3G and 4G on top of being able to share that unlimited data across all lines on a family plan. I don't really want the Evo (I HATE the "buttons" on that thing). I don't really want Sprint's network (althought it's ignorance-based fear). I do like the 4G functionality with Evo vs Droid X but I've decided the other factors that come with the Droid X win the phone vs phone decision for me. So all of that said, it sounds like the Droid X + Verizon is the right choice, but then there's that not-so-little difference in price where with Sprint we can get 2 Evos w/ unlimited text/data for $109+20=129/mo whereas with Verizon we're talking $129+30+30=189/mo for the same thing. That equates to being $1,440 more expensive over 2 years and THAT is what makes this hard to say, "Let's go with Verizon." That is a HELL of a lot extra money without a lot of tangible returns. Even if my wife goes with a simple feature phone with no data, we're now talking $119 vs $159 = $960/mo difference in costs. I guess the bottom-line numbers is what makes this hard to swallow.

I REALLY wish there was some all-inclusive way to shave some of those costs off (like Sprint offers with the Everything Plus Referral Program). And since I work for a small 4-person company with no relation with Verizon, it sounds like I pretty much lose with them despite wanting to go with them...

 

There might be something to this. Can you help me to make sure I understand this correctly (in my googling on how I would do this)?

My understanding is that with Verizon, I get 10 numbers that are unlimited talk. To utilize this, I would get a Google Voice number and give that out to people (in my case, that would be my "work" cell number and my friends/family will keep my "real" cell number). I understand that Google Voice always goes out over one number and always comes in under another number. So if I set up 2 of my 10 unlimited talk numbers as those, then I effectively have unlimited minutes over Google Voice. This will also allow me with 8 other unlimited minutes numbers for friends/family for use with my "real" number. So why this helps me is that this will allow us to pick a cheaper plan (say, the 700 minute plan which saves $20/mo).

Now part of the concern here is that my wife won't be getting an Android phone (and she may just be sticking with a feature phone, which means no Google Voice integration), so the Google Voice option isn't much of an option with her. However, she's not really on the phone that much and her 10 unlimited numbers will help with that, so this may not kill this idea.

Does this sound like I'm understanding this about right?

 

So the Sprint discount link can be used by ANYBODY - you just have to have a Sprint employee's email address and 3-digit number. One of their VPs blogged his info for people to use (look on the right side in the list of links under "About"), hence ANYBODY can use it. For Verizon, either myself or my wife needs to be employed by a company in a select list - unfortunately neither of us work for a special company.

The fact that ANYBODY can get the Sprint's discount program is what's making this difficult to swallow Verizon's substantially higher price. We're not talking $10-20/mo.