Verizon Wireless Revamps Service Plans
The cell phone giant's new plans go into effect June 28.
Verizon Wireless has overhauled its service plans to allow customers to use their data allotments across multiple devices.
Up until now, Verizon and its largest competitors have had to pay separate data charges for each device.
The nation's largest cell phone provider's new plans, which also change how customers pay for texting and phone calls, will go into effect on June 28.
"Today's move by Verizon ... is the most profound change to pricing the telecom industry has seen in 20 years," Craig Moffett, an analyst for Sanford C. Bernstein, wrote in a research note.
Chief rival AT&T could follow suit very soon, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The Journal also put together a Q&A on what Verizon's "Share Everything" plan means for current customers. A couple highlights:
- Customers on a tiered data plan can stay on their current plan or switch to a new one. Customers on an unlimited data plan must switch when they buy a new phone at a discount.
- There is a monthly charge for each device on a data plan. The Q&A breaks it down.
So, how much will the new plan cost you? That depends on all sorts of factors, but Verizon Wireless has a calculator on its website to help figure that out.
Mark
12:41 pm on Thursday, June 14, 2012
Once again. Big business sticking right into the dairie aires of the working stiffs!!! How much are they dumping into campaign funds for the congressionals to be keeping thier mouths shut.
Chris Welch
1:43 pm on Thursday, June 14, 2012
Fantastic news! I used the Verizon calculator provided above.
My plan just went up $50/month.
Porterincollingswood
1:50 pm on Thursday, June 14, 2012
Doesn't this essentially void my 2 year contract since I have an unlimited data plan?
Porterincollingswood
2:29 pm on Thursday, June 14, 2012
I am paying about the same. The catch seems to be the # of devices under your plan - smartphones and tablets.
Am I seeing what everyone else is?
Sticking point for me is that I am no longer "unlimited"...but for the same money I am getting 4GB, which is double what I had been using under the "unlimited" plan (based in 12 months).
Townie
3:09 pm on Thursday, June 14, 2012
You can keep your unlimited plan. The "catch" is that you can no longer get a subsidized device upon renewal, meaning the next iPhone you buy will cost you $700 versus the $200 one they subsidized. If you want the discount, you have to change plans.
IMO these plans will be revised VERY soon. Their attempt to create loyalty is going to backfire. People won't pay $60 a month for data and then $40 (or less for non-smartphones) per device to get at it.
Porterincollingswood
4:04 pm on Thursday, June 14, 2012
Thanks - that's what I was looking for!
Lowell Doerr
2:35 pm on Thursday, June 14, 2012
One word.....Sprint!
Ric
10:53 pm on Thursday, June 14, 2012
A better one word: Tracphone. I pay $20 every 90 days and it suits my needs perfectly - only used in an emergency. When I am out of my home, the last thing I want to be is talking to someone on the phone. I rather see the flowers and smell the fresh air - that is when the winds are not blowing from Philadelphia!
Shirley
5:34 pm on Saturday, June 16, 2012
I'm with you, Ric. I use my mobile only for emergencies. When I use a phone I want a landline. There's no transmission delay latency AND it's located next to a comfortable sofa. Where did you get your Tracphone? I'm paying Verizon $15/mo for my mobe; $20/90 days is a much better deal.
Ric
9:47 am on Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Shirley, I got my TracPhone phone at WalMart. To operate it, I buy a 90 day card and any minutes I do not use are carried forward. I renew over the internet. I have over 300 unused minutes.
I am sorry it took me so long to respond. I had not checked back. Good luck.
Bobby
10:45 am on Friday, June 15, 2012
I did the calculator. My monthly bill would go up 60%. This is for my 3 "dumb" phones and 1 tablet on the minimum data plan.
This kind of price increase will likely cause many customers to exit Verizon.
I'm selling my VZ stock.
Phil
1:02 pm on Friday, June 15, 2012
I did it too and my plan would go up $50 but I'm not sure how when together we use less than 1GB a month combined, unless my cost per device is going up from the current $10 more. I've also heard from friends that the iPhone uses much more data then Android devices so those users may be more affected then others.
Porterincollingswood
3:21 pm on Friday, June 15, 2012
I was also shocked at how little data I was using on the "unlimited plan" (1.2GB average on my iPhone). Probably the tablet is where you ring up the GB's.
Phil
10:31 am on Wednesday, June 20, 2012
All my friends with iPhone's use more data, I have an Android one, it's just something about the iOS. Other's who ring up the GBs are using their phone to stream music almost all day long. I don't do that so yeah, email, FB, pics, that's about it for me.
Townie
1:00 pm on Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Phil. You're assumption is wrong. The iPhone uses less data. There are applications to manage this on an Android device, but here's the reason: the OS. This is from the Onavo blog (one of the apps to manage data):
The Android OS design makes it far easier for an app to run in the background, giving the opportunity for such an app to use available system resources at any given time, specifically – mobile data. With Apple’s iOS, apps have a much more limited lifecycle and running scope, enabling them to consume data primarily when the user is actually using them. For example: on Android, an app you installed but never use can be eating up your data plan.