If you want to switch plans now or are getting ready to setup service with Verizon, you’ll have to bring your own device, buy one at full price or have the cost of the new smartphone tacked onto your bill. Your carrier makes you to agree to a two-year contract to get that $199 phone, and it keeps service plans expensive so it can make up the rest of the cost over the course of your agreement. Sprint, which was just supplanted by T-Mobile as the No. 3 carrier in the U.S., earlier this summer aimed a price-cutting promotion at T-Mobile and AT&T’s prepaid customers.
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In a move that kicks the competition up a notch, Verizon Wireless is nixing two-year contracts.
The move was made in the name of simplification, but it could result in some customers paying more.
Verizon is also streamlining its data plans to four main options, ranging from “small” at 1 gigabyte to “x-large” at 12 gigabytes, all sharable under family plans.
Phones would cost extra and could be purchased for full price or on a monthly payment plan. Verizon will continue offering phones on monthly installments, which can be paid over a period of two years.
And that underscores the real problem with renewing your contract on Verizon. An added $15 will be charged to the user for every extra GB consumed if they go over their subscribed data capacity for the month. Monthly payments included $19 towards the phone discount charges.
Also, you’ll still have to play for your device’s access to said wireless plan.
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Of course, all of the data is shared between however many devices the account might have activated. All of these options are sharable through family plans. The company has announced their new Verizon plans, and are doing away with the old 2-year contracts. With the new plans, you can avail of new mobile lines for a fee: smartphone line is $20/month, Jetpack and tablet lines are $10/month, and smartwatch lines are $5/month. Verizon will sell four options with different levels of data, but all plans come standard with unlimited voice and texting. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $54.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd.
