Verizon Wireless is overhauling its prices for wireless service.
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Verizon Wireless today announced a new set of wireless data plans, and none of them are available with contracts or phone subsidies.
The new plans that begin Thursday let customers to choose what the company is calling a “simplified pricing plan”.
This is on top of the price of your smartphone, as well as a monthly line-access charge, which is $20 per smartphone, $10 per tablet or mobile hotspot, and $5 per “connected device”, like a smartwatch. The new plans offer considerably fewer options for data packs, which does mean that customers will no longer be bombarded with options when selecting a new plan.
Verizon is the nation’s largest carrier and fifth-largest advertiser. 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. According to new poll data shared by Benedict Evans, one-third of Internet users say they need their smartphone more than a laptop.
Under Verizon’s revamped system, there are no single-line options or family plans. You’ll need to pay $20 per smartphone line that eats into that data bucket.
The move is a big shake-up for Verizon, which still has the most customers on a service contract out of the four national carriers.
All the data amounts would be shared by the devices on a particular plan.
Verizon will still have a plan for feature phone customers that offers 700 voice minutes per month and unlimited texting for $25 per month. Subscribers will be free to change to a different plan whenever they feel like it. That’s information definitely worth knowing if you want to avoid the hefty $15 per GB overage fee Verizon will charge you once you hit your allowance limit.
These types of long term contracts caused many consumers to think that an iPhone only cost $100 or $200 or that their new Moto X was free.
Verizon is also doing away with contract pricing.
Under the new plans, customers will pay $50 for 1 gigabyte (a price increase for both groups) and $65 for 3 gigabytes (a price cut).
What makes these plans particularly attractive to me, is how low-cost and straightforward it is to add additional devices.
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Updated at 11:19 a.m. PT: To include a comment from an analyst.
