When one of the major carriers announces new calling plans, we’re all interested to see how it will affect us. For those not with the carrier, we want to see if the new plans offer a better deal than our current carrier. For those with the carrier, we want to see how the plans will affect our monthly bill. Word leaked yesterday, and today Verizon Wireless announced a new rate schedule. The plans look simpler — there’s no more “Select Basic” or “America’s Choice” or anything fancy like that. With the new rate schedule, it’s just individual, family, and prepaid. After looking over the changes, though, it doesn’t appear this will help a lot of customers. If might end up even raising your monthly bill eventually.
Customers using Verizon’s unlimited plan gain the most. The price for unlimited talk used to be $99.99 with no additional features, but under the new plan unlimited talk and text runs $89.99. The talk-only plan costs $20 less. In fact, all plans can add unlimited messaging for $20 per month. That might end up being a problem for customers down the road.
I do not need unlimited messaging. Sure, I send texts like everyone else, but I used to fit nicely into Verizon’s $10 texting plan, which included unlimited mobile to mobile texts and 500 otherwise. It appears that option has disappeared. Maybe it’s still around, hidden in the system. Who knows? But from the announcement and the leak, I see nothing but the unlimited option. So, when I renew my contract (because I’ll want the latest BlackBerry), I’ll be out another $10 per month.
Speaking of out $10 per month, customers who purchase what Verizon dubs “3G Multimedia” phones will also need to purchase a $10/month data package. So if you plan to get the LG Chocolate Tough, Motorola Rival, LG enV3, Samsung Rogue, LG enV Touch, Samsung Alias2, LG VX8360, Nokia Twist, or the Motorola Entice, be prepared for a higher monthly bill. Verizon will surely add new handsets to this list as they’re released. Worst of all, the $9.99 plan includes just 25MB. That’s 40 cents per MB, but 25MB isn’t very much these days.
(Update: I didn’t think about the math as I did it and listed an incorrect per-MB rate for the a-la-carte plan. Apologies.)
Then there’s the issue of whether the new plans will save you any money. I have two friends who share a family plan, 700 minutes with unlimited texting, and they pay $99.99 per month. You’ll never guess what two lines at 700 minutes per month with unlimited text messaging costs with the new rate schedule. Yep, $99.99. Both have phones on the above list, and one has a VCast package. Thankfully, they won’t have to change their plan to pay $10 per month on top of everything else. But, when it comes time to renew the contract, they’ll pay $120 per month, unless they decide to downgrade handsets.
New does not necessarily mean better. Some customers will benefit from these new plans, mostly those with unlimited plans. With Verizon’s nearly 90 million subscribers, however, combined with unlimited mobile-to-mobile on all plans, there seems little need for unlimited talk. In the end, the winner, as always, is Verizon.
6 comments… read them below or add one
your math is backwards. its 40 cents per meg if you get the 10$ plan. (10 dollars / 25 megs = 40 cents per meg)
I quote,
“Worst of all, the $9.99 plan includes just 25MB. At $2.50 per megabyte, the a la carte, pay-as-you-go data plan, at $1.99 per MB plan offers a better value.”
Basic math determines that 25 MB for $9.99 is approximately $0.40 per MB, not $2.50. So the new plan is a better deal than the pay-as-you-go.
Another quote,
“Customers using Verizon’s unlimited plan gain the most. The price for unlimited talk used to be $99.99 with no additional features, but under the new plan unlimited talk and text runs $89.99. The talk-only plan costs $20 less. In fact, all plans can add unlimited messaging for $20 per month. That might end up being a problem for customers down the road.
I do not need unlimited messaging. Sure, I send texts like everyone else, but I used to fit nicely into Verizon’s $10 texting plan, which included unlimited mobile to mobile texts and 500 otherwise. It appears that option has disappeared. Maybe it’s still around, hidden in the system. Who knows? But from the announcement and the leak, I see nothing but the unlimited option. So, when I renew my contract (because I’ll want the latest BlackBerry), I’ll be out another $10 per month.”
Wouldn’t that depend on the talk plan you have? On the unlimited plan, you would have spent $99 for the talk and $10 for the texts, or a total of $109. Under the new plan, that is now $89 ($69 + $20). $109 is more than $89. Since your journalism abilities are lacking, you didn’t tell us if the other calltime plans are changing price as well. I assume that, if the old plan cost $79 for 900 minutes, that price must be coming down as well. Depending on the new price, you might actually save money even with the higher texting cost. The basement plan might not be changing, but then you didn’t give us that information, did you?
I realize you are trying to hype this, but you (or your editor) really should do a better job of research before publishing this kind of article.
One parting shot… the phones are the LG Chocolate and EnV Touch, not Tough. Are you sure you know anything about cell phones?
“Worst of all, the $9.99 plan includes just 25MB. At $2.50 per megabyte, the a la carte, pay-as-you-go data plan, at $1.99 per MB plan offers a better value.”
Check your math before you post next time. $10 for 25MB equals 2.5MB per $1, not 1MB per $2.5.
At $2 per 1MB, it would cost you $50 for 25MB, so it is a savings of $40 by purchasing the $10 data package.
Sure, all of it is extremely overpriced. Your poor mathematical skills may end up costing somebody a lot of money on their next phone bill, however, so I’d be careful to double check my figures next time.
I, too, was concerned about having to go to unlimited texts. The old plans are still there, you just have to move past selecting a plan, selecting a phone, then add them with “features.” Still the same price – $10.00 for 500 msgs, plus free VZW to VZW. Which Verizon calls Mobile to Mobile messaging. Which is helpful to know since I message so many non-mobile numbers these days…
I don’t put that much store in data, sometimes I check my e-mails and look up the occasional stuff but I have a computer with a great big screen for my real data needs. I gave up on contracts a while ago because they overcharge and don’t give you what you need; now I have a Straight Talk phone with unlimited everything for $45 per month and I make a lot of calls so I really make it work for me. Straight Talk runs on Verizon’s network nationwide which means that I get the good coverage without signing a two year contract.
Who cares about doing math wrong! The fact is that Verizon is forcing its customers to pay more per month to get the best phones. For example, I wanted to upgrade 2 of my phones to the Droid by Motorola. That would increase my phone bill by $60 every month because you have to have the $30 data plan per phone! I do not use the internet on my phone. I just want a phone that has the same/better features than the phone I have now. So basically to upgrade my phone, I have to downgrade to a phone will less features or “simple features” as Verizon has named it. Verizon’s prices are going to crap and AT&T is looking better and better.