Verizon plans to introduce new pricing plan next year

[TheForce]

Verizon has disclosed to stockholders that it plans to introduce a new wireless pricing plan next year that will be account based rather than device based. The new concept is designed to pool all minutes and data to a single account regardless of how many devices you have connected. The minutes and Mb's would be shared among all devices in the account. Currently Verizon said 40% of all customers are using multiple wireless devices and predicts that next year the number will grow to 70%. This could mean huge savings for families who have several smartphones, laptop USB devices and tablets.

Sprint stated it is also studying a similar plan but has not yet decided when to implement.


It's about time the wireless customers get a break from the providers on data. I remember when the wired phone companies were forced to an account based pricing by the FCC as opposed to number of phones. Then I recall when Cable services switched to account based as opposed to number of TV's connected. Cable modem providers for a very short time were planning to go to number of computers connected pricing but the FCC gave them a warning not to do it. Cell phones have never been forced to be account based but I'm pleased to see Verizon making the move. This will be a huge game changer for many who have avoided buying connected capable devices such as ipads with wireless transceivers. I know if this plan goes through my next ipad will be a wireless capable ( hopefully the ipad3 will be LTE as rumored ).


As a sidenote- Some of you may recall I was getting free LTE tethering with Verizon's tethering app. Then along came the new OS for my Thunderbolt and we were forced to take it as it was pushed to our phones when not looking so to speak. The fear was that this would enable Verizon to charge a fee monthly for this tethering. Well I have received my third bill since the push update and I have not yet been charged a cent for the tethering service. I have not rooted the phone and have not tried any 3rd party tethering app. I hope this new pricing plan will make the tethering charge obsolete too but who knows? I just know that I haven't seen a charge for it yet.

 

[LostBoyinVA]

So how much cheaper will this have to be for a family of 3 using 3 unlimited data plans to make it worth while to give up the unlimited data? from me I'd need at least 5GB preferably 10GB and to save at lease $50 a month to give up my Unlimited data. Current average use is right around 4GB a month, but I want a big enough buffer that I can feel like I still have unlmited data.

 

[TheForce]

It may depend on what your data plans are on. You'll have to do the math because there are no details yet on the pricing other than a sourceless opinion from an analyst but I think his estimate was way too low at $39.95 a month plus the tiered up charge per Gig over the base.

If I had to guess, I'd say they will price it to be competitive with cable, say $59.95 but for much less bandwidth. I don't have consumer cable here so I don't know what the latest rates are. Mine is provisioned at 30Mbs 750Gb maximum for $99 a month.
For my old Verizon laptop card it was $59.95 ( unlimited); Thunderbolt $39.95 (unlimited); Wife's cell is $30 limited; 5 spot (unlimited) for $59.95; and 2 ipads that I would sign up. So, I too, have quite a few unlimited accounts but unlike you, I rarely hit over the 5Gb limit total for a month.

I have not read this anywhere but I get the impression that LTE for Verizon has plenty of room to expand. 3G services are so restrictive that they worry more about bringing down the network than losing revenue on a per device pricing plan. This move tells me they are planning to give everyone an incentive to upgrade to LTE rather than stay on an older crowded 3G plan.

I wonder how they will control how many people you will be allowed on a single account. Lots of questions and I'm curious to see the details on this next year. I'll be asking the reps at CES, for sure.

 

[Hall]

Will be interested to see how it affects the grandfathered, unlimited data plans. Pretty certain it will force you to give it up...

I'll still consider it though, especially if it will save me $$$.

 

[Neutron]

Odd that Sprint is considering something like this since their family plans already include shared minutes and unlimited data.

Verizon's plan would (hopefully) benefit our family as my wife and I have noticed neither of us rarely goes over 600-700MB of month combined on data.

 

[TheForce]

Hall- from what I read this major difference is that it will be account based pricing rather than device based pricing. I don't believe Sprint has a program like that. Sharing minutes still increases your bill by the number of devices you have on your account.

I don't believe anyone will be forced to switch from your present plan, just when you do, I believe Verizon will obsolete your current plan for each device. It appears that what they want to accomplish is give everyone an incentive to make the change. Of course, there will always be those who are unusual and will hang onto the traditional billing for that reason.


I still wonder how they will limit a mobile device to an account. That is what's to prevent me from holding the account for my children and inlaws etc. I guess there will be some sort of device count range, such as 2-8 devices for $XX per month for 1000minutes, 2000 text and 5Gb data. 9-15 devices for $xxx per month for 3000 minutes 5000 text and 20Gb or something to that effect. Reminder- this was stated to be for all LTE devices only!