The writing was on the wall after AT&T announced their move to tiered data plans with $15 for 200MB and $25 for 2GB. The team at Engadget has it on good authority that Verizon will be launching their response to AT&T with two new tiered plans.
Smartphone users will be offered:
- $15 for 150MB plan with $0.10 per Megabyte overage
- $30 unlimited access (Probably still the 5GB cap)
This is interesting since Verizon has just change very little yet still added tiered data. I don’t even think BlackBerrys could survive on a 150MB data plan which is lower than the 200MB that AT&T offers for the same price. On the other hand Verizon has kept its 5GB limit “Unlimited” plan for smartphones at the same $30 price while AT&T did away with its smartphone unlimited option and dropped the price to $25 for 2GB. Hopefully this will put some pressure on AT&T to bring back their unlimited plan for only $5 more than the 2GB plan.
There is still no word on what 4G pricing will look like but hopefully carriers will figure out a better model. I don’t mind buckets as long as they are reasonable (read not 150MB) and I can share the usage between multiple devices. There are quite a few other plans for MiFi, FiveSpot, and integrated netbook/notebook owners which you can catch at Engadget.
Thanks DavidB & Tammy for sending this one in!
DavidB ( View Profile) - Posts: 1791
Posted: October 19, 2010 at 7:12 PM EST from my BlackBerry 9530
I would like to see Verizon offer a more user friendly way to manage a data plan, AND offer more “bucket” sizes. Especially for corporate accounts where many BlackBerry are likely hardly used but some are heavily used. If I could tailor my plans so that I’m not paying for a big bucket on devices that don’t need it, I could cut hundreds from my corporate BlackBerry bill monthly and be a MUCH happier customer!
ShvartzBerry ( View Profile) - Posts: 404
Posted: November 1, 2010 at 2:31 PM EST
Just to make sure I have the math right – for anyone who always uses less than 300 MB/month, this would be worth it. Because it will only cost more than $30 when they cross 300 MB.