Verizon Wireless unveiled their new “Share Everything” Plans this morning, claiming consumers wanted “simpler, easier-to-understand” plans that let them share their data plan across multiple devices:
But a closer examination of the plans, to be introduced June 28, shows many Verizon customers will face substantially higher cell phone bills if they choose one of Verizon’s newest plans. Perhaps more importantly, customers upgrading to a new subsidized phone/contract renewal on or after that date will be forced to forfeit any grandfathered unlimited data plans they still have with Verizon.
“It is an effort to move ARPU up,” Walt Piecyk, an analyst with BTIG LLC in New York told Bloomberg News, referring to average revenue per user, a measure of how much each customer spends each month.
Obviously acknowledging that customers are using fewer voice minutes and are increasingly finding ways around text messaging charges, Verizon’s new plans sell customers on the idea they can now talk and text as much as they want, but as far as data is concerned, customers will potentially pay much more for less service.
Those light on talking and texting are most likely to be hit hardest by the new cell phone plans.
Verizon formerly charged $50 a month for a basic Nationwide Talk Share plan that included 700 shared voice minutes. Smartphone users also paid $29.99 a month for unlimited data. Together, that amounts to $80 a month. Under Verizon’s $40 “Share Everything” Plan, customers can talk and text all they want, but their unlimited data plan is gone, replaced with a 1GB basic plan for $50. That costs $10 more than customers used to pay on Verizon’s 700 minute plan with an unlimited use data plan. Need 2GB a month? Add an extra $10, bringing you a Verizon phone bill of at least $100 a month for the first line on your account, before taxes and fees.
Other family member lines may also be hit. Verizon used to charge $9.99 a month for extra lines on a shared account. The new price is $30 for a basic phone, $40 for a smartphone. Those family members with smartphones on an older Verizon account each would also incur $29.99 a month for their own individual data plan, which was also unlimited.
Although the base fee for the additional line with a data plan still remains around $40 a month, family members will be forced to share the primary line’s data bucket. Customers will quickly find a 1GB data plan is not going to last long on an account with two or three smartphones. That means expensive upgrades, which start at $10/GB.
Accounts with a mix of smartphones and basic phones face an even stiffer price hike. The $9.99 a month customers used to pay for a basic phone for grandma will now run $30 a month. She won’t be talking or texting much, so the extra features built into Verizon’s new plan will represent a pointless $20 monthly rate increase and an invitation to set grandma up with her own prepaid cell phone instead.
Verizon’s new “Share Everything” concept clearly builds major profits into Verizon’s future:
- Customers are forced to pay for unlimited voice and texting services, even as those services lose popularity, costing Verizon little to nothing;
- Data customers are encouraged to add additional devices to their account, but as more data gets used, ongoing upgrades to your data plan at an increment of $10/GB or more will be required;
- Customers considering a new Apple iPhone or other smartphone will be forced to forfeit any existing unlimited data plan to upgrade, which guarantees future profits from customers consuming increasing amounts of data.
- Customers paying for expensive texting plans will save the cost of those add-ons;
- Talk time is now unlimited on most plans, putting an end to overages;
- Verizon’s Mobile Hotspot feature will now be turned on for all customers on the Share Everything plan (to encourage additional data usage no doubt), which will eliminate at least $20 a month for the feature under existing plans;
- Customers who own multiple wireless devices configured to work with Verizon, but only use them occasionally, will likely save sharing a single data plan instead of paying for one plan for each device.
[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Verizon Share Everything Plan 6-12-12.mp4[/flv]
Verizon’s introductory video for its new Share Everything plans. (1 minute)
The Verizon Share Everything calculator shows me facing about 50% price hike to go from unlimited to a 2Gig plan if I upgrade to a Verizon 4G phone. This is in my interest how?
Because you get the unlimited voice and texting you absolutely didn’t want at the all new, high price.
These executives are dreaming if they think they can squeeze another 20-50% out of consumers pocket for wireless internet with this latest scheme. The value just isn’t there, it’s nice, but it’s not like the abandoned home internet service where unlimited high-speed broadband gets you full HD big screen streaming tv, movies, music, gaming, browsing, etc.. for your whole family.. Here you need to spend $120/mo for a 4″ screen carefull not to use anything but email and basic web for the few times you’re not at home or at work where you can get your internet off WiFi anyway.… Read more »
I think it’s downright amazing we’ve now reached the point of the $100+ phone bill (one line). For decades, people thought paying $20-40 a month for a landline was a lot. Now that is nothing. But then I remember in the 1980s thinking there would be hell to pay when the basic cable package pricing broke the $20 a month level. We’re now north of $60 and rising. The problem with the endless quest for increased ARPU is that in the absence of real competition keeping prices in check (hello, wireless industry), the only thing that will effectively stop it… Read more »
These plans are an absolute rip-off for Internet access, no doubt about that. For the smartphones plan, they are better than what’s in Canada if you don’t mind having little mobile Internet access. For example, two smartphones with unlimited talk+text costs $130/month at Verizon, or $65/month per phone. The closest plan to that here for one line ($50 talk + $5 text + $10 for 100 MB) only gives out 100 MB of Internet. Even those who want a lot of access can have something decent. Two Verizon smartphones with unlimited talk+text plus 10 GB shared (about 5 GB each)… Read more »
Rogers is always North America’s King of Ripoffs, even putting Bell to shame on things like international roaming.
But Verizon and AT&T will not be outdone. 🙂
Add this nonsense to their new $30 upgrade fee for handsets (free phones now just $30!!) and DANG — they’ll be mega profitable in no time. What could go wrong? The upgrade fee had me shopping for a new carrier, this seals it.
Whoohooo!! I am no longer aiding and abetting a telco monoply . Just ported my Verizon cell number to Google Voice. Got myself a nice large (5″ screen) wifi only Android smart phone which I will use for most of my voice and data. Then I bought the smallest Tracfone I could find which also has triple minutes for life and the minutes good for one year (as low as 4 cents per minute – I was paying Verizon some months over 9 cents per minute USED). Google Voice will ring both phones at the same time – which ever… Read more »
Here’s my review of Verizon Wireless’ current situation for me in rural Virgnia:
http://www.dslreports.com/comment/2957/84727
In the comments, I show what it will cost for sharing all and having unlimited minutes/texts with basic/feature phones or smartphones and with using 21GB data for a rural user where this is OUR ONLY VIABLE OPTION FOR BROADBAND….PSEUDO BROADBAND anyway.
I thought this might be good to show.
We hear you. Rural Virginia is in the same boat as a lot of West Virginia and other Appalachian areas when it comes to broadband. Nobody can be bothered to bring DSL, and satellite “broadband” is no option either. Wireless data from Verizon and AT&T is priced as a luxury item, and there is no end in sight.
Thank you! Some one who realizes the mess we are in here!
It’s like they think we are made of money in Rural America. It’s really sad.
Part of the problem is also in ‘territories’. I was told that Cox Cable can’t come here because it belongs to someone else…who won’t bring wires in either!
it’s just plain nuts.
Thanks Phillip Dampier!
Cox Cable can go anywhere it wants by applying for a franchise to serve that area. There are no longer any exclusive franchises. The real reason they are not there is because they won’t spend the money extending service because their return on investment to wire you up isn’t fast enough. Sometimes you can get cable companies to wire people for service if you get a petition going with the majority of neighbors committing to sign up if the service can just get to you. How far away is the nearest cable customer and how many neighbors are nearby? Also,… Read more »
This is a small town. Little over 300 souls in town. But in Surry County, quite a bit more. All they need to do is come down Rt 31 with Fiber and they can go anywhere from there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surry_County,_Virginia There’s Charter Cable in Wakefield, VA in Sussex County – 6 miles or less away. There’s Verizon DSL about 4 miles away in Wakefield, Va as well. We even considered getting someone in Wakefield to let us use their location to get Charter Cable, but we have a rise topographically that we can’t get over between us and Wakefield. It really… Read more »
Oh, yeah, and Surry has had a ‘finalized’ Wireless plan that was finalized back in 2009. And they apparently still need more money to do it, or lost their contractor(s), or need more contractors, or something. But God knows how much, or how little that bandwidth will be to the end user out here at the end of the county like we are even if it will be for a lesser amount than what we pay now. We need the speed as well as the bandwidth. We have been asking how long till they get DSL or Cable out here… Read more »