Verizon rolls out new rate plans this week, drops contracts


Verizon announced a simplified menu of options for wireless customers. Basically Verizon is following the rest of the industry and ditching 2-year contract option. For the past couple years Verizon, along with AT&T and others, have offered alternatives to the 2-year contract that promoted decoupling device purchases with higher monthly service fees.

With Verizon, you'll pay $20/mo for smartphones and $10/mo for tablets and MiFis. Voice plans include unlimited talk and text. You can share up to 10 devices on a plan.

Customers then will chose one of only four sharable data buckets. Plans are: 1 GB/mo for $30, 3 GB/mo for $45, 6 GB/mo for $60, and 12 GB/mo for $80. Additional data is available at $15/GB and higher tier custom plans are available, but you'll have to consult Verizon for that.

Finally, comes the device, which will be available as either interest-free financing with 24 months of payments on top of the voice and data plans or buying the entire device up front.

There will probably winners and losers here. For example, currently if you have over 6 GB/mo on Verizon, the device fee is $15 each. So the new scheme may cost more, however, those rates are for the most part cheaper than current data tiers. I suspect most will end up paying a little more per month.

It will be interesting to see how the next iPhone rolls out without contract. Will you have to buy with a 24 month financing or will Apple finally allow people to again pay for the entire device at launch?