Right on schedule, tiered data has made its way to a second carrier here in the U.S. Verizon has introduced their new tiered data offerings, and thankfully, you smartphone owners out there won't have to worry about putting a death grip on your unlimited data like customers on AT&T have had to do. Smartphone users can now choose either a $14.99/150MB option or opt for the usual $29.99 unlimited plan, while feature phones have access to those two options as well as a pay per use, $1.99 per MB plan, as well. Finally, plans for tablets like the iPad or Galaxy Tab include the following options: $20/1GB, $35/3GB, $50/5GB, or $80/10GB.
Along with the new data plans, Verizon has introduced some new plans that give customers unlimited mobile-to-mobile talk and text, regardless of carrier. Currently only available in areas in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma as well as "select markets" in Florida, Tennessee, and Texas, the plans give individuals either 450 or 900 anytime minutes for either $59.99 or $79.99, respectively. Family plans include 700, 1400, or 2000 anytime minutes for either $99.99, $119.99, or $129.99, respectively.
I have to say, these new data options from Verizon seem pretty great all around. Light data users that want a smartphone can now select the $14.99 per month plan, but heavier users can still opt for the unlimited option. Sure, they do still require some sort of data plan with a smartphone, which some customers aren't going to be happy about, but I'm not sure that that'll be ending any time soon. The good news is that customers that don't want a data plan can select a featurephone that is pretty good in its own right. Unlimited, carrier-agnostic mobile-to-mobile is great to see from Verizon, too, even if Sprint has been offering the same thing for a while now. Choice is always great, and I'm sure that there are plenty of customers that would jump on the opportunity to have unlimited M2M minutes and texts. Would any of you switch to one of those unlimited M2M plans? Have any of you already seen them go live where you live?
