Verizon’s New Smartphone Plans: What You Need To Know

If you do not already know, the biggest wireless carrier in the United States has decided to eliminate contracts for its wireless services. Instead, Verizon Wireless has chosen to offer only four basic new plans that its subscribers can choose from. These changes take effect today, and if you are curious about what they are about, let us run through the basics.

What are the four new plans and what do they offer? The four new plans are as follows:

• Small ($30 per month) -- with 1 gigabyte of data
• Medium ($45 per month) -- with 3 gigabytes of data
• Large ($60 per month) -- with 6 gigabytes of data
• Extra Large ($80 per month) -- with 12 gigabytes of data

What happens to standard two year service contracts? Verizon Wireless is basically throwing them right out the window. Also, the wireless carrier is putting a stop to its practice of offering discounted handsets for $100 or $200. Verizon is doing this entirely for new subscribers. In other words, with the new plans and new set up, customers can purchase handsets outright, with the option of paying the entire cost through monthly zero interest installments.

How do the monthly installments work? The full price of the handset is divided by 24 months, not including taxes. 

Because there is no contract, can subscribers just leave anytime? Yup, and they can also switch between one new plan to another from month to month in case their data needs change. But if they do decide to leave early, they will still be on the hook for the entire cost of the handset. 

What about those already under existing Verizon plans? They can decide to keep their two year contract plans for the future, and there will be no changes to the terms and conditions whatsoever. But if they switch to the new plans, they will not be allowed to switch back to their old plans.

What about upcoming free upgrades for existing customers? These will be left untouched. Customers under old Verizon plans will continue to enjoy this privilege as long as they keep their existing plans.

What about unlocked smartphones? Here is the deal -- many if not most of these unlocked devices may not work on Verizon’s network because the Big Red has very specific technology requirements. The wise thing to do is to make sure your unlocked device is Verizon compatible (these include Motorola’s Moto X Pure Edition, the Google Nexus 6, and Apple’s iPhone 6).

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