Verizon announces Nationwide Unlimited Talk and Talk & Text plans
By Vlad Savov 
posted January 15th 2010 8:42AM
posted January 15th 2010 8:42AM
Yesterday we heard some rumblings about Verizon making alterations to its calling plans, and wouldn't you know it, here's the official PR setting the record straight. Firstly, there's an Unlimited Talk plan for $69.99 per month, which can be augmented with free text, picture, and video messaging by moving up to the Unlimited Talk & Text plan at $89.99. Family SharePlan varieties -- which cover the service costs for the first two lines -- are also going to be available, priced at $119.99 for Talk and $149.99 for Talk & Text. Monthly Unlimited Prepaid options complete the new unveilings, costing $5 more than contract-bound subscribers would have to pay -- i.e. $74.99 and $94.99. A less happy rumor confirmation is that all but the simplest of phones will require a $9.99 25MB mobile data add-on, while smartphone owners will have to pony up $29.99 for the Unlimited mobile data stuff. All these changes are coming into effect on January 18, as speculated, though current Verizon customers won't be affected unless they opt to move to one of the new plans. Hit the read link for the full announcement and more details.
morning, engadget
still doesn't beat my t-mo plan... im just fine sticking with them
@skyblaze
I know. But funny how it is no one never list their plans by year?
Verizon's Unlimited Talk plan for $839.88 + Tax per year.
Unlimited Talk & Text plan for $1,079.88 + Tax per year.
Family plans start at
$1439.88 per year for Talk
$1799.99 per year for Talk & Text.
Multiply that by 2 and 3 year contracts... you can be looking at upwards of over $5,400 just to yak. O.o
Thanks goodness for pay-as-you-go phones and Skype.
@skyblaze
+1
I have 1000 mins, Unlimted Data and Text and it's $70/m with T-MO.
Commence kite flying Verizon.
@Blackstar
i was talking to a friend yesterday about how much cell companies these days con us. i literally went on a rant about how they nickel and dime us for the most trivial features and on top of that they put little to no effort in actually making things better. and we americans (especially us techies who thrive on wireless internet) have no choice but to bend over and take it. meanwhile europe knows how to act and they enjoy free iphones on contract with plans that make sense and freaking VIDEO calling! i swear i can make a college thesis on the sad state of consumer wireless telephony in america. pisses me to no end :\
@skyblaze
I used t mobile for my n97, and i could hardly get a signal. Verizon, maybe more expensive but 99% of the time I get a signal.
@skyblaze
Given that Verizon and Att have the most expensive plans and they keep adding 1-3 million customers every quarter, and Sprint and Tmobile have the cheapest plans and are either losing customers, or close to losing customers (Tmobile's net customer adds have been declining each sequential quarter for the last 3 quarters), what do you expect?
If the market continues to side with the guys that charge you more and not with the guys that charge you less- where do you think that gets you? Same discussion as people saying "Apple had better get off Att or they are screwed" No, not as long as they continue to sell boats of phones. Now a mass exodus to Sprint/Tmo...that would get their attention.
@skyblaze
Wow... You're brainwashed. Have you ever taken into consideration the euro is worth more than the Dollar? Or the fact the governments of Germany, France and Norway all used taxes to assist carriers build out there network so the carriers don't have as much overrhead?
@techinsane
well... naturally the first step in choosing the best wireless carrier for your needs is finding out who has the best signal in your area. tmobile admittedly isnt near as good as verizon in nationwide coverage (especially for 3g) but where im at in philly its just balls to da wall 4 me... even commuting all the way to king of prussia. (still waiting for that fabled 21mbps internet theyre testing, though)
question... why are you using an N97 with tmo? you're stuck with 2g speeds. id use that on At&t for 3g, ya digg
@Mentat
if you wanna put it that way why cant US, Canada, and Mexico do the same? i say it all boils down to greed.
@trevr
and in a rant of my own why the hell can't all the networks here share the same spectrum and use sim cards altogether. not only is that better for competition but then we the people can use whatever hell kinda phone we want on whatever hell kinda carrier we choose. once again, greed -__-'
@skyblaze
I agree wholeheartedly T-mobile has great prices.
Sadly I am returning my (awesome) Nexus One today. I was only able to stay connected to their network 50% of the time and I live dead center in T-mobiles strongest signal area.
I am willing to pay more for Verizon and use the Droid. The downgrade in phone tech and the upgrade in plan price are easily justified by actually being able to use the device how it is intended wherever I may be.
With t-mobile and verizon just as with any tech... you get what you pay for.
@skyblaze
I'm 20 miles outside of Philly and I can't get T-Mobile 3G where I live. Every other carrier has 3G coverage here, but TMo has failed to roll it out where I live. I was going to get a MyTouch this summer, but the coverage map was so bad that I couldn't convince myself that I could use EDGE and be happy.
@skyblaze How's that data & coverage working out for ya.
@Mentat
Have you taken into consideration that the Euro vs the Dollar is only applicable for international trade?
If we are talking about a telecom based in Europe having lower rates that is because they have lower rates... NOT because they take the subscriber Euros and trade them for Dollars.
If I buy an orange in the US and it costs me a dollar I would expect the orange to cost me a Euro in Europe. Base purchases will see similar pricing in local monies. Large ticket items imported places will see a change in cost because the companies buying and selling them saw a monetary exchange (US factories paid their employees in Dollars, but they get paid by the German Distributor in Euros).
@Blackstar That's because most people aren't paid by the year and most bills are paid monthly.
@skyblaze
I likely may switch to T-mobile at some point... Verizon is expensive and evil... But damn do I love my droid... and the fact that I have 3g almost everywhere I go.
@E30 Kid
I live about 12 miles outside of Philly and have 3G 99% of the time...even when I travel further south and north my G1 is almost always 3Ging it.
@Blackstar
Boy you American fellas pay a fortune!
I have the umbiquitous Iphone on 02 for £35 (About $50) with unlimted Data acces both WIFI hotspots and 3G and unlimited Text/MMS and Voice!
Oh and the phone was about $200 on 2 year contract....
(even got $150 trade in pn my old Nokia!)
Thank god for being British for a change! :-)
@COCOViper
Well, I left AT&T for T-Mo last month, and at least two of my friends dumped either Verizon or AT&T to T-Mo in the last couple of years.
Also, I live in Dallas, and I've never been to a single part of town where I didn't have 3G service.
@skyblaze
I'll stick with my awesome Sprint plan. Keep putting on the yellow sweater though Verizon. Sooner or later a few fools should mistaken you for Sprint.
@skyblaze tmo is the leader right now.
@skyblaze
plans that make sense? you mean plans like the ones in the UK where you get 200 minutes, that you can't use to call landlines (that is extra) no mobile to mobile calling/nights and weekends.. so 200 minutes total, a limit of 500mb on data, and yeah, unlimited SMS is cheaper, but it doesn't include MMS.
I've yet to be shown a SINGLE europeon plan that's better for the typical american user than what you can find on tmobile/sprint/heck even verizon over here
@skyblaze
NYC, T-Mo, no problems with service. I have 2 phones, Unlimited EVERYTHING on both phones(voice, data, messaging) $150mo.
AND I can use ANY unlocked phone on the market. If i break my phone I can just put my sim card in any of my other old phones and keep it moving, NO DOWN TIME. If I lose my phone, 20 bucks for a new sim card.
Same plan with VZW $210mo, and they DONT use sim cards. I have to pay a replacement fee and take a day off to wait for stupid ass FedEx to deliver my phone a week later.
Unless T-Mo doesn't get coverage in your area (which basically means you live in the woods) you would be silly to use another carrier.Areas where T-Mo doesnt get coverage, Sprint usually does and is cheaper. VZW? Would never.
@smithers
I have been using T-mo for a long time in nyc. While T-mo has good plans and a decent customer service. Their signal strength is quite lacking indoors. While you can get full bars outside, one step indoors and you are screwed. You can drop a bar of soap in a prison shower and have last chance of getting screw. Then being indoors trying to get a signal with T-mo. For that reason alot people go with verizon despite the cost. It doesnt matter if you indoors or outside, with verizon you get a decent signal (in nyc)
@J2the4son How exactly is a Droid a downgrade in tech over the Nexus One? As near as I can tell, they are basically equivalent, tech-wise.
@trevr
Oh. I thought it was because each US company chose the tech that they thought would win in the market some 20 years ago, and now have that long of an investment in their networks.
Which is VZW's big advantage in coverage. AT&T (old/new) chose speed.
Well, ATT's 8 year or so investment in GSM anyway. I don't understand why GSM couldn't have been built to be back-compat with TDMA since it was "built from TDMA"...?
Regardless, why aren't you directing you're wrath at the dearth of multimode phones (remember those) that can do CDMA or GSM?
btw, isn't everybody moving to LTE in the next progression?
@smithers
ask real cool in the store and you can probably slide by getting a replacement for free.
a dude near 5th and 52nd hooked me up when I lost my phone in a cab.
(which, amazingly enough, I got back)
@Menno What utter hogwash. Here are the two cheapest plans from the UK carriers:
£35.00/$50.00 a month
* 600 UK minutes and 500 UK texts each month
* Unlimited data and Wi-Fi (worth £15 a month)
* Unlimited visual voicemail
And in the UK, your minutes and texts don't get used up when someone calls/texts you - only when you make a call or send a text. So that's the equivalent of 1200 US minutes, 1000 US texts.
@skyblaze
I have used four carriers in a year (Sprint, T mobile , AT&T and Verizon) and by far Verizon, is reliable than the rest carriers, first I have an HTC touch through sprint (drop calls like nobody's business) then I bought a N97, which is a unlocked phone, signed up with T mobile first rarely got signal at the time I thought the would get 3G but then I got so fed up I went for AT&T, they had spotty 3G, and really unreliable service. So I put my N97 aside and replaced it with HTC Touch Pro 2 with Verizon, so far so good.
@skyblaze I know! And it's so painful, shelling out like 200 bucks on a phone and still have to pay almost 100 a month just to get to use it to full capacity. And then they add words like "unlimited" to make it seem like it's so special. You're getting effed, period. Here in Canada there's Telus that introduced "no hidden fees" and my first reaction was, wait, you had hidden fees? It's just so frustrating and mildly depressing to know that it's probably not going to change any time soon.
@rodabi
You forgot to add that your phone will automatically work outside the UK, unlike the phones over here.
I hate the word unlimited when it get used by companies, there is always a catch or a hidden fee, so is this the case again?
@GoogleCEO - No, not with minutes so far. I'm sure there's a "fair use" clause in the contract somewhere, but I don't think any sane person would hit that amount.
@GoogleCEO
giggity giggity goooooooooooooooogle!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@GoogleCEO
as CEO of google, You can't afford cellphone service?
@GoogleCEO
I ran these numbers twice and still can't believe them.
25MB @ $9.99/m = 39.96 cents/MB
5GB @ $29.99/m = .5 cents/MB
It's 80X more expensive per meg on the 9.99 plan.
Fuck that. FCC, please put a stop to this.
@FNG Better yet get the FTC on the phone. How can they advertise a plan that they require a $9.99 data plan add on to get? Especially a horrible overpriced one at that. If its required build it into the advertised price and include it in the original sold service. If this required data plan is not clear specified in every single advertisement, I don't see how its not illegal.
@KAL326
Oh yeah, I meant FTC not the FCC.
How about this one Verizon...
Based on .5c per MB on your "unlimited" 5GB plan @ $29.99:
$5.00/m for 500MB + 2c per MB overage
$10.00/m for 1GB + 1c per MB overage
$30.00/m for 5GB + .5c per MB overage
This has overage fees that are somewhat fair to both parties.
You still can have your upfront guaranteed money with a pricing plan that people can CHOOSE to fit their needs.
@FNG
First off...the $29.99 is unlimited...there is no hidden 5GB cap. The 5GB cap applies to tethering or mobile broadband plans. That plan is $59.99 for 5GB with $0.05 overage past the 5GB. Verizon doesn't claim for it to be unlimited in any way. By the way, the 3G Multimedia handsets have data prices of:
$09.99 / 25MB with $0.20/MB overage
$29.99 / Unlimited (no cap, no overage rate, etc)
In addition, why would you go cry to the FTC or FCC to put a stop to it. If you don't like the billing practices, go to another carrier. As long as there is competition and variety in choices neither the FTC or FCC can do shite about the pricing.
Cheaper than AT&T but still more than T-Mo and Sprint.
@grydlok
Just wait for the AT&T PR later today.
@sycamore714
You're probably right.
For someone that just needs a phone, how is this better than smartalk at Walmart which I believe uses VZW's network. Once you get to the "unlimited" status, does mobile to mobile minutes matter anymore?
@Lotheron
Because to get SmartTalk means you have to fight through the crowd of fat, ugly people that frequent wal mart. And then you'll need a tetanus shot after you leave from all the dirty, rowdy kids who run around without parental supervision.
@Lotheron It is "Straight" Talk, not smart stalk.
still way too much for the average person
@Saja
With that kind of logic, that means people above the average deserve Verizon for its exemplary service and coverage. People who can afford the best in the US deserve Verizon. Where I live, the amount of below-average people is rampant, and they all have TMo or AT&T. I feel sorry for their underwhelming coverage. Oh well.
Go Verizon!
@shadowj0
Wow, your comment is so arrogant and pompous. Plus your logic is twisted.
The average person doesn't use a smart phone. There are "below-average" people who don't need all the bells and whistles. Heck, there are "below average" people who have smart phones without a matching data plan.
Most people generally care about the phone they have, not the service.
What PEOPLE deserve is affordable and reliable service. If you want the most bang for buck smartphone/data plan and you live in an area where coverage is great (ie: dallas for tmo), then you're probably gonna get an android phone with tmo or htc with sprint.
I feel sorry for your twisted logic and lack of touch and sympathy for the average consumer. It's people like YOU shadow that allows Verizon to justify their exorbitant rates (post rate drop).
god, you are the scum of engadget.
@Saja
Well, you've proved my point. Thanks a lot!
Better, but certainly not in the Sprint/T-Mo ballpark.