Verizon Data Plans: Unlimited Data Customers Will See Bills Increase $20
Verizon announced on Thursday that customers on old unlimited data plans will soon see a $20 increase on their bills.
Unlimited data plans are becoming a thing of the past, as smartphones and large files dominate the mobile airwaves. Verizon stopped offering new unlimited data plans back in 2011, but customers who left their plans alone were grandfathered in and allowed to keep their unlimited data.
Verizon announced that these customers will be assessed a $20 upcharge on their monthly bills after Nov. 15, rising from $30 to $50 per month, CNet reports. The total cost of a plan with voice, texts and data will likely jump to over $100.
Verizon wants these customers to transition into plans that offer a specific amount of data per month. Customers on tiered plans are assessed overage charges if they go past their allotted data, limiting the amount of movies and music they can stream each month.
Other wireless carriers also recognize that data is very expensive and hard to distribute evenly throughout networks. Last week, Sprint increased the cost of their unlimited data plan by $10 per month.
T-Mobile also still offers an unlimited plan, while AT&T eliminated unlimited data plans years ago, but has allowed grandfathered customers to stay on them.
A very small percentage of Verizon customers are still on unlimited data plans. Some insist on keeping the plans so they are not forced to monitor the amount of data they use each month. By remaining on the unlimited data plans, these customers miss out on special discounts and perks that other customers receive.
According to a Verizon spokesman, customers could actually save money by leaving the unlimited data plans and signing up for a tiered plan because they may not be using enough data to justify the additional expense.
Verizon will help customers decide if they should switch to a tiered plan by reviewing their monthly data use.
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