Verizon Raises Some Data Caps, Finally Gives $10/Month Discount For Early Upgrade Program

Here are the new monthly data costs for the various Verizon Wireless tiers. These prices are in addition to the monthly phone/text charges associated with each device.

T-Mobile gave up on phone subsidies altogether last spring, and in December AT&T finally dipped its toe into those waters by offering discounts to people who own their phones or are part of its AT&T Next early upgrade program. Verizon, the wireless industry’s most expensive carrier, had refused to budge, but today showed the first signs that it might be open to change.

This morning Big V announced, MORE Everything, a slightly complicated shift in the pricing of its data plans that increases monthly data allotments, but only for subscribers who had been paying for 2GB/month or fewer. Those with plans of 4GB or more will continue to pay top dollar, though they can get a $10/month discount for being part of the Verizon Edge early upgrade program (more on that toward the bottom of the story).

For example, a VZW customer with a current $100/month plan that gets her 2GB will now have access to up to 3GB/month for the same price. A customer with a 1GB/month limit for $90 will now receive double that allotment (2GB/month) without a rate increase.

In addition, the company is introducing minimal data plans for people whose smartphone use is limited. $55/month will get a user 250MB/month and $70 pays for 500MB.

Customers who want further discounts on their phones will need to be part of Verizon’s Edge early upgrade program, which we chided back in July for failing to provide any monthly savings to customers, even though Edge members are required to pay full sticker price for their phones.

In the wake of AT&T’s decision to reward customers who pay for their own phones with a discount, Verizon has finally done the same, though the savings are only $10/month, 2/3 of what AT&T offers to its Next members.

“A $10 discount might seem like a deal, but given that device subsidy fee is usually around $15 to $20 in your monthly, Verizon is still taking advantage of its customers in the upgrade plan,” writes GigaOm’s Kevin Fitchard.

Additionally, AT&T extends that discount to any customer with an unsubsidized phone. Verizon’s offer is currently only available to customers in the Edge program.

This may be a blown opportunity for Verizon, who could have siphoned off a large number of unhappy Sprint customers by allowing them to bring their phones to a compatible network and receive a discount.

Verizon subscribers curious to see how their plans are affected can click here for more info.

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by Chris Morran via Consumerist