Tech Talk News: Verizon Is Making Some Major Changes To Their Data Plans!

As we know unlimited data plans is a thing of the past for the most part. Well Verizon is thinking of moving away from the tiered data plans to shared data plans? Check out the story after the jump.

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Verizon Wireless, the nation’s largest cellphone company, is dropping nearly all of its phone plans in favor of pricing schemes that encourage consumers to connect their non-phone devices, like tablets and PCs, to Verizon’s network.

The new plans will become available on June 28, and reflect Verizon’s desire to keep growing now that nearly every American already has a phone. The plans let families and other subscribers share a monthly data allowance over up to 10 devices.

It’s the biggest revamp in wireless pricing in years, and one that’s likely to be copied by other carriers. AT&T Inc. has already said that it’s looking at introducing shared-data plans soon.

Change, across the industry, was inevitable. In the first quarter of this year, phone companies, for the first time, reported a drop in the number of phones on contract-based plans, which are the most lucrative. To keep service revenues rising, the phone companies are betting on increased data usage, and that means getting more data-hungry devices on their networks.

Verizon’s new “Share Everything” plans, announced Tuesday, include unlimited phone calls and texting, and will start at $90 per month for one smartphone and 1 gigabyte of data. If used only with a smartphone, “Share Everything” prices are lower than for current plans with unlimited calling and texting, but higher than plans with limited calling and texting.

The plans will push many subscribers toward spending more, by including unlimited calling and texting by default. Unlimited calling plans provide peace of mind, but not many people need them, and the average number of minutes used is declining.

From the carrier’s perspective, providing unlimited access is an efficient use of its network, because calling and texting take up very little capacity. Data usage, on the other hand, consumes a lot of network resources.

The savings will come to subscribers who add more devices like tablets to their plans. In such cases, the new pricing system will be cheaper compared with separate data plans for each device. Today, few consumers put tablets on data plans, probably because they dread paying an extra $30 or so per month, on top of their phone bills.

Under “Share Everything,” adding a tablet to a plan will cost $10 per month. Adding a USB data stick for a laptop will cost $20.

Verizon’s limited-calling and texting plans will disappear, except for one $40-per-month plan intended for “dumb” phones. Verizon is keeping its limited-data plans for single non-phone devices, like the $30 tablet plan.

Current Verizon customers will be able to switch to the new plans or keep their old ones, with one exception. Those who have unlimited-data plans for their smartphones won’t be able to move those to new phones, unless they pay the full, unsubsidized price for those phones. (For example, an iPhone 4S that costs $200 with a two-year contract costs $650 unsubsidized, with no contract.)

Verizon stopped signing people up for unlimited-data plans last summer. The industry as a whole is moving away from the plans, since the data capacity of their networks is limited.

Under the new plans, subscribers can stop worrying about monitoring the number of calling minutes or text messages their families use in a month, but they’ll have to keep a close eye on data consumption. Verizon will allow subscribers to adjust their data allowance from month to month, but if they go over their monthly allotment, that will cost $15 per gigabyte.

The data allowances start at $50 per month for 1 gigabyte. That’s enough for prudent two-smartphone users who use Wi-Fi a lot, but Verizon recommends getting 2 gigabytes for $60. After that, each additional 2 gigabytes cost an extra $10 per month.

Under “Share Everything,” Verizon will stop charging extra for letting devices act as “mobile Wi-Fi hotspots.” That means subscribers who have a recent smartphone could use it to connect a tablet to the Internet, without paying the extra $10 per month for a tablet.

Verizon had telegraphed the move toward shared plans, but had not revealed the details or pricing.

Verizon Wireless has 93 million subscribers on its plans. It’s a joint venture of New York-based phone company Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC, a British cellphone company with wide international interests.

Verizon shares rose 2 cents to $42.58 in morning trading. The shares are close to a four-year high of $42.95.

By the numbers: Verizon’s new sharing plans

With Verizon’s new Share Everything plans, subscribers pay for two things: the pool of wireless data they use every month, and the devices they add to the plan.

The base cost is a monthly data allowance, shared among all the devices:

1 gigabyte $50
2 gigabytes $60
4 gigabytes $70
6 gigabytes $80
8 gigabytes $90
10 gigabytes $100
Verizon allows up to 10 devices on each plan. This is the cost of adding each device:

Smartphone $40 (With unlimited calling and texting)
Non-smartphone $30 (With unlimited calling and texting)
Laptop, USB data stick or “mobile hotspot” device $20
Tablet $10
Here’s how the Share Everything Plan stacks up against some current plans:

One smartphone with unlimited data, texting and 2 gigabytes of data.

Current Nationwide single-line plan: $120 per month
Share Everything: $100 per month
Cheapest single-smartphone plans, each for $80 per month:

Current Nationwide Plan: One smartphone with 450 minutes of calling, 1,000 text messages and 2 gigabytes of data.
Share Everything: One smartphone with unlimited calling, unlimited messages and 300 megabytes of data (Up to nine non-smartphones can be added to this plan for $30 each, sharing the data allowance)
Two smartphones with unlimited data, texting and 4 gigabytes of data (shared under new plan, 2 gigabytes for each phone under old plan)

Current Family SharePlan: $210 per month
Share Everything: $150 per month
Cheapest two-smartphone plans:

Current Family SharePlan: $150 for two smartphones with 700 shared minutes of calling, 1,000 text messages per line and 2 gigabytes of data per line.
Share Everything: $130 for two smartphones with unlimited calling and texting, and 1 gigabyte of data, shared.

TIME