Verizon Wireless will keep its $30 unlimited data plan for the iPhone, Lowell McAdam, chief operating officer of Verizon, said today at the company's quarterly investor meeting.
The Wall Street Journal first reported McAdam's comments ahead of Verizon's quarterly earnings conference call this morning. And the company confirmed it here at an event for investors and analysts. But the plan will only be offered for a limited time before the company moves to a usage-based billing model.
"I'm not going to shoot myself in the foot," he told the Journal. He said that not offering an unlimited plan would put up a barrier for customers who want to leave AT&T. In June, AT&T changed its data service offering and eliminated the unlimited data plan for new customers. Now new customers are required to buy one of two capped services: $25 for 2GB of data or $15 for 200MB of data per month.
While new customers at AT&T are not able to get an unlimited data plan for any smartphone, customers on contract with AT&T before June were grandfathered in to the plan.
Even though Verizon has talked about offering a usage-based tiered pricing service, changing the policy would likely prevent many existing and longtime AT&T iPhone users from switching to Verizon.
But the unlimited plan will not last for long. The company clarified its position on the unlimited data plan after its investor conference, stating that the iPhone unlimited data plan will be available for a "limited time." Verizon representatives declined to provide details about how long the window would last. But after the offer ends, Verizon will be moving to a usage-based billing model that is similar to what AT&T offers today. Verizon still hasn't disclosed pricing for its 4G LTE handsets, which are set to hit store shelves in the first half of 2011.
As for how long customers will get to keep their unlimited data plans, according to a Verizon spokeswoman, the unlimited plan will only be offered for the contract period. After the contract expires and customers buy a new device, they will be subject to whatever rate plans are available when they upgrade their phones.
"For example, a customer purchases an iPhone 4 or a Droid X along with the $29.99 data plan," the representative explained. "This person's contract expires February 10, 2013, but they love their device so much they never come in and purchase another device. They continue to pay us monthly and we continue to bill them for the exact same services. We don't change their plan. Now let's say in 2014, they want a new phone and they come in and purchase a new phone, then they subscribe to whatever service is offered at that time and pay that price."
This is different from AT&T's current data plan policy, which allows anyone who subscribed to an AT&T unlimited data plan before June 2010 to keep that unlimited plan, if they haven't altered the plan, even after their contract ends and they upgrade to a new phone.
At its earnings conference today, executives also said that the company will discontinue the $15 data plan for smartphones that offers 150MB per month.
(news.cnet.com)
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That is great news!
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