You’ll Have To Pay Full Price For Phone On Verizon Plan

Verizon, the United States’ biggest wireless provider, will stop offering discounted smartphones after customers sign two-year service contracts. As for devices, everyone will be buying their phones separately from their data plans for the full price of the phone – either in installments or all at once.

Also, you’ll still have to play for your device’s access to said wireless plan. Many see this as a radical shift in how Verizon operates and as a signal for broader shift from service contracts and smartphone subsidies. This means the days of buying a subsidized phone through Verizon are over. Even current subscribers will be able to switch to the new plans, with some restrictions.

If the plans are easier to get your head around than some, they aren’t always cheaper for customers, which differentiates the strategy from Verizon’s rivals. They will take effect on August 13, Thursday. The base monthly data fees are 1GB for $30, 3GB for $45, 6GB for $60, and 12GB for $80. A customer who wants an iPhone 6 will now pay the full $649, not the subsidized $200 price that comes with a two-year agreement.

Version is also collapsing its current 15 data plans into four primary options that are like ordering drinks or fries at a fast food restaurant.

What many might notice most of all in regards to this completely revamped system is the fact that there are no single-line options and no family plants. Earlier T-Mobile has ended subsidies for the new customers, Verizon will be the second company to follow suit. The cost for a smartphone will be $20/mo, a tablet or Jetpack portable Wi-Fi hotspot will be $10, and a “connected device”, such as a smartwatch, will cost you a monthly $5. You can have one of the plans and use the bucket for just one smartphone, or you can add multiple smartphones and devices. The new Verizon plans come in four options – Small, Medium, Large, and X-Large – each of which offers unlimited talk and text as well as a set data allotment.

And finally, gone are the two-year contracts with these plans.