The battle for wireless supremacy heated up this week as current No. 2 operator Verizon Wireless unveiled a slew of rate plan and service offerings that could help the carrier regain its position atop the domestic wireless market-a spot currently occupied by Cingular Wireless L.L.C. The moves also counter recent rate plan changes by Cingular that were launched in response to another set of changes made by Verizon Wireless last month.
Verizon Wireless’ most significant rate plan changes were to its prepaid offering that now includes free nighttime calling and free calls to the carrier’s more than 40 million other subscribers. The new offering, dubbed Inpulse, includes a daily access charge of 99 cents whether a customer uses the service or not, with domestic calling charged at a flat rate of 10 cents per minute.
The 99-cent per-day charge is automatically deducted from a customer’s airtime amount each day with the service being suspended if the user does not have at least 99 cents to cover the daily charge. Refill minutes expire between 30 days and 120 days after they are activated, depending on the amount of the refill.
The service includes domestic long-distance and on-network roaming, as well as a number of additional features, including voice mail, call waiting and call forwarding. Inpulse also provides for international calling to Canada and Mexico at 20 cents per minute plus airtime charges and to other available countries at 50 cents per minute plus airtime charges. Customers can also send and receive text messages at 5 cents per message sent or received.
The handsets for the service will include Kyocera Corp.’s KX414 and LG Electronics Co Ltd.’s VX3200, which were offered as part of the carrier’s previous prepaid offering. The Kyocera handset sells for $100, while the LG model sells for $130, with both handsets including $50 of airtime minutes each.
Verizon Wireless’ previous prepaid offering charged users a 25-cent per-call connection fee in addition to 10 cents per minute and did not include Inpulse’s free nighttime or on-network calling. The previous service also included only $15 in airtime with each new handset.
Verizon Wireless noted the new service provided customers not wanting to sign contracts or be locked into monthly billing programs with near-postpaid pricing at prepaid convenience.
“This is not about providing a service to people that are credit challenged,” said Verizon Wireless spokeswoman Brenda Raney. “It’s about offering a service to customers that may not yet have a credit record or for those who just want the freedom offered by a prepaid service.”
In addition to the prepaid offering, Verizon Wireless upgraded its wildly successful America’s Choice postpaid plans to now include no roaming charges anywhere in the United States. The plans provide the same calling minutes and prices as the recently updated America’s Choice plans, but remove the previous 69-cent per-minute charge for domestic roaming.
The full version of this story is available to paid subscribers at Verizon releases updated rates to counter Cingular.
