Verizon rolls out slight alterations to prepaid plans
Verizon Wireless goosed its prepaid plans ahead of the holiday shopping season by adding a bit more data on the high end and expanding options for entry-level plans.
The carrier’s branded smartphone plans now provide for unlimited voice calling, messaging and 3 gigabytes of high-speed data for $60 per month, which is 50% more data when compared to the previous offering. The carrier’s $45-per-month plan remains the same with 1 GB of data, while the carrier now offers a $30 per month plan that does not include any cellular data.
Customers selecting either the $60 or $45 plans can pick up an additional 1 GB of high-speed data per month if they enroll in the Verizon Wireless automatic payment program. Customer also can purchase additional data priced at $5 for 500 Mb, $10 for 1 GB or $20 for 3 GB.
Basic phone plans are now priced at $30 per month for unlimited voice calling, messaging and data access or $15 per month for 300 voice calling minutes, 300 messages and unlimited data access.
Verizon Wireless last month updated its prepaid data plans for “connected” devices like mobile hot spots and tablets. Those options include 500 Mb of data good for one week at $15; 1 GB of data good for one month for $20; 2 GB for $35 good for two months; 5 GB for $60 good for two months; and 10 GB for $100 also good for two months.
Verizon Wireless has struggled in the prepaid space, giving up market share to rivals in the highly competitive segment. The carrier said it lost 80,000 prepaid customers during the third quarter, but management has often said it was not keenly focused on that segment, preferring to leave its reseller and mobile virtual network operator partners to target that market.
In the meantime, some rivals continue to show strong growth in the prepaid segment. T-Mobile US said its branded prepaid services, including its MetroPCS brand, attracted 595,000 customers during Q3; and AT&T Mobility’s prepaid brands, which include Cricket Wireless, posted 466,000 net additions. Sprint’s prepaid efforts, which include Virgin Mobile, Boost Mobile and Assurance Wireless, lost a collective 366,000 customers during the latest quarter. However, the carrier noted that it migrated 199,000 prepaid customers with a “consistent payment history” to its postpaid offerings.
Verizon Wireless’ latest effort pales in comparison to more aggressive and unique approaches from rivals. T-Mobile US earlier this month extended its recently launched video-streaming enhancements along with more data and streaming music service to its MetroPCS brand. That followed a summer move to expand its “Mobile without Borders” promotion to MetroPCS, providing those prepaid customers with the option for unlimited calling and messaging to the U.S., and access to their current data plans – including LTE usage – when traveling in Mexico; and unlimited calling and messaging to Mexico from the U.S.
AT&T Mobility last month offered up Cricket customers on higher-tiered plans free access to their data services to go along with previous access to voice calling and messaging when roaming in Mexico and Canada.
Sprint last month rolled out a free streaming-music service for its Virgin Mobile brand, which followed a boost in unthrottled data access for Virgin Mobile customers.
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