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Verizon to Ditch Phone Plans, Go With Shared Plans

8:14 AM, Jun 12, 2012   |    comments
Verizon Wireless store in New York City(image credit Justin Sullivan/Getty)
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NEW YORK (AP) - Verizon Wireless, the nation's largest cellphone company, says it's dropping nearly all of its phone plans in favor of a pricing scheme that lets consumers share data usage among up to ten phones and other devices.

In the biggest overhaul of wireless pricing in years -and one that's likely to be copied by competitors- Verizon's new policies will let individuals combine non-phone devices like tablets and laptops, as well as phones of family members, into a single plan.

The change takes effect June 28. AT&T Inc. has already said it's looking at introducing shared-data plans soon.

Verizon's new "Share Everything" plans include unlimited phone calls and texting, and will start at $90 per month for one smartphone and 1 gigabyte of data.

- 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.