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Verizon will offer unlimited data plans starting February 13th

Verizon will begin offering plans with uncapped mobile data February 13th. (Source: Verizon)
Verizon will begin offering plans with uncapped mobile data February 13th. (Source: Verizon)
Big Red goes uncapped with its new unlimited data plan, an interesting move for a company known for restrictive mobile data caps. Is this a response to increasing market pressure from T-Mobile?

It’s no secret that Verizon has lagged behind the competition when it comes to smartphone data. While competitors like Sprint and T-Mobile nixed data caps years ago, Verizon became known for the exact opposite; Big Red frequently comes under pressure for restrictive data caps and steep overage charges. It’s unusual, then, that the largest service provider in the United States announced the arrival of an unlimited data plan.

In a press note released earlier today, Verizon stated that the company is “offering an introductory plan that gives you unlimited data on your smartphone and tablet on the best 4G LTE network in the country.” They’re throwing in a few extra goodies as well, including “HD video streaming, Mobile Hotspot, calling and texting to Mexico and Canada and up to 500 MB/day of 4G LTE roaming in Mexico and Canada.” The plan will cost $80 per line. That cost is reduced to $45/line for customers with four devices. Like all of Verizon’s other plans, unlimited calls and texts are included as well.

But if you’re hoping to binge watch the second season of Stranger Things on your phone, be careful. Once you hit 22 GB of data, Verizon “may prioritize usage behind other customers in the event of network congestion.” In other words, Big Red will likely throttle network speed for customers that hit a 22 GB threshold. This isn’t that uncommon; T-Mobile offers unlimited data but throttles heavy users to 2G (or slower) speeds once they use a certain amount of data.

This move may be coming as a response to T-Mobile’s aggressive expansion. The “Uncarrier” (as T-Mobile CEO John Legere likes to call his company) began offering unlimited data plans in an effort to incentivize customers to jump ship from Verizon and AT&T. T-Mobile has used other inventive tactics like selling stock with line activations. These moves have paid off; T-Mobile has outpaced the competition in customer growth for several years. Verizon may finally be feeling a squeeze from T-Mobile’s sales growth and may be responding with an unlimited data plan of their own. We’ll have to wait and see if this move pays off for Verizon.

More details about Verizon’s new unlimited plan can be found at www.VerizonWireless.com.

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2017 02 > Verizon will offer unlimited data plans starting February 13th
Sam Medley, 2017-02-13 (Update: 2017-02-13)