Verizon Wireless Kills Service Contracts, Announces Simplified Rate Plans

The end of wireless as we know it is upon us. T-Mobile Jump started the end of the contract era a few years ago, and now the nation’s largest wireless carrier has decided to follow suit. On Monday, Verizon Wireless announced they will be ending 2 year contracts and subsidized discounts on smartphones beginning August 13th. In their place will be the option to buy a device at full retail cost, or finance a phone month by month on the Verizon Edge program.

The rate plans themselves will also see a more “streamlined” presentation as the offerings will be bumped from well over ten service plan offerings to just four. They start at the base level of “small” for the light data users and roll into the range of “Extra Large” for those who may use more streaming services. The “small” data bundle will give users 1GB of data for $30, the “medium” data bundle will give users 3GB of data for $45, the “large” bundle will get you 6GB of data for $60, and finally the “extra-large” bundle will give users 12GB of data for $80. Keep in mind that this pricing only covers your sharable data bucket along with unlimited talk and text, and will not include any additional device costs.

This is where the pricing starts to climb a bit more. Smartphones will cost $20 per line on either plan, while smartwatches will cost an additional $5 per line, and tablets or portable hotspots will cost $10 per line. After you get that figured in, also add in the additional installment plan for your device, and you could be staring down the barrel of a pretty hefty wireless bill. If you are still on a contract and plan on moving to these new plans, fear not, Verizon will still allow you to make the switch when they become available. The caveat to doing so however, is if the contract on your line hasn’t expired, you’ll still be charged the standard fee of $40 for your line until it does. After your contract is up, the charge will then automatically move down to the new $20 rate.

It looks like T-Mobile’s brash rate plan policies and new-found popularity, are fueling a giant shakeup within the wireless business. When you can get one of the Big Two to completely about-face something they’ve fought tooth and nail not to do, you know you’re doing something right. Verizon subscribers, how do you feel about this upcoming change?

Excited? disappointed? Indifferent? Let us know in the comments