On Friday, Verizon surprised most of the wireless industry with an announcement of new S-M-L-XL data plans and a move away from 2-year contracts for new customers. Now that the dust has settled a bit and we move closer to their August 13 launch, we have some additional information to share that should clear any remaining questions up, courtesy of our sources.
Current Customer Upgrades
Our current understanding is that current customers will have two options when they are ready to upgrade. The first, and the one Verizon will try and push them towards, is to go with the new S-M-L-XL plan and upgrade to a new device through the new device payment plan. If that doesn’t sound appealing, current customers can “keep their (current) plan and upgrade, add a line, or move up or down within the plan.”
Should you decide to upgrade phones, Verizon will try their best to get you into a device payment plan. “After evaluating alternatives,” and should none of those sound like your best option, they will let you sign a 2-year contract with subsidized pricing.
Changing to New Plan
If you decide to change to the new S-M-L-XL plan, your line access fee will change depending on your current phone status. If you purchased a phone with device payments, at retail price, are upgrade eligible, switch from prepaid to postpaid, or brought your own device, you will pay a line access fee of $20, which is the price Verizon announced last week. If you purchased a phone at a discount (subsidized price) and are not at your upgrade date, Verizon will charge you a $40 per month line access fee because that phone you bought was at a “deeply discounted price.” Thankfully, once you hit your upgrade date, Verizon will automatically drop your line access fee from $40 to $20.
Additional Data Options
S-M-L-XL is Verizon’s attempt at simplifying the entire wireless service process. For the most part, they have done it with four data buckets and a flat $20 line access fee. But what if you want more than 12GB of data (XL package)? Well, Verizon has options for you. They are as follows:
- 20GB – $120
- 25GB – $175
- 30GB – $224
- 40GB – $300
- 50GB – $375
- 60GB – $450
- 80GB – $600
- 100GB – $750
The Name
Verizon is apparently officially calling these new plans “One Plan. Four Sizes.” But they may also refer to as “The Verizon Plan.”
Cheers the rooster!