Verizon's new rate plans: $70/month unlimited calling, $90/month unlimited calling and texting

Verizon has just issued a press release announcing their new rate plans, and they’re making it ridiculously easy to pick the right package. For $70/month you get unlimited calling, great for the 13 year old girl who can’t stop gossiping about the new boy in school. For $90/month you get unlimited calling, texting, and picture messaging, brilliant, but this time for the 19 year old girl who loves the new boy in school so much that she spends hours trying to find the right angle to stand naked in front of the bathroom mirror so you can’t tell she has belly fat. Unlimited data will cost you an extra $30/month, perfect for the people who need to check MySpace, Facebook, and whatever dating site they use, for new messages and some sort of hope that people actually care about them.

Prepaid and family plan rates are in the press release below. Not bad for the nation’s best network according to Zagat.

Verizon Wireless Offers Simple, Affordable Convenience With New Unlimited Voice Plans

New monthly service plans from Verizon Wireless make connecting to the nation’s most reliable wireless network easier than ever. Beginning Jan. 18, customers may sign up for a new Nationwide Unlimited Talk plan that allows customers to call anyone in the United States for $69.99 monthly access or a Nationwide Unlimited Talk & Text plan to call and send text, picture and video messages to anyone in the country for $89.99 monthly access.

Nationwide Family SharePlans® will also have new unlimited options. Nationwide Unlimited Talk Family SharePlans will be $119.99 monthly access while the Nationwide Unlimited Talk & Text Family SharePlans will be $149.99 monthly access. All Family SharePlan pricing includes the first two lines of service. Standard text message rates will apply for customers on the Nationwide Unlimited Talk plans who do not sign up for a text messaging bundle.

The company also announced the expansion of the 25 megabyte for $9.99 per month data package requirement to include all Verizon Wireless 3G Multimedia phones, which gives customers quick access to Mobile E-mail, games and the Internet. The data package requirement was introduced last year with the LG enV® TOUCH and the Samsung Rogue™. Today’s announcement expands that list to include new activations of the LG Chocolate Touch™, LG enV®3, LG VX8360, Motorola Entice™ W766, Nokia 7705 Twist™ and Samsung Alias™ 2. The company expects to introduce a host of 3G Multimedia phones in 2010. The $19.99 data package option for 3G Multimedia phones has been discontinued.

Customers using Simple Feature phones (Mobile Web-enabled) will continue to pay $1.99 per megabyte or choose either the $9.99 or $29.99 data packages. The consumer data package for 3G Smartphones such as BlackBerry®, Windows Mobile® or Android devices will remain at $29.99 per month.

Verizon Wireless will also offer customers new prepaid plans beginning Jan. 18. For those who prefer pay-as-you-go options, but want a no-holds approach to calling and texting, new Monthly Unlimited Prepaid plans will give customers the same great calling options as monthly contract subscribers for just $5 more per month. Prepaid Monthly Unlimited Talk is now available for $74.99 per month while contract subscribers pay $69.99 for the same unlimited calling option. Prepaid Monthly Unlimited Talk & Text will be available for $94.99 per month. The 450- and 900-minute Monthly Prepaid plans will also be available for $5 more per month than comparable postpaid plans.

Today’s announcement will not have an impact on existing customer contracts, although customers may choose to move to any of the new plans. The company allows customers to change their service plans at any time without penalty or contract extension. To move to the newly announced plans, customers may go online to their My Verizon accounts at www.verizonwireless.com or contact Customer Service at 1-800-922-0204.

About The Author

Stefan Constantinescu

Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.

jerry

If I understand the press release, and I do not, there is some more hidden badness in there.

It looks as though “multimedia” phones which now must just about be any phone that’s not a smart phone are now forced to pay $10 per month for data.

My oldest daughter shares her mom’s minutes on what Verizon now considers a multimedia phone, so it looks as though that part of the family share plan just increased from $10 to $20 per month. That won’t hit my oldest kid, but my younger daughter will get a phone in a few months, and will almost certainly be hit.

I can’t imagine life without a dataplan for my phone, but there are many many multimedia phones and kids (and adults even) that don’t need or want the data.

The best that can be said, is that by paying $10 per month, maybe that helps the people that Verizon actively fucks over $2 at a time for accidentally using data until they back out.

I use Sprint — these Verizon prices are scary. I’ve always been very happy with Sprint, though I may go to TMobile for some new Android goodness. OR AT&T. Anyone but Verizon. Yuck.
Pat Wieber

I think it’s wonderful that Verizon is lowering their rates. However, for loyal customers like myself and my husband, we use minimal minutes and will not get a price break. I feel all customers should benefit.
Diane

We have NO use for the internet on your cell phones! Verizon tells us we have no choice. If we want a cell, we must pay the $10 per phone per month
For a family of 5 we must now pay an extra $50 per month ($10 per phone per month) multiply by 12 is $600 extra!!!
Verizon is garbage!!!
I believe we should only pay for what we use. Internet on the phones should be optional
My next phone is sprint!!!!!!!!!!!!