Verizon Simplifies Consumer Price Plans

Plus plan offers 30 GB of high-speed hot spot data per line plus the ability to connect to Verizon's faster 5G networks, at $80 per line. Per line charges drop for those with multiple lines -- the Unlimited Welcome plan comes at $55/line for two lines. Customers can add “perks” at $10 per month, including bundles from Apple, Disney and Walmart. “Others talk about phone ‘freedom,’ but in reality they’re just pushing customers into their most expensive, bloated plans -- which are limiting, don’t allow for changes, and where customers end up paying for things they don’t want or need,” Verizon said. T-Mobile and AT&T added net postpaid phone customers in the last quarter, but Verizon lost 127,000 (see 2304250073). Sowmyanarayan Sampath, CEO-Verizon Consumer Group, unveiled the plan at a MoffettNathanson investor conference Tuesday. “We went back to our fundamental roots” and asked “what irritates customers the most,” Sampath said. Subscribers want flexibility, control and value, he said: “And we said, you know what, we are going to give them 100% of all three.” Sampath said the U.S. wireless industry added as many as 9.5 net million postpaid phones per year during the COVID-19 pandemic, but a more natural number is 5 million-6 million. Verizon has another 100 MHz of C-band spectrum to deploy in its network and more than half its sites have fiber connections, he said. “When people talk about planning in the network” the radio access network “is not the only thing that is congested -- it's also the back haul,” he said.