Verizon Introduces 'Share Everything' Service Plan for Up to Ten Devices

[PacificBeach]

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Verizon today announced the launch of a new "Share Everything" pricing structure designed to allow users to share monthly data allotments across multiple devices. The plan, which is rolling out on June 28, includes unlimited voice and messaging across all devices, with an overall data cap and number and type of devices being the only differentiating factors among pricing tiers.

Each device carries a base monthly access charge ranging from $10 for a tablet to $40 for a smartphone. A single data charge is then applied on top of that base amount, starting at $50 for 1 GB and ranging up to $100 for 10 GB. Mobile hotspot functionality within the data cap is also included at no extra charge.

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Compared to Verizon's existing plans, the new Share Everything plan appears to represent a solid value even for single-device customers interested in unlimited minutes and texting, but less so for other customers.

Under Verizon's current pricing, a customer would pay a total of $120 per month for unlimited minutes ($70), unlimited messaging ($20) and 2 GB of data ($30). Adding mobile hotspot functionality costs an additional $20 but increases the total data cap to 4 GB.

With the new Share Everything plan, a customer would pay $100 per month for the same service: $40 smartphone access and $60 for unlimited minutes and messaging and 2 GB of data. With mobile hotspot functionality included at no additional charge, stepping up to the 4 GB plan would cost just $10. In addition, a user could add an iPad to his or her account for just $10 per month with no contract requirement, as long as it was drawing from the same data allotment as the user's phone.

The plans are not as good of a deal for users with packages of lower numbers of minutes. A user with 450 minutes, unlimited messaging and 2 GB of data would pay $90 under current plans, compared to $100 under Share Everything, although the new plan does offer mobile hotspot at no additional charge. Current plans also offer a range of messaging options from pay-per-use up to unlimited, allowing lower-use customers to cut their monthly bills even further.

As the balance of smartphone usage shifts increasingly toward data and away from voice minutes, carriers are seeking to simplify the voice and messaging aspects of their plans to focus on data allotments as the primary differentiator among their plans. The shift is a reversal from the previous model in which customers selected from a number of options for voice minutes and then received unlimited data for a set monthly charge. In addition to Verizon, AT&T has also expressed its preference for this new model, while Sprint, the third major iPhone carrier in the United States, has indicated that it remains committed to its unlimited data offerings.

Article Link: Verizon Introduces 'Share Everything' Service Plan for Up to Ten Devices

Galaxy S3 now if you want to keep unlimited!

 

[bhags8]

I have a couple questions about this new Share Everything plan.

1. I currently have unlimited 3G data on an iPhone 4. If I buy my next phone (iPhone 5) at full retail will I then have unlimited 4G? Or do I have to buy a 4G phone at full price before June 28th to have unlimited 4G?

2. If I get to keep unlimited 3G/4G after 6/28, will a change to my account (like removing insurance) affect my unlimited?

This is all very confusing to me, and I only used like 8 minutes last month lol, so any help from you guys' will be very much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[ReallyBigFeet]

Counting the days for this plan to go live. I'm going to save $120/month with the new model just in Verizon costs alone.

Additionally, I've decided to cancel my land-lines at my house (that's $65 right there for two lines) and instead move to a "Link-to-Cell" DECT wireless phone set that hooks into our unlimited voice plan on Verizon via bluetooth. That saves me a total of $185/month.

The only people left calling the land-line numbers are telemarketers and a few friends anyways.....

 

[GIZBUG]

Time to go prepaid when the new iphone comes out.

 

[aajeev]

Counting the days for this plan to go live. I'm going to save $120/month with the new model just in Verizon costs alone.

Additionally, I've decided to cancel my land-lines at my house (that's $65 right there for two lines) and instead move to a "Link-to-Cell" DECT wireless phone set that hooks into our unlimited voice plan on Verizon via bluetooth. That saves me a total of $185/month.

The only people left calling the land-line numbers are telemarketers and a few friends anyways.....

Care to talk about how you will save the $120? I have went over the math several times. At best I will be paying the same amount if not only about 5 dollars cheaper. Of course, I'm can be completely sure due to the tax and stuff.

 

[ReallyBigFeet]

I've 5 lines currently with Verizon. 3 are on a 700 talk and text family plan, the other two are on an unlimited plan. I'll leave taxes out of this to keep this simpler since taxes vary from region to region.

700 minute Talk and Text family Plan (Voice/Text): $80
Smartphone 1: Line Access ($10) + 2GB Data Plan ($30) = $40
Smartphone 2: Line Access ($10) + 2GB Data Plan ($30) = $40
Smartphone 3: Line Access ($10) + 2GB Data Plan ($30) = $40
--------
Total for Family Line Plan = $200/mo

Individual Plans x2 (mine and wifes, for business use)
Unlimited Talk/Text ($90) + 2GB Data Plan ($30) each = $120 x 2 = $240
5G MiFi w/4GB Data plan = $50
---------
Total for Individual Plans = $290/mo

Total for all phone plans today = $440
Total for all devices today=$490

None of the family goes over 1GB/data month (self included) and we make use of WiFi heavily, plus the MiFi when away from home. I, however, routinely burn through all my MiFi (not phone) data and often pay the extra fee for extra bandwidth. I also burn in excess of 1800 minutes of talk time each billing cycle, the wife around 1300 mins and the family burns through 3500 texts each month easily. I actually tried to put myself+wife on the family line but current (well soon-to-be-old) Verizon restrictions would force every line in the family plan to pay for unlimited minutes if I did that so we kept our lines separate. But lets just call that icing on the cake here as I won't add it in.

Under the new sharing plan, I've got a couple of options but here's the one I'll likely pursue:

5 Smartphones ($200), all unlimited talk/text, sharing 10GB of data ($100) = $300 month. That's $140 cheaper than what I pay today. We also get hotspot turned on for all of them (which means everyone can now "tether" to the shared plan...no more passing around the MiFi. For the time being, I'll keep the MiFi plan as an individual plan (I'm past contract, so its just month to month for me) and that's another $50/month for a grand total of $350. That's $140 savings total per month for old plan vs. new plan with some extra features (Hotspot) and more data to spare/share.

While I'm a bit loathe to ditch my 4G MiFi just yet, once the iPhone 5 comes out with LTE, I'll seriously considering dropping it and just paying the overage fee of $10/1gb. Unless I blow through an additional 5gb and/or Verizon starts penalizing you for going over (beyond just charging that overage fee), I'd still come out ahead.

So....easy to save $120 or more depending on your current plan needs.

Oh, just for comparison:

Under the current plan, if I wanted the entire family on an unlimited talk/text plan, all smartphones with a 2GB data plan, it would be this:

Family Plan w/5 Lines:
Unlimited Talk: $120 x 2 ($240) + $50 x 3 ($150) = $390
Family Messaging: $30
2GB Data Plans x 5: $150
--------
$570/month

The current "unlimited talk" family plans requires 2 lines to pay $120/month per line, and all other lines (even if they don't use unlimited) to pay $50/month just to be on the same plan. That's why we don't have a full family plan right now.

So hypothetically speaking, if I were to try to compare the new shared plan to the current plan...I could save up to $270 month for equivalent service.

 

[Geckotek]

Yeah, this plan will benefit families that don't use much data. It sucks for singles that use a lot.

 

[SilentLoner]

How would you make sure you don't go over. Can you allocate allowances per device?