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Verizon has announced a regional data deal perfect for the back to school crowd. For just $20 a month, users can gain 300MB of data when added to a voice plan. The promotion will be available to subscribers in Maryland, Washington DC, Virginia, and North Carolina from August 18th through September 30th, and is designed to act as a bridge between basic phone plans and first-time smartphone buyers.
Promotion allows customers to dabble with data for only $20 monthly access
LAUREL, MD – From August 18 through September 30, all new and existing Verizon Wireless customers in Maryland, Washington, DC, Virginia and North Carolina will be able to add a 300 MB data plan to their smartphone or basic phone for just $20 monthly access when added to a voice plan. All new and existing customers are eligible for the promotional data plan that will be available from Aug. 18 through Sept. 30.
Customers in Maryland, Washington, DC, Virginia and North Carolina can choose from an array of 3G- and 4G LTE-enabled devices that include top sellers on all mobile operating systems including BlackBerry, Android, iOS, Palm and Windows Mobile. The plans are not restricted to specific phones but are geared to customers whose data use falls within the 300 MB allowance. Customers who go over their monthly allowance will automatically receive an additional 300 MB for an additional $20 per month.“This is a great introductory plan for customers who have been contemplating moving from a basic phone to a smartphone but were hesitant because of cost,” said Mike Maiorana, regional president in Maryland, Washington, DC and Virginia. “The $20 monthly access promotional plan is an opportunity for customers to learn the many benefits of having a smartphone with email and calendar functions, as well as Internet access and apps, at their fingertips.”
Data Plans and Pricing
In addition to the new $20 monthly access data, customers can also choose from an array of existing data price plans that begin at $30 monthly access for 2GB.Before purchasing any data plan, customers are encouraged to examine their data use by going to their My Verizon Account online or by estimating their monthly data use with the Data Usage Calculator, available at: www.verizonwireless.com/datacalculator.
This is the kind of half ass competition I would expect from a company so evil as this one.
Is this a joke? $20 for 300mb, that is really sad. Even AT&T for another $5 gives you another 1.7 GB (2GB)
Complete over charge. For $10 more you get 1700MB more. I don’t see the the benefit in paying $20 for just 300MB plus the justification for paying $20 for 300MB (about 7 cents/MB). ATT has a better data plan than this (for $25 you get 2GB vs $30). I still prefer to stick with Sprint though.
This has to be a joke…..
For 100$ a month I get 100mb….
Seriously. Ppl need to dome some calculations before they fall for this. $10 more I get a boat load more data.
Actually….maybe they are doing this so ppl will be like:
“hmm….for $10 dollars more I can get 2GB. Give me the 2GB plan!!”
I wonder how the sales folks are gonna play this…
Why the hell would they even advertise this? What a bunch of idiots.
uhmm for 10 u get unlimited on sprint
for $10 more*. So $30.
Really its not $10 for unlimited . Its $70 to start for unlimited data plans and $10 more if you get a Smartphone. Sprint does not have any tier plans so and plan you choose will include unlimited data. Thats why I choose Sprint.
People are stupid enough to pay for it.
So they went from $30 for unlimited data to $20 for a measly 200 megs. Eff that! Verizon sucks. I’m Out!
This makes no sense. How can someone just now add 300mb of data to their smartphone when Verizon requires all smartphones to have a data plan when you sign up. Its just a scam by Verizon. Just glad I’m still grandfathered in to unlimited.
It should as be illegal for a carrier to charge you more than the next available plan costs if you go over your limit. So if you go over 300mb you automatically get bumped up to the 2gig for $30 in Verizon’s case.
They’re doing this to eventually migrate people over to the 30/month plan by starting them out low at the 20/month plan. They’re expecting for those people to get additional overages, call in and be offered to move up to a higher data plan to remove the overages. They did the same thing with the text plans.
“data deal perfect for the back to school crowd” BS!
They should have the lowest plan at $15 for 1G, 300M is nothing with all the updates apps do nowadays.
I find it weird indeed how they can offer 1GB for $19.99 on the Galaxy Tab 7″ and it’s prepaid, no contract e.t.c… I’m getting that on my Tab.
People have their phones with them everywhere they go. Likely not so with tablets. VZW is also not subsidizing the cost of said no-contract tablet. Huge subsidies are what get super expensive for these companies. They need to just offer no-subsidy plans. I would buy my phones outright for such plans.
you would think that as technology (cell towers) improves, the price of data would go down.
I’m pretty sure that since in the 90’s dial-up was 20$ a month, that price then when down, and it is now free!!!!!
I wouldn’t be shocked if 2g data becomes free here soon. 3g is far faster than dialup though. In fact, it is faster than some home broadband connections.
I am a Verizon dealer and can tell you that this will be very popular. There are more people than you can imagine that want a Droid or iPhone because their freinds/kids/grandkids etc have one and they could care less about what the phones are capable of.
Congrats on helping to rip people off.
These blogs are good for exchanging information but bad in the respect that people can talk sh*t from the safety of their moms basement.
LOL and it’s amazing how they are rolling out 4G and bragging it to be so blazing fast.
I think some group like those anti smoking truth guys need to create a video where some kid buys his brand spanking new phone and plays with it for like 5 minutes in the store after he buys it then goes back to ask a question and the guy at the computer tells him he already exceeded 40$ in overage charges from reaching his 300MB limit on 2 minutes on the nations fastest network or whatever hell stupid slogan they have.
Verizon is ridiculous and have no shame at saying this is a deal.
They are counting on People not managing themselves and going over their limits. I think the FCC needs to step in stop this data capping. Prices are high enough for the services provided.
Some people here don’t seem to get the concept of buying smaller quantities of an item versus larger quantities.
Buy a single 16az bottle of coke from the grocery store. It’s likely to be about $1.50. Buy the 2 Liter. It is likely to actually be cheaper (not talking cents per ounce, I am talking the entire unit/product).
Not a good enough example? Ok. Get a basic cable package for $20 a month. Add a couple dozen channels for only $15 more. It isn’t costing the company a whole lot more to provide you the channels. They are actually making most of thier money on the basic package.
Last example. Buy 1MBPS cable internet at home for $29.99 a month. Upgrade to 2MBPS for $39.99 and 5 MBPS for $54.99 (actual prices in my area). The 5 MBPS is the greater value on paper, but I am sure the vast majority opt for the 1MBPS. It is plenty fast for the needs of most and they don’t need additional speed.
I agree that this package is expensive, but there are people that are going to view it as saving $10 a month. For the person that does mobile banking and checks the internet on the go, but wants a smartphone, this is perfect. For students, it is even more perfect. There is always a wifi connection anywhere you go on campus, and most college towns have wifi even in the gas stations for crying out loud. In short (I am laughing out loud typing that), this isn’t meant for data freaks (read: those that frequent this site/forum), obviously.
Amen. This package probably isn’t going to be great for the average person browsing these forums. For someone like my mom, who checks out emails once or twice a day (most of which are text, no attachments), this is better than paying $30+/mo
$10 per GIG of data is the only plan i would settle on, other than unlimited, anything else is a prick up the @$$
SMH 300 megs would make me switch carriers. VZW is dropping the ball with their new data pricing
I hate the idea of having to pay for data, period. Voice plans are already over priced. This little bit of news doesn’t matter to me, though. I dropped Verizon when they told me that most feature phones were going to require data. There were other things, but the idea that I would need to pay for data to download the ringtones that I didn’t buy, or surf the web from 1.5″ screen was ridiculous. I was even told that if I got a new contract, to which I would have added my fiance, keeping my Treo, I would have had to add a data plan, just in case I was desperate enough to actually go online with that phone.
I just called Verizon. They said that there is no such thing for any region in the United States. I told him I’m looking at an article describing it right now and he said it was totally false.
yadayayda