Verizon cuts pricing for 'More Everything' subs who bring their own phone

Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) said customers who are on month-to-month contracts or who bring their own phones can now get discounts on their service pricing by moving to the carrier's "More Everything" shared data plans.

Starting April 17, existing customers who are on month-to-month contracts who move to a More Everything plan and choose plans with data allowances of 8 GB or below can add a smartphone for $30 per month, saving $10 per month, and customers who choose plans with data allowances of 10 GB and above can add a smartphone for $15 per month, saving $25. Those $30 and $15 charges are monthly access fees per smartphone, separate from the cost of the plan they choose.

Additionally, also starting April 17 customers can add any smartphone they already own to a More Everything plan for either $30 or $15 per month, depending on the data allowance they choose. However, when a customer brings his or her own smartphone, it must be compatible with the Verizon Wireless network. That might inhibit adoption since Verizon's network is not truly compatible with any other carrier's network, certainly for LTE data. GSM carriers T-Mobile US (NYSE:TMUS) and AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) share many spectrum bands and have eagerly embraced bring-your-own-phone offerings.

Verizon said the discounts on monthly access prices are also available to customers who choose the Verizon "Edge" handset upgrade program. The deal is available for a limited time, Verizon said, but the carrier did not give an end date.

Up until now, Verizon did not give customers a discount on service pricing if they bought their phone outright or brought their own phone. Other carriers have argued that, if a carrier is no longer subsidizing a device, customers should see a price cut in their service pricing.

Verizon's More Everything plans include unlimited voice and texting, unlimited international messaging, 25 GB of cloud storage per line, and three months free of the International Long Distance Value Plan and FamilyBase service. Customers pay depending upon how much shared data they want to use.

Earlier this month Verizon cut the price of its More Everything plans at 10 GB per month or more for customers on its Edge program. The carrier said that, for customers on its Edge program, it would cut $25 off the cost of a line of service to a smartphone if customers choose a data bucket of 10 GB or more. The result exactly matches the pricing AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) launched in February--four smartphones sharing 10 GB of data for $160. AT&T has been heavily advertising the plan since it launched in February, and Verizon likely made the move to stymie AT&T's momentum with the offering.

Verizon is also currently offering 1 GB of extra data per month to customers who activate a tablet on the More Everything plan. It costs $10 per month to keep a tablet on the carrier's More Everything plan.

For more:
- see this Verizon post
- see this CNET article

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