Verizon Unlimited Data Plan for $80 to Prepaid Customers
Verizon has a new offer for its prepaid customers. Now, wireless customers of the American telecommunications company who pre-pay for their monthly service may opt for an unlimited data plan.
Starting Tuesday, interested customers are able to sign up for the plan and pay the same $80 per month, which is equal to the amount paid by customers with a regular unlimited monthly plan.
According to Verizon, the aim of this new prepaid plan is to give customers more options to pay for their plans. The company also revealed that since prepaid customers pay for their plans in advance, Verizon will extend the offer to those who have poor credit histories.
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"Customers are increasingly demanding choice. Prepaid isn't just that thing you put in the back room to have in case someone failed a credit check," said Verizon's executive vice president of operations, Tami Erwin, told Fortune.
While Verizon has good intentions in offering the new prepaid plan, it is not offering discounts to customers who will avail of the plan. This is a big departure from what other telecommunications companies usually offer for their prepaid services.
Aside from the lack of multi-line discounts, another weakness of this plan is that it has a few missing features, including the ability to share an internet connection with a tethered laptop, as well as the lack of high-definition video streaming.
In the United States, Verizon is one of the weakest players in the prepaid market. Out of its 113.9 million retail customers in the first quarter of the year, only 5.4 million were on prepaid. Its strongest competitors, AT&T, Cricket and T-Mobile, all run dedicated prepaid plans and cater to bargain customers who cannot spend on wireless services. By the end of the first quarter, T-Mobile had around 20.2 million prepaid customers, which was way above that of Verizon's.
