Verizon Wireless Launches Shared Data Plans

In what some will argue is a highly-significant move, Verizon Wireless is launching new “Share Everything Plans” that provide a single bucket of data usage in the same way that many consumers already purchase voice and texting services on family plans.

That will represent the biggest change in mobile data pricing since the advent of capped plans, but will have more-important consequences. If history proves an accurate guide, Verizon Wireless will sell many more smart phones, while many more users will start to use mobile-connected tablets as well.

That, in fact, was the reason family plans for voice and texting were adopted as well. At the point where almost every adult already had a cell phone, family plans were designed to effectively lower the cost of adding incremental devices for the one big population of untapped users: teenagers. Shared data plans will encourage users to upgrade to smart phones and add their tablets to data plans as well.

Over time, there also will be a big change in Verizon’s revenue metrics, which increasingly will shift from “revenue per customer” to “revenue per account.” For service providers, the revenue impact of family data plans likely will have more impact than the shift to capped data plans.

In 2011, about 57 percent of all U.S. mobile subscribers were enrolled in family plans for voice and texting, illustrating the widespread adoption that could happen, over time.

Share Everything Plans include unlimited voice minutes, unlimited text, video and picture messaging and a single data allowance for up to 10 Verizon Wireless devices.

In addition, the Mobile Hotspot service on all the devices is included in the Share Everything Plans at no additional charge, Verizon Wireless says.

The Share Everything Plans debut on June 28 and will be available to new, as well as existing, customers who may wish to move to the new plans. To get started on a Share Everything Plan, customers first select the devices they want on their accounts. That requires a $40 monthly access fee for smart phones.

The next step is to choose a plan that includes unlimited minutes, unlimited messages and a shared data allowance that begins at 1 GByte for $50.

Customers adding a tablet on their Share Everything Plans can do so for an additional $10, with no long-term contract requirement. The following matrix shows pricing for an account with several different devices, such as a smartphone, a tablet and a basic phone, billed to the same individual, Verizon Wireless says.