Verizon Wireless has overhauled its service plans to allow customers to use their data allotments across multiple devices.
Up until now, Verizon and its largest competitors have had to pay separate data charges for each device. The nation's largest cell phone provider's new plans, which also change how customers pay for texting and phone calls, will go into effect on June 28.
"Today's move by Verizon ... is the most profound change to pricing the telecom industry has seen in 20 years," Craig Moffett, an analyst for Sanford C. Bernstein, wrote in a research note.
Chief rival AT&T could follow very soon, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The Journal also put together a Q&A on what Verizon's "Share Everything" plan means for current customers. A couple highlights:
- Customers on a tiered data plan can stay on their current plan or switch to a new one. Customers on an umlimited data plan must switch when they buy a new phone at a discount.
- There is a monthly charge for each device on a data plan. The Q&A breaks it down.
So, how much will the new plan cost you? That depends on all sorts of factors, but Verizon Wireless has a calculator on its website to help figure that out.
