Is….is Verizon finally responding to competition?

Verizon on Friday rolled out a new limited time data tier and said it will now offer its Safety Mode feature on all plans for free.

The carrier’s new data bucket comes with 12 GB of data for $80 per month, making it a step up from Verizon’s 8GB Large plan that runs $70 per month and a notch below the 16GB X-Large plan that goes for $90 per month.

Verizon said like its Large, X-Large and XX-Large plans, the new offering is eligible for the carrier’s promotion offering 2 GB of bonus data per line when customers add a new smartphone line or upgrade their device on an installment plan. With bonus data, Verizon said a family of four could share 20 GB of data for $160 per month. The 12 GB plan will also come with international calling and roaming in Mexico and Canada like Verizon’s other Large and above plans.

The carrier also said it is dropping the $5 fee it formerly charged users on S, M and L plans for its Safety Mode feature.

Introduced as part of Verizon’s plan overhaul in July, Safety Mode slows data speeds for users who have passed their LTE limit to 128 kbps for the remainder of the billing cycle.

Interestingly, though, the move follows a wave of criticism from T-Mobile, which dropped overage charges altogether in April 2014.

In making its change on Thursday, however, Verizon fought back with some snark of its own.

“While other networks were busy putting limits on their “unlimited” plans, Verizon gives you limitless data and the next gen network: Verizon doesn’t limit you to SD video quality, force you to slow down your speed, or deprioritize your line based on your data usage,” Verizon wrote in its announcement.

So for all Verizon has said it won’t chase every offer in the market and isn’t considering unlimited, it certainly looks like the carrier is more game to play now than it has been.

It appears the tweak – and the accompanying sass – could be Verizon Wireless’ first move under new head Ronan Dunne. Though it didn’t provide a date when Dunne would take over, Verizon did say he would start in September. And, would you look at that, it’s September.

Maybe Verizon will give Dunne some rein after all.