It seems Verizon is still tinkering with its prepaid options to hit just the right balance.
The carrier on Friday gave its prepaid options another boost, adding more data for less time on three plan tiers. But those savings come at a cost in video speeds.
The new tiers include a 3 GB for $40 per month plan, as well as 7 GB for $50 per month, and 10 GB for $60 options. The bottom two tiers received a data boost from their former levels of 2 GB and 5 GB, respectively, while the upper tier remained at 10 GB but got a price cut of $10 per month. The new plans fall in line below the unlimited offer for prepaid Verizon unveiled in April, which runs subscribers $80 per month.
Verizon’s new offerings put the carrier more squarely into competition with those of rivals like T-Mobile and AT&T. The Un-carrier currently offers prepaid subscribers 4 GB of data for $45 per month, 6 GB of data for $55 per month, and unlimited for $75 per month. AT&T’s Cricket prepaid brand includes a 1 GB tier for $30 per month, 4 GB for $40 per month, 8 GB for $50, and 12 GB or unlimited data for $60 per month.
But the new plans do include a compromise. According to the carrier, video for prepaid subscribers is limited to 480p and prepaid data may be prioritized behind that of other customers in instances of network congestion. Once they hit their data limit, Verizon prepaid subs will have their speeds limited to 128 kbps for the remainder of the month.
The tweaks come as Verizon seeks to reinvigorate its prepaid performance. The carrier lost 17,000 prepaid devices in the first quarter, but that was an improvement from a decline of 177,000 in the first quarter of 2016.
Filed Under: Carriers
