Verizon: One Data Bucket to Rule Them All

Verizon Wireless is revamping its mobile plans with "data buckets" that can be shared between devices being made available later this month.

The carrier revealed its new Share Everything plans on Tuesday morning. The plans, which will start on June 28, allow users to share an allowance of data amongst multiple devices.

Verizon says it will charge a monthly line access fee of US$40 each for a smartphone, $30 for a basic phone, $20 for a laptop or USB stick or $10 per tablet. Voice calls and messaging are unlimited across the plans. Then users get to select from various data bucket options:

Table 1: Data on the Share Everything Plans

Verizon is also offering plans for basic voice calling and data-only plans for tablets, laptops and Wi-Fi routers:

Table 2: Data-Only Plans

Verizon isn't charging a fee or requiring a contract extension for subscribers that move to the Share Everything plans, although they have the option of keeping their existing data plan. The operator has created a cost planning tool for the new plans here.

Why this matters
These new plans are a major overhaul of Verizon's data services, with the addition of shareable data buckets, first promised by Verizon CFO Fran Shammo in April. Verizon had been offering a double data promotion for Long Term Evolution (LTE) users that offered 4GB of data for $30 per month, or up to 20GB for $80, which is now finished.

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— Dan Jones, Site Editor, Light Reading Mobile