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Re-activateVerizon will offer a $30 unlimited data plan with its upcoming iPhone, according to the Wall Street Journal. Such a plan promises to add an option that's available to AT&T iPhone subscribers only if they have AT&T's unlimited plan, before the company switched to plans that have data limits.
But the Verizon unlimited plan, like AT&T's, may offer money savings to only a very select group of iPhone mega-data-hogs. That's because Verizon has announced that it, too, will offer limited-data plans. While the cost of those hasn't been announced, they're almost bound to be priced at or below AT&T's—especially given that the unlimited plan, at $30, costs the same as AT&T's.
And for most iPhone subscribers on AT&T, an unlimited data plan doesn't pay. That was confirmed in an analysis by colleague Jeff Blyskal of how the data-limited AT&T plans compare in cost to the unlimited plan for most iPhone subscribers. The bottom line: They save money, because very few subscribers even use anything like the 2GB-per-month limit of the $25 monthly plan. For most, the 200MB limit offered by the $15-per-month plan is plenty of data.
Of course, we don't yet have details on the Verizon plans, which could have provisions that make the unlimited plan pay for more people. For example, Verizon could bundle tethering or corporate e-mail capability, now $20 and $15 monthly extras with Verizon's smartphone plans, in with the cost of the unlimited plan while charging extra for it with the limited iPhone plans. But at first blush, a Verizon iPhone plan with unlimited data looks like it would pay off only for the most apps-obsessed mobile downloaders.
—Paul Reynolds
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