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Can someone explain the Verizon 'Monthly Line Access'?

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Browsing the site to see iPhone price plans and I'm confused as to what the price plan here actually is.

20120718-e6fueeg8tmeta46ss5n44gn318.jpg


What does the $40 a month amount to on top of the, presumably, voice/data plan? I'm not looking for a shared line between multiple devices. Am I on the right page?
 
The 40 $ is just to secure the phone line. The extra moneys below is to add data plan , which most smart phones require nowadays.
 

ultron87

Member
It is their new version of the shared plan. Each smartphone on your plan costs 40 bucks and then you pick a bundle of data for all devices to share. I don't think there is really any other way to do it anymore.
 

DasRaven

Member
Browsing the site to see iPhone price plans and I'm confused as to what the price plan here actually is.

20120718-e6fueeg8tmeta46ss5n44gn318.jpg


What does the $40 a month amount to on top of the, presumably, voice/data plan? I'm not looking for a shared line between multiple devices. Am I on the right page?

This is Verizon's new plan structure. You buy a bucket of data monthly and they charge a flat fee per device for unlimited talk/text and access to that bucket of data. In your example, 2GB of data costs $60/mo and providing access to that 2GB for an iPhone/smartphone costs $40/mo.

If you ever added a second phone/tablet, you'd add it's "line access" cost, but not have to buy any more data if you only needed 2GB between the two devices.

Now, if you're asking why it costs $40 to allow a smartphone access to this bucket of data, the answer is 'profit."
 

Deadly Cyclone

Pride of Iowa State
First I've seen these since the change, so you get unlimited talk and text on all Verizon plans now? Interesting. I won't be grandfathered in with my unlimited plan for the iPhone 5, so looks like I'll be at the $70 a month plan.

Damn though. Going from $85 to $110 a month. Stupid expensive for me.
 
It is their new version of the shared plan. Each smartphone on your plan costs 40 bucks and then you pick a bundle of data for all devices to share. I don't think there is really any other way to do it anymore.

Yep. So Tablets are 10 dollars to get access to the data and talk and text and Phones are 40. Every phone on the plan shares the data pool.
 
The 40 $ is just to secure the phone line. The extra moneys below is to add data plan , which most smart phones require nowadays.

Secure the phone line? Isn't that something corporations and the military do to prevent eaves dropping? What does securing the phone line mean in this context?

It is their new version of the shared plan. Each smartphone on your plan costs 40 bucks and then you pick a bundle of data for all devices to share. I don't think there is really any other way to do it anymore.

The 40 a month on a 2 year contract is 960, and thats just for the phone and no voice/text/data. Apple sell the phone directly for 650.

This is Verizon's new plan structure. You buy a bucket of data monthly and they charge a flat fee per device for unlimited talk/text and access to that bucket of data. In your example, 2GB of data costs $60/mo and providing access to that 2GB for an iPhone/smartphone costs $40/mo.

If you ever added a second phone/tablet, you'd add it's "line access" cost, but not have to buy any more data if you only needed 2GB between the two devices.

Now, if you're asking why it costs $40 to allow a smartphone access to this bucket of data, the answer is 'profit."

So you pay 60 to have the price plan, but you cant actually use that price plan you paid for without having to pay another 40 to use it?
 

gutshot

Member
$40 is for unlimited voice and text.

$60 is for 2GB of data. The more data you get, the higher this cost will be, obviously.
 

Crystalkoen

Member
So you pay 60 to have the price plan, but you cant actually use that price plan you paid for without having to pay another 40 to use it?

That is correct, and DasRaven's explanation above is a good one.

The price per device is arbitrary. A tablet, as someone mentioned, is relatively cheap (despite it using just as much data as a smartphone when on 4G/LTE/Whatever). A non-smartphone phone will cost 30 bucks, while a smartphone is 40.

More information can be found in THIS thread.

I don't think Verizon's discussed the reasoning behind that price (I've not seen an article discussing such, anyhow), but one could reasonably assume it's to increase their profits; there's no reason a smartphone would cost more to implement on their end than any other internet-enabled phone, or a tablet, for that matter.
 

Bboy AJ

My dog was murdered by a 3.5mm audio port and I will not rest until the standard is dead
That is correct, and DasRaven's explanation above is a good one.

The price per device is arbitrary. A tablet, as someone mentioned, is relatively cheap (despite it using just as much data as a smartphone when on 4G/LTE/Whatever). A non-smartphone phone will cost 30 bucks, while a smartphone is 40.

More information can be found in THIS thread.

I don't think Verizon's discussed the reasoning behind that price (I've not seen an article discussing such, anyhow), but one could reasonably assume it's to increase their profits; there's no reason a smartphone would cost more to implement on their end than any other internet-enabled phone, or a tablet, for that matter.

Tablets don't talk or text. That's their reasoning.
 

Crystalkoen

Member
Tablets don't talk or text. That's their reasoning.

That makes sense, in a "costs absorbed elsewhere" way.
But that doesn't explain the increase in cost for Notebooks, Netbooks, or Jetpacks over a tablet. Those still cost more than a Tablet, but use just as much data. Hell, using a Tablet you might just say "fuck it" and use Skype or something. So long as you're careful with your data use, you could probably save 30 bucks a month while still getting similar (albeit slight-less-portable) functionality to a smartphone.
 

VanWinkle

Member
So the cheapest smartphone plan is $100? Wow. I'm paying $70 and getting Unlimited data right now. Of course, I will have to change to one of these when it's time for me to upgrade, which I don't know if I'll end up doing.
 
It means , secure a line for yourself. No govt involves , just to pay for the phone line your personally gonna use.

So it means opening a new line...isn't that what choosing a price plan generally means for new customers? Honestly this entire thing sounds like a con job to me to maximise profits. It's like saying "You can buy the house but you cant live in it unless you pay for access to it".
 
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