Remember that rumor floating around about Verizon requiring a $29.99 data plan for all new smartphones? It was based upon a leaked screenshot of a small section of a two-page slide deck that detailed the new smartphone data requirement. Well, we got our hands on the original two-page document and now have all the nitty gritty details for you. First the bad news, all new smartphones launched on or after November 14th will require a minimum $29.99 data plan for everyone except Government customers. In 2009, select Mobile Web 2.0 devices that have a full HTML browser will also require a data plan, either $15/month VCast or the Connect or Premium Plan which includes data. Verizon’s own system will be edited to prevent new smartphones from having PAYG, 1X Data Block or 10 MB data plan so trying to sweet talk the customer service representative into activating these plans on your line wont work. Now onto the semi-good news, the changes apparently only apply to new phones launched on or after November 14th and does not apply to existing plans and existing phones. According to the slide, the exceptions to the mandatory data requirement are as follows:
- Existing PDAs/Smartphones customers with Data Block will not be impacted
- Existing PDAs/Smartphones customers with Pay As You Go will not be impacted
- Existing PDAs/Smartphones customers with 10 MB / $24.99 Feature will not be impacted
- Existing Gov’t customers may continue to add new PDAs/Smartphones or upgrade to new PDAs/Smartphones without a data plan/ feature of $29.99 or higher
- Devices already in store will not be impacted (As older models are sold through they will still follow the old policy)
If you are current customer on one of these now defunct Data Block, PAYG or 10MB plans, then you can keep your data plan until the point in time that you purchase and try to activate any new phone that was launched on or after November 14th. As long as you keep using your old phone, you’re golden. Hit the jump for the second slide which has selling points to try to get you rebel holdouts to purchase a data plan.
