- Following in competitors' footsteps, Verizon (NYSE:VZ +0.7%) is tweaking its prepaid plan lineup in an effort to reverse customer losses in an under-emphasized area.
- As with its postpaid data buckets (in clothing-like small, medium, large, XL sizes), the carrier is promoting a simple lineup with more entry-level options. For smartphones, $30/month gets data only via Wi-Fi; $45/month gets 1 GB and $60/month gets 3 GB/month.
- Those plans also have unlimited talk/text. Those signing up for automatic payment get an extra gigabyte of data per month.
- For basic phones, $15/month gets 300 voice minutes or messages, while $30/month gets unlimited talk/text/mobile Web. All plans have extra data packages ($5/500 MB; $10/1 GB; $20/3 GB).
- Verizon said it lost 80,000 prepaid customers in Q3, while AT&T and T-Mobile are showing strong net additions, and Sprint said it moved nearly 200K prepaid customers into its postpaid offerings.