Hoo boy. So if you’re planning to activate a Verizon Wireless account, or if you already have one, you might want to think about getting a text messaging plan. Piggybacking a similar move made by Sprint last year, Verizon is increasing their per-message rate to 20 cents, up from 15. Rates have doubled since 2005, when I would joke with friends, “Hey, that just cost me a dime!” Now it’s costing nearly two bits.
Verizon’s cheapest text messaging plan costs $10, and gives you 500 messages to anyone on any network, plus unlimited text messages to and from Verizon customers. But if you send and receive over 50 messages per month, the plan will be the way to go. At that point, you’re spending $10 per month on a per-message basis.
It’s real easy to go call Verizon greedy on this one. And you know what? In many senses they are. But I’m viewing this as a way for them to get people to commit $10 to text messaging every month. Even people who don’t use 50 messages per month will see the $0.20 rate and sign up.
We also see this moving a lot of people from the $10, 500 message plan to the $20, unlimited texting plan, especially family plans that have high schoolers and college students on them. The penalties for overages just got more stringent.
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