September 21, 2009
Posted by Josh Levy

Verizon has instituted a new pricing scheme that it says gives customers "more freedom to select how much data and the type of data they want to use." More freedom? Gimme some of that!

If only. It turns out that this is yet another case of consumer restriction cloaked as consumer freedom. As dslreports.com writes, Verizon's new palette of choices is actually a series of straitjackets, one more binding and expensive than the other.

Under Verizon's upcoming changes, customers using "Enhanced Multimedia Phones" -- phones that aren't classified as smartphones but can still download data and surf the Web -- will be given a tiered set of pricing options that go from terrible to worse.

In the words of the memo:

Customers who snatch up an Enhanced Multimedia Phone will be required to choose a data plan of $9.99 for 25MB or $19.99 for 75MB.

This is supposed to be a bargain for customers who are light data users so they don't have to pony up the $60 per month required for "real" smartphones, but they are still required to purchase a data plan to use their "enhanced" phones.

But those on the 25MB per month plan will have to pay 50 cents per additional megabyte, and those on the 75MB per month plan will have to pay an additional 30 cents per megabyte. Ouch.

To put this in context, these rates would be fine if your activity is restricted to data-light activities like viewing simple HTML websites (do those still exist?) and chatting on IM. But the minute you view more bandwidth--intensive content like video or dynamic Web applications -- which most of us do in the post Web 2.0 world -- you're going to eat up those megabytes, and those additional rates will add up quickly.

Also, just to turn the screw a little more, this pricing scheme will be mandatory for those "enhanced" phones.

The result is yet another price gouge that will pad Verizon's pockets even more. (According to dslreports.com, in the second quarter, Verizon's data revenue already "comprised 29.3 percent of total Verizon Wireless revenues.")

These pricing plans will make it impossible for users to access the Web on demand without constantly thinking about overage charges. Open Internet in your pocket? Hardly. Isn't it time to get away from these dial-up-like impositions and create fair pricing schemes that give consumers real mobile freedom?

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