T-Mobile has been rocking the mobile phone world with the introduction of installment plans in place of the unpopular 2-year contracts, something other carriers are eager to jump on board.
Starting this week, Verizon Wireless will no longer be dealing with 2-year contracts. In its place, the giant American wireless carrier will now turn to the same plan as T-Mobile – installment plans. It will be interesting to see how Verizon ends up with this change in a time when the 2-year contracts were actually one of its major sources of income, especially due to the huge discounts offered to smartphone buyers. Furthermore, the fact that 2-year contracts meant that one is locked to the carrier for the entire time was also another big plus for Verizon – but this is no more.
New customers that have recently joined Verizon Wireless have no idea what this is all about as the carrier stopped offering these services to new clients back in August 2015. However, this change affects existing customers since this group was still able to sign up for this old plan. From now henceforth, one will have only two options to choose from – the earlier-mentioned installment plan or pay for the device outright.
Installment plans is where you will have to agree to a fixed amount that will be payable monthly over a period that you also agree with the carrier, be it one, two or even three years. Unlike 2-year contracts that locked users to Verizon Wireless network for the entire two years, installment plans give users freedom to switch plans and carriers as well for they are not attached to one’s mobile plan like in the case of 2-year contracts.
While T-Mobile has zero carrier charges on its T-Mobile One plan, Verizon Wireless has in fact increased the activation and upgrade fee from $20 to $30, something that is somehow a strange move. This is a fee that must be paid every time you buy a phone on the carrier, be it outright or via an installment plan.
Now that Verizon Wireless had made the switch, it is only Sprint that is remaining on the other side of contracts. Whether this will last or the carrier will also be joining the party on the other side is still unknown, but it is likely that the latter will be the case.