RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And smartphone users beware: The end of unlimited data plans is drawing near. Starting today, the biggest wireless carrier in the U.S., Verizon, will stop offering unlimited data plans to new customers.
NPR's Hansi Lo Wang reports.
HANSI LO WANG: Paul Reynolds is the electronics editor at Consumer Reports. And he says if you're a smartphone user who's...
Mr. PAUL REYNOLDS (Electronics Editor, Consumer Reports): Playing games, streaming a lot of videos, shooting videos and uploading them...
WANG: Just using lots of data - and I'm talking gigabytes - then get ready to pay for it. Yesterday, customers at Verizon Wireless stores could sign up for just one data plan. And they could use as much Web data as they wanted on their smartphones for just $30. Starting today, though, new customers will have to choose from a menu of plans. The cheapest? Thirty dollars for two gigabytes a month.
Verizon Wireless spokeswoman Brenda Raney says customers who already have unlimited data plans shouldn't worry.
Ms. BRENDA RANEY (Spokeswoman, Verizon Wireless): Existing customers will not be impacted by these changes at all.
WANG: But for new Verizon Wireless customers, Paul Reynolds says the unlimited data buffet is over.
Mr. REYNOLDS: Basically, what Verizon is doing, like other carriers, is going from an all-you-can-eat plan to plans that bill customers according to how much data they use.
WANG: Verizon Wireless says most of its current smartphone users use less than two gigabytes per month.
Hansi Lo Wang, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
