VERIZON TO INTRODUCE TIERED DATA PLANS MID-SUMMER

Verizon Wireless has been saying for quite some time now that their $30 unlimited data plan was unsustainable and they would be investigating moving to tiered data. According to Fran Shammo, Verizon Wireless CFO, at the Morgan Stanley conference, the new data plans would debut in mid-summer.

Verizon started down the tiered road with its $15/150MB option, which quickly disappeared when their version of the iPhone launched. Shammo went on to say Verizon is still working through the details and that they don't yet know whether the tiers will be based on speed, bit buckets, or some combination of the two.

SPRINT CLARIFIES CHANGES TO LOYALTY PROGRAM

Last week we reported about Sprint's changes to its "loyalty" program. Sprint is now clarifying its position regarding the new tiers.

Gold Level

A gold level member will receive 25% off the purchase of 2 or more accessories, customer news letters, “just because” perks, first to buy offers, and the ability to upgrade one device after 12 months of service. To qualify for a Premier Gold membership, users must have an individual monthly plan costing $89.99 or more or a family plan costing $169.99 (before any applicable discounts).

Silver Level

A silver level member will receive the same benefits as gold members — 25% off the purchase of 2 or more accessories, customer news letters, “just because” perks, and first to buy offers — but will not have the ability to upgrade a device after 12 months of service. To qualify for a Premier Silver membership, users must have an individual monthly plan costing between $69.99 and $89.98 or a family plan costing between $99.99 and $169.98 (before any applicable discounts).

Any customer, regardless of rate-plan price, that has been with Sprint over ten years will automatically qualify for Premier Gold. [BGR]

VERIZON iPHONE DATA PLAN & HOTSPOT PRICING ANNOUNCED; $200 FOR AT&T USERS

When Verizon announced they would be carrying Apple's iPhone, they also stated the purchase price. The last piece of the puzzle has now been put in place with the announcement of data plan costs. As expected Verizon is keeping their existing plan in place for now. The current plan, required for all smartphones, is the $30/month unlimited data plan.

The key words of Verizon's statement are "for now". When a customer purchases an iPhone (or any smartphone) with the associated data plan they will be able to keep that plan during their contract period. Once the contract ends AND the customer purchases a new device, the customer will need to subscribe to a data plan available during that time. With the launch of their LTE 4G phones coming soon, it is highly expected Verizon will move away from the all you can eat for one price model and shift to tiered data plans.

The cost of using the Verizon iPhone as a hotspot for up to 5 devices will be $20/month which gets you 2GB of data allowance. This is on top of the $30/month unlimited data plan. The hotspot plan is optional, while the data plan is not

In addition to the data plan announcement, Verizon also stated that any AT&T customer turning in their i Phone will get $200 for it which can be applied to a Verizon phone.

RUMOR: SPEED AND DATA TIERS COMING TO AT&T 4G LTE SERVICE

BGR is reporting that AT&T may be bring not only data plan tiers when they launch their 4G LTE service in 2011, but also speed tiers as well.

Just like broadband internet, AT&T plans on delivering varying speeds to users depending on the tier they subscribe to.

Data tiers are nothing new and have recently been implemented by most major carriers. AT&T will let users subscribe to "data buckets" of varying sizes similar to AT&T's current data plans.

In addition, the plans will afford users the opportunity to boost services temporarily for a fee. The documents BGR obtained refer to "Top Up Sessions", which allow users to increase their data allotment for the remainder of a billing cycle, and “Speed Up Sessions,” which will allow subscribers on lower-tier plans to speed up their service for a specific duration.

It is not known what the tiers will look like or the associated price of them, but we do know the trials will begin in May of this year.