VZW Unlimited Data Not Dead this Summer If You Buy Full Price Phone

To clarify what CFO Fran Shammo said, yesterday, Verizon Wireless spokeswoman Brenda Raney has taken to the Verizon Wireless blog to make an official statement.  Unlimited data will not disappear completely.  If you already have an unlimited plan and buy your next smartphone at "full-price"  you can keep your unlimited data.

She wrote that Verizon Wireless has been evaluating pricing structure for some time.  Verizon learned from its customers that they want to share data plans.  The new shared data plans will be introduced later this year.

"When the new options are introduced, Unlimited Data will no longer be available to our customers purchasing handsets and signing a new contract. Customers who choose to purchase phones at full retail price and are currently on an unlimited smartphone data plan will be able to keep that plan. The same pricing and policies will apply to all 3G and 4G LTE smartphones."

Last summer, Verizon Wireless stopped offering unlimited data plans to its new customers.  Verizon customers who already had an unlimited data plan were grandfathered when they bought a new smartphone whether it was 4G LTE or 3G.  Yesterday, at a J.P. Morgan conference, CFO Fran Shammo  reported that unlimited data plans would end this summer and be replaced by shared data plans.

We saw many reports of strange interpretations of what Shammo said from those who had not read the transcript.  We even tried to call Brenda Raney for some kind of clarification.  She was nice enough to write up a statement to clarify the misconceptions of the conjecturatti.

If you want to stay unlimited without buying a full-price phone, you'll have time to review the top best Verizon Android smartphones now an' later.  You will only be able to have unlimited data if you already have unlimited data are either 3G or 4G LTE from the Verizon network and are eligible for an upgrade.