If you’re an “Unlimited Ultimate”
Verizon subscriber, you should gear up for a couple of changes to your plan that sound very deserving of that bombastic marketing label. These are all but etched in stone after a number of Redditors heard whispers on the inside and the always resourceful folks over at The Mobile Report got their hands on a document that was obviously not supposed to go public at this time.
Priced at $90 a month for one line and as little as $55 a month per line for an account with four lines or more, Big Red’s top-of-the-pile Unlimited Ultimate plan will apparently be revised as early as tomorrow, April 17, to include “unlimited hotspot and international calling” in addition to all the amazing benefits and features you already have access to.
Higher value, not higher prices
Today’s leaked internal doc makes it crystal clear that the two upgrades will not add a dime to your bill, which is of course very generous of Big Red, and just in case you needed a refresher on the operator’s most exciting recent announcement, the imminent changes are further hyped up with a renewed promise not to increase your (core) plan price for the next three years.
Verizon’s price lock promise will not be impacted in any way by these impending plan upgrades. | Image Credit — Verizon
Unfortunately, at least one key detail is still missing from the Verizon Unlimited Ultimate-upgrading equation, so you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see exactly how your “international calling” feature will be improved. Big Red already advertises the plan as including “high-speed international data, talk & text” in 210+ “countries and destinations”, but that’s only when traveling to those areas.
Stateside, all you currently get is 300 calling minutes to one of 140 countries of your choosing, and any improvement on that front will certainly be welcomed by Verizon customers with family members and close friends abroad. That being said, I wouldn’t expect a jump from that number to totally unlimited international calling with no restrictions, so it’s probably wise to hope for the best and prepare for the most marginal of upgrades.
The ball is in your court, T-Mobile and AT&T!
The unlimited hotspot add-on definitely sounds a little more straightforward, looking set to remove all limits from a benefit currently restricted to 60 “premium” gigs a month. Technically, of course, the plan’s mobile hotspot data is already “unlimited”, going down from “high” to “lower” speeds once you hit that 60GB ceiling, so you shouldn’t rule out Verizon increasing the “premium” hotspot limit to 80 or 100GB rather than eliminating it altogether.
But even if that proves to be the case, it’s going to be mighty hard to argue with these two free upgrades, especially after all of T-Mobile’s recent (and semi-recent) price hikes and various other shenanigans.
What’s next for T-Mobile Go5G Next? Hopefully, better international benefits and more high-speed mobile hotspot data. | Image Credit — T-Mobile
And speaking of the competition, I would be remiss not to point out that Magenta’s $100 a month Go5G Next plan only comes with 50GB of “high-speed” mobile hotspot data (followed by unlimited hotspot data at “max 3G speeds”) and no international calling “freebies” (unless, of course, you count Canada and Mexico). AT&T, meanwhile, ties Verizon‘s current 60GB hotspot data ceiling (after which your speeds are reduced to “a maximum of 128Kbps”) without throwing any international calling benefits into its otherwise all-inclusive $85.99 a month Unlimited Premium PL plan.
That highlights the importance of what Verizon is expected to introduce this week, hopefully increasing the pressure on AT&T and (especially) T-Mobile to do better. Not just when it comes to international calling or hotspot data, but… in general.
