Consumers nationwide are sick and tired of rising prices, especially when the trend impacts cell phone bills.
Over the past year, cell phone bills have quietly increased. According to a recent report from Doxo, the average amount of money 94% of Americans spent on phone bills per month last year is $121, up 2% from what they spent monthly in 2023.
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Verizon (VZ) , in particular, has been rolling out price increases over the past several months for several phone plans, which has frustrated customers.
For example, in January, Verizon hiked the monthly rates for myPlan and New Verizon Plan accounts. In March, it also increased the monthly price of its Verizon Mobile Protect Multi-Device plan and Verizon Mobile Secure Multi-Device plan by $8.
Related: Verizon scrambles to keep angry customers after cutting discounts
In response to these changes, some customers took to social media to claim they would be switching phone providers.
It appears that those customers made good on their promise, since Verizon revealed in its latest earnings report that its wireless postpaid phone churn (the number of customers who ended phone service) remained at 0.9% during the second quarter of this year, compared to the previous quarter.
Verizon makes another bold pricing change
Despite the recent loss of customers, Verizon has decided to pull a lever that threatens to exacerbate the problem.
The phone carrier has officially replaced its old Unlimited and More Unlimited tablet plans with three new ones, and customers are not happy.
Verizon’s new Welcome tablet plan, its lowest-priced tier, is $10 a month (plus taxes and fees) if a phone line is attached to it. If a customer wants to pay for just the tablet plan without adding a phone line, the monthly cost is $80.
The Welcome plan is priced the same as Verizon’s old Unlimited plan; however, the Welcome plan offers only 2G of data. This is a major downgrade, as the previous Unlimited plan offered 5 GB of data and 15 GB of premium hotspot data.
Related: Comcast takes drastic action as customers rapidly cut service
Also, if a customer hits their monthly data cap on the Welcome plan, their speed decreases to 1 Mbps for the remainder of the billing cycle.
The next tier up is Verizon’s new Unlimited tablet plan, which is $20 a month with a phone line or $100 a month without one. With this plan, customers can get the 5 GB of data and 15 GB of premium hotspot data the previous Unlimited plan offered, but at a more expensive price.
The highest-priced tier is Verizon’s new Unlimited Plus plan, which is $25 a month with a phone line added or $110 for the tablet plane alone. This plan offers Unlimited data and 100 GB of premium mobile hotspot data.
Verizon customers aren’t happy about the company’s latest move
Some Verizon customers took to social media platform Reddit to express frustration with the recent changes to tablet plans.
“At this point, it’s deliberately hostile to their customers. It’s almost like they want to get users off to reduce congestion and drive us away. Whoever is in charge of their retail business is going to tank this company. I’m seriously considering t-mobile after years of being a customer of VZ and prior to that ATT,” wrote one customer on Reddit.
“Here’s the truth about it: I don’t inherently mind the concept of a 2GB plan for tablets. If it were a lower price. The part that’s bothering me is the fact that this s**t is the same price that the actual unlimited plan used to be,” wrote another.
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“It’s fascinating to see how much Verizon hates itself and customers that it’s making everything possible to commit suicide as a company,” wrote another customer.
It is no surprise that customers are frustrated with the company. The changes comes after a Reddit post last month revealed that Verizon was planning to hike the monthly price of its tablet plan by $5. Some customers have flagged on social media that they recently received an email about this change.
Verizon also recently pulled its loyalty discounts for customers and hiked its device activation fees from $35 to $40, which also ignited outrage on social media.
The recent changes come during a time when Verizon has focused on the loyalty and retention of its customers.
“We have taken a series of actions to address our elevated churn,” said Verizon Chief Financial Offer Tony Skiadas during an earnings call on July 21. “On June 24th, we launched initiatives designed to improve the customer experience, including leveraging AI for more personalized support. In addition, we continue to enhance our value proposition and build customer loyalty through the best value guarantee. We provide exclusive access to the best events and experiences, and our Refresh app helps customers maximize the value of their plans.”
Related: T-Mobile launches a cheap new service amid customer struggles
