Verizon Wireless revamps prepaid day plans

Despite its stated focus on the postpaid market, Verizon Wireless today introduced two new prepaid calling plans, offering its customers a contract-free, day-to-day approach to wireless. The new Verizon plans, Prepaid Unlimited Talk and Prepaid Basic, offer calling and text messaging for a daily fee.

For the heavy wireless user, the Prepaid Unlimited plan gives customers unlimited calling across the US for $3.99 daily access, charged only when calls are made and received. Text messaging costs one cent per message sent and received. The Basic plan, targeted at infrequent wireless users, has no daily access fee but costs 25 cents per minute of talk and 20 cents per text message sent and received.

Subscribers on Verizon’s existing Prepaid Plus plan now get unlimited mobile-to-mobile with other VZW customers and unlimited nights and weekends for $1.99 daily access for the days they use the service. Additional calls and text messages will cost the subscriber 5 cents per minute or text. Text, picture and video messaging bundles are also available to any prepaid customer subscribing to unlimited messaging for $20 per month or $10 per month for in-network SMS only, plus 250 messages allocated for any network.

Verizon is marketing the revamped prepaid services to small-business owners who can add minutes to employees’ accounts rather than monitor their minutes each month. Current prepaid customers can switch to the new plans direct from their handsets via SMS and new customers can sign up at VWZ stores and eventually, on March 15, retailers.

Matthew Kunkle, pricing analyst for wireless services at Current Analysis, saw VZW’s prepaid revamping as a necessary step for the tier-one carrier, but not one that will prove attractive to many consumers. With the amount of competition in the industry, it’s not a competitive price point or attractive offer for a consumer used to unlimited calling.

“The unlimited talker is usually someone who talks every day,” he said. “That equals $120 per month, and Verizon’s own postpaid plan is only $100. It doesn’t make sense if they are doing comparison shopping. Verizon’s thing is they build up such a name for themselves, they are trying to attract the people who don’t do that comparison shopping. They just want the customer who comes in, sees Verizon and they do go with it.”

Although most wireless consumers aren’t in danger of foregoing their cell phones, an increasing number have looked towards prepaid option to save money. Value-branded carriers, including T-Mobile and Sprint’s Boost Mobile have paved this market. Boost recently introduced a monthly unlimited plan approach, offering its customers a $50 unlimited plan with no hidden fees. In a growing number of its markets, Verizon will compete against regional CDMA players Metro and Leap Wireless, which offer day passes as low as $1. Kunkle said that these smaller players still might not be formidable competitors, but they are the choice that most prepaid-minded consumers will make.

“Prepaid is the way to go,” he said. “You want to give the people more choices. It’s just that Verizon is always the Cadillac or Mercedes Benz of providers. You will pay more to get with Verizon Wireless, but I don’t think the prepaid customer is that customer…With the economy, people see the better deals. I don’t think Verizon Wireless wants to change what they are doing. They still want to be the big postpaid player. They’d love to get prepaid customers, but it’s not a priority.”