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New Verizon Wireless customers will have to buy a data plan with a 3G smartphone, but voice plans will cost less. The data plans will cost $9.99 to $29.99, while the Nationwide Unlimited Talk will be $69.99, down from $99.99. Verizon wants more people using data as it switches to a 4G LTE network later this year.  New Verizon Wireless smartphone customers will no longer be able to surf the web without a data  plan as of Monday, when new rates take effect. But new voice plans will cost $30 less.
The company, a joint venture between Verizon Communications and the Vodafone Group that has the largest U.S. mobile network , will require a data plan on all its new 3G smartphones.

The company announced Friday that it has eliminated a $19.99 option for 75 megabytes of data, adding a new, unlimited plan for $29.99. The company still offers a $9.99 plan for 25 megabytes of data, but has lowered the cost of overages from 50 cents to 20 cents.

That means a customer  who uses 75 megabytes of data per month but does not want an unlimited plan would see no change in the bill, because $9.99 for 25 megabytes plus $10 in overage charges for 50 megabytes would bring the plan up to the previous $19.99 rate. But those who go much over 75 megabytes will likely be drawn to the unlimited plan.

Meeting Demand?

"We're giving people more options," said Brenda Raney, a spokesperson for the Basking Ridge, N.J.-based company. "We are seeing that people who use full-feature phones really use all the features."

She said the new data rates are "a response to current customer usage habits. More customers on multimedia devices want the unlimited data."

The price changes won't affect existing customers unless they switch to another plan.

Verizon has only required data plans on the LG EnV Touch and the Samsung Rogue. Simple feature-phone users have been able to choose to pay $1.99 per megabyte or pick one of the two data plans.

The change is seen as a push to get more people using data phones as Verizon prepares to launch its fourth-generation, 700-MHz Long Term Evolution network later this year. Phones on that network are expected to be able to access data at eight to 12 megabytes per second.

Data Trumps Voice

"This is a recognition that it's harder than ever to define what a smartphone is," said Interpret Vice President Michael Gartenberg. "All phones now are actively using data, and data services are becoming increasingly as important as voice for many consumers. At the same time, the issue of network bandwidth remains a huge issue as a growing number of users, who may still be in the minority, use a disproportionate share of data resources."
 
The new price of Verizon's Nationwide Unlimited Talk plan is $69.99, down from $99.99, making it cheaper than AT&T 's $99 plan but more than T-Mobile, whose charges ranges from $49 to $59, according to a published analysis.

Data Hogs

The price changes come as wireless companies deal with increasingly strained networks, trying to keep up with the so-called "data hogs" they have created with increasing smartphone sales and flat-rate plans.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, the chief technology officer of Verizon Communications, Dick Lynch, said bandwidth-based pricing is inevitable to prevent slowing down the mobile Internet. "We will end up billing differently in the future," Lynch told the paper.

Gartenberg predicted that the future of mobile plans involves "either bandwidth-based pricing, speed caps, or differential pricing."

Writing in The Atlantic's business blog, Daniel Indiviglio predicted that other wireless companies will follow Verizon's example in decreasing voice charges while increasing data costs.

"I believe this trend will continue toward a world where voice charges vanish entirely, but usage-based data charges become more common," he wrote.