Verizon Training Materials Show Shared Data Plans Coming Soon

January 30th, 2012 by Dan Howley, LAPTOP Staff Writer

Say goodbye to having separate data plans for your smartphone and tablet. A leaked screen capture of Verizon employee training materials sent to Engadget appears to show a new section for account level data plans, as well as a $9.99 charge for each additional line added to the plan. Verizon has talked about offering shared data plans in the past, so the leak, while interesting, isn’t exactly earth shattering.

The new plans would serve to benefit Verizon customers in two ways. Under Big Red’s current data plan structure, users who want 3G or 4G access for their smartphone and tablet have to sign up for two separate data plans. With a shared plan, users could be given a specific data limit, similar to what is offered now, that they can draw from using both of their devices.

The new plans could also give rise to family data plans, much like the voice and text plans that already exist. In this scenario, a family would sign up for a shared plan, with each family member drawing from the same data pool. Go over your data allotment and it’s safe to assume you’ll be hit with an overage fee.

We’ve previously discussed how having multiple data plans for your devices is tantamount to throwing your money at services providers, especially when users can just as easily tether their tablet to their smartphone via their phones’ hotspot option. So, the fact that shared data plans may finally be coming to Verizon is good to see.

But Verizon isn’t the only telecom that is supposedly preparing to offer shared data plans. AT&T has previously mentioned that they were working on such a service, but have kept mum on the topic as of late. There’s no word on when either company will begin rolling out their respective shared plans, but we’re hoping its soon.

via Engadget