New York – Good news for existing Verizon customers: You’ll still be able to get discounted phones for $100 or $200 by renewing a two-year service contract.
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That part wasn’t clear when Verizon announced Friday that new customers will no longer get discounted phones, but they won’t have to sign two-year contracts, either. Instead, they’ll pay full price — it’s $650 for an iPhone 6 — while monthly fees for voice, text and data will go down.
Verizon clarified its policy in an email to The Associated Press on Tuesday. As long as you stay with the current plan, you can upgrade at a discount. So if you were anticipating a new model from Apple or Samsung, you can wait until those phones come out. Otherwise, you would have been limited to what’s available as of Wednesday, as the new policy kicks in on Thursday.
Once you leave the current plan for a new one, though, you won’t be allowed back.
You might still save money under the new plans, even after paying full price of the phones themselves. This is particularly so for higher data plans.
If you want to switch but are still in the middle of your two-year contract, it’ll cost you $20 a month extra until the contract is up. The bill will then automatically go down. That $20 reflects the value of the subsidies you’ve been getting when buying a phone at a discounted rate.