Verizon Wireless Phone Bill: What You Should be Paying

The 5G Plan cost is $10 per month, a price that is included in all but the cheapest plans they offer. With Verizon Wireless you can choose from four different unlimited plans that include additional perks and access to streaming services, the cheapest plan starting at $70 per month, as long as you follow a few rules…

Network quality 

Verizon Wireless has slightly less access to 5G then competing companies like AT&T, however, where 5G coverage does exist it spans large portions of major cities throughout States like Tennessee, North Carolina, Florida, Virginia, California, Washington, and Oregon. The majority of network quality across the United States is LTE with small pockets in areas of Texas, West Virginia, New Mexico, and Arizona limited to 3G or 2G.

Below is a map of their current coverage:

Map of Verizon Wireless network coverage from RootMetrics.

A few things do make Verizon stand out. The first is that they offer 5G access to all but their cheapest of unlimited plans. The second is that they include a lot of perks to try and stand out amongst the competition especially when there’s really nothing they can do beyond offering unlimited talk, text, and data.

Depending on the plan you choose you can get access to Disney Plus for 6 months, Apple music, Hulu, ESPN Plus, or extra cloud storage.

There is a caveat, however, one that has left a lot of customers a bit confused and frustrated. Most of the plans include things like Disney Plus or Apple music for 6 months, except for the most expensive plans. So if you have any of the middle of the road unlimited plans, if you don’t cancel the services prior to the 6-month mark, you will see a significant increase in your monthly bill.

Verizon Cell Phone Plans

Unlimited plans

When you take a look at the unlimited plans Verizon has to offer, the first thing you will notice is they start at $70 per month for the plan that is titled Start Unlimited. However, you have to sign up for auto-pay. Like many cell phone providers, they will charge you extra if you don’t sign up for all okay.

Start Unlimited has the option of up to four lines at double the cost. This includes data and text and talk in places like Mexico and Canada, six months of Disney plus and 6 months of Apple music. However, like every plan Verizon offers, the unlimited nature of the talk, text, and data can be slowed if there is a lot of congestion. Verizon does not offer information on what parameters define “times of congestion”, only that they reserve the right to slow or throttle your data during said times.

Play More Unlimited is the next plan. This plan starts at $80 per month assuming you sign up for auto-pay. If you want to convert it into a family plan or sharing plan you can add four lines for $180 per month. This includes 15 GB of 4G LTE Hotspot data, HD streaming, 600GB of Verizon cloud storage, Disney Plus, Hulu, ESPN plus, and 6 months of Apple music. Again, be sure to cancel this ahead of expiration or you will see unexpected charges to your monthly bill. 

Do More Unlimited is the third plan. This can also be converted into a family plan or sharing plan but it starts at $90 per month. Should you utilize four lines it goes up to $220 per month. With this plan you get the same as the previous plans however, Apple music is included for the duration of your contract not just six months, and they give you an additional 600GB of Verizon cloud storage.

Family and Sharing plans

All of the unlimited plans can be converted into family or sharing plans for a higher price, with up to 4 lines. The unlimited Family Plan cost has the same caveat as the other unlimited plans in that you have to sign up for auto-pay for each line you add otherwise your bill will not only include the line access fee for additional phone lines but an additional charge for each phone line that does not use auto pay.

Prepaid plans

Verizon does offer prepaid plans which can be used with just about any phone. The cost of this is going to vary based on the type of plan you want but you can easily reload money to a Verizon prepaid card, or make a payment directly from the cell phone without ever setting up an official Verizon account. If you choose to set up an account you can pay online.

The average phone bill cost per month for the prepaid phone plans starts at $30 per month for unlimited talk and text. These plans don’t include data. If you have need for data with your unlimited plan cost on a monthly basis goes up to $45 each month, with options to increase the amount of data based on the type of phone and usage you require.

How Verizon’s Unlimited Plan Compares

When comparing the average cell phone cost per month for Verizon Wireless plans to competitors like T-Mobile and AT&T, Verizon has worked hard since August of 2020 to include additional perks with their plans at no extra charge. Wondering will 5G cost more? Similarly to other big companies, Verizon is including their access to 5G Network for free with all but their cheapest plan. On the cheapest plan this cost an extra $10 per month.

However, in spite of getting this 5G Plan cost included, their network of 5G capabilities do not compare two companies like T-Mobile with only a few major hot spots in heavily populated cities.