It appears T-Mobile and AT&T have started a trend. Just days after the two companies unveiled their own plans to allow smartphone users to update their phones more frequently, Verizon Wireless, the nation's largest cell phone provider has confirmed a similar plan.
The company has confirmed the arrival of Verizon Edge, a program that allows customers who want flexibility of upgrading their smartphones or tablets more often than every two years. Consumers pay for the full price of a phone but they can do it in 24 month payment installments. After six months they can choose to upgrade to a new device as long as they pay for at least 50 percent of the full price of the smartphone. This differs from T-Mobile and AT&T's plans in that only 50 percent of the phone's total cost needs to be accounted for.
Verizon's Edge plan is the third in an emerging trend of cell phone carriers doing away with the standard two year contract plan that marries users to their business for an extended period of time. With the new micro plans, the companies are able to ensure that customers can keep coming in and spending money on new devices more frequently.
According to USA Today the plans end up costing the consumer a lot more money, which is obvious if he or she plans to swap out his or her smartphone once every six months. By ensuring that the user only has to make the 50 percent payment mark, they are giving the illusion of choice and savings, however, if a user plans to utilize this, he or she is looking at paying a lot of money to reach that 50 percent mark by the time the six months winds down. In other words, the plan is great for those who want to upgrade their phone early and don't mind paying the extra cost to get the most bang for their buck out of this plan. However, if you're the type to let a phone keep working for you until it physically dies, this might not be the most cost effective plan for you.
