Verizon No Longer Offering Subsidies on Tablets

Anyone shopping for a tablet on Verizon's website might suddenly find themselves suffering from sticker shock. That is because this carrier is no longer offering subsidies for this class of device, so consumers are going to have to pay full price.

Previously, Verizon treated tablets like phones, selling them at low prices along with wireless service contracts. That all changed when this company instituted its new Share Everything plans, which radically reconfigured the way the carrier offers all types of devices.

Under the new system, customers can use up to ten devices to draw from a shared pool of data. People can add service for a tablet for just $10 a month, as long as they pay for the data transfers they intend to use. This is a much lower rate than is charged for smartphones.

On the other side of the coin, Verizon now requires shoppers to pay the full price for tablets. For example, the least expensive Apple iPad that can connect to this carrier's 4G LTE network is $630. The Motorola Droid Xyboard 10.1 costs the same.

More About Share Everything

Under Verizon's new payment plans, there is a flat fee per device which gives phones unlimited voice and texting, and other products wireless data access. The price depends on the type of product: $40 per smartphone, $10 per tablet, $20 per mobile hotspot, and $30 for featurephones.

Payments for data are on top of that. Paying $60 a month gets 2GB, $70 gets 4GB, $80 gets 6GB, $90 gets 8GB, and $100 a month gets 10GB of data transfers. Users will be charged $15 for each 1GB they go over their limit, but they will be warned when they are approaching their limit, and given the opportunity to buy an additional 2GB of data for $10 for just that month, as long as they do it before the overage begins.

Current customers can keep their service plan, but all new Verizon customers can get a Share Everything plan.

Pre-paid Tablet plans

Those who just want 4G LTE access for their tablet for just a short time can still do so. Verizon continues to offer pre-paid plans for tablet users. The cost is $20 for 1GB of data, $30 for 2GB, $50 for 3GB, or $80 for 8GB.