We knew that July 7 was going to mark the beginning of something after Verizon extended out the free 4G hotspot promo one more time to the 6th, but what we weren’t 100% sure of was if it would have to do with tiered data. Employees have been receiving training over the last couple of weeks on a new point-of-sale system along with new account management tools that hinted at family plan changes, so again, we knew that something was definitely on the horizon, just weren’t sure exactly what. Well, we’ve just received word that tiers are scheduled to start the day after the promo ends (on the 7th) for new customers and will look something like this…

Data plans:

2GB – $30/month

5GB – $50/month

10GB – $80/month

If you would like to add tethering on to any of those packages, you can purchase 2GB of data at an additional cost of $20 per month.

Data plans w/ tethering:

4GB – $50/month

7GB – $70/month

12GB – $100/month

If you go over your purchased amount of data, it will cost you $10 per 1GB.

Tablet data plans will now go to $30 for 2GB of data as well instead of $20 for 1GB of data that is currently available.

*Note 1 – We have also been told that this is for both 3G and 4G smartphones and that there are not separate plans depending on device. So if you are under contract currently, you should be fine and don’t need to run out and buy a 4G phone just to lock in as we’ve seen other sites seem to want to suggest.

*Note 2 – And I should probably clarify that these new prices should not affect anyone that is currently under contract. Major changes like this concern only new customers and possibly those that are up for a renewal. We have even heard mention of current customers being allowed to upgrade to a new device after July 7 though, and continue to keep their unlimited data, but are awaiting further clarification on that.

Surprised by these numbers?

Update: If you’d like to see additional confirmation, then check out this letter we received that has been sent out to Verizon employees by VPs.

Update 2: Head of Verizon Communications confirms tiers are coming in July.

Update 3: It’s looking like current customers may have unlimited data for life.

Let’s look at how they compare to AT&T’s tiers:

200MB – $15/month

2GB – $25/month

4GB – $45/month

So each plan is essentially $5 more per month, which Verizon will likely justify by saying that they offer a more reliable 3G network and a faster 4G LTE network. We knew they were coming – let me know what your thoughts are.

This is definitely developing…