Verizon makes a big change to its monthly installment policy
We may earn a commission if you make a purchase from the links on this page.
Remember when two-year contracts were a thing that US carriers imposed on their customers to make sure said customers couldn't go anywhere else, preferably ever? Fortunately, that's well behind us now, although we're not entirely certain three-year device payment plans are really any better.
Taking a page from AT&T's playbook, Verizon appears to have quietly ditched shorter monthly installment options in favor of a single lengthy alternative to paying for a new phone outright. The exclusive 36-month policy is in place across Big Red's website at the time of this writing, with no distinction whatsoever made between the budget-friendly likes of the Samsung Galaxy A02s or Moto G Pure and the extravagant iPhone 13 Pro Max or Galaxy Z Fold 3 5G.
While you can obviously still cough up the retail prices of all those devices (and many more) in one upfront go, what you can no longer do is split said prices in either 24 or 30 monthly installments.
Clearly, the largest wireless service provider in the US hopes you'll stick around longer this way while also making it seem like its phones are cheaper than before. The aforementioned iPhone 13 Pro Max, for instance, will only set you back $30.55 a month for three years, with something like the Galaxy A42 5G fetching as little as $11.11 a month.
Of course, having more options is generally considered a good thing by many consumers, so Verizon should definitely expect to get some flak for dropping the 24 and 30-month payment plans with absolutely no advance warning.
For what it's worth, there are no changes on the horizon for customers that are already on those types of agreements, and at least for the time being, Best Buy still seems to be doing business on 24, 30, and 36-month Verizon installment plans.
That actually beats T-Mobile's range, which merely includes 24 and 30-month options, but evidently, that may not prove to be the case much longer.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: