After years of being one of the few carriers to actively offer and advertise the option to sign on to a year agreement for service with a subsidy, Verizon Wireless has confirmed in a press note that it will eliminate the 1 year contract option due to “customer demand†on April 17th.
"Keep in mind, a majority of our customers select a two-year contract when buying our devices, so we are responding to what our customers want. They still have options available, such as two-year contracts, month-to-month and prepaid plans."
The 1 year agreement has been a staple of Verizon Wireless service offerings over the past few years and was quite popular with enthusiasts and consumers for its flexibility compared to the now ubiquitous and increasingly inflexible 2 year agreement. Verizon also offered a subsidy on 1 year terms, but it was not as deep as the 2 year subsidy, typically falling between $50-$150 more than the 2 year pricing for the same device.
With the elimination of the 1 year agreement, Verizon has eliminated both a competitive bullet point and a consumer friendly choice from its offerings. Despite featuring deeper subsidies on 2 year agreements, more competitive prepaid and hybrid monthly plans, those also stand to be affected by the elimination of the 1 year agreement.
Sad to see it go…
A strategic marketing mistake, fewer options, fewer customers, mind you that they are not competetively priced to begin with; now they have one less sales tool to utilize, less innovative marketing, more uniform strategies can possibly not be beneficial to the consumers.
Thank You
I think its fantastic…….. For the competition!
Why is it fantastic for the competition? They all have pretty much abandoned the 1 year contract so where is the incentive to switch? If a contract doesn’t appeal to you then go month-to-month and pay full retail. I don’t because with the exception of t-mobile, no carrier offeres a discount on plan rates for full retail purchase.
It’s fantastic for the competition because it brings Verizon in-line with the competition. The ~10% of customers that were taking one-year contracts now really have no options, and with AT&T acquiring T-Mobile, those options are even fewer for one-year contracts to re-emerge.
The only bright side here is that prepaid is continuing to rise, with plans like Virgin Mobile Beyond Talk making one-year contracts less competitive on that side.
My advice to those that were interested in VZW one-year would be to head to Virgin, unless coverage forces you into a Verizon month-to-month.
@Jim
The short version,
it is only “fantastic” from the industry corp. stand point, one less tool to compete against.
Thank You
People are still signing contracts?! I have no idea why people continue to lock themselves in a contract that canot be canceled unless you pay a hefty fee. After a nasty break up with Tmobile that left me with $250 less in my pocket, I decided that contracts werent for me and I switched to Straight Talk and its been smooth sailing since. Ive been very happy with my service and it gives me piece of mind to know that anytime I can walk out and leave.