According to Reuters, Verizon will be shaking up their data plans sometime this summer. The first change is the elimination of their unlimited data plans. We’ve heard rumors of this coming for some time now, and I guess its time for it to finally happen. These data plans will be replaced by tiered options. There’s no reports yet of how much data will be included in each tier. If its like other carriers, we can assume 2Gb will be one of the cutoff points. We’re also assuming that people on the old unlimited data plans will be grandfathered.

Their CFO, Fran Shammo, also hinted at another possible change, shared family data, he dubbed as a data “mega-plan”. “We had individual minutes for individual users. Then we eventually got to what we call family share where everyone in the family shares the same minutes,” Shammo said. “I think it’s safe to assume that at some point you are going to have mega-plans (for data) and people are going to share that mega-plan based on the number of devices within their family. That’s just a logical progression.”

He also said their next version of the iPhone will be a global phone, but he did not mention anything about LTE. He also said it would be available on the same day as the At&t version.

Does this come as a surprise to anyone? Every other carrier seems to be tiered, or have a throttle in place once you reach a certain amount of data. Will this force anyone to change carriers?

Well folks, today is just a couple of weeks before the unexpected announcement Sprint is supposed to make in New York and we’ve just gotten an unexpected announcement today that may blow some of you away, some of you won’t mind. Either way, nobody knew this was coming, or did you?

The announcement starts out by saying, “Today’s ability to do more things on the go — such as watching videos, sharing pictures or checking directions — is not only changing the way we live; it is driving exponential growth of mobile data traffic. Sprint is committed to providing its customers with a great wireless experience now and in the future.” They then proceed to explain that for postpaids the $10 per month Premium Data add on charge will now be required on all smart phones beginning January 30, 2011.

You may have questions as to why this is happening? Here is a hint at what looks like their explanation for beginning to charge the fee from here on out:

Background: Mobile Data Explosion

• The world is in the midst of a mobile data explosion.
• Mobile data volumes are growing about 2.4 times faster than fixed broadband.
• Smartphone penetration is expected to double over the next four years.
• About 60 percent of Sprint’s postpaid CDMA handset sales (upgrades and gross adds) in third quarter 2010 came from smartphone sales (4Q09: 49%, 1Q10: 57%, 2Q10: 58%)
• More than half of mobile web users go online from their phones on a daily basis (Mobile Access 2010, PEW INTERNET & AMERICAN LIFE PROJECT)

Don’t be confused current Sprint customers, existing 3G Everything plan holders won’t see their rates go up until they “upgrade or activate another smartphone.” What do you all think about this Geeks? Were you considering getting that 4G phone and now thinking twice about it or does the $10 fee not really bother you? We want to know what you think so leave your comments below or hop into our forums, in this thread, and join the discussion.

Source: Sprint