Verizon's tiered, smartphone data plans will go into effect on Thursday, July 7, the carrier confirmed Tuesday.
The plans, which cover the Apple iPhone 4, ditch the company's unlimited data plans in favor of several tiered options: $30 for 2GB per month, $50 for 5GB, and $80 for 10GB. Customers with feature phones can also opt for 75MB for $10 per month.
Existing customers can keep their unlimited data plans for now, whether or not they have a contract.
Customers currently taking advantage of the free, Mobile Hotspot promotion will now be charged $30 per month for unlimited use. With the HTC Thunderbolt, users can connect up to 8 Wi-Fi enabled devices, while the Samsung Droid Charge can share with up to 10 devices, Verizon said.
The news is not exactly a surprise. Verizon has said for some time that it would end its unlimited data plans and switch to a tiered system this summer.
Verizon announced in January that it would ditch its 150MB $15 monthly plan and require new smartphone users to subscribe to its $30 unlimited plan. That move, announced several days before Verizon unveiled its version of the iPhone, was intended to attract new customers to Verizon and the iPhone, Fran Shammo, president and chief executive officer of Verizon Telecom and Business, said in March.
Verizon opted for the $30 plan because "we didn't really want to put up a barrier to anybody who wanted to come over and experience the Verizon Wireless network," Shammo said at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference in San Francisco. "So we felt that it was important to go out at the $30."