Verizon’s new deal showers switchers with cash, data

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Verizon is hungry for new and returning customers. Photo: Mike Mozart/Flickr CC

Verizon Wireless is just about matching the deal other carriers have offered for a while to entice customers on other networks. It’s essentially offering to buy you out of your contract with up to $650 per line, less the trade-in value of your current device. But Verizon also has a few extra bonuses to brag about.

The first is that anyone who switches to Verizon with this deal will get an extra 2GB of data for the rest of their lives. However, while the generous $650 payout is per line (meaning that families can get thousands of dollars for multiple lines) data plans are grouped on Verizon. So you’ll have to share that extra 2GB with the whole family, which in a family of four would only equate to 500MB per user. This bonus also only qualifies for customers who choose the top-tier XL or XXL plans and nothing less.

Much like AT&T and T-Mobile work their deals, those who want to participate will have to trade-in their old devices to Verizon and buy a new phone. You’ll automatically get up to $350 to pay off your early termination fee if tied down to a contract, then up to another $300 for any remaining balance you have on the device.

While T-Mobile was the first to kick off such a deal with its Uncarrier move, Verizon does get to boast about its superior network coverage.

“Did you know that 87 percent of T-Mobile customers and 86 percent of Sprint customers who switched back to Verizon within six months of leaving Verizon said ‘Network quality and performance’ was the number one reason they came back?” Verizon wrote in a press release.

What all of this really means is that there has never been a better time to be a smartphone customer. Carriers are literally paying you to hook up with them. If you’re at all unhappy with your current network, take advantage of the competitive deals.