Tiered Verizon plans no biggie for most customers, says Consumer Reports

Most Verizon customers won't be shedding tears over new data-plan tiers, according to a new analysis from Consumer Reports.

The product-testing and consumer survey magazine said today that the majority of Verizon customers will not see a spike in their wireless data costs, as it has found that monthly data usage "averages no more than about 500MB per month," or one-fourth of the 2GB data consumption limit in Verizon's new $30 plan. And since Verizon currently charges $30 for its standard unlimited data plan, the vast majority of users who stay under the 2GB cap will not see any increase in their monthly wireless bills. Users who typically consume more than 2GB of data a month can pay $50 for a 5GB plan or $80 for a 10GB plan. This doesn't mean Verizon gets a total thumbs up, of course. Consumer Reports also notes that unlike its rivals at T-Mobile and AT&T, Verizon is not offering a cheap data plan for users who use feature phones that don't utilize data-heavy applications. In other words, Verizon customers will find themselves paying $30 for 2GB of data no matter how little they consume while T-Mobile and AT&T subscribers have the option of getting 200MB monthly plans for $10 and $15, respectively. As for as overage charges go, Verizon's decision to charge users $10 per extra GB consumed is the same as AT&T's $10 per GB charge, although AT&T does charge users a significantly higher $15 per extra MB of data they use if they subscribe to the low-cost 200MB data plan.