Verizon cuts base Fios and fixed wireless home internet cost to $25 – but there’s a catch

Verizon flexed its promotional muscle, dropping the cost of its entry-level Fios and fixed wireless Home Internet plans to $25 per month and offering a four-year price lock for fiber customers on its faster 1-gigabit and 2-gigabit tiers. Verizon indicated it is looking to steal subscribers from cable competitors with the promotion, explicitly calling on customers to “ditch cable and switch” to one of its Home Internet services. The promotion comes as Verizon faces a fiber overbuild of its Fios footprint from cable operator Altice USA and increased competition from a range of other fiber players. For instance, Ting Internet recently scored a deal to build fiber to 90,000 locations in Alexandria (VA) in a rollout which will pit it against both Verizon Fios and Comcast. According to Recon Analytics' Roger Entner, Verizon’s move is also designed to boost net add figures in a challenging quarter for the operator. “This quarter is not a great quarter from what I can tell,” he said. “They’re looking for any adds. If you can pay, they want you.” He added that the price guarantees Verizon is offering are also strategic given recent moves by Verizon, AT&T and others to raise rates. “We’ve seen in our numbers that the more carriers talk about price increases, the more skittish customers get. And so, you put people at ease,” Entner concluded.