image source: Verizon

BY EVAN THOMAS

Verizon has announced its “Share Everything” plan , which distributes a shared pool of data across as many as 10 devices.

Each device comes with a flat fee for inclusion on the plan — for smartphones it’s $40. Voice and text is unlimited, and data access increments up to 10GB a month for $100.


Unlimited is good, and 10 gigs a month is a lot of data to share. But Computerworld says it’s not necessarily going to save everyone money .

"As to whether or not the shared data plans are a good deal, it depends greatly on the amount of usage for your household. Individuals with only a couple of devices may not find it quite as beneficial as families with many devices…"

To get the most out of it, says GigaOM, you need a smartphone .

"Those unlikely to save: Folks with several feature phones and/or limited voice minutes and message plans. But the real benefit here to end users is that instead of some family members blowing through a data bucket while others have data to spare, the data usage can be spread out."

Regardless of whether it’s a good deal for specific consumers, CNBC says Verizon’s move signals a trend in the industry .

“AT&T executives have already told me that they’re looking at shared data plans and figuring out exactly how to implement them. Now we see, with Verizon’s plan, they’ve got to do something like this.”

Bloomberg says smaller carriers or those focused on less data-intensive users could lose out as a result .

“You don’t want to get into a situation where you’re racing to the bottom, where you’re really trying to cater to people who are on a budget. They can get you only so far…”

AT&T is expected to roll out a competing shared data plan sometime this year.