Verizon to ditch phone plans, go with shared plans

NEW YORK (AP) -- Verizon Wireless, the nation's largest cellphone company, says it's dropping nearly all of its phone plans in favor of a pricing scheme that lets consumers share data usage among up to ten phones and other devices.

In the biggest overhaul of wireless pricing in years --and one that's likely to be copied by competitors-- Verizon's new policies will let individuals combine non-phone devices like tablets and laptops, as well as phones of family members, into a single plan.

The change takes effect June 28. AT&T Inc. has already said it's looking at introducing shared-data plans soon.

Verizon's new "Share Everything" plans include unlimited phone calls and texting, and will start at $90 per month for one smartphone and 1 gigabyte of data.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)