Verizon Working on Shared Data Plan for Next Year

Verizon Wireless' CEO says he hopes his company will roll out shared data plans in 2012. This would allow customers with two devices -- like a smartphone and tablet -- to use a single data plan.

Lowell McAdam spoke at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference this morning, and said "We have been working on this for a couple of years. Getting to one bill and getting to account-level pricing is our goal. I think in 2012 we will see it.." 

As it stands now, if someone wants to connect both a smartphone and a tablet to Verizon's network, he needs two seperate data plans. The only work-around is getting a data plan with tethering for the phone and connecting to two together over Wi-Fi.

McAdam says that, at some point next year, the plan is for customers to be able to sign up for a single plan that will allow two (or possibly more) devices to draw from the same monthly allotment of Wireless Data transfers, whether it's 2GB, 4GB, or more. The carrier already does something similar with voice minutes in family plans.

Based on its previous prectices, Verizon will almost certainly charge extra for this feature. For example, adding tethering support for a data plan costs $20 a month, but come with an additional 2GB of data transfers. A shared data plan will likely work in a similar way. McAdam didn't cover this in his comments this morning, however.

This summer, AT&T Mobility's CEO Ralph de la Vega said his company is also working on offering shared data plans for its customers. Sprint has brought up the possibility as well. When these will be available is as-yet unknown.