What Verizon recently did in support of Android Pay is both groundbreaking and unnerving. Deeply unnerving. It’s one part smart idea and one part disaster in the making, and it’s all about mobile data.
Verizon recently put out an offer that gives Verizon post-paid customers signing up for Android Pay two gigabytes of free mobile data, to be distributed by handing out one gigabyte when the first payment is made, and then after using the service a third time, the second gigabyte is doled out.
Users have until June 14 to complete the payments, and until July 13 to redeem the data.
This offer will work alongside some of Verizon’s other offers, like the free two gigabytes of data offered for signing up for the 12 gigabyte monthly plan, and the free two gigabytes for those who get in on the Go90 video system.
Basically, Verizon is offering what users want—more data—but instead of making it part of basic operations, it’s giving it away as part of a promotional offer.
On the one hand, it’s a smart idea. Users want more bandwidth for doing things like watching videos and playing games and such.
There’s no doubt that Verizon’s giving away something that its user base will consider valuable, and that makes it a fine premium.
At the same time, though, this isn’t a thing that Verizon should be offering to its user base as part of a premium; this is the kind of thing that should be coming users’ way at no charge.
The common cry when users wanted more bandwidth was that bandwidth was expensive, and couldn’t be provided in large amounts inexpensively. Interestingly, this is a tactic that may have a shelf life.
With 5G poised to arrive somewhere around 2020, bandwidth may be a lot easier to come by. That’s going to take a lot of the premium value of bandwidth out of the equation, reducing its value as a giveaway item.
Still, it’s a bold idea. A bold and unnerving idea, at least for current customers hungry for bandwidth.
Bandwidth shouldn’t be a premium giveaway; it should be immediately available for subscribers. Treating it as a giveaway item could backfire, and open opportunities for Verizon’s customers.
