Verizon tries to entice customers to 5G Home Plus plan with perks

Verizon Wireless is sweetening its 5G Home rate plans with discounted pricing and extra perks. With more than 1 million fixed wireless access (FWA) customers as of the end of Q3, Verizon now considers its wireless broadband service one of it its biggest growth areas.  

The company has two tiers for its 5G Home FWA service. Its lower tier 5G Home plan currently costs $25 per month when coupled with select mobile phone plans and the higher tier 5G Home Plus plan costs $35 per month. Both plans include a Wi-Fi 6 router and a 10-year price guarantee. In addition, Verizon is offering up to $500 to subscribers to cover early termination fees that customers might accrue from cancelling their existing broadband service to switch to Verizon.

However, to lure customers to the higher tier 5G Home Plus plan the operator is bundling in either a $200 Grubhub or DoorDash gift card and a $300 discount on the Verizon Stream TV soundbar, which is priced at $399 or the Stream TV Soundbar Pro that is valued at $999. It also offers unlimited Verizon cloud storage with the higher tier plan.

But are the perks enough to get customers to pay an extra $120 per year for the higher priced plan?  According to Tammy Parker, principal analyst, global telecom consumer services at GlobalData, the $25 per month plan is probably the better deal for most consumers and the fact that Verizon is now adding extra perks like the $200 gift cards and the $300 discount on the stream TV soundbars likely means that unlimited cloud storage wasn’t enough to draw customers to the higher tier plan. “The carrier has had to add other sweeteners to entice signups on the pricier plan,” Parker said.

However, she also noted that while the DoorDash and Grubhub gift cards and discounted stream TV soundbars may be appealing enough to get some customers to sign up for the service, it doesn’t do much to offset the higher monthly subscription price if a customer intends to stay on the 5G Home Plus plan for more than a few years. In addition, if a customer later drops from the higher tier plan to the lower tier plan, they will lose their 10-year price guarantee.

It’s difficult to know how many customers are signing up for the company’s higher tier 5G Home Plus plan because Verizon has not provided any breakouts of which customers are on which plan. Nevertheless, the company appears to be trying to mimic its unlimited mobile price plans by piling on additional perks to entice customers to sign up for the pricier plans.