Verizon brought back unlimited data in 2017 after bleeding 398,000 subscribers
Verizon lost 398,000 postpaid phone users in six weeks without unlimited data; relaunching the plan in February 2017 flipped the trend to +109,000.
What was changed
In the first six weeks of 2017, Verizon Wireless lost 398,000 retail postpaid phone subscribers — the period immediately before it relaunched unlimited smartphone data. Ars Technica reported in April 2017 that the February launch of Verizon Unlimited 'immediately turned things around': the company gained 109,000 retail postpaid phone connections after launch, reducing the quarter's overall phone loss to 289,000.
The pressure had been building for years: T-Mobile USA gained millions of customers with better deals and was 'largely responsible for the return of unlimited data plans to the US mobile market', its popular unlimited plan forcing Verizon to offer one of its own. The returned plan still had managed limits — no overage fees but throttling after 22GB in a month on congested towers (T-Mobile's threshold was 30GB), hotspot restrictions, and pricing from $80 a month for one line. T-Mobile responded by adding HD video to its base $70 plan.
Even so, Q1 2017 was rough: total operating revenues including wireline fell 7.3% year over year to $29.8 billion, net income dropped 19.8% to $3.6 billion, DSL connections declined 16.7% to 1.3 million, and Verizon shares fell as results missed analyst expectations.
Why it worked
The before-state was measured weekly: 398,000 postpaid phone losses in six weeks made the cost of having no unlimited plan undeniable.
Competitive pressure, not ideology, drove it: T-Mobile's unlimited plan had been pulling customers away for years.
The reversal worked immediately — 109,000 connections gained after launch turned the quarter from collapse to near-flat.
'Unlimited' stayed managed, with throttling after 22GB on congested towers, so the economics did not fully reset.
What can be applied
Pricing principles lose to market reality: Verizon defended data caps for years while T-Mobile grew, then capitulated in weeks once its own subscriber counts proved the point.
Aftermath
The company said 'the launch of Verizon Unlimited positively changed the trajectory of customer additions in the quarter', though shares still dropped on the wider miss. Unlimited had returned to the US market to stay, with Verizon's 113.9 million retail wireless connections still the largest base.