Following T-Mobile's footsteps, Verizon kills the two year contract

There’s no denying that T-Mobile’s uncarrier movement has had a pretty big impact on the cellular industry over the past few years. Not only have we seen T-Mobile rise to third place in the market, bypassing Sprint, we’ve also seen all the carriers attempt to make uncarrier-like moves in hopes of winning new customers or keeping existing ones from defecting.

Verizon is now taking things a whole step further, following T-Mobile’s example and killing the two-year contract altogether. While Verizon had already offered optional device payment plans through its Edge service, going forward all Verizon customers interested in a new phone will either pay for the phone all at once or will sign up for a device payment plan.

We know what you’re thinking, the Moto X Pure Edition has now become even more enticing considering its $400 price tag, lack of carrier branding and software, and its full support for Verizon’s network.

As part of its restructuring, Verizon is ending the “Edge” naming convention as well, simply referring to it as a device payment plan. Furthermore, they are simplifying their data plans and pricing.

From now on, you simply pay $20 per line, and then you choose one of the following shared data buckets: S ($30/month for 1GB), M ($45/month for 3GB), L ($60/month for 6GB), or X-Large ($80/month for 12GB). Other larger plans exist, but will require you to ask Verizon directly for a quote.

Verizon’s new plans will go into effect on August 13th. If you still are under contract, however, you won’t see any immediate changes.