Verizon adds 500MB Share Everything plan for pricey $40 per month

Verizon Wireless is making a modest gesture today for those looking for lower-cost smartphone plans. The carrier quietly introduced a 500MB data package for its Share Everything plans today, which offer a single packet of data and unlimited calls and texts across multiple devices. Verizon’s charging $40 per month for 500MB of data — just $10 less than the 1GB plan and $20 less than a 2GB plan. Since it’s a Share Everything plan, it’ll cost an extra $40 per month per smartphone and $10 per tablet to use the service. That means an individual with a single smartphone will spend a total of $80 per month before taxes and fees for just 500MB. That’s an incredibly steep price per MB of data — if you use that little data per month you’d do much better as part of a plan with multiple users or by going prepaid. The update to the plans comes just over a week after AT&T introduced a cheaper $20 per month 300MB plan (for a total of $70 per month for an individual) to its Mobile Share packages.