Verizon, America’s most expensive carrier, is about to get even more expensive

Verizon has long been the nation's most expensive wireless carrier. Why is Verizon so expensive? Because people are willing to pay. The networking giant pulled in $7.9 billion in operating income during the first quarter this year, and it did so on revenue that totaled $32.2 billion. But even as ridiculous as those numbers are, it's apparently not enough. It's never enough, is it?

According to a new report, Verizon is getting ready to increase the cost of its wireless plans across the board.

While you were busy barbecuing and celebrating on Monday, CNET was breaking some aggravating news for prospective Verizon Wireless subscribers. The carrier's wireless plans are all about to see a price hike of between $5 and $10 per month, or between $60 and $120 annually, before taxes. After all, someone has to pay for all those newly negotiated contracts.

Here's what the price hikes will look like, according to the report:

• Verizon S plan: From $30 with 1GB of data to $35 with 2GB of data
• Verizon M plan: From $45 with 3GB of data to $50 with 4GB of data
• Verizon L plan: From $60 with 6GB of data to $70 with 8GB of data
• Verizon XL plan: From $80 with 12GB of data to $90 with 16GB of data
• Verizon XXL plan: From $100 with 18GB of data to $110 with 24GB of data

The plans will reportedly all include a "carryover data" feature, which rolls unused data over to the next month just like AT&T's rollover plans.

As you can see, Verizon is bumping up data on each plan in order to help justify the price increases. This costs the carrier next to nothing compared to the added revenue generated by the new higher prices, so why not? If you're already a Verizon Wireless subscriber, you'll be given the option to remain on your current plan or pay more to shift to one of the new plans with more monthly data and the new carryover data feature.