Verizon prepares to offer a landline-less option for FiOS

With fewer customers nowadays needing or wanting to replace their landline phone, either because they don't need a new one or don't really want the old one anymore, Verizon is preparing to offer a "double play" in place of its "triple play."

Customers of Verizon Wireless will be eligible to add either FiOS TV and/or DSL and FiOS Internet to their plans in order to receive a discount on services. It will mark the first time the company offers a bundle that does not also require a landline telephone plan.

It isn't the first time overall that a wireless company has attempted to sweeten the pot: Last year, AT&T offered discounts which amounted to $4 to $5 for those who subscribed to its DSL service.

Verizon's discounts will not be applicable to the satellite television service that it offers through a partnership with DirecTV. Additionally, the discount only applies to Internet speed plans of 3 Mbps for DSL service and 20 Mbps for FiOS Internet.

Details of the new bundle were first reported by the Associated Press on Monday. Depending on how the consumer bundles his or her services, discounts of anywhere from $8 to $21 could be realized over purchasing each separately. Exact details of the promotion are expected to be announced later this week.

Research data indicates that as many as 16 percent of all US households have switched from landlines to wireless phones as their basic voice service provider, and that number is only set to increase as mobile phones become more prevalent.

In just the past four years alone, the number of wireless-only households has increased four-fold.

Don't expect Verizon to give up on the old copper-based landline any time soon though. The company says it is still "bullish" on landlines.