Verizon Communications chairman and CEO Ivan Seidenberg told investors at a Merrill Lynch Communications Forum that the new Verizon Wireless flat-rate pricing plans have been very well received.

According to a Fierce Wireless report, Seidenberg even told his audience to visit AT&T and T-Mobile stores to compare the $99 dollar unlimited plans both rivals revealed on the heels of the Verizon Wireless announcement last week. "Go to their stores and ask what they are," Fierce Wireless quotes him as saying. "The announcement was the same but they are different."

Presumably we're supposed to infer that Verizon's is the superior plan.

Surprisingly, Seidenberg told the folks at the Forum that there wouldn't be much change to the company's bottom line because of the new flat-rate plans. "There's been a lot of hullabaloo about flat rate, but only a few customers have plans over $100 per month," he said.