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Comments on news posted 2011-07-05 13:05:46: Late last month leaks suggested that Verizon would be ditching unlimited data pricing July 7. ..

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pandora
Premium Member
join:2001-06-01
Outland

pandora

Premium Member

Folks we have a new profit center

Looks like more can be made on data than voice.

EliteData
EliteData
Premium Member
join:2003-07-06
Philippines

1 recommendation

EliteData

Premium Member

soon

you will be charged just for your phone to associate with the radio tower in standby mode.
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

88615298 (banned)

Member

Unless they come out with a family data plan

that is significantly cheaper then when my contract is up I'll go back to a regular phone. The only reason I even got my smartphone was because I got their $15 for 150 MB monthly plan. I don't even really like paying that. I could use their $10 75 MB plan they have for feature phones and not go over. Sorry I'm not paying $360 a year just for the right to have a smartphone.

stvnbrs
Premium Member
join:2009-03-17
Cary, NC

stvnbrs

Premium Member

What about the $15 plans?

I have unlimited, wife has $15 plan. I found I can save at least $30 a month on my bills switching over to AT&T but Verizon says $350 per phone to disconnect and nothing they can do to lower two droid phones below $140 a month.

If they try to change her over, I will try to use this as a way out of contract. Not happy about this at all.
old_wiz_60
join:2005-06-03
Bedford, MA

1 recommendation

old_wiz_60

Member

Preview of things to come..

With AT&T taking over T-Mobile, there will be only 2 real players, so there's very very little incentive for Verizon to keep prices for data down. AT&T will probably raise their rates as well.

Next on the line for Verizon will be usage based internet for home users with DSL or FIOS. What they really hate is people who stream videos from legal places like Netflix, since that means people aren't paying Verizon for TV service.

south1178
Premium Member
join:2001-12-17
Cleveland, OH

south1178 to stvnbrs

Premium Member

to stvnbrs

Re: What about the $15 plans?

You'll be grandfathered in until you change your plan. Just like the America's Choice plan that I had for a few years.
Os
join:2011-01-26
US

1 recommendation

Os to old_wiz_60

Member

to old_wiz_60

Re: Preview of things to come..

If Verizon goes with the AT&T model, they won't have a problem with you using Netflix.

Netflix = $$$$$$$$$$ out of your pockets and into theirs.

They'll light up with glee at people who use streaming video, and they'll make sure that it's cheaper to go with their TV than play with these new-fangled technologies.

Party like it's 1999, Verizon!
dynodb
Premium Member
join:2004-04-21
Minneapolis, MN

1 recommendation

dynodb to 88615298

Premium Member

to 88615298

Re: Unless they come out with a family data plan

How did you manage to get a Verizon smartphone without the smartphone data plan and still be under contract? They've required it for smartphones for over 2.5 years now.

I thought the same thing before getting my first smartphone (Motorola Droid). My previous phone had the ability to surf the internet, but I almost never did.

After getting the Droid, I came to find that staying under 75M would be extremely difficult, and even 150M would mean that I'd have to seriously limit what I did with the phone.

Between app downloads, updates and background data, they use a significant amount of data even without accessing the Internet. Short of using a smartphone just for playing games and listening to mp3's, limiting yourself to 75M would almost defeat the purpose of having a smartphone in the first place.

r81984
Fair and Balanced
Premium Member
join:2001-11-14
Katy, TX

3 recommendations

r81984 to old_wiz_60

Premium Member

to old_wiz_60

Re: Preview of things to come..

It is funny how bandwidth is now magically exponentially more expensive than 10 years ago.
The sad part is these monopolies and duopolies do not give customers a choice.

Nightmare
@uhc.com

Nightmare

Anon

investors win with 2 GIANT carriers

once big red and the death star have 70% of the market they will go back and forth with screwing the consumer..... Big red will raise prices one month (insert below the line mystery fee).... 2 months later ATT does it.....
VZW investor: Wait ATT raised their rates.... why cant we?

i want the FCC to have regulatory authority like the FTC, FDA and so forth. also, IMO, a mb is NOT a natural resource you can meter and if they all do goto metering MAKE SOME METERS THAT WORK, ARE USERS ACCESSIBLE (Charter, i really cant tell how many GB's I've used of that 100 GB limit you gave me) STANDARDIZED, AND REGULATED.
Os
join:2011-01-26
US

2 recommendations

Os to r81984

Member

to r81984

Re: Preview of things to come..

We're in the era where unchecked corporate greed is a virtue.

Brace yourselves people, it's only going to get worse.

kapil
The Kapil
join:2000-04-26
Chicago, IL

kapil to Nightmare

Member

to Nightmare

Re: investors win with 2 GIANT carriers

...says the anon from United HealthCare, itself no slouch when it comes to screwing the consumer and deflecting regulatory scrutiny.
travelguy
join:1999-09-03
Bismarck, ND
Asus RT-AC68
Ubiquiti NSM5

travelguy

Member

Look at the Big Picture

It looks like Verizon is positioning themselves to deal with customers who have limited broadband at home.

A lot of the country is stuck with 1.5MBps DSL. For the first time, mobile broadband becomes a viable solution for home users. VZW doesn't necessarily want home users saturating their network at the expense of mobile user.
TechGuy99
Premium Member
join:2003-09-15
Flushing, NY

TechGuy99

Premium Member

3g switch to 4g

Does anyone know for sure if you have a 3g unlimited plan that you will be grandfathered in if you switch to a 4g phone after the 7th?

Or is it only from 4g to 4g?

Bill Neilson
Premium Member
join:2009-07-08
Alexandria, VA

Bill Neilson

Premium Member

With all these new chargers, the consumer wins!

I am sure we are a few days away from some PR release by Verizon saying such a thing.
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

openbox9 to pandora

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to pandora

Re: Folks we have a new profit center

It's an additional/increased revenue stream, not a profit center. Anyway, many have suggested for a while now that data tier pricing will replace/augment the declining revenue in voice minutes.

Killa200
Premium Member
join:2005-12-02
TN

Killa200 to TechGuy99

Premium Member

to TechGuy99

Re: 3g switch to 4g

That is something I'd like to know as well, as that is the position I am sitting in for my upgrade path.
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

openbox9 to 88615298

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to 88615298

Re: Unless they come out with a family data plan

I expect the family data share plans to show up later this summer, prior to the "back to school" season. I wouldn't count on it to get you anywhere close to $15/mth for 150 MB. If anything, it will likely be priced slightly less than what it costs to have two data plans currently. Purely a guess, but if I were doing it....

Current data price for family plan with two lines: $60
WAG at shared data price for family plan with two lines:
- $50 for 3 GB/mth
- $75 for 7 GB/mth
- $99 for 12 GB/mth

Saves consumers money, therefore encouraging grandfathered users to willingly surrender their unlimited plans. Or may VZW will keep everything really simple and maintain the new data tiers while charging a $10/line fee like it does currently for voice, (e.g., my two data plans for a total of $60/mth will change to $30+$10 each mth for 2 GB of data).

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

They would not let me keep my $35/3GB plan

They would not let me keep my $35/3GB plan when I upgraded my MiFi 2200 to a 4G MiFi. They did let me upgrade early to a 4G device despite the fact I bought the 2200 in December of 2010. Our area is officially getting 4G July 21st but is already online. I orginally bought the Samsung but exchanged it for the MiFi 4510L (because of known issues with the Samsung). The MiFi 4510L was cheaper but I had to pay a restocking fee. The MiFi is really handy when I am up in Maine and Mom and Grandma go shopping at stores that don't interest me so I'll sit in the car and use the laptop. It is also handy when I am waiting for mom at her doctor's appointments. I also use it on the train and when traveling (but not when I'm driving).
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

2 recommendations

openbox9 to r81984

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to r81984

Re: Preview of things to come..

People continue to mistakenly suggest that these new pricing structures have anything to do with the cost of bandwidth. They don't The caps and meters are about increasing revenue while controlling growth, and by extension, CAPEX.

going sprint
@spcsdns.net

going sprint to Bill Neilson

Anon

to Bill Neilson

Re: With all these new chargers, the consumer wins!

said by Bill Neilson:

I am sure we are a few days away from some PR release by Verizon saying such a thing.

by switching to sprint, like i did. bummer for those not in a sprint area who are forced to go with att/vzw. you are getting ripped.
ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL

1 recommendation

ISurfTooMuch to openbox9

Member

to openbox9

Re: Preview of things to come..

I think many people have lost their critical thinking skills, if they ever had them to begin with. They fail to realize that these companies' goal is to give customers the absolute least for the greatest amount of money.

Oh, and I'll take a little jab at the folks who insist that businesses shouldn't be regulated in any way because consumer-oriented regulations will only drive prices up. I guess they haven't been paying attention to what's going on with wired and wireless Internet services lately. Funny how the rest of the developed world seems to have faster and cheaper Internet than we do, not to mention more competitive wireless markets. Yeah, the massive deregulation we've instituted here has really worked out great, hasn't it? But I'm sure their reply will be that the problem is that we haven't deregulated enough. OK, guys, before we follow you down the primrose path, please give us an example of a country that's gone this route and is experiencing the utopia of low prices and wonderful service we all want.
WernerSchutz
join:2009-08-04
Sugar Land, TX

WernerSchutz to old_wiz_60

Member

to old_wiz_60
Collusion agreements. Nice.

US Government, hello ??? Anyone there ?

heat84
DSLR Influencer
join:2004-03-11
Delray Beach, FL

heat84 to Os

Member

to Os
said by Os:

We're in the era where unchecked corporate greed is a virtue.

Brace yourselves people, it's only going to get worse.

Unless we band together and fight them ourselves instead of relying on the government to do it. But that'll never happen.
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

1 recommendation

tmc8080

Member

pricy..

$15 a gb.. so how much for 911? $1 - $10 per call? Afterall, it's all bits and bytes now..

Good luck with this idea.. but sooner rather than later all this investment in 4g/LTE will come back to bite them in the ass by overpricing the product. AT&T/tmobile too! You consumers would be best served by sitting on your hands until these companies get enough backlash that they abandon METERED data pricing altogether-- even the prepaid companies!

Geminimind
Premium Member
join:2003-12-20
Sacramento, CA

Geminimind

Premium Member

wow

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

rit56
join:2000-12-01
New York, NY

rit56 to Killa200

Member

to Killa200

Re: 3g switch to 4g

Considering what we're dealing with, Verizon, I would say no. They will come up with some lame reason why switching from 3g to 4g you are starting over due to blah blah....

Consumer revolt needed. The thing that amazes me is that there is no independent party handling the meters to check how much bandwidth you use.....
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

88615298 (banned) to dynodb

Member

to dynodb

Re: Unless they come out with a family data plan

said by dynodb:

How did you manage to get a Verizon smartphone without the smartphone data plan and still be under contract? They've required it for smartphones for over 2.5 years now.

because from Oct-Jan of last year Verizon had a deal where you get get a smartphone and get plan for $15 a month for 150 MB. I'm grandfathered in until my contract runs out which will be Nov 2012 or I upgrade which I can do in July 2012.

Between app downloads, updates and background data, they use a significant amount of data even without accessing the Internet. Short of using a smartphone just for playing games and listening to mp3's, limiting yourself to 75M would almost defeat the purpose of having a smartphone in the first place.

Um..... you see there is this thing called Wi-Fi. Unfortuneately you can't get a phone with wi-fi without it being called smartphone and thus incurring the $30 charge even if you have ZERO intentions of using Verizon's data.
88615298

88615298 (banned) to openbox9

Member

to openbox9
said by openbox9:

I expect the family data share plans to show up later this summer, prior to the "back to school" season. I wouldn't count on it to get you anywhere close to $15/mth for 150 MB. If anything, it will likely be priced slightly less than what it costs to have two data plans currently. Purely a guess, but if I were doing it....

Current data price for family plan with two lines: $60
WAG at shared data price for family plan with two lines:
- $50 for 3 GB/mth
- $75 for 7 GB/mth
- $99 for 12 GB/mth

At those prices I could bite. We have 4 phones so $50/4 =$12.50. So that's $2.50 a month less than what I'm paying now. That might get everyone else to upgrade to a smartphone. At current prices hell no.

I suspect data amounts will be the same though. I'm thinking they'll be closer to:

$50 for 2 GB
$80 for 5 GB
$120 for 10 GB
88615298

88615298 (banned) to ISurfTooMuch

Member

to ISurfTooMuch

Re: Preview of things to come..

Yep. As if they were regualted at&t and Verizon would just give up and stop being in the mobile market.
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