NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY
 ·VOIPo
| Believe it or not......
If customers do not select a data plan, they constantly return to the stores complaining about data overages which can get eaten up immediately. I have friends telling me horror stories about getting bills for 200 bucks for data overages because they opted for the cheap plan.
By requiring this, it is full disclosure and protects the customer from overages.
And well, yes - they do have a good network and let's face it - they are a for profit organization.
They will push just up to the limit of what customers will spend and then they usually back off.
What the market will bear....
If they make this change and no one buys a smart phone (just not "gonna" happen") you'll see how fast they reverse their position.
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Love when you can - cry when you have to, be who you must, that's a part of the plan, await your arrival with simple survival and one day we'll all understand... |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
 ·North State Commun..
| That's a good point NY Tel  . 3 of my 4 phones have a "mysterious" $1.99 data charge every month since they forced me to the new .000000000000001 KB of data is rounded up to 1MB plan. The funny part is that one of my phones is only used when I go running in the early AM. It's never even flipped open and most of the time is off. I wonder how it keeps racking up a $1.99 charge every month. |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
 ·Comcast
1 edit | said by Matt :I wonder how it keeps racking up a $1.99 charge every month. When I canceled my data plans on my Smartphones I went into the network settings and put the text literal "do_not_use_" in front of the userid and WAP access point name so that it is impossible for either phone to connect to the data service without my intervention.
The only downside is that picture messaging does not work when we have this setting in place. However, it is easy to change that setting temporarily, send/receive the picture message (which is included in our plan), and then turn the data off once again.
Standard text messaging still works regardless of the data connection settings.
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"At the moment of conception." |
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NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY
·VOIPo
1 edit | reply to Matt
said by Matt :That's a good point NY Tel . 3 of my 4 phones have a "mysterious" $1.99 data charge every month since they forced me to the new .000000000000001 KB of data is rounded up to 1MB plan. The funny part is that one of my phones is only used when I go running in the early AM. It's never even flipped open and most of the time is off. I wonder how it keeps racking up a $1.99 charge every month. Well do you use:
Mobile web
VZ Navigator
Download any ring tones etc?
Use backup assistant?
They sell megabytes now for 1.99 a meg. rounded up from the first kilobyte used. (Text and Pix are exempt) so something is accessing the network as a "data call" and costing you $$.
Call them at *611 (star 611 - free call) and ask them to explain it. If they can't, politely as them to take it off the bill. They usually do. |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Comcast
| reply to Matt
said by Matt :That's a good point NY Tel . 3 of my 4 phones have a "mysterious" $1.99 data charge every month since they forced me to the new .000000000000001 KB of data is rounded up to 1MB plan. The funny part is that one of my phones is only used when I go running in the early AM. It's never even flipped open and most of the time is off. I wonder how it keeps racking up a $1.99 charge every month. Did you sign up for the "backup your address book" feature of the phone. That is $1.99/mo unless you signed up thru their web site after subscribing to the "My Verizon" web site.
Even after I signed up that way, I was charged the $1.99 until I got a Verizon customer service rep to credit me and remove the monthly charge from subsequent bills.
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My BLOG .. .. Internet News .. .. My Web Page
Ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya punk? |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC | reply to NY Tel
Hrmmm, yep. I use Backup Assistant on all my phones. So when it backs the phone book up, they charge me data? I guess that makes sense. |
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NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY
·VOIPo
1 edit | said by Matt :Hrmmm, yep. I use Backup Assistant on all my phones. So when it backs the phone book up, they charge me data? I guess that makes sense. I believe that if you access your account through the web "My Verizon" at www.verizonwireless.com, you are not supposed to be billed for that. Billing you for kilobytes in addition would be double dipping and I know they don't do that...... 
For the extra6 bucks a month they are charging you, I'd call them and ask them to "splain it to you"..... 
Did you change your name from MattE to Matt ?
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Love when you can - cry when you have to, be who you must, that's a part of the plan, await your arrival with simple survival and one day we'll all understand... |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
| They don't charge me the $1.99 for the Backup Assistant as I did sign up via the website. There is a $1.99 charge every month on all my phones (that don't have a data plan) listed in the Data Charges section ... but they all use Backup Assistant.
I'll call and ask them to explain it regardless. Who knows, maybe they aren't supposed to charge for Backup Assistant data. |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Comcast
1 edit | reply to Matt
said by Matt :Hrmmm, yep. I use Backup Assistant on all my phones. So when it backs the phone book up, they charge me data? I guess that makes sense. See this web page. If you call Customer Service, you can get this fee waived.
»products.vzw.com/index.aspx?id=f···=2033494
Backup Assistant is free for My Verizon customers. The $1.99 monthly fee that you are asked to accept will be waived as long as you remain a My Verizon customer.
You will not see a charge for this service on your bill. Not a My Verizon customer? Register Now --
My BLOG .. .. Internet News .. .. My Web Page
Ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya punk? |
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Ankur T
@insideidc.com
| reply to NY Tel
Classic Oligopoly
Its a classic oligopoly, they will coz they can!
Take texting for example it was 10c to send or receive a few years ago across all carriers and now its 15c (I dont want to be on their plan coz i havent ever texted - but i get slammed from time to time for receiving someones text, on which i have little direct control....but anyways i digress). The point being that the national carriers in a month's span increased their pay as you go texting price from 10 to 15.
I thought competition was supposed to bring down prices!?! Now dont tell me it costs them! which all of a sudden all 4 of them realized in one fine month after years of miscalculating the "costs" of texting.
Now coming back to pay as you go data...ATT did something similar with iPhone...verizon will do it and so will t-mobile and sprint.
There are two simple trends here -
1. every carrier wants to get their customers on the monthly play. They need some amount of certainty on how much they will be making at least a quarter down as opposed to staying dependent on the consumer's usage.
2. Carriers have little competition (with possibly an under the table understanding) that they dont want to be "dumb pipes" and one guy waging a price war will bring down everyone elses margin quickly. Its easier to coordinate such price gouging in an oligopoly |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC | reply to TKJunkMail
Re: Believe it or not......
It is not a Backup Assistant charge. It's a generic "data" charge for "Pay as you use MB." |
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en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
·DSL EXTREME
| reply to NY Tel
What about just 'cancelling' data altogether. A 2 year commitment on a data plan isn't cheap. Eg. A $40/month voice $30/data + taxes/fees brings you up ~+$80/month.
While I do agree that many have/will attempt to go overly cheap on a dataplan and end up paying much more (sort of like paying PPU on SMS). I do think that the consumer _should_ be able to cancel data altogether if they want to.
Eg. 12 months into a 24 month contract and I decide that I just don't really use that much data, and want to use my PDA as just a phone. Should I be forced to pay $30/month for data for the next 12 months or eat an ETF? What happens if I swap out for one of my older phones ?
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Canada = Hollywood North |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC | They don't offer the option to turn data off altogether. It's $1.99 per MB or purchase a data plan. |
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en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
·DSL EXTREME
| With AT&T - I have the option to disable data completely.
I have a block (disables EDGE/GPRS/3G data) so that I can not send/receive mms/sms or use data connection. I do not see why Verizon Wireless does not have this ability.
I only had this feature put on when AT&T started charging for inbound messages, and I also never wanted accidental use of WAP data.
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Canada = Hollywood North |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Comcast
| said by en102 :With AT&T - I have the option to disable data completely. I have a block (disables EDGE/GPRS/3G data) so that I can not send/receive mms/sms or use data connection. I do not see why Verizon Wireless does not have this ability. They do. I have a similar block on my phone. It won't accept any incoming or outgoing messages. And I can't use the built-in browser unless I am browsing my Verizon account info. If I want to use any data svcs, it sends me to a sign up screen.
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My BLOG .. .. Internet News .. .. My Web Page
Ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya punk? |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
| said by TKJunkMail :said by en102 :With AT&T - I have the option to disable data completely. I have a block (disables EDGE/GPRS/3G data) so that I can not send/receive mms/sms or use data connection. I do not see why Verizon Wireless does not have this ability. They do. I have a similar block on my phone. It won't accept any incoming or outgoing messages. And I can't use the built-in browser unless I am browsing my Verizon account info. If I want to use any data svcs, it sends me to a sign up screen. Right. But we're talking about blocking just DATA, not txt/pix which is a completely separate service that is paid for separately and does not incur data charges. |
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ArkhmAsylm
Evrythng I need isn't really what I want
join:2006-02-22
Saint Paul, MN
·Comcast
| reply to Matt
Actually they do have a way of shutting off data usage. My sis-in-law ended up paying for "suspicious" data usage due to my nephew's viewing videos on his mother's LG Dare. The VZW rep was able to shut off her ability to download data.
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Look at the pretty smoke! |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
| said by ArkhmAsylm :Actually they do have a way of shutting off data usage. My sis-in-law ended up paying for "suspicious" data usage due to my nephew's viewing videos on his mother's LG Dare. The VZW rep was able to shut off her ability to download data. Yes, but that's txt msgs too. It's an all or nothing situation, which is not very ideal. I still want to be able to txt, but not any other data. |
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ArkhmAsylm
Evrythng I need isn't really what I want
join:2006-02-22
Saint Paul, MN
·Comcast
| Mmmm...it may not be all or nothing. My sis-in-law is an avid texter, has a plan to cover this, & she is still texting. They were able to shut off her data downloads (browser only, maybe?) without affecting texting...which does seem weird as I thought that texting used minute amounts of data.
I will have to follow-up with her at the end of the month to see if she's still getting the data charges.
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Look at the pretty smoke! |
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jonnyz
Premium
join:2003-03-20
Canfield, OH
clubs:
·Armstrong Zoom In..
| I'm not sure about VZ, but on my Nokia E51 (ATT) I have an option to change the preferred text message connection from the default GSM/UMTS to the rarely used Packet Data, which leads me to believe texts normally don't travel over data networks unless specified. MMS may use packet data, however.
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Join the RC5 team. |
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