4G Data Priced 20% Higher than 3G Data → Re: Huh?

Not really. A year ago, on VZW, I could've gotten a smartphone on a data plan for $80/mo. and added a dumb phone for my wife for $10/mo. I could've had both of us on unlimited data for $120/mo.

Y'all can argue it until you're blue in the face, but even the VZW business rep. I met with earlier this week readily conceded I was right.

Jim

You didn't even read my examples, did you? The new shared plans comparable favorably with the tiered plans that replaced unlimited. They obviously do not comparable favorably with unlimited plans, but those were going away regardless.

As far as your hypothetical:

2 Lines w/700 minutes and unlimited texting: $99.98
1 x 2GB or unlimited data: $30.00

Total: $129.98

New:

1 x Smartphone = $40
1 x Dumbphone = $30
2GB of data = $60

Total: $130

Look, it costs the same. Which is exactly what I pointed out above.

If you were willing to forgo texting entirely (kudos to you, btw, though few people do this) it would have been $30/mo cheaper under the old scheme. Tiered packages would cost $20 to cover both lines, so you'd be saving $10/mo in that instance.

These plans do suck for the people who just want a basic no-frills dumbphone, the stereotypical "I'll use it for emergencies" user. In the old days you could add them for $10. Now it costs $30. In reality you'd just get them a prepaid phone and be done with it. Verizon doesn't want to subsidize a device for this type of person, hence the $30/mo charge.

It sucks, but there are lots of prepaid alternatives, so what's the problem?