Verizon LTE Still Hot, Verizon DSL Still Not

I don't get how anyone in their right mind would trade an unlimited plan for a capped one. Did they not even consider alternatives like Sprint or T-Mobile?

If everyone goes to a Verizon-like plan and forces me to it, I'll just give up a cell phone. It's not worth it as is, Verizon's pricing is criminal.

I'd have to do the same. $90 for one phone a month, before overages and fees is just too much money.

And that's for 1GB. I'm on Wi-Fi almost all the time, and my Android still uses 500-600MB when I'm out, and I'm hardly what I consider a heavy user.

I have only one smartphone through Verizon and it appears that I will be switching to Virgin Mobile in December once the contract is up on that, provided the wife wants a new phone. But even then, I'd do the same as you, have her use Wi-Fi at home and turn data on only when we are out and about.

3G up here is so slow that it's barely worth having anyway. US Cellular is supposed to have 4G LTE by the end of the year, but I'm not giving up my $69.99 450 voice/unlimited text/5GB data plan.

I would have switched to Sprint a while ago, but they don't even have 3G here. Until last year, US Cellular was the only one who had 3G here, and that rarely tops 1 Mbps so it's not like you can do much with it.

I thought us cellular didn't require you to sign a new contract after your first 2 years anymore? That's what they plug whenever I listen to WVU football games on the radio.

I use two carriers TMobile and Virgin Mobile. I'd be careful with VM right now because their service has turned to crap the last few months..at least in my area.

Here's a test for you at 9:00 am which is hardly prime time even.. ping time 685 ms dl speed 133k upload 268k
(yes ul is faster than down showing how saturated their network is)

And this is GOOD for them right now. At primetime..forget it. I'm seeing 22k (half dial up speeds) and 1200ms ping times.
This has been going on for months and just gets worse and worse.

and no..contrary to my 5th attempt at advising them of this..it's not my phone (their standard line). It's been on 2 devices and when i travel outside of this area i see better results in less populated areas.

A real problem has been that sometimes when i get a call people tell me it doesn't even go to voicemail. It just acts like the number has been disconnected. It's so bad that i don't even use the number any more really and just refer people to my tMo # or landline instead.

Why do i keep it? I'm on the 25.00 grandfathered 300 min plan and it works well enough for a spare device to keep in the vehicle. And if i'm out and about and in a better area then it can be useful for checking email or whatever.

Other than that though..the old adage is true and you do get what you pay for. And i think what is happening is so many people are switching to them that they just can't handle it. Nor do they spend the money they need to upgrade. It's sprints network and so contributing to it is their unlimited plan as well i'm sure.

Bottom line..i'd be sure to check it out with someone in your area if you can before switching. have them download speetest . net on google play and run a few tests.

A switch can be very costly because you have to buy the phone as well and if you're not happy you're pretty much out of luck.

Anyways..before you switch..i'd find a way to check it out completely in your area.

~Rick

I have to consciously not use my phone over 4G. I'm using 270mbs and I'm going to go over at this rate, somehow.

I'm just going to disable LTE and just use 3G.

What's amazing is that you guys (i.e. Repubs) cheer on Verizon being 10 times more expensive than Sweden, 3 times more than Europe.

In addition, still believe that without government intervention, this duopoly will magically break. How's that working out for you...

With the new plans, the average user is effectively paying $2400 per 24 months + the cost of a handset -- which is insane.

Heck, even our value carriers are downright stupid and actually assume value = unlimited. Wrong! Value means not paying $100 after taxes and fees for a smartphone, that barely uses $20 of actual services.

Contrary to political rhetoric, the only thing our wireless sector leads the world in is charging the most and getting away with it.

It is a free choice. As you can see here, there are some people who are simply saying the kind of money Verizon charges is not worth the price and are seeking alternatives.

After occasionally talking about it for... the past year or so, I guess, my wife and I just recently mutually decided to take a pass on smartphones. We were this >< close to pulling the trigger. Then we reviewed our finances, discussed it, and decided the financial hit wasn't even close to the return. I think that's a fairly permanent decision. We're not even vaguely thinking about it any more.

Jim

I am sure some did consider alternatives. But in many areas of the country, Verizon coverage areas are far superior to their competitors coverage.

And in many areas that's a myth that people are happy to believe due to billions spent in advertising that tells them so.

The native (non-roaming) coverage maps speak for themselves. Both Sprint and Tmobile don't even have half the network (or the quality) of Verizon.

Sprint's has spent their money on everything BUT actually expanding their coverage or improving their archaic EVDO network; that now ranks dead last in every speed test. The Sprint mantra of 'Coming Soon' is simply not good enough.

ATT is unusable in my area. Sprint is unusable in my area. If I wanted to use an iPhone, my only option was Verizon. Even though I might be getting like 5mb downstream on LTE (I think it's fast) I've been seeing people in like real cities get like 30 or so.

Sadly no one cares about minutes anymore. You could give me 20 minutes per month and I won't even use them. (again, costs them almost no money but I have unlimited)

I could give 3 shits about text messaging (again, I have unlimited. literally costs them nothing)

Just give me data.

Which is precisely the point of Share Everything. Force light text and voice users to buy unlimited talk and text, and charge as much as possible for the data consumption.

My coworker ditched her unlimited data because she wanted contract pricing; her Droid X died and she didn't want to pay retail pricing or go on eBay. I don't think she has the Share Everything, but she has a cap nonetheless.

I, on the other hand, decided I will be shopping on eBay or paying full retail. The numbers don't lie. I pay less over the long run keeping my unlimited data in place.

I shopped around when my contract expired with AT&T and everyone I compared were the same price per month or just few dollars difference. Even now the prices are pretty much the same. So is it only Verizon raping the public? Uh no.

Our small company switched to the 4Gb shared data package and are actually saving money.
We only use them for light browsing, email and occasionally lighting up the hotspot for our laptops. Since July the most data we have ever used is 2.5-3Gb.

A single user gets hosed hard. I'm paying $30 more a month than with my garbage single ATT 3G connection for about the same thing.

The only thing is $30 more so I can hit my cap in 6 minutes of downloading instead of spamming refresh when time outs occur with ATT. Price of progress I guess?

Anyhow VZ is trying to upsell something that costs them absolutely no more money with an illusion and it saves you money when you're paying more.

Wonder what percentage still have unlimited data

Att was so cheap. I continuee to have 450 min, 2gb plan, 200 text plan and 23% off epp discount. With uverse internet bundle discount, i pay only $65 m on cell phone. i dont think i would be happy with $100 after taxes, especially since i dont use my phone very often. Usually just 200 MIN a month, 1gb of data and 50 text messages.

When I first heard about the Verizon price hikes, I thought for sure that their adds would take a hit this quarter. I thought it would be around 80k for both since they have picked off most of the low hanging fruit.

Remember they had the iPhone 5 launch. Without that, it would be interesting to see what the numbers look like.

Oops, I see I didnt specify what I was talking about osravens. I was looking at Fios Landline in my little sentence above yours. I dont have nor care about wireless.

Anytime an Iphone comes through, there will be good adds. The other thing to see is how bad their margins will be hit next quarter by those Iphone sales and the subsidies they have to pay.

Speaking of FiOS specifically, it's a superior product. If you have a choice between Comcast or FiOS, I know I'd even want to pay more for FiOS.

It's TWC/FiOS where I'd have a little harder choice. I'm concerned about the price hikes too on it, but it's not like Comcast is some great bargain.

Since Verizon's iPhone 4 was released on February 10, 2011, those millions (?) of early adopters became eligible for upgrade on October 10 (last week) as Verizon offers a 20 month window for upgrade eligibility.

I suspect that the majority of Verizon customers that choose to upgrade to the iPhone 5 in the 4q '12, will purchase the subsidized phone, which will in turn cost them their unlimited data plans and put them on metered billing - all at the higher price outlined in the story.

The cash cow is only getting fatter.

Yah, I want to upgrade soon but then I'll lose unlmited data. Ive looked at other plans from other companies and none are any better. Sprint seems to be the best but their coverage sucks. AT&T is pretty much the same price as Verizon and less network coverage.... Guess Ill have my Droid X2 for a long time....

Like clockwork, Karl has made a claim he can't back up.

Where in the quarterly report does it say that DSL "losses" switched to cable?

If a prepaid get to high then byebye

I had the Droid X2 and wanted to get an LTE without loosing my unlimited and not paying the retail price of a phone. I bought a Droid Bionic for $140 and now have LTE, unlimited and no contract. I also sold my droid X2 for $125. So new phone, LTE, unlimited for $15 more. In a few months I will sell my Bionic and get an S3 the same way. Pretty good.

Its stuck with 1999 technology! Our central office had the DSLAM put in in 99 under Bell Atlantic. No upgrades since. Highest speed tier is around 10mb/sec if you live right next to the CO. Comcast can provide up to 105mb/sec at my address. VZ? 5mb/sec. At a similar price!

Thats a bit of a fail, actually.

Also your attitude of not maintaining any of the copper is allowing it to decay to the point of uselessness, but that's another story.