 glinc
join:2009-04-07
New York, NY Reviews:
 ·Verizon FiOS
| Surprising? Not surprised at all. AT&T copy VZW or VZW copies AT&T, its always the same. It's lame how these companies push people to use smartphones with unlimited data and when almost everyone is on board they stick it up to the customers.
Too bad I have to stick with them cuz every other company sucks here in NYC. | |
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 |  Romney2012Defeat Obama 2012-Chg we can believe inPremium
join:2002-03-03
USA
kudos:4 | Re: Surprising? said by glinc: It's lame how these companies push people to use smartphones with unlimited data and when almost everyone is on board they stick it up to the customers. Remember when the banks pushed ATM machines, there were no fees. They said it saved money because they could reduce number of tellers. But AFTER everyone started using the ATM's, the fees appeared.
Well this is the same thing. Suck the customers in on a good deal with unlimited. Then when they get hooked, put the higher priced product in.
Remember - it is about making money. Not about making you happy. They are in business to make a profit.
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Are you happy with your rep in Washington, DC? | |
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| |  pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | Re: Surprising? said by Romney2012:Remember when the banks pushed ATM machines, there were no fees. They said it saved money because they could reduce number of tellers. But AFTER everyone started using the ATM's, the fees appeared. This isn't entirely analogous to cell phone data plans though. Even when ATMs first became mainstream in the 1980s, you'd have to pay a fee to your bank if you used an ATM that was not owned by your bank. And even with the emergence of ATM fees charged by ATM owners, it is still entirely possible to not pay a single penny in ATM fees in this day and age.
The main reason for this is because there are numerous banks in just about every part of the USA which rabidly compete for customers. Some banks even reimburse customers for the costs of fees charged by ATM owners. The overall picture of ATM fees in this country is really not that bad even if you are just a puny little customer of some big megabank.
As for the issues with limited competition in the cell phone racket in this country, I (as almost always I do) blame the government. The government allowed for rampant consolidation in the cell phone racket which took out major competition in most markets. We're now left with 2 "real" cell phone companies, Verizon and AT&T, which can do literally whatever they want, and a bunch of poseur companies like Sprint, T-Mobile, Cricket and whatnot which do provide better value on paper, but tend to have shoddier service and less reach than the "real" companies.
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"Net Neutrality" zealots - the people you can thank for your capped Internet service. | |
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| | | | | Re: Surprising? said by pnh102:We're now left with 2 "real" cell phone companies, Verizon and AT&T, which can do literally whatever they want, and a bunch of poseur companies like Sprint, T-Mobile, Cricket and whatnot which do provide better value on paper, but tend to have shoddier service and less reach than the "real" companies. I was with you until this point... | |
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| | | | pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | Re: Surprising? said by talz13:I was with you until this point... I understand that the issue of quality of a cell phone provider tends to be very specific to what area you're in. But by and large, the cell phone racket can best be described as an oligopoly.
Verizon has 92.8 million customers; AT&T has 87 million customers; Sprint has 48.1 million customers; T-Mobile has 33.7 million customers. These numbers came from Wiki.
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"Net Neutrality" zealots - the people you can thank for your capped Internet service. | |
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| | | | | | | Re: Surprising? said by pnh102:said by talz13:I was with you until this point... I understand that the issue of quality of a cell phone provider tends to be very specific to what area you're in. But by and large, the cell phone racket can best be described as an oligopoly. Verizon has 92.8 million customers; AT&T has 87 million customers; Sprint has 48.1 million customers; T-Mobile has 33.7 million customers. These numbers came from Wiki. So how are those companies not "real". I send T-Mobile some money every month and I get voice/data on my device. And when I dial 611 I talk to a "real" person. | |
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| | | | | | Axekick
join:2005-05-01
Saint Louis, MO Reviews:
 ·Charter
|  Re: Surprising?
On top of the lowest prices they also had the best signal in my area until a couple of weeks ago when Sprint added us to their 4G. Now if T-Mobile in fact rolls out the HSPA+, based on the one review I read comparing the two, I will still have the fastest data available to me. | |
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| | | | | | | | They arent "real" because TMobile rides on ATT towers in uncovered areas and and Sprint rides on Verizons towers in uncovered areas, where ATT has more of its own towers and doesnt have to use any TMobile towers, and Verizon has more. Mainly TMobile and Sprint cover metropolitan areas, anywhere between cities they are piggybacking on the larger cell companies towers and paying fees to verizon. So if you have TMobile or Sprint and you talk alot between desolate areas of travel, your actually on Att or Verizons or some other companies towers. Where if you are on Verizon or Att, its very unlikely you are on another companies tower at any given time. This is my deffinition of a 'real' company, one that supports itself. The other companies are just playing the game, but the 'real' companies mean and are in it to win it.
Of course TMobile in Europe, totally different story, they have more of thier own coverage over there. Also, dont think in black and white, accept analogies, understand plays on words . Good Day =D | |
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| |  FutureMonKeep your Mitts off RMoneyPremium,ExMod 2002-05
join:2000-10-05
Seaside, CA
1 edit | If I'm paying $30 for a data plan now, and I use less than 2GB/month, and my data plan cost goes down to $25/mo, or if I use less than 200mb/month, and my data plan cost goes down to $15/mo (presuming AT&T fee structure @ Verizon), how does this equate to putting a higher priced product in?
I wasn't happy having to pay the $30 for the data plan in the first place. This might actually lower my monthly costs.
It will be very interesting to see how they make up this difference from all the consumers like myself who would expect a drop in price because of the new tiers.
On the other hand, these new android phones, with their apps that can use the network whenever *they* need/want to (per your settings/allowing them to run), will of course contribute towards that bandwidth cap, but for the most part I'm not a media-heavy user on my phone.
I wonder if data used during a skype-to-skype "free calling" thing will be excluded from the cap...
- FM | |
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| | |  BF69Premium
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN | Re: Surprising? said by FutureMon:If I'm paying $30 for a data plan now, and I use less than 2GB/month, and my data plan cost goes down to $25/mo, or if I use less than 200mb/month, and my data plan cost goes down to $15/mo (presuming AT&T fee structure @ Verizon), how does this equate to putting a higher priced product in? That's YOU. For example come footbal season just watching the Sunday and Monday Night Football games streamed on your phone would use nearly 3 GB in a month. That's not counting naything else you do. Right now you can watch NFL Network on your phone. Watching less than 40 minutes a day would put you over a 2 GB cap. It's all BS.
$25 for 2 GB is a JOKE. Their data plan for computers is 5 GB. They need to keep it at least there.
I wonder if data used during a skype-to-skype "free calling" thing will be excluded from the cap...
- FM
HAHA, no. | |
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| | | | | | Re: Surprising? Just between 2 email accounts and podcasts I pull down several hundred MB per day,to my phone, today. Over "3G".
And I have an air-card for my PC, can churn through 1GB/day of regular usage.
Now imagine those same caps with 4-10x connection speeds. I'll end up cancelling accounts, period.
I hope VZW is listening, my $250/month will move to someone else for the first time in over a decade. | |
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| | | | | Most customers with a data plan are using more than 3GB, in that scenario it will be more expensive. Very few users use 1GB, which is where they will loose a substantial amount from those particular customers. | |
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| | | and i will never pay any phone company for a smart phone with data caps.
i love my $50 samsung phone.it has maybe dropped one call per year.my bill is cheap.i use my internet at home to surf the net,etc. | |
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| | | | Re: Surprising? said by gorehound:and i will never pay any phone company for a smart phone with data caps. i love my $50 samsung phone.it has maybe dropped one call per year.my bill is cheap.i use my internet at home to surf the net,etc. Thats because until they started forcing data plans, you could get a good - basic phone. But the current crop of no-data-plan-required options are worse pieces of crap than most pre-paid carriers sell outright for $20. And for that you still have to sign a contract, with an ETF. | |
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| | | pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | Re: Surprising? said by Camelot One:Thats because until they started forcing data plans, you could get a good - basic phone. But the current crop of no-data-plan-required options are worse pieces of crap than most pre-paid carriers sell outright for $20. And for that you still have to sign a contract, with an ETF. I thought this was happening already. I see a lot of basic phones offered by Verizon and AT&T that require either a mandatory texting package or some basic data plan that adds money to the base monthly cost.
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"Net Neutrality" zealots - the people you can thank for your capped Internet service. | |
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| | | | It's fair to say that VZW and ATT have the most influence and can set the stage but that provides more opportunity for the 'smaller' players to provide better value. Each time the big two make more restrictions or raise rates, it gives more breathing room for others.
A company with 30-50 million customers is hardly a small company though. Sprint is a Fortune 100 company (more revenues than CocaCola and AMEX) and Tmobs parent is bigger. They are strugglling but Sprint is improving and Tmob has a stronger parent. Even so, will be surpring if the two don't merge in 5 years. | |
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| | | | You got that right!-I got the Samsung Rogue and love the phone but have to pay $10.00 a month which I thought was crazy but I wanted the phone. I'm please with Verizon but when I'm up for a new phone I'm going to get a basic no frills phone. | |
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| | | What a surprise! The Ma bell companies at work again.
I am just puzzled. What was the point of breaking Ma Bell (AT&T) into 78 pieces in the 84 and within 10 years they started to merge, and by 20 years the completed the merger. Verizon was completed in 2000 that owns the East coast. SBC, which later renamed to AT&T owns the rest coast.
Both companies probably have the same owners too. | |
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| | VZW says Droid X users use 5X more data Given that they say Droid X users use more data, they may want to get the new pricing/terms going sooner than later, before adding 100s of thousands of more Droid phones on the network.
The bigger question is will they position data rates/terms worse than ATT. Sprint's $10 EVO tax isn't looking so bad now.
»www.androidcentral.com/droid-x-o···-verizon | |
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| iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Golden, CO
kudos:2 Reviews:
·Comcast
| Re: VZW says Droid X users use 5X more data Heh, in about three weeks I used around 9GB on my Evo...on 3G! I wouldn't be surprised at all if VZW had some Droid X users sucking up similar quantities of bandwidth.
Hopefully though VZW adopts plans that compare favorably to AT&T'. Wouldn't be surprised if their $15 plan was 250MB, and their $30 plan was 3GB to AT&T's $25, 2GB plan. | |
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| | | | Re: VZW says Droid X users use 5X more data If Verizon did a 3GB $25 that would be best because it would almost force AT&T to upgrade there plan to 3GB.
I wouldn't count on it tho. I would expect them to mirror AT&T's plans. | |
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| | |  GbcueAlmost P.E.Premium
join:2001-09-30
Santa Rosa, CA
kudos:8
·AT&T U-Verse
| Re: VZW says Droid X users use 5X more data said by dlewis23:If Verizon did a 3GB $25 that would be best because it would almost force AT&T to upgrade there plan to 3GB. I wouldn't count on it tho. I would expect them to mirror AT&T's plans. Verizon has it with no cap right now and you don't see that forcing AT&T towards that direction.
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My Blog 2.0 | |
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| openbox9
join:2004-01-26
Alexandria, VA
kudos:2 | I believe it's unfair to compare a device that's been on the market for 5 days with devices with longer tenure. I for one am getting acquainted with my first Android device and downloading apps to test. VZW shows that I've used 118 MB in five days. I don't believe it's inconceivable that data usage will ramp down for a lot of DX users once the newness wears off, but that doesn't play to VZW's advantage as well.
As for Sprint, if I could've convinced my wife to overcome her disdain for the company, I'd probably be playing with an EVO now instead of a DX. Even with the $10 surcharge, the cost would've compared favorably to what I pay now. | |
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| |  jmn1207Premium
join:2000-07-19
Ashburn, VA | Re: VZW says Droid X users use 5X more data You can't spell LOVE without E-V-O, and I love mine. Sprint is the only service provider that can offer the kind of data plan that fits my intended usage.
Sprint Data - 07/08 to 07/16 Unlimited 4,005,827
Since I picked up this phone, in just over a week I was over 4GBs. I'm getting a fair, but stable, 4G signal at 4-5Mbps/1Mbps in my office, and I am able to finally take advantage of my Slingbox and Rhapsody music service where my Blackberry Tour was lacking. Keeping up with the Tour de France live, as well as watching the early rounds of the British Open golf tournament, was something I could only dream about doing before I got this new toy.
I also grabbed one of those gigantic Seidio 3500 mah batteries for my EVO, and once I get it conditioned I will go back to plugging it in when I'm at my desk. For me, the larger sized battery makes it much easier to hold my phone and use the keyboard, while keeping the camera lens from making direct contact with the table when the device sits on its back.
Thrilled with my Android phone, and I can understand why Verizon believes that Droid X users will probably end up using considerably more data when compared to other smartphones because of its media-centric nature.
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| | | | Just wait until you start really using your phone. Sign up for a few podcasts in Listen. I pull down several hundred MB/day just in those.
Email attachments help ramp those numbers up too. | |
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| | | openbox9
join:2004-01-26
Alexandria, VA
kudos:2 | Re: VZW says Droid X users use 5X more data I'm using my DX as much now as what I'll really be able to use it. Maybe I'll find a couple of mystical apps that I use a lot that sucks GB of data per month, but I doubt it. I can't use my DX most of my work day, so there's a significant chunk of time that it'll just be sitting idle. | |
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| | | | | | Re: VZW says Droid X users use 5X more data Fair enough, but again - my sucker of data is Listen (a dozen or so subscriptions, several are updated daily and run an hour+ ... I spend lots of time commuting or @ gym, and even if I am not keeping up my phone is DL'ing them for me in case I do! ... it does have settings to only DL via WiFi, but that is a pain in the arse.)
That, plus a couple decent email attachments per day, some casual web surfing and app downloads (which are really rather small) ...
Note, even at 100MB/day you are going to use more than 2GB per month - and even if you don't expect to cross that, the real problem here is that now you may have to think about it. Worry about those overage charges. Just the fact that a decision needs to be made will discourage the types of apps I want to have ... IIRC, AT&T started the original un-capped Internet usage at home - and that type of thinking ushered in the Internet we have now. I don't want to lose that. | |
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| | | Then Verizon's network must be way underused on data. I've had my Droid X since Friday and am right around the data usage on 3G that I was running on my iPhone 3G.
Will be interesting to see how VZW can handle this huge deluge of data. My guess is it will be about the same at AT&T with the iPhone. | |
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 The LimitPremium
join:2007-09-25
Greensboro, NC
kudos:2 | just purchased the droid... If Verizon does this, this change BETTER allow me out of the contract or I will being raising HELL with them. I purchased this phone with terms stating unlimited web on my device, I better be grandfathered in or be allowed out of the contract. | |
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|  gdmPremium,MVM
join:2001-06-15
Mchenry, IL
kudos:3 | Re: just purchased the droid... Existing users should be grandfathered in, it would be new sign ups after the date they implement it. | |
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| | | They should, like ATT, allow you to keep your existing plan. Otherwise I would think that would be a way to get out of the contract. | |
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| | | | Re: just purchased the droid... Hopefully if you are grandfathered, they allow you to keep all you can eat when upgrading to a new smartphone. If not, I will look at the other carriers. | |
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| | | said by The Limit:If Verizon does this, this change BETTER allow me out of the contract or I will being raising HELL with them. I purchased this phone with terms stating unlimited web on my device, I better be grandfathered in or be allowed out of the contract. And what is going to stop them from charging you fees when you go over 5GBs like they did with the customers in this story: »Verizon Busted For 'Unlimited' Marketing
Every hear the phrase: history repeats itself. | |
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See 7 replies to this post |
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|  morboComplete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000 | Change in contract means you can get out of the agreement. You just have to be persistent. Make sure it applies to you. Most likely, it's for new contracts only. | |
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| | | said by The Limit:If Verizon does this, this change BETTER allow me out of the contract or I will being raising HELL with them. I purchased this phone with terms stating unlimited web on my device, I better be grandfathered in or be allowed out of the contract. I just got an Incredible w/ an unlimited data plan (and a network extender). If they don't grandfather us, they better let us out of our contracts AND refund the money I spent on the Network Extender!!
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I'm blogging @ »www.chernow.org/blog | |
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| | gdmPremium,MVM
join:2001-06-15
Mchenry, IL
kudos:3 | Re: just purchased the droid... Again they will grandfather everyone in. I just talked to my corp. VZ rep and he said they are grandfathering. It would make no sense for them not to. They have to many customers jump ship. | |
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| | |  Killa200Premium
join:2005-12-02
Southeast TN | Re: just purchased the droid... And thank god for that grandfathering. Looks like for the next 2 years i will be using the heck out of my smart phone data, like i am permitted. At that point I'll either be convinced to stay on board with the same terms i have now, or be finding another company to take my business to. | |
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| | Cell usage? Is this for cell usage or tethering? Isnt the current "unlimited" cap only for Verizon-paid tethering? If this is for the phone...well i was on the fence on switching to T-mo/sprint in the spring. VZW's 3G coverage is awesome and the speeds really arent bad at all. i used my android to tether my netbook on SoCal last week and consistently hit speeds >1mbps. that's more than enough for checking email/browsing and even 360p youtube vids. If they set a cap, even tho my highest month was only about 350MB, i might have to switch...
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| BF69Premium
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN | Re: Cell usage? said by Somnambul33t:Is this for cell usage or tethering? Isnt the current "unlimited" cap only for Verizon-paid tethering? If this is for the phone...well i was on the fence on switching to T-mo/sprint in the spring. VZW's 3G coverage is awesome and the speeds really arent bad at all. i used my android to tether my netbook on SoCal last week and consistently hit speeds >1mbps. that's more than enough for checking email/browsing and even 360p youtube vids. If they set a cap, even tho my highest month was only about 350MB, i might have to switch... Um... the unlimited only applies to phones. There isn't and hasn't been any unlimited therthing option. | |
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| | | | Re: Cell usage? said by BF69:said by Somnambul33t:Is this for cell usage or tethering? Isnt the current "unlimited" cap only for Verizon-paid tethering? If this is for the phone...well i was on the fence on switching to T-mo/sprint in the spring. VZW's 3G coverage is awesome and the speeds really arent bad at all. i used my android to tether my netbook on SoCal last week and consistently hit speeds >1mbps. that's more than enough for checking email/browsing and even 360p youtube vids. If they set a cap, even tho my highest month was only about 350MB, i might have to switch... Um... the unlimited only applies to phones. There isn't and hasn't been any unlimited therthing option. i knew the caps affected tethering. i was making sure it didnt affect data on the phone itself. If this stays the same, it should affect any android users. AFAIK, Verizon has no way of knowing whether the phone is using the usage or if it's tethered via an app from the Android market.
Also, Android supports tethering natively in Froyo, so unless Froyo tips off VZW about it's tethering data (for which i would assume VZW would want to charge) then i dont see this affecting anyone with an android phone.
maybe i'm wrong?
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pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | Caps Mean 0 Use for Smartphones If the only realistic options for me to get a smartphone would be to get a capped data plan, then there really is no point in getting one at all.
Smartphones are always sending and receiving data from the network even when they are not being actively used. I shouldn't have to open myself up to the possibility of making the equivalent of a car, rent or mortgage payment (or worse) just by leaving my phone on the nightstand when I go to bed. I shouldn't have to tell my kids "DON'T TOUCH MY PHONE!" because I am worried about getting zinged with a huge overage for them doing so.
Of course, far too many people will cheerfully pay overages imposed by these companies, thereby encouraging them to impose even more of them, and in a more draconian fashion.
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"Net Neutrality" zealots - the people you can thank for your capped Internet service. | |
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See 23 replies to this post |
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| | New Plans I thought Verizon was going to a "data bucket" model, where you can have multiple devices access a common pool of megabytes or something to that effect, instead of one subscription per device. This is a long time coming and I hope they put that into place soon. As for "bucket" prices, I would like to see at least:
5 Gig $30/mo 1 device, smartphone or datacard
20 Gig $60/mo 1 smartphone and one datacard
tethering/wi-fi hotspot included in data allowance
Discrimininatory pricing on datacards versus smartphones is outragous inthis day and age...$40/mo for 250 meg is absolutely rediculous. | |
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| openbox9
join:2004-01-26
Alexandria, VA
kudos:2 | Re: New Plans Buckets would be an awesome move for VZW and it might help alleviate some of backlash from the technophiles around the Internet. | |
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| | Happy Grandfathered Droid User Speaking as a Droid user, I'm glad my phone's along with my fiancee's data plan is going to be grandfathered in, lest this family of three takes their business to AT&T (which has no signal where we live unless we step out on the back porch to make a phone call) or Sprint (eww yuck, roaming fees!) | |
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| | | Re: Happy Grandfathered Droid User I've got a grandfathered Alltel aircard (NO cap), but unless VZW gets their act together and fixes my tower, WiMAX is looking better and better. I'd like to wait for LTE, but when my 3G RSSI is around -82 and my speeds look like the one below, I'm not encouraged to hold out:
Yes, it's the tower. Yes, I'm positive. And I've had two trouble tickets over three weeks. | |
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| | | | Re: Happy Grandfathered Droid User With that kind of symmetrical result, at nearly the max of 1XRTT.. Are you 100% sure that you are not dropping EVDO, and are getting stuck on 1X?
If so, it could be the cell, or your device...
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| | | | | Re: Happy Grandfathered Droid User Oh yes. The local VZW store gave me a "trial" Verizon USB760 to see if it was my EC228. I got the same results, even when I took my laptop and the aircard to a different location near the same tower, got direct LOS, and pulled the same results.
Before I pester CS and look like an idiot, I try everything. I search forums (like this one) for information, take the aircard to different areas, etc., to make sure it's not my equipment. I just wish they'd be more forthcoming and let customers know when there's an outage or problem so we don't waste their time as well as ours. | |
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| | | | | | Re: Happy Grandfathered Droid User Is the VZ Access manager showing EVDO (or 1XEV) whenever you are on this tower?
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| | | I used to have a grandfathered unlimited tethering plan through ATT until 2 months ago. They sent me a letter that I could either move to the 5 GB plan or they could relieve me of my contract with no ETF.  | |
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| | what the hell i just read texting unlimited is 20 bucks per phone. that is double the cost of current contract..
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calling a illegal alien undocumented is like calling a drug dealer a undocumented pharmacist | |
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 SteelyI rise when the sun goes downPremium
join:2000-10-15
Princeton Junction, NJ
kudos:1 | For new customers only or for old customers with new phones? I'm due for an upgrade for my BlackBerry Curve but both the Droid X and Incredible are back-ordered and won't arrive until 8/3 at the earliest, a few days after these new prices are rumored to be going into effect. Any idea if I'd be "grandfathered" into the unlimited email and web plan (which is what I currently have with the BlackBerry)? I called Verizon but they were useless. | |
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| bn1221
join:2009-04-29
Cortland, NY | Re: For new customers only or for old customers with new phones? I'd heard if your contract end date is in 2010 you'll be grandfathered in. Thats just my understanding though. | |
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| | the market wants what the market wants high price = no customers and unhappy handset & harware makers, period, end of story.
so, good luck with that pricing plan verizon. | |
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dont do that...
