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Verizon Wireless Family Data Plans Coming Soon
Eventually Share Pooled Data Across Users, Devices
Both Verizon and AT&T last year hinted more than a few times that they'd finally be joining the modern age by offering family data plans. Ideally the bucket-o-bytes approach would, like voice minutes, work across different family accounts and more importantly across devices, meaning no more annoying additional individual subscriptions for your tablet, handheld game console, or other device. While AT&T did recently announce a price hike, family plans were nowhere to be found during recent earnings announcements. Verizon in contrast does appear to be very close to family plan launch, according to leaked training materials posted to Engadget. There's no date, nor are the caveats noted (and you can be sure there will be some to offset the loss of per-device flat fee revenue), but at least the shift is in the pipeline.
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gigahurtz
Premium Member
join:2001-10-20
USA

gigahurtz

Premium Member

As an AT&T customer..

I really hope they do something like this. I have 3 smartphones on my account, two have 200MB and one has 2GB. I'd love to just pool everything together and not have to worry about it anymore.

Retired6
Premium Member
join:2002-11-09
Earth

Retired6

Premium Member

Re: As an AT&T customer..

said by gigahurtz:

I really hope they do something like this. I have 3 smartphones on my account, two have 200MB and one has 2GB. I'd love to just pool everything together and not have to worry about it anymore.

Same here. We have 4 iPhone's and a Blackberry in the family.

One of the iPhone's is on the $30.00 unlimited data plan and the rest were just upgraded to the $30.00 - 3GB data plans.

It would be nice having all our data plans bundled together.

crazyk4952
Premium Member
join:2002-02-04
united state

crazyk4952

Premium Member

pricing....?

It would be nice to be able to share a plan between tablets and smartphones.

Something tells me that it is going to be the same price as having separate plans, though....

gigahurtz
Premium Member
join:2001-10-20
USA

gigahurtz

Premium Member

Re: pricing....?

said by crazyk4952:

It would be nice to be able to share a plan between tablets and smartphones.

Something tells me that it is going to be the same price as having separate plans, though....

Honestly, even if it was the same price as having separate plans, I would still love it. I wouldn't have to worry about others on the family plan going over on their data. I have 2 GB but I rarely get close to going over. It'd be nice to not have to worry about those on the 200MB plans.

jgkolt
Premium Member
join:2004-02-21
Avon, OH

1 recommendation

jgkolt

Premium Member

Re: pricing....?

remember back in the day when we had $30 unlimited data plans and we didn't have to count our data packets....

gigahurtz
Premium Member
join:2001-10-20
USA

gigahurtz

Premium Member

Re: pricing....?

said by jgkolt:

remember back in the day when we had $30 unlimited data plans and we didn't have to count our data packets....

I miss those days. I made the mistake of dropping the unlimited for the $15 plan thinking I'd save money. I ended up going back up to the $25 plan and while I don't go over, I'd still love to have the unlimited back.

stevek1949
We're not in Kansas anymore
Premium Member
join:2002-11-13
Virginia Beach, VA

stevek1949 to jgkolt

Premium Member

to jgkolt
said by jgkolt:

remember back in the day when we had $30 unlimited data plans and we didn't have to count our data packets....

I still have an unlimited plan, but I have to pay twice for my wife and I ($60.00/mo) even though we are on a family plan for the voice. This included unlimited text and photos also.

MovieLover76
join:2009-09-11
Cherry Hill, NJ
(Software) pfSense
Asus RT-AC68
Asus RT-AC66

MovieLover76

Member

Re: pricing....?

Keep it, you may feel like your paying more, but believe me if you switch to a family plan, as devices can do more and more, and networks get faster and faster, within a couple years tops you'll be paying more for data than $60, unless you someone who really only uses their smartphone for email and web surfing.
MovieLover76

MovieLover76 to jgkolt

Member

to jgkolt
I still have that, grandfathered on unlimited verizon, and they are going to have to have to rip it out of my hands because I'm holding onto it until they force me out, no tricks like family plans or slightly cheaper tiered data is gonna fool me. I feel sorry for those who dropped to $15 AT&T plans thinking they'd save money, it's all a game to eventually charge you more, no matter how it appears in the short term. same thing applies to family plans.

djousma
join:2000-04-18
Hudsonville, MI

djousma to jgkolt

Member

to jgkolt
whoops, duplicate post
djousma

djousma to jgkolt

Member

to jgkolt
said by jgkolt:

remember back in the day when we had $30 unlimited data plans and we didn't have to count our data packets....

Gonna be interesting to see what happens. I am grandfathered on all 3 of my lines with the unlimited plan AND the $20 data discount per line on top if it.

aaronwt
Premium Member
join:2004-11-07
Woodbridge, VA
Asus RT-AX89

aaronwt to jgkolt

Premium Member

to jgkolt
said by jgkolt:

remember back in the day when we had $30 unlimited data plans and we didn't have to count our data packets....

I still have that with Verizon. Although if I pick up an HTC Rezound this Spring I will lose it.

djousma
join:2000-04-18
Hudsonville, MI

djousma

Member

Re: pricing....?

Is that not a verizon phone? We changed all our phones out, no problem keeping the unlimited.
slckusr
Premium Member
join:2003-03-17
Greenville, SC

slckusr to aaronwt

Premium Member

to aaronwt
Ive also upgraded and added a line and maintained that same plan. Just make sure your clear about it.
iFail 5G
join:2011-08-03

iFail 5G to aaronwt

Member

to aaronwt
said by aaronwt:

said by jgkolt:

remember back in the day when we had $30 unlimited data plans and we didn't have to count our data packets....

I still have that with Verizon. Although if I pick up an HTC Rezound this Spring I will lose it.

You won't lose unlimited upgrading from a 3G smartphone to a 4G smartphone

TuxRaiderPen
A Warm Embrace
join:2009-06-02
Outer Rim

TuxRaiderPen to crazyk4952

Member

to crazyk4952
said by crazyk4952:

Something tells me that it is going to be the same price as having separate plans, though....

Absolutely! Making some concessions to retain customers, improve the "experience" and increase the bottom line; all at the same time? This is absurd...

MovieLover76
join:2009-09-11
Cherry Hill, NJ

MovieLover76

Member

Re: pricing....?

It will be moderately cheaper at first, until users start using more data as data usage steadily increases and then it will be more expensive, it's all a game.
en103
join:2011-05-02

en103 to crazyk4952

Member

to crazyk4952
My estimates on family plan:
1. Family plan requires at least 2 lines, and starts at $40 for 1GB (little better deal than $20/300MB on AT&T)
2. Each additional line for DATA (not including voice needed) is $10 and adds additional 500MB to the bucket
3. High end plan starts at $60 for 3GB, and each additional line is $15 and adds 1GB to the bucket
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

88615298 (banned)

Member

Re: pricing....?

said by en103:

My estimates on family plan:
1. Family plan requires at least 2 lines, and starts at $40 for 1GB (little better deal than $20/300MB on AT&T)
2. Each additional line for DATA (not including voice needed) is $10 and adds additional 500MB to the bucket
3. High end plan starts at $60 for 3GB, and each additional line is $15 and adds 1GB to the bucket

I doubt it would be $15 for 1 GB since their data plans now are $10 per 1 GB. I think Verizon would want consistancy in pricing. Also I doubt each account added would add data. If you have the cheapest family voice plan you get 700 minutes whether you have 2 lines or 5 lines. Adding more lines doesn't minutes.

If you look at the pic it says $37 for the data plan. That's an odd number and may just be for test purposes, but that's what it says. Then it has 2 additional lines priced at $9.99

Also only have 1 GB of data would be useless if the plan is meant to be used for multiple lines/devices. The minimum should be 5 GB.
jjeffeory
jjeffeory
join:2002-12-04
Bloomington, IN

jjeffeory to en103

Member

to en103
That's very low. I'll keep my unlimited thanks...
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

88615298 (banned) to crazyk4952

Member

to crazyk4952
said by crazyk4952:

Something tells me that it is going to be the same price as having separate plans, though....

I seriously doubt a family data plan for 4 phones would cost $120. There is no incentive for those families without smarthpones to upgrade. There is a substantial % of customers that WOULD upgrade to smartphones but refuse to pay $30 a month for data. Getting say $60 a month from these people is better than ZERO.

TechyDad
Premium Member
join:2001-07-13
USA

TechyDad

Premium Member

Re: pricing....?

Like my family. We have 5 phones on our account. All but 1 of these phones (a ported landline number that we may transition to Google Voice) could be smart phones. However, paying $30 per month per phone it too pricey for us. So we don't pay for data. (In fact, it's blocked after a couple of accidental keypresses led to data charges based on their browser partially starting up.)

Our contract has expired and we're actually interested in smartphones. The first company to offer us a family data plan might just get our business!

SteveLV702
Premium Member
join:2004-04-22
Las Vegas, NV

SteveLV702

Premium Member

I wish

I think ill stick with my Unlimited Data plans.. unless they wanna offer 1 Unlimited Plan that covers all my devices which I highly doubt.
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

88615298 (banned)

Member

Assuming picutre has correct figures



it says $37 for data plan. It says 2 of 5 lines used. Also shows to data charges for $9.99. Ther no mention of how much data that entails though. So basically base price is $37 each line is $10 of course 2 lines would be the minimum. So 2 lines would be $57 so $3 less than getting two $30 data plans for 2 GB each. So unless they offer 5 GB of data this is hardly a deal for 2 lines. For 3 or more lines you can save.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

What about multi-device individual plans?

This talks about family plans with multiple lines sharing data buckets.

What I am interested in seeing is an individual plan that supports multiple data devices. Say a smartphone, laptop, & tablet. A bucket of bytes that covers all devices.

And this could be an opportunity for Sprint to extend its unlimited data & text plans to multiple devices with a small extra charge for each device added to plan. So, the unlimited data & text 450 min individual talk plan at $70/mo would become $80/mo with a 2nd device and $90/mo with a 3rd device.
BosstonesOwn
join:2002-12-15
Wakefield, MA

BosstonesOwn

Member

Re: What about multi-device individual plans?

hell give me all that on one plan for 4 phones with unlimited mobile to mobile and Id gladly pay $150 a month to sprint.

GLADLY !!
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

stop feeding the greedy monsters

Verizon and AT&T will keep getting bigger and bigger if you keep feeding them with post paid & prepaid usage based billing for data!

NJxxxJon
2 0 1 7 Mmm Here We go man!
Premium Member
join:2005-10-22

NJxxxJon

Premium Member

Benefit me too, dunno.

Dont know if this crap will help me either - with having a dumb-phone still on one of my lines. I know only certain rules will apply.
Daddio1949
join:2000-12-13
Rockville, MD

Daddio1949

Member

I'll Get a Cell Phone If This Happens

My wife has wanted a smart phone, and if this happens, then she'll get a smart phone. Heck, I may even get myself a phone if it's worth it.