Slashdot Mirror
Verizon Customers: Say So Long To Unlimited Data
BogenDorpher writes "Verizon will be eliminating its unlimited smartphone data plan this summer. No longer will one be able to pay $30 a month to have unlimited data. This move is designed to 'force heavy data users to pay more for mobile data.'"
No, the plans will make most people pay more for data - they'll just really rape the people who actually used what they pay for.
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." ~Thomas Jefferson
That virgin mobile has unlimited internet plans starting at $25 a month, plus you can carry over your existing number.
A finite price for something "unlimited"? Interesting. Tragedy of the commons comes to wireless.
Shai Schticks:"You don't make peace with friends, you make peace with enemies"
This move is designed to 'force heavy data users to find a better phone vendor'.
We're also upgrading your service with Oceanic Lag, shaped broadband, taking 100 or so of your cable channels and cutting off Huvu.
All complaints are to be directed to 'Telstra', which I've been assured is Australian for 'Know Your Place, You Filthy Peasant'.
Communications is a basic government service, as spelled out in the US constitution.
At this point, government should just buy-out Verizon. They're only a 100 billion company, tiny compared to the annual federal budget.
Let's limit the power of private companies to create megabusinesses through government intervention.
We need more government in our lives, and less freedom of choice.
Remember, freedom is code-word for corporate control.
I trust the hard-working government more than I trust lazy private companies.
Once they work every angle for increasing profits they go after the handful using more than the average.
That "handful" is and always will be about 50% of their users.
Over the past 3 years or so, nearly every nationwide Mobile provider in the USA has castrated their data service. "Unlimited" data used to be slower, EDGE or early 3G a couple years back, but despite the expense you didn't have to worry about overages. Now it seems only Sprint (perhaps?) has an "unlimited" plan. ATT and Verizon, switching over to these capped bandwidth isn't simply to save money or keep network congestion down, but rather its the same impetus that had the 80s and 90s phone companies charging 25/c a minute for long distance - to jack up fees on a monopolized industry under the guise of "paying what you use". While true "unlimited" plans were few and far between over the last decade, they usually simply transitioned to slowing your connection speed if you were using a ton more data than most at an inconvenient time. Now, you're paying per kilobyte for overages, on top of stupidly high costs of data plans. Look at how even the iPhone 1's original data plan compares to those today - it was a $20/month unlimited option with 200 included SMS! Now, you're looking at well over $80, plus SMS packages for the high-end "5gb of transfer" plan! .
The problem is simple greed and it infests our entire system. Corporate giants for years told users "buy our new DSL/Cable/Fiber/3G/4G service.. and download more, more more! Get your movies! Get your music! Play Games" (Even when there wasn't much legal digital distribution, mind you). Not only did they benefit from upping subscription fees and only selectively rolling out broadband to the highest ROI areas, they also petitioned (read as: bought) government subsidy for "infrastructure improvements", common carrier agreements and more. Now, they figured out that instead of actually using our double-dipped tax dollars and subscription fees to actually expand infrastructure and give people the connectivity they want, its simpler to simply say "Sorry, you just can't download more than X per month. Yeah" and pocket the rest. Prices go up, service comes down and the user is meant to lick the boots of telecoms that have fucked over this nation's information infrastructure. There is only one solution.
We need to take that money and control out of the hands of private companies, and invest it in We The People. Nationalize our entire information infrastructure. Prior to Eisenhower's Interstate, the physical roadway system was heading towards the same kind of mess as today's information highways - unpaved roads, shoddy maintenance, only serviceable where profitable, and tolls were levied constantly. Even the fucking ROMANS figured out that the first thing to do when expanding their empire was to nationalize the roadway system and kick all the bandits collecting tolls along travel pathways the hell out. Those bandits are just named ATT and Comcast today! Right now, the wire in the ground, despite the fact its is lain with my tax dollars, is the property of a private company, which squelches competition. There's not a piece of "Big 4" infrastructure that is not taxpayer funded in some way, so we need to simply nationalize what we already own! Then we can start rolling out true universal broadband initiatives and give our nation competitive speeds and coverage. There can be a role to play for private industry, able to lease access to the public hardware to create ISPs, with the stipulation that they must simply be a "dumb pipe" and maintain neutrality - however, private industry should never forget who their masters are - We The People through our Government - rather than the Government being a toy of private moneyed interests. Some form of this is how most European and Asian nations have ascended to gigabit broadband speeds while much of our nation is floundering with 256k and big spenders in the most cosmopolitan areas are paying $50+ monthly for 20mb.
Telecoms aren't going to stop clenching their grip until we break their fingers.
They will almost certainly just phase this out by refusing to allow you to keep it on a month-to-month basis rather than actively trying to change people's contracts mid-stream. You'll have your unlimited bandwidth until your two years is up, and then goodbye.
I think that the data cap moves we are seeing in the data communications sector represent a market-wide trend to protect the existing profitable "value added" services such as voice calling and premium television services. Companies seem to be afraid of becoming just another "dumb pipe" as connection speeds get fast enough to handle third party "value added" services (e.g. Netflix and Google Voice). These companies believe that, by using data caps and unregulated third party data usage meters, they can ensure the protection of their highly profitable "value added" service sector. In many respects, this practice represents a trend of "predatory pricing" and "refusal to deal" in the communications industry.
For example... In the cellular world, the 5 GB data cap effectively tolls previously "free" services such as Google Voice. On the broadband side of things, a 150 to 250 GB cap effectively limits the ability of Netflix and Hulu to compete with the first party in providing premium high definition video content.
In many ways, these data cap moves are representative of an anti-competitive protectionist oligopoly. They also represent an end-run around the principals of network neutrality. By using unregulated meters that only bill for third party network usage, these companies have effectively "rigged the pump" to ensure that they can charge almost any rate for almost any service. Better regulation and oversight is needed at the Federal Government level to ensure fairness and competition in this otherwise anti-competitive industry.
-Valen
If you have 100 people downloading < 1GB each, and one person downloading 100GB, where's the problem?
No, the problem is over subscription. To even consider blaming the end user (no matter their usage) for this is obscene and disgusting.
But it's nice to see company shills taking over slashdot's comment boards. How much do they pay you to talk out of your ass?
Oh, and another fact:
There's a strong chance that user won't even give a damn. They're not going to curb their usage because of a minor increase in the bill. They just pay it.
So in the REAL world, this does nothing.
FYI: I'm a pretty "light" user of my iPhone. I have an "unlimited" plan grandfathered in but I keep up with my usage occasionally to see where I sit at. I don't really use it all that often. That is, any sort of heavy downloading I usually only do through wireless. I browse the occasional website on the phone, I use the GPS and e-mail more than I use anything else on the phone.
My current usage this month? 435MB. AT&T's data plans? 250MB and 2GB. Now think about that for a minute there, long and hard. There is no possible way that any person humanly possible uses less than 250MB of data on their iPhone unless they don't have an iPhone. I only on any really rare occasion actually use my phone for more than GPS or e-mail, and I'm blazing past 250MB. But according to their "research", "MOST USERS USE BELOW THIS." How is that possible?
I can only imagine that "poorer" people use much more of their phone than I do, the average person listening to music over youtube while driving in the car, etc. Downloading songs all of the time.
Sprint still has reasonable and UNLIMITED V-T-D plans.
No, they don't have the iPhone. They DO have some pretty sweet Android phones though. Let the iSheep get raped for bandwidth, come ride the unlimited airwaves on Sprint!
(No, I'm not affiliated with Sprint at all. Just want to see my carrier of choice do well.)
Official Heretic from the "Church of Global Warming". Proven right thanks to whistle blowers. AGW = Flat Earth Theory
Turned off my Cell phone plan.
Look, this whole Cell Phone internet shit is stupid. How fucking fast do we need stupid ass shit to get to our cell phones? You have the corporations, making it so crap is bigger, streaming is important, while the cell phone co's are putting limits on downloads and charging more for over small amounts. They don't care if they sell more data plans even though there's isn't enough resources.
What is so fucking important today that needs this tech, that wasn't important 10 years ago? By the way people are, you'd think we didn't survive before the internet.
Be seeing you...