Slashdot Mirror
Verizon To Kill All Unlimited Data Plans
afabbro writes "Verizon mentioned in an investor conference that it will be eliminating unlimited data plans, even for those it grandfathered in. From the article: 'Speaking at the J.P Morgan Technology Media and Telecom conference today, Verizon Communications CFO Fran Shammo told investors that the company's 3G unlimited data plans that customers were allowed to hang onto last year when Verizon switched to a tiered offering will soon go away entirely. Instead, the company will migrate its existing and new 4G LTE customers to a new "data share plan."
The company has yet to announce the details of this new plan, but it has said previously that the data share plan will be introduced in midsummer. The plan will allow people on the same family plan to share buckets of data each month, much like they share voice minutes and text messaging. It will also allow individuals to share data across different 4G LTE devices.'"
On chasing away a good portion of your customer base.
If they really, really want to let me out of my contract here in a month or two, so be it. T-mobile and Sprint still have unlimited plans, so I guess that's where I'll be heading.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
How long before AT&T follows suit?
"God does not play Minecraft with the world." - Albert Einstein
With the el-cheapo carriers heavily advertising their cut-rate plans, how long can AT&T and Verizon keep it up? Why would anyone pay $80/month when they can get the same service from another carrier for less than $50?
Unless the big boys start offering either better service or lower prices, how will they stay in business?
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
You can't really "lock in" anything. The provider is free to change the terms at any time in the future, it's just that you get 30 days to cancel without penalty if you decide you don't like the new terms.
this is my sig
They're sort of like a tick that attaches itself to a host and keep engorging itself until it pops.
It's gotten itself firmly attached to the wallets of 93 million people. Now it's sucking hard. The pop will come enough...
http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/19/verizon-quarterly-revenues-q1-2012/
--- What parts of "shall make no law", "shall not be infringed", and "shall not be violated" don't you understand?
Too bad. They used to be better than the rest. Those were the days. It's unfortunate that they're such dimwits too. Yes, capacity is a problem, until up put a mini-switch/router on every 12th telephone and power pole and then it isn't. The technical problem is solvable, but they'd have to spend some money renting space, placing and maintaining equipment and getting easements. Stock prices would fall for a quarter and some exec wouldn't waddle away with the bonus he truly believes he deserves.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
how they market speak that shared plan people are "allowed to pool" their network usage. Rather than the more accurate "forced to share usage". It puts people on family plans at the mercy of their teenage daughter. DOOOOOOoooommmmm.....
The shiny new phone that will only work on Verizon, non-US carriers after an unlocking, and the crappy regional CDMA carriers after an unlocking.
Those guys are just as expensive as AT&T and Verizon. I'm talking about discount carriers, like StraightTalk and Red.
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
*HAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA*
And you'll get $10, where as the attorneys will get $100 mil.
More corporate assraping goodness
Not if they offered to honor the original contract terms for the duration of the contract and terminate it immediately upon its completion. Just like credit cards: terms have changed, you either accept them or you live out your existing contract as specified with no further changes allowed.
Verizon's unlimited 3G meant I could play Pandora through my phone while I was driving without worrying about data caps. :s And they have very good coverage from what I noticed. I guess this means I'll just have to actually use my iPod or something, assuming I can remember where I put it and a way to set it up to either play through the car radio or into my hearing aid.
My contract is up anyhow and I need to trim down expenses. I have the HTC Droid Incredible, which is a nifty enough little phone. All I really need is texting, email, and maybe some minimum amount of minutes. A camera on it would be convenient. I really don't want to move from Verizon because I know their coverage is solid, but I don't want to reward their greedy data tier plan behavior. Any recommendations?
I agree. I have a grandfathered plan and this news is somewhat alarming, but many times I have been with other people who have Sprint or AT&T that hit dead spots the moment they leave major metropolitan areas and the interstates. That was the reason I switched to Verizon in the first place. I can't really make a credible threat to leave Verizon, because even with whatever capped plan they introduce (the current ones are ~2GB only!) it is unlikely that Verizon will actually be worse in general than AT&T, etc.
I'm glad they are doing this. I'm currently paying ~$100 a month, and the only reason I keep Verizon is that I'm not on contract, and I have an unlimited plan that would be impossible to replace if I cancelled.
I've been with Verizon since owning a Motorola Startac. Killing the unlimited plan should make the switch to another provider painless.
According to Nokia Siemens Networks, the average amount of smartphone data used per day is 15MB (about 450MB per month). If you're using ten times that amount on a grandfathered plan that costs you peanuts, it's hardly surprising that someone somewhere will run the numbers and work out that you are of no value to the company.
By all means shout "right, that's it! I'm off to Sprint!" but it'll be a hollow victory as Verizon will probably be more than happy to see the back of you.
Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
At least if we want to have it fast. There are just real, physical, limits you hit in to with wireless. There is only so much speed you can get with a given technology on a given amount of spectrum, and spectrum is licensed. That speed is shared with all users on a segment. So the only thing you can do is build out the segments smaller. Well not only does that cost money, but it is hard to get done in many places, since segments require towers, and there are practical limits to how small you can make them.
So that means people have to play nice and share. If everyone can just use whatever they want, shit will get slowed down to a crawl. If people play nice and share it can be fast for everyone.
With wired connections it is somewhat feasible to want them to just be faster. Cable companies can start using DOCSIS 3 and allocate more channels to data (it is like 40mbps per channel shared on a segment) and they can also build out their segments to include relatively few houses (even then there are limits). For wireless, you can't do that that, doesn't work that way.
Now that said, the limits are stupidly low with most providers, they need to up them to something more reasonable. However we do need limits. Otherwise it will be poor speeds all around because some people will want to slam the connection 24/7.
You are comparing his statement to supporting rape? I think maybe you have a problem with blowing shit out of proportion.
As for not wanting you to use unlimited amounts of data, they don't, which is why they are changing the plan. They tried it, some people, probably you, used way too much data and wouldn't moderate usage, so they aren't selling unlimited plans anymore.
Unlimited to many reasonable people doesn't mean "No limits at all of any kind," it means "No specific or preset limits." For example at work people have unlimited bandwidth. We have no traffic shaping, no port rate limits, you can use as much is available, which is a lot. However, it is shared among lots of people. If everyone tried to slam it 24/7 we'd get shit speeds. So you have to moderate your usage. Use it when you need it, leave it idle for others when you don't. Fail to do so and we'll notice, and come and talk to you, and if necessary cut your net off. It is "unlimited" in that we don't set any hard limits, but that doesn't mean you can use all of it all the time.
That entitled attitude is precisely why companies have to start setting limits. People who say "They said unlimited, so I am going to stream video all day, torrent all night, and use every last bit of the bandwidth I can. It is unlimited, that is my right." Well, that gluttonous attitude is unsustainable for people to all have good access since if people won't moderate their usage, they'll impose limits to moderate it.
Ok, fine, you don't want us to have unlimited plans anymore.
If a customer has an unlimited plan (grandfathered in), and Verizon ceases offering it, what will they offer in return?
It sure would be nice if common practice was, when they take something away, they give you something in return.
What is the exchange? Lower rates/costs? Better network performance? Higher throughput?
Don't have anything to give after you take away "unlimited", Verizon? Then give the customer the reason you MUST do it. Prove to the customer that this is necessary, at the very least.
Show the customer a convincing, legitimate reason to stay, or they're going to wonder why you're simply "taking away from them".
Don't just take and take and take and take - that's what the customer doesn't like.
The customer is not stupid, but can easily be misinformed, and perception is everything.
The representative did not know anything about this announcement. He said that grandfathered 4G unlimited users will keep unlimited until they cancel or change their plan. For those of you that are currently unlimited on Verizon, he also told me that you can get unlimited wi-fi tethering for an additional $30 a month. Still kind of expensive when you consider you are already paying $30 for data on your phone to begin with but if you use it all the time it might be worth it.
The simple solution is for everybody to start calling Verizon to inquire about data plans, get support for anything and everything-- and even just to find out how your favorite verizon person is getting along. Call now. Call often. In fact, don't stop calling. Call, call call. Choke their lines, make it hurt. Plus, I'd bet that it'd be a great idea to check out all their wonderful offerings on their web sites-- all of them-- a lot. Check your bill. Twice. Make sure you read it right. In fact, have your wife / coworker / friend / friend's mom / neighbor-down-the-street / heck, all of 'em read it twice just to make sure you didn't miss anything. You might also want to call their sales line to find out about all their great offerings and add-ons. I'll bet they have a *ton* of cool stuff you could buy. But I know it's hard to decide right away. In fact, you might have to really get them to explain it carefully with plenty of detail in order to fully grasp the sheer awesomeness of their products. In fact, you might even have to think about it some and then call back and ask them to explain anything you didn't completely get the first time. You could also call them to tell them what a wonderful job you think they're doing. I'm sure they don't hear that anywhere near enough. You could really brighten up some verizon employee's day by calling them up just to tell them. And you know, all of the verizon employees do a terrific job and I'd be willing to bet they'd ALL enjoy hearing your opinion! Plus you should also call their bosses to congratulate them. And send emails-- lots of emails. Calling isn't the only way to let them know what a superb job you think they're doing.
You know, with all their loyal, friendly customers and fanatical fans-- they just couldn't bear the thought of taking away their unlimited Internet...
The current data plans are not about now, but about the future. If they start capping the main body of users to squeeze more money out of them right now, there will be wide uproar. Right now it's only a few geeks and mobile workers that are protesting.
Everyone is shifting from text messaging and voice phone calls to IP based alternatives. People watch media on mobile devices more and more. If the phone companies don't start charging for IP traffic, their business models will fail in the future. If they wait too long, they will not get away with it because everyone will be suddenly influenced. Now people are eased into the business model and once they go over their plan, are already used to pay for the extra usage.
The real problem here is market dominance. The few players that actually have coverage or roaming agreements for areas big enough to matter, can basically charge what they want. Because of the high investments in setting up networks and the lack of requirement to roam/peer with other providers for the current big providers, that situation will not change. Either the USA will have to put up with it, or cut up their "too big to compete" telephone companies again and do the mini-bell model once over. I'm not saying that is a good solution, but there may come a time that it will be a better solution than the status quo you will be in otherwise.
I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
The government also invented the freeway system and the internet, and those didn't turn out too bad.
This conversation is a moot point in Japan and many other countries, because here (in Japan) we have competition rather than the rampant collusion among the American carriers. There are still unlimited data plans available on every carrier, and they're getting cheaper due to portable wi-fi hotspots in 3G, LTE and Wimax flavors.
As for capacity, it's not about airwaves, it's about server collisions. As you said, it's going all data, and American phone companies are loathe to cooperate in sharing the actual wired data networks, let alone upgrading their own. They've always been very good on making excuses as to why they can't build out their infrastructure while the rest of the world moves forward. They rely on natural American insularity to protect them from comparisons with successful systems abroad (and no, geography doesn't play as big a role as they'd like you to believe).
The government has attempted to play fair and leave this in the hands of the carriers since the 90s, even doling out billions in grants to help these companies in building out aforementioned infrastructure, but the companies have merely pocketed the money while thinking up new and interesting ways to screw their customers over.
"Give a man fire, and he'll be warm for a day; set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life
GSM + No Contract + Coverage in most Cities...and they seem to cost less too. The only real issue is that I'd hate to give my my droid2...it's old but with AOKP, it runs like a dream.
I've been a Verizon customer for a couple of years, but got fed up with the prices they charged while I was deployed and not even using the service, merely to keep my phone number for when I got home.
I'm tired of it, and tired of being locked into contracts and paying for data. I want freedom! So here's what I did:
Yes, I paid an early-termination fee. But by my calculation, even with paying the full cost of the phone, I come out even in six months. And I no longer have to worry about the tyranny of a contract. I'm free to go to any MVNO.