Verizon Dropping Data Rates, But Current Customers Have To Call

New submitter executioner writes with this news from Consumerist: In spite of Verizon Wireless' recent boasts that it's 'a leader, not a follower,' a new announcement from the nation's biggest wireless company shows that Big V is indeed following the competition down the path of charging customers less for their data plans. However, current Verizon subscribers will need to let the company know they want to save money (or get more data). It's a little confusing, so stick with us for a moment. Verizon MORE Everything customers who currently have monthly data allotments of 1GB, 2GB, 3GB, or 4GB will have an option on how they want to save.They can either get more data for their money by getting 1GB of additional data per month for no extra charge OR they can have their bill reduced by $10/month.So someone with a 2GB plan is currently paying $50/month. If they take the free data option, that goes to 3GB for the same price. Or they can elect to stick with the 2GB and their data bill drops to $40/month.

Comments

Still sucks

[monkeyzoo]

And in France they have €20/month for unlimited calling, unlimited text, and 3GB of 4G data. We are getting RIPPED OFF here in the USA.

Re:Still sucks

[Harlequin80]

That is REALLY REALLY cheap! I am on unlimited calls, texts, and 4 Gig of data for $100 / month with Telstra in Australia. I could go a cheaper plan with optus or virgin but their coverage is no where near as good outside of the main cities.

Re:Still sucks

[monkeyzoo]

Oh shit, I forgot the best part. That €20 UNLIMITED CALLING includes calls to landlines in OVER 100 COUNTRIES in the world (basically everywhere you would ever call, and then ten times that moreover), and to landlines/mobiles in the USA and Canada.

Oh, and it's MONTH-TO-MONTH!!!

Oh, and it includes roaming in 35 countries.

I've got to give it to the French in this race.

Then again, large parts of downtown Paris are on 1MB ADSL, sooooo, there's that. Hello 1999 all over again.

Re:Still sucks

[Harlequin80]

Yes but Romania's PPP is only 40% of the Euro average. And France sits well above the Euro average. This means that every single hour of labour is significantly cheaper.

On top of that the Romanian Government is currently subsidising telecoms in order to get closer to universal access. Not really an apple to apple comparison.

Re:Still sucks

[ArmoredDragon]

if they manage to keep hanging onto existence by the skin of their teeth

I don't think that is a fair assessment. As of the last few quarters, T-Mobile is now the fastest growing carrier, and in spite of VERY heavy investment into their infrastructure, they're only operating at a small loss. A company with as much growth as them can continue operating that way for a very long time. Just to put things into perspective, Amazon operates at an even bigger loss. (Amazon lost 126 million last quarter, T-Mobile lost 92 million)

I tend to agree with John Legere's assessment over Deutch Telekom's.

T-Mobile has the best offering, but their network is too crap

Crap compared to what? Remember T-Mobile spans across most of the US. Meanwhile France is 25% smaller than Texas. T-mobile is also (as of June 2014) the fastest wireless data carrier in the US. The only thing T-Mobile can't offer at present is rural coverage in a lot of places that Verizon offers, but they're being very aggressive about expanding into those areas.

This also says a lot considering the fact that only 2 years ago T-Mobile couldn't even claim 4G in most cities.

Verizon also has seen their churn rate increase from it's really low 1.01 to 1.11, and that isn't because of AT&T or Sprint.

Re:Okay, so?

[monkeyzoo]

That's a damn good point. And to think my submission on backyard solar powered nuclear fusion was rejected!

Isn't that normal practice?

[Harlequin80]

My ISP and Telco have increased my data allowance multiple times over the years. I just get a letter / email / sms saying congrats your plan now has 33% more data!

If I wanted to go to a cheaper plan I would call them.

I know it is cool to hate on the major telcos but isn't being given more for exactly the same cost a good thing? Or am I totally missing something?

Re:Isn't that normal practice?

[tompaulco]

If you read TFA (as if), you'd see that unless you contact Verizon you get nothing at all. Only if you call up and ask do you get to pick between more data or less cost.

I don't trust Verizon any farther than I can throw them. SOMETHING is changing in their favor and this article doesn't mention what it is, but it is there, I guarantee you.
I used to have unlimited data. I am not even a heavy user of data. I currently use less than 500MB per month, but they managed me to swindle me out of the unlimited data plan by offering something else that appeared to be cheaper at first, but ended up being about the same for a 1 GB plan as what I previously paid for unlimited. Now, you might say I haven't lost anything since I don't use that much data anyway, but I had the freedom to use unlimited if I wanted or needed to.
Here is a breakdown of the plan I am on:
Unlimited talk and text: $40
My Smartphone: $40 (advertised rate of $20)
My wife's Smartphone: $40 (advertised rate of $20)
My kid's regular phone: $30 (advertised rate of $10)
If you add up the plan pricing according to their advertising, I should be paying $90 a month. If you add it up according to what is on the bill, I should be paying $150. I am actually paying about $168.
The plan I am on currently on their website advertises $145 for 4 lines and 8 GBs. I have three lines and 1 GB and it is $168.

Data by the GIG still?

[Lodlaiden]

I know y'all knock T-Mobile for the pink, but for 5+ years, I've been happy with "unlimited everything".

Re:Data by the GIG still?

[monkeyzoo]

And the only major US carrier that will sell you a SIM card so you can B.Y.O.D.!!!

Re:Data by the GIG still?

[Anonymous Coward]

I bought my own device to AT&T.

My plan went up for new subscribers...

[SSonnentag]

My 10GB shared plan currently costs $80/month. The new rate jumps up to $100 for the same 10GB. In order to get any cheaper than my current $80 I would need to drop down to 6GB for $70. Not a bargain of an idea in my opinion.

Verizon isn't waiting for you to call ...

[Anonymous Coward]

When I logged into my account on their website, I was prompted with an option to save money:

http://imgshare.in/Nwm9GI

Re:Verizon isn't waiting for you to call ...

[Faux_Pseudo]

Verizon does not start a contract when you change your plan unless you are changing to some promotional loyalty plan. The More Everything plans are normal plans. So no contract changes at all. Sorry.

Source: I work for Verizon Wireless.

Just do Unlimited (flat-rate) data already.

[sethstorm]

Metering data is something of a 90's era holdback that needs to DIAF.

Then again, Verizon's the same carrier that had to be dragged out of the BREW phone era.

T-Mobile super-awesome, especially international

[SuperKendall]

I moved to T-Mobile (from Verizon) late last year, it has been fantastic. A little worse coverage outside cities but I finally have a bill that is the same month to month, even when traveling internationally... ANYONE who travels internationally should without question use T-Mobile just because of the free international data aspect (it's a lower speed, you can opt to may more for a faster data rate but even the lower speed is pretty good).

Re:Okay, so?

[bjwest]

... So... why is this here?

Because /. isn't dedicated to you or any specific individual. Perhaps you should publish your own blog, dedicated solely to your needs, desires and interests and be the only subscriber. That way, you'll be on a site that is.

Re:I didn't have to call

[hambone142]

Your daughter needs a spanking.