Verizon To Disconnect Unlimited Data Customers Who Use Over 100GB/Month

Verizon Wireless customers who have an unlimited data plan and use significantly more than 100GB a month will soon be disconnected from the network unless they agree to move to limited data packages that require payment of overage fees. Ars Technica reports: Verizon stopped offering unlimited data to new smartphone customers a few years ago, but some customers have been able to hang on to the old plans instead of switching to ones with monthly data limits. Verizon has tried to convert the holdouts by raising the price $20 a month and occasionally throttling heavy users but stopped that practice after net neutrality rules took effect. Now Verizon is implementing a formal policy for disconnecting the heaviest users.In a statement, Verizon said: "Because our network is a shared resource and we need to ensure all customers have a great mobile experience with Verizon, we are notifying a very small group of customers on unlimited plans who use an extraordinary amount of data that they must move to one of the new Verizon Plans by August 31, 2016." a Verizon spokesperson told Ars. "These users are using data amounts well in excess of our largest plan size (100GB). While the Verizon Plan at 100GB is designed to be shared across multiple users, each line receiving notification to move to the new Verizon Plan is using well in excess of that on a single device." FYI: The 100GB plan costs $450 a month.

Comments

So basically...

[dgatwood]

"Unlimited" to Verizon means "unlimited as long as you use less than 300 kilobits per second continuously". Which just happens to be almost exactly the minimum bandwidth for a Skype video call. Ponder that for a moment.

Re:So basically...

[ranton]

The important term here is not "Unlimited", it is "Out of Contract". If you haven't signed a recent contract with Verizon and are just paying month to month on a grandfathered plan, they can cut your service at any time. Well, there may be regulations on how much notice they need to give, but apparently it isn't a long notice period.

The only reason Verizon has kept these grandfathered users this long is because they were hoping regulations would allow them to throttle or otherwise limit usage. They were unsuccessful at that, so cancelling service is the natural alternative.

Re:So basically...

[kenh]

"Unlimited" to Verizon means "unlimited as long as you use less than 300 kilobits per second continuously". Which just happens to be almost exactly the minimum bandwidth for a Skype video call. Ponder that for a moment.

Sure, I'll ponder that for a moment, then point out that you seem to think there are people that literally Skype 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 12 months every year, never stopping to eat, sleep, go to the bathroom, etc. I suspect many/most customers lead more balanced lives then that.

Re:Try Upgrading

[SuiteSisterMary]

It really was in the space of a year or two that the average user's expectation of what 'high speed internet' should be able to do went from 'look at web pages without watching the photos load part by part, watch the occasional SD video clip on youtube or cnn.com or something, and be able to download large email attachments fairly quickly' to 'be watching four different HD video streams, simultaneously.'