Verizon Now Offers 'Unlimited' Data On All Plans, Without $5 Fee (dslreports.com)

In July, Verizon announced some big changes coming to its data plans that will make them more expensive, but will add more data. They include some new features like "Carryover Data," which is Verizon slang for rollover data, and "Safety mode," which eliminates the prospect of an overage fee and reduces the speed of the service until the end of the month. Originally, the "feature" was $5 per month for some shared data plans and was included free for Verizon's XL and XXL plan customers. However, this week Verizon announced it's now including safety mode for "free" on all plans, according to DSL Reports. "Responding to ATT's own new plans and renewed pressure from T-Mobile, Verizon will no longer be charging users the $5 'safety mode' fee starting September 6th. Instead, you'll just be throttled to 128 kbps for the remainder of your billing cycle, unless you're willing to pay $15 per each additional gigabyte at LTE speeds. That's good news for users on the S (2GB), M (4GB) and L (8GB) who were shelling out an extra $5 per month, though it doesn't really help make Verizon's new plans any more interesting overall."

Comments

So that's unlimited data with limits

[wonkey_monkey]

Verizon Now Offers 'Unlimited' Data On All Plans, Without $5 Fee

Instead, you'll just be throttled to 128 kbps for the remainder of your billing cycle

Who's actually calling this "unlimited"? Is Verizon doing so? If so, where?

Or are we now just calling any limited plan "unlimited" because that we've got so used to that terminology coming from the suppliers?

Re:So that's unlimited data with limits

[tepples]

Dropping automatic overages in favor of throttling is more like T-Mobile falling back to EDGE once you run out of 4G data allowance for the month.

Re:So that's unlimited data with limits

[MBGMorden]

The speed becomes limited, but the amount is not.

Personally, I don't have any issue with this. My main fear when it comes to buying a data plan is simply that I'll accidentally transfer too much and get an outrageous bill. Now if I happen to run out, I can still transfer data - albeit slowly. More importantly though, I can buy a data plan that's actually pretty close to what I use rather than buying one with 3-4GB of "padding" to make absolutely sure I never run over.

Re:So that's unlimited data with limits

[Anonymous Coward]

The speed becomes limited, but the amount is not.

Personally, I don't have any issue with this. My main fear when it comes to buying a data plan is simply that I'll accidentally transfer too much and get an outrageous bill. Now if I happen to run out, I can still transfer data - albeit slowly. More importantly though, I can buy a data plan that's actually pretty close to what I use rather than buying one with 3-4GB of "padding" to make absolutely sure I never run over.

Your woman uses some "padding" to make up for her A-cups. Such tiny tits would be understandable on a very slim woman, but on a fat chick they're just plain pathetic.

Re:So that's unlimited data with limits

[Anonymous Coward]

You know what? Fuck you and fuck your line of bullshit. What's sad is you actually write with some sort history lesson.

Re:So that's unlimited data with limits

[jarablue]

I'm the AC above. Again signing in to say fuck off.

Re:So that's unlimited data with limits

[Anonymous Coward]

The problem is socioeconomic. Better schools, richer parents, etc. benefited non-blacks for over a century after slavery was abolished. Talk to an educated person from South Africa or Ghana and you'll understand. Open your mind and you'll see that everyone who has an equal opportunity has similar potential.

Re:So that's unlimited data with limits

[Anonymous Coward]

The problem is socioeconomic. Better schools, richer parents, etc. benefited non-blacks for over a century after slavery was abolished.

Considering the AC was talking about Africa and the times when the white man first discovered it and its black inhabitants, you are responding to something that was not said. If it was just socioeconomics then the black man with his thousands of years head start would have also sailed around the world and likely would have discovered the white man first, by a huge margin of time - if in fact they were equals.

Talking about what happened after the white man invents trans-oceanic ships, and the maps and the compasses, and the sextants and the accurate clocks needed to measure latitudes and longitudes, and discovers a primitive tribal basically stone-age black man ... well you see, you missed the point entirely. Either you really aren't very bright or you're trying very hard to stick to a narrative. One way or the other you won't answer the question being posed because there is only one factual answer - they are not equals. Not by a long shot.

Re:So that's unlimited data with limits

[Anonymous Coward]

Same AC here - consider too that in terms of material wealth, you can't dream of a better land than the continent of Africa. Gold, diamonds, many other minerals, lumber, arable land, water, coastline, wildlife, fishing, fossil fuels, man you name it, Africa is rich in it. Long before the white man invented sails and discovered the black man, if it was just "socioeconomics" and "slavery" then the blacks would have used that abundance around them and discovered mathematics, advanced architecture, built empires, and sailed the world long before white men discovered bronze. With thousands of years head start that should have been trivial. If in fact they are equals.

So no, don't roll out this trite "disadvantaged victim" shit. It won't fly, not with anyone aware of the facts, not with anyone who has the courage to call things what they are even if that carries a stigma.

Re:So that's unlimited data with limits

[bondsbw]

The amount is limited by speed. At 128kbps you could download close to 40GB of data in a 31 day month. Even assuming infinite bandwidth during your non-throttled period, the most you could possibly download during a month is your data plan + 40GB.

Re:So that's unlimited data with limits

[MBGMorden]

While true, by that definition unlimited has no real meaning, because it's never possible. The speed is ALWAYS limited. Whether it's 128Kbps or the physical capability of the network, there is always a maximum speed and hence some maximum amount of data that could be transferred if you went at that speed constantly.

Re:So that's unlimited data with limits

[Anonymous Coward]

Personally, I don't have any issue with this.

Then you, and others like you, are part of the problem and allow the providers to continue the "unlimited" shenanigans for no good reason.

An "unlimited" service, advertised as such, should, subject to network congestion issues at any point in time, provide the stated bandwidth, whatever it may be, for the entirety of the billing period, e.g. a month. In other words, it should NOT have a data cap.

If 100Mbps constantly is just "too much" data accumulated over a month for the poor provider, due to not building in enough capacity in the infrastructure, then sell the unlimited plan at 50Mbps or even 25Mpbs. That way the customer knows what to buy and what the result will be.

Personally, I would most definitely by an (actual) unlimited plan at 25Mbps which will never be artificially throttled any further than a not-unlimited plan at 100Mbps which will suddenly be throttled down to some minuscule bandwidth at the most inopportune moment.

The key here, which some people appear to simply not get, is that "unlimited" means that no further artificial limits will be imposed upon your connection while using it, instead you will get the bandwidth you signed up for (again, not necessarily max speed of the medium, and also subject to transient network congestion issues) without any further limits during the payment period, regardless of whether you max it all the time or not.

Selling a plan at 25Mbps without a data cap is NOT limiting it. I know what the bandwidth is that I am signing up for, and I know what it will be (almost) all the time. Throttling the bandwidth artificially based on transferred amount of data (i.e. having a data cap) IS limiting it. This is the way (all, almost all) physical connections work. There are no data caps. As it should be. If the network can't handle it, then sell the unlimited plans with a lower bandwidth as said above, like 25Mbps, and without any data cap. Presto, you have an actual unlimited plan.

Nothing with a data cap should ever be allowed to be called "unlimited" because it's simply a lie.

Re:So that's unlimited data with limits

[bill_mcgonigle]

The speed becomes limited, but the amount is not.

"Rate-limited, uncapped" would be something most people could understand.

Re: So that's unlimited data with limits

[Malenx]

Ok, let's take your perspective then. They are offering unlimited 2g speeds with X gb of 4g premium data. Honestly though, nobody cares about marketing speech.

The reality is they are essentially giving everyone a free overage protection toggle in this announcement. It's a good thing.

Re: So that's unlimited data with limits

[Anonymous Coward]

Honestly though, nobody cares about marketing speech.

Of course people care about marketing speech. If they didn't, we wouldn't have any. The only thing I want is for the providers to stop lying, or at least lie a bit less. Apparently, that's too much to ask. Meh.

Re:So that's unlimited data with limits

[jmac_the_man]

Verizon's name for this feature is "Safety Mode" because it helps keep you safe from an unexpected charge at the end of the month. It's an accurate name.

The phrase "Unlimited Data" comes from Slashdot, not Verizon. Verizon is describing these plans as limited to however many GB of data are in the contract.

Re:So that's unlimited data with limits

[jmac_the_man]

Verizon isn't describing these plans as unlimited. That's something the Slashdot submitter pulled out of their ass. Verizon is calling this feature "Safety Mode."

Re:So that's unlimited data with limits

[Anonymous Coward]

Too little, too late. I've spent over $6000 on Sprint since they offered unlimited data and Verizon did not.

Re:So that's unlimited data with limits

[Anonymous Coward]

Most of that gold, diamonds and ivory was stolen by the British in the 18th-19th centuries (see map) and is exploited by Australia to this day. The UK has a concept of the "Commonwealth of Nations" that still report to the Queen.

It is interesting to read about the earlier kingdoms on that continent. Open your mind, just because you believe something doesn't make it true. There's a place in India that had indoor plumbing about 5000 years ago. Societies fail, technology is lost only to be rediscovered centuries later.

The oldest known city predates the Egyptians by 5000 years.

Re: So that's unlimited data with limits

[tentenone]

free overage protection

You mean overage protection included in the price, right? Or overage protection at no additional charge. There's a difference between those things and free (I'm not even talking about the free/libre differences).

Re:So that's unlimited data with limits

[HughMayle]

I remember getting an email from Virgin Mobile (when they first started throttling users) that containerd the statement " unlimited does not mean unlimited..." These guys are now apparently allowed to make up their own definitions of words.

In other news

[Anonymous Coward]

Rates for all plans will increase $10 starting next month.

Re:In other news

[sims 2]

What!? They just went up $20 a few months ago!

Re: In other news

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude, that was , like, a few months ago. Get with the times.

Arby's

[Anonymous Coward]

We have the meats.

Viewer discretion advised.

Read the 'Fine Print'

[Anonymous Coward]

"Carryover Data expires at the end of your next bill cycle. For example, if you don't use your entire data allowance in March, that unused data will available to use until the end of your April bill cycle." So it's a one month "Carryover".

$15/GB

[guruevi]

That's more expensive than my old dial up, I had 10GB for $10/mo including a POP, mail, hosting etc.

Heh...doesn't really help me...

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm at 50GB of data. A drop to 2G data rates from 4G? Fuck you Verizon...this wasn't an improvement. Now...if you throttle to 3G rates, we might talk and I might save a bit when we're over the usual 20 or so G per month we do because of being out at the farm.

Questions...

[antdude]

How do existing members enroll to this plan, or it is automatic? Thank you in advance.

Too late.

[roc97007]

Too late. I already switched to t-mobile, which still had unlimited plans, and now it's too much trouble to switch back to Verizon. Tough luck.

Overage charges have been their business model

[localroger]

For some time I used a Verizon 3G mifi hotspot for general net access. One month I went about 1 gig over my 5 gig plan and it doubled my bill. I called customer service and they generously offered to cancel that particular charge, but I when Itold the guy (who was not in India, BTW) that if it ever happened again I'd have to drop the service, he had nothing to help me. A week later he actually called me to let me know they had added a cool feature which would send me a text when I was near the limit to warn me, but I reminded him that the mifi isn't really a phone and the only way I could use it to read SMS messages was to physically plug it into my computer's USB port, which would temporarily disable it as far as using it for internet access. Oops. Sure enough it happened again and despite my deep abiding hatred of our local provider today I have a cable modem.

Verizon being only slightly less greedy...

[Anonymous Coward]

In leu of competition. Yawn.