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Verizon Purges Unlimited Data Customers, Targets Those Using 200GB (arstechnica.com)
If you're a Verizon customer on an unlimited data plan who uses more than 200GB a month, you will soon need to switch to a limited plan or be disconnected, according to Verizon. "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 small group of customers on unlimited plans who use more than 200GB a month that they must move to a Verizon Plan by February 16, 2017," Verizon spokesperson Kelly Crummey told Ars Technica today. Ars reports: Since Verizon stopped offering unlimited data to new smartphone customers in 2011, this change affects only longtime customers who were allowed to hang on to the old plans. Verizon could simply force all customers who aren't under contract to switch to new plans, but instead it has periodically made moves that reduce the numbers of unlimited data subscribers. This policy will apply to people who average more than 200GB "over several months," Verizon said. Customers who do not move to limited plans "will be disconnected," Verizon confirmed. On limited plans, customers get reduced speeds after they exceed monthly data limits unless they purchase extra 4G LTE data. Verizon previously purged its unlimited data rolls in August 2016. In that case, Verizon set a limit of 500GB a month, the company told Ars today. This is more specific information than we previously reported. Shortly before the August 2016 move, Verizon told us that it was targeting customers who were "using data amounts well in excess of our largest plan size (100GB)," but Verizon did not specify that it was only targeting customers using at least 500GB. With the threshold being dropped from 500GB to 200GB, the latest move will affect customers who weren't using enough data to be caught up in the last round.
Sounds like a great time to get a different provider.
Helluva name for a spokesperson
So "unlimited data" customers who use more than a 200GB cap are forced into a limited plan? That's a rather odd definition of "unlimited" from Verizon.
I have altered the deal
pray I don't alter it any further
With the threshold being dropped from 500GB to 200GB, the latest move will affect customers who weren't using enough data to be caught up in the last round.
Funny way to say more customers will be affected by lowering the threshold.
I mean this literally... other than bandwidth hogs, who cares? Every decade or two, when it's time to get a new wireless plan, I go to the wireless store, and I buy something that they have in stock, within my budget. I couldn't care if it was 200 GB, 500 GB, or FairyDust GB. A wireless plan is a wireless plan is a wireless plan.
So.. Are we moving beyond simple throttling and are throwing unprofitable but paying customers over the side because they use too much of their "unlimited" data transfer limits? You idiots, just institute progressive throttles on your "problem" paying customers until they start switching, but DON'T announce it to the world. Either that, or start raising rates for these customers.... Oh wait, you locked them into long term contracts? Live with it, pay them to leave or what have you, but it's YOUR mistake to deal with not your customer's...
Why am I not surprised this is Verizon? Hmm?
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
First they came for 200 GB users, I was not a 200 GB User, so I did nothing.
Then they came for 100 GB users, and I was not a 100 GB User, so I did nothing
Then they came for 50 GB Users, and I was not a 50 GB users, so I did nothing.
Then they came for me, and millions like me, and we all cried like babies.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
I have been saying for years that paying for data instead of a connection is the worst deal imaginable. Unfortunately most consumers do not understand they re totally being ripped off. When I was using a 4g modem (basically a permanent home based hot spot) to get internet from Clear.com I paid $50 dollars a month unlimited. I had up to eight connections. Typically had three connections active.Not being a gamer or mega user of any sort, my typical consumption was approximately 80 to 160 GB a month. Not a single problem for the 3 years I used the service. Sprint bought out the company and shut them down.Try getting that much bandwidth tethering your laptop to your cell phone for only $50 a month.
It is a subtle but important distinction. They can't change the contract at literally anytime but next month they can refuse to offer you this month's contract terms.
LOL, somewhere buried in the fine print no one reads it probably says you agree to the terms of this contract, which we can change anytime we want, but in legal mumbo-jumbo.
Not to be an apologist for a telecom company, in this case Verizon, but holy crap 500 GB is a lot of 4G/LTE data used in a month, even 200 GB on a single cell device is a lot of data. I personally can't imagine using that much data or spending that much time on a smart device. What uses would other /. residents find for that amount of data, unless it was your only access point, e.g. you had no wireless at home or were on the road as a full time mobile user ?
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
Marketing:
We have an amazingly fast network capable of moving TBs of data a second!!! Download a movie in super-ultra-HD while boarding your plane in seconds!!! Buy now!!!
Contracts:
We will charge you 1 kidney per movie you download, and shame you in the public square. It is horrible to everyone else if you actually use the network.
Me:
F U. Worrying about getting reamed for data sucks the fun out of it all. Buys a pay-as-you-go phone and doesn't try to do anything "cool".
How are people even doing this? Are they running their entire house through hotspot tethering or something? I rarely use that much on my hardline cable modem, the idea of using it over cellular boggles the mind!
Maybe people in rural areas who can't get better Internet are taking advantage of this...but then rural areas don't have high contention for cellular access, so Verizon really shouldn't be dicks to them.
That's why I dropped them years ago
Unless we double your monthly bill of course.... then the network can handle it fine.... until... you know... next time it can't......
You are being ripped off every second of every day, so that advertisers can help rip you off even more tomorrow.
Or better, force companies like Verizon to conduct their business honestly and stop advertising limited plans as unlimited.
Verizon hasn't advertised an "unlimited" plan to the public for years to my knowledge, and this story is about Verizon phasing it out to grandfathered customers. It's obviously a gradual rebranding of the grandfathered "unlimited" plan to what Verizon intended it to be in the first place: a 100 GB/mo plan.
No such thing as Unlimited. It's always been limited.
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
I also hear that Verizon is doing away with contracts all together. This is how they will worm out of the grandfathered unlimited plans. They will say it only applies to contract customers once the contracts are gone so is the unlimited data. Problem solved.
If Verizon wants to screw customers more, then keep that in mind when they have to reinstate unlimited data (and in a way that is accessible to the masses) to get access to 5G.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
Sounds like you never knew of the restrictiveness of the Compuserve era.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
This is when the libertarian snark really does no favors.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
I forget which, but another cellular provider's commercials claim that all the networks are within %1 of each other. Don't believe it? I don't either.
Everyone other Verizon customer is paying so these folks can be heavy users. Doesn't bother me that bandwidth hogs get throttled or have to pay...
because 1's and 0's will run out if they're not careful...
Wow what a shocker. You mean unlimited doesn't mean unlimited? who would have thunk it?
We'll be down to a bit under 10GB/mo allowed in 3 years if they follow this 60%/mo decrease pattern.
Unlimited in their dictionary means = you can use it any way you want as long as it does not violate our rules
I just wish that the data I don't use per month could be credited back. It seems pretty fucked up that I can use 3/5 gigs this month and get no credit back, then have to pay an overage next month if I use 7/5 gigs.
Per month? What do they do if you use 200GB per day? Send an employee around to throttle you ['re connection] ?
Requiem for the American Dream
first they came for the 500GB but I wasn't one so I was silent ....
then they came for the 200GB but I wasn't one so I only posted on slashdot
then they will come for the above 100GB but I'm not one so I only clicked like on the EFF
then they will continue to jack up prices and offer less
Wait, by lowering the threshold they'll snare more people? Wow, thanks for pointing that out Captain Obvious!
Ken
In the USA... unlimited limits you.
If you're using 200GB a month of wireless data you're clearly a fuckstick who should be purged from the planet.
t-mobile. Finally, I can now call myself a 1-percenter!
If Verizon was in the Interstate toll road highway business.
"Because our Interstate is a shared resource and we need to ensure all customers have a great driving experience on Verizon tollway, we are notifying a small group of customers on unlimited plans who drive more than 200 miles a month that they must move to a limited Verizon Plan by February 16, 2017, such as the 30 mile toll plan for $120, addition miles would be build at $10 per mile."
Seriously.
I had one of the accounts that was unlimited. I purposely held onto it when they stopped selling it. In 2014, I deployed via the US Military and send a registered letter to Verizon requesting that they do a military suspend on my account for a period of 12 months or until I contact them about it. They did just that initially and provided me a letter stating that it was under a military suspension and could be reinstated by making a phone call or would be automatically reinstated after 12 months.
When I returned to the states I was informed by a baffled customer service rep that I no longer had an account with Verizon and that I had requested my account be terminated, not suspended. There was no way to reinstate the account as unlimited and I was offered one of their limited data accounts.
I didn't use more than 15 GB per month. I did not use it for illegal downloading. I used it to tether via wifi or USB to connect my laptop to the internet to be able to get work email, web browsing, and SSH - no video streaming, no hefty downloads. I just enjoyed the unlimited data for the peace of mind when tethering.
I went to another company and haven't considered going back to Verizon. Granted, I'm not unlimited, but at least my money isn't going to a company that sees unlimited data plans as undesireable enough to do something like they did to me.
Verizon also increased the cost of the unlimited data plan from $29.99 to $49.99 (that's in addition to whatever voice plan you had) just a few months ago.
Would be amusing in the wrongest of ways if they used Verizon Math to set quotas.
For example:
100 Gigabytes -> 0.100 Gigabits
It's not like they've done that before.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
Libertarian snark really does no favors here.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.