Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,488
30,724


verizonlogo-150x90.jpg
As of today, new Verizon iPhone customers don't have an unlimited data option. As a result, new customers will need to keep track of their data usage. From VZ's press release about the change:
#DATA – Customers can check data usage by dialing #DATA and pressing send from Verizon Wireless phones to receive a free text message with the information.

My Verizon and My Verizon Mobile – Customers can monitor data usage directly from their handsets via My Verizon Mobile or online through My Verizon.

Data Usage Calculator – At verizon.com, customers can learn about common features and activities that utilize data and determine estimated total monthly data usage using the Data Usage Calculator. It can be found by simply searching for “data usage calculator” on the Verizon Wireless website.
Of course, existing Verizon iPhone owners can keep their unlimited plans, just like their AT&T brethren.

Article Link: With Unlimited Data Gone, Verizon Touts Data Monitoring
 
Last edited:

unlimitedx

macrumors 6502a
Jun 15, 2010
635
0
At least at&t offered a $5 discount for 2gb. Now Verizon is charging the same by providing way less. What value are they providing?
 

Sjmarcy

macrumors newbie
Dec 16, 2009
13
1
Will Verizon's sales volume go down with the big price increase?

Will it go up as people hit the caps and then have to pay big penalties?

Yeah the people will just love Verizon if that happens a lot...
 

kjs862

macrumors 65816
Jan 21, 2004
1,297
24
I switched to verizon last night, but now I can't restore my new verizon phone from my att iphone backup :mad:

i may just cancel and forget about all of this
 

itsalexaye

macrumors regular
Jul 7, 2011
128
0
Michigan
I think their sales will be about the same, since all iphone carriers have tiered data now.

Only android and blackberry users will switch to Sprint/T-Mobile
 

daneoni

macrumors G4
Mar 24, 2006
11,598
1,146
I switched to verizon last night, but now I can't restore my new verizon phone from my att iphone backup :mad:

i may just cancel and forget about all of this

Well yea...network settings are vastly different between both device versions. I doubt it was ever gonna work.
 

frocco

macrumors 6502
Jan 27, 2009
494
43
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

This killed it for me. Too much greed, I plan to cancel and go ore paid or maybe try straight talk.
 

als522877

macrumors member
Aug 27, 2008
31
0
I switched to verizon last night, but now I can't restore my new verizon phone from my att iphone backup :mad:

i may just cancel and forget about all of this


The reason you're unable to restore from backup is most likely due to your ATT phone being on a version of iOS newer than 4.2.8. You are unable to restore on a device that has an older version of IOS than the device that made said backup. If you're savvy, you can jailbreak your ATT iPhone, use one of a verity of programs from Cyida to back it up, Jailbreak your Verizon iPhone and use the same app to restore the info.

This is a HUGE problem Apple has caused by having off builds of iOS. iOS 5 should unify them again.

EDIT: My father had an iPod Touch 3rd Gen & upgraded his enV3 & has the same issue. Thats what I did to restore his App info.
 

dusty5683

macrumors newbie
Sep 3, 2010
2
0
Will Verizon's sales volume go down with the big price increase?

Will it go up as people hit the caps and then have to pay big penalties?

Yeah the people will just love Verizon if that happens a lot...

If this next iPhone isn't lte capable(which I imagine it won't be) it will be a very hard sell for Verizon. At&t has cheaper plans and faster 3g.
I pray that Verizon reconsiders. Otherwise they are guaranteed to loose my business.
 

xvision

macrumors newbie
Jul 7, 2011
1
0
SMS threshold alerts subjected to delays

Do you know that the SMS alerts send by the carriers like AT&T and Verizon are subjected to delays? It's not really true that the carriers provide real time data usage tracking and alerts to the customers. Their figures are not updated immediately after you used some data. It could take hours or days for the carrier to refresh and give you the latest usage amount. This is mentioned in the disclaimers. For example, on AT&T's site (http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/plans/data-plans.jsp), it reads: Data usage information generally will be available for viewing within 24 hours or less of actual data usage.

Thus, it would be wise for a consumer to install an app like DataMan to provide true real time tracking that gets the usage amount directly from the iPhone. It's stats are always up to date. Hence, its threshold alerts are real time. DataMan is able to alert the user using local notification once a user-customizable threshold is exceeded. This helps stop overage charges.
 

Cp96alumni

macrumors newbie
Jul 6, 2011
25
0
Verizon really botched this up. They not only are charging more than AT&T and try to make us forget that by offering usage notification, but they are trying to sell this as a good thing for consumers. The marketing/sales guys that thought all this up should be looking for new jobs. Are they really that out of touch? I understand they want to make money but stop playing customers as idiots. Enough already! Just state it like it is. You want more money and are offering less. No data monitoring is gonna make us feel better about less for the same price.
 
Last edited:

beany boy

macrumors 6502
Jun 21, 2010
291
4
Cleveland, Ohio
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8J2)

Can you hear me now?
 
If you're already on Verizon...

...why would you cancel if you already have unlimited data grandfathered in?

I think he's just pissed on a philosophical level...as am I. $30 per month for unlimited data was overpriced enough. Now things are just criminal.

Instead of attracting more customers through price reduction, they're taking advantage of their customer's "need for smart phones/mobile web access". They have to be smugly congratulating themselves. It's the classic tale of giving less for more. The punch line to this one however, is that service costs them such a small fraction of what we pay.
I dont mind the price of milk going up in light of fuel/grain prices rising. BUT, what magical ingredient to the ISP/VSP is increasing that justifies their action? None. They cite data caps as required to reign in "heavy data users who burden the network". Fine. Ill believe that. Now, just give us "normal folk" 2GB per month with free tethering for $15.00...and those "heavy users" can pay more accordingly. Sorry, I can barely keep a straight face while typing that dream.

Im really not a hippie socialist on most topics, but these fat cats need to be shot.
 

kdarling

macrumors P6
I think he's just pissed on a philosophical level...as am I. $30 per month for unlimited data was overpriced enough. Now things are just criminal.

I understand, yet it's a bit subjective. A lot of us paid $40 a month a few years ago. Heck, back in 2000 data was often charged by the minute, which really sucked when web browsing at 19Kbps.

... that service costs them such a small fraction of what we pay.

I don't think it's a small fraction. It cost billions to buy LTE bandwidth, to install and maintain equipment and centers, and for increased backhaul to thousands of cell sites for both LTE and EVDO.

Im really not a hippie socialist on most topics, but these fat cats need to be shot.

So... then what do you think of Apple's even larger profits? Apple makes more than Verizon Wireless does, yet they just stash it away instead of using it to help build the costly infrastructures that the iPhone needs to work at all.

Regards.
 

kjs862

macrumors 65816
Jan 21, 2004
1,297
24
The reason you're unable to restore from backup is most likely due to your ATT phone being on a version of iOS newer than 4.2.8. You are unable to restore on a device that has an older version of IOS than the device that made said backup. If you're savvy, you can jailbreak your ATT iPhone, use one of a verity of programs from Cyida to back it up, Jailbreak your Verizon iPhone and use the same app to restore the info.

This is a HUGE problem Apple has caused by having off builds of iOS. iOS 5 should unify them again.

EDIT: My father had an iPod Touch 3rd Gen & upgraded his enV3 & has the same issue. Thats what I did to restore his App info.

Cool thanks for the info. I did some reading on the subject and decided that the effort involved wasn't worth it for me. I canceled my Verizon contract and forfeited the no longer available unlimited data plan, so I'm now back on ATT. I suppose when the next iPhone comes out I will switch to Verizon so I can enjoy their better network in my area. Hopefully they will also be 4g so I can surf and talk. The only thing is I won't be on an unlimited data plan, but I really don't use that much anyways.
 

Rodimus Prime

macrumors G4
Oct 9, 2006
10,136
4
Verizon should of followed what AT&T did and at least make it look like it was not pure greed.
Offering less for the same price is not the way to do it. AT&T at least made it look like they were offering a good deal and for some people it was a great deal cutting their data bill in 1/2 because in a high month they used 100 megs of data.

AT&T offered incentives to switch to a tiered data. What incentives is Verizon offering. If you have unlimited already and if you were paying for tethering you sure as hell are not going to give that up.
I have a friend who is in that position and he is not going to give it up. There is zero cost savings for him so why should he pay the same for less.
 

frocco

macrumors 6502
Jan 27, 2009
494
43
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

kdarling said:
This killed it for me. Too much greed, I plan to cancel and go ore paid or maybe try straight talk.

If you're already on Verizon...

...why would you cancel if you already have unlimited data grandfathered in?

I do not have a data plan. Are you saying I can still get unlimited?
 

anthonyw

macrumors newbie
Feb 27, 2011
8
0
No unlimited here in Australia, you get used to it.

Check out consume in the app store, it rocks for keeping track of usage and its free.
 

itsalexaye

macrumors regular
Jul 7, 2011
128
0
Michigan
welcome to our world verizon users! AT&T and many of the international carriers (that carry the iPhone) have been on tiered data for a while. so now you get to make sure you are always connected to WiFi now lol
 
I understand, yet it's a bit subjective. A lot of us paid $40 a month a few years ago. Heck, back in 2000 data was often charged by the minute, which really sucked when web browsing at 19Kbps.



I don't think it's a small fraction. It cost billions to buy LTE bandwidth, to install and maintain equipment and centers, and for increased backhaul to thousands of cell sites for both LTE and EVDO.



So... then what do you think of Apple's even larger profits? Apple makes more than Verizon Wireless does, yet they just stash it away instead of using it to help build the costly infrastructures that the iPhone needs to work at all.

Regards.

Absolutely, data charges are subjective. I am basing my understanding of what seems "fair" upon anecdotal pricing from international service providers...from what I hear, Europeans pay much less for those services.

Also, in response to your point regarding infrastructure cost...yes, those upgrades are costly, but they represent a finite expenditure which is quickly recouped through the expensive plans we pay; more so, the vast majority of smart phones cannot take advantage of new LTE/4G speeds. So, this justification seems a tad unsavory to me.

Regardless, when you look studies of cost against service (for the mobile provider industry), the difference is huge.

Lastly, Apple's profit margins juxtaposed against their lack of philanthropic efforts and stagnant RD expansion does leave me very critical and disappointed. It very much goes against Steve's mantra of "were here for our customers, not our shareholders".

Thanks for the great comment, stay well friend:)
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.