Verizon Clarifies Discontinuation of Grandfathered Unlimited Data: Applies to New Subsidized Devices

[AustinIllini]

Originally Posted by iamjose

The executives at Verizon have every right to change how they do business, but seeing how I'm the CEO Jose's Family Inc., I have the right to change who I send my business to. As soon as they formally annouce this change, I will formally annouce I'm changing my home phone, internet, Fios and wireless account to a company other than Verizon.

That's too bad! Fios is the only cable brand I have ever heard called "fantastic"

[iamjose]

Originally Posted by AustinIllini

That's too bad! Fios is the only cable brand I have ever heard called "fantastic"

I've used others in my area like Time Warner, and I honestly don't notice a difference. DirecTV has been begging me to come back, I might give them a second look.

They'll be looking at losing all of my business over this... It's a drop in the bucket, I know, but if there are others who feel the same way perhaps they might not be so gun-ho about screwing over loyal customers.

[Getintothegame]

Originally Posted by iamjose

I've used others in my area like Time Warner, and I honestly don't notice a difference. DirecTV has been begging me to come back, I might give them a second look.

They'll be looking at losing all of my business over this... It's a drop in the bucket, I know, but if there are others who feel the same way perhaps they might not be so gun-ho about screwing over loyal customers.

Same here. As a $400 a month account, its not too substantial for them, but dang, it will feel AMAZING dropping them taking a stand for something.

You know, Sprint has got to be dancing over this news. Today would be an AWESOME day to invest in them.

[iamjose]

Originally Posted by Getintothegame

You know, Sprint has got to be dancing over this news. Today would be an AWESOME day to invest in them.

They've already started taking advantage of this news... They are offering in a quick $100 trade-in for the iPhone 4/4s for anyone wanting to switch. It runs until 6/30/12... I'm looking at getting more info.

[npro1464]

I have to figure out if it'll be worth it for me to switch or try to wait for phones to drop on Craigslist and buy them from there from now on. I only pay like $50 a month because I'm on a family plan with my parents, and on Sprint I'd pay probably $65ish a month after a company discount of mine, but I'd get subsidized phones.

I wonder if I'd be able to use my parents upgrades in the future, who never go over 1GB, and stick my LTE card in that sucker without losing unlimited data.

Also, I have to figure that eventually, VZ will throttle us as well. Hmm..


PS- Please don't sell your iPhone to Sprint for $100. It's worth at least $300-400 on Craigslist.

[peapody]

Originally Posted by iamjose

That makes no sense to me. If I have to pay $750 for an iPhone at full retail price, just to stay with Verizon, I'm going to jump ship to Sprint. My bottom line is with the price of the plan and phone. I'm sure it's just a regional issue but, I didn't have any issues with speed or connectivity when I had my HTC Evo 4G on Sprint's network here in Los Angeles.

The executives at Verizon have every right to change how they do business, but seeing how I'm the CEO Jose's Family Inc., I have the right to change who I send my business to. As soon as they formally annouce this change, I will formally annouce I'm changing my home phone, internet, Fios and wireless account to a company other than Verizon.

It is a real shame what people do out of 'principle'. Just because verizon wireless is changing up things doesn't mean you should jump ship on a quality ISP. I mean you'd have to go to considering Yahoo SBC, time warner, or comcast...*shudder*.

Direct tv feeds you all these promotions and deals but also gives you all these hidden fees, caveats, fine print. You are trading 1 headache for a couple others.

[maril1111]

Originally Posted by Macist

These articles seem strange from a European perspective. Here, there are many options for unlimited data.

i think that depends on the country in DK there isn't such a thing as unlimited but packages go up to 15-20gb of DATA per month... still better than 2 or so which us carriers seem to offer

[eNcrypTioN]

Glad I don't have to worry about this with my Sprint iPhone.

[jtp098]

this will be great for people who want to cell iphones on ebay and such..

[Kelly682]

So I'm glad that Verizon clarified what is going to happen. I ran the numbers for my personal plan:

If I dump my unlimited I'll be paying roughly $108 a month to have my talk, txt and 5GB of data (including phone insurance, taxes and any other charges). That comes out to $2592 for 2 years. Plus the cost of the new iPhone when it comes out $300. Thats $2892 for 2 years.

If I stay with my unlimited plan I'll be paying about $80 monthly to have talk, txt, and umlimited data. Which comes out to $1920 for 2 years. Plus the full retail cost of a new iPhone which is $750. Thats $2670 for 2 years.

It comes down to a $222 difference, which would be $9.25 a month.

Unfortunately I don't have $750 to cash in on a new phone. To me its a little ridiculous. Yes I'll be paying more for less data, but honestly, $10? I barely use 1GB per month. I just chose to go with the 5GB because if the next iPhone is LTE, I know I'll use it a bit more.

So for me it comes down to service. Verizon is the best service around unfortunately. Also comes down to my personal finances. I know I won't be able to drop $750 for a new iPhone. I guess I'll be going for the 5GB and letting go of my unlimited data.

Oh well. It was good while it lasted.

[ggibson913]

As a Verizon Wireless customer I am very unhappy about this. There is a third alternative. Keep your iPhone 4/4S. Then you still get unlimited data and Verizon can go pound salt. If enough customers do this then they will either have to A - Be really greedy and move thier customers without choice to new data plan at which point you can leave. Or B Relent.

[nikhsub1]

Originally Posted by techiegirl

I have no wifi at work and am surfing the net on the phone. I also tether and my kids tether on it when we're out on the road.

That explains your high usage and definitely not the norm, most don't tether and use that much data.

Originally Posted by rgravell

i average around 5gb+ a month. i dont tether, but i do use the phone as my only source of internet at home...

Wow, I would shoot myself if I had to do that. Again I would not put you under the normal user.

Originally Posted by seandudley

Last month I was at about 12gb.. that is on my unlimited iPad, though.

It is far easier to consume data on the ipad then on the iPhone IMO...

So really, as my hunch has somewhat been proven, the removal of unlimited data will really only affect users who are not in the norm - for me I can't see why I would use more data on LTE vs 3Mbps 3G.

Anyway, it does suck that this will be coming to an end for all of us soon but not much we can do and Sprint is not an option for me, it sucks horribly here.

[pesos]

We have two iphone 4s devices on our account, with grandfathered unlimited data.

Is this saying that if, this fall, we buy two new iphone 5 devices (LTE) at full price, we will continue to have unlimited data on the LTE network?

[nikhsub1]

Originally Posted by pesos

We have two iphone 4s devices on our account, with grandfathered unlimited data.

Is this saying that if, this fall, we buy two new iphone 5 devices (LTE) at full price, we will continue to have unlimited data on the LTE network?

Yes.

[DroidConvert]

I guess my days of being on the cutting edge are over. I'll get a used phone on eBay or Craigslist and spend about the same as I would on a brand new, subsidized phone. Oh well, at least I can keep my unlimited data.

[sclawis300]

Ok, so I have 4 lines on my plan. Currently, I only have 2 smartphones and they both have iphone 4s with unlimited data usage. Here is my plan to keep unlimited data for my line.

Upgrade to new iPhone with wife's line and lose unlimited data for her.
Subsequently switch phones between my line and my wife's line.
BOOM! I still have unlimited data WITH the new iphone and my wife and the rest of the fam can split whatever data usage we need.

anyone think that works? see any issues there?

[El Burro]

Originally Posted by sclawis300

Ok, so I have 4 lines on my plan. Currently, I only have 2 smartphones and they both have iphone 4s with unlimited data usage. Here is my plan to keep unlimited data for my line.

Upgrade to new iPhone with wife's line and lose unlimited data for her.
Subsequently switch phones between my line and my wife's line.
BOOM! I still have unlimited data WITH the new iphone and my wife and the rest of the fam can split whatever data usage we need.

anyone think that works? see any issues there?

Learn to read the original post.

[Wicked1]

Originally Posted by barkomatic

Since AT&T already throttles its unlimited users after they reach 3GB (5GB on LTE I understand) I feel like it hardly matters anyway. Metering data will just discourage use. Ultimately, I think this will hurt Apple and other handset manufacturers since metered data pretty much kills many of the advantages of cloud services. Sure, save space on your device by storing your movie in the cloud, but then pay $10 in overages to stream it back. Apple better roll out 256GB iPhones and iPads soon.

This is going to be interesting, since Apple and all other smartphone makers, design phones to take advantage of speed and data, in effect trying to allow the user to have the best experience on a handheld device without the need for a laptop or desktop computer, this will put the hammer down. It will be interesting to see how they all respond, but it seems like only Apple matters when setting standards in the wireless industry, not one other phone mfg has the pull Apple does. I am with AT&T and do not have issues or use a lot of data, so this is not huge for me, but what does bother me is the fact we pay for voice (hardly use this anyway) data and text (which run across the same data path, but we get charged twice) does not seem to change.

I mean we pay for text and data, why not make the entire plan a shared thing, why do we have to pay twice for data. I can see Apple trying to design some new stuff to skirt this issue going forward, just like they did with iMessage.

[wildonrio]

Originally Posted by Kelly682

So I'm glad that Verizon clarified what is going to happen. I ran the numbers for my personal plan:

If I dump my unlimited I'll be paying roughly $108 a month to have my talk, txt and 5GB of data (including phone insurance, taxes and any other charges). That comes out to $2592 for 2 years. Plus the cost of the new iPhone when it comes out $300. Thats $2892 for 2 years.

If I stay with my unlimited plan I'll be paying about $80 monthly to have talk, txt, and umlimited data. Which comes out to $1920 for 2 years. Plus the full retail cost of a new iPhone which is $750. Thats $2670 for 2 years.

It comes down to a $222 difference, which would be $9.25 a month.

Unfortunately I don't have $750 to cash in on a new phone. To me its a little ridiculous. Yes I'll be paying more for less data, but honestly, $10? I barely use 1GB per month. I just chose to go with the 5GB because if the next iPhone is LTE, I know I'll use it a bit more.

So for me it comes down to service. Verizon is the best service around unfortunately. Also comes down to my personal finances. I know I won't be able to drop $750 for a new iPhone. I guess I'll be going for the 5GB and letting go of my unlimited data.

Oh well. It was good while it lasted.

Um according to your math, it's actually cheaper for you to keep unlimited. What's the issue?

[wildonrio]

Is there some sort of loophole we could take advantage of? Such as giving my subsidized option to someone else who doesn't have unlimited, and then having them get me a subsidized phone on their plan, and then activating that phone on my line? That way they get a subsidized phone and so do I, and I get to keep unlimited. Would that work?

[Kelly682]

Originally Posted by wildonrio

Um according to your math, it's actually cheaper for you to keep unlimited. What's the issue?

The issue is, I don't have $750 to put down on a new iPhone. I thought I mentioned that. Actually I did, twice.

Unless you have that kind of cash to give me.

[wildonrio]

Originally Posted by Kelly682

The issue is, I don't have $750 to put down on a new iPhone. I thought I mentioned that. Actually I did, twice.

Unless you have that kind of cash to give me.

You don't have $750 extra in cash on hand? It's like a deposit that you get back as $972 a year later, and you keep unlimited.

[Kelly682]

Okay I need someone to clear something up for me. I know that to keep the unlimited plan we would need to buy a phone at full retail price. I looked at both verizon and apple.com.

On Verizon you can purchase the phone at full retail. However they then give you the option of it being an upgrade to your current device, or adding the device as a 2nd line. My questions here would be... if you upgrade, wouldn't that void your unlimited data? What if you don't need a 2nd device? Even if it didn't void your unlimited data plan, it prompts you to chose a data plan online. Won't let you purchase without a voice/txt/data plan.

On apple.com you can buy an unlocked phone with no contract. However... there is this little fine print... "The unlocked iPhone will not work with CDMA carriers such as Verizon Wireless or Sprint." Since Verizon doesn't use Sim cards (besides for 4G) exactly how would this work for Verizon users?? Unless the 4G Sim card is now Verizons Sim card like AT&T has...

How are people going to be purchasing unlocked Verizon capable iPhones on launch day, all while keeping their unlimited data plans??

I must be missing something. I'm not all that technical with purchasing phones so can someone please enlighten me.

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Originally Posted by wildonrio

You don't have $750 extra in cash on hand? It's like a deposit that you get back as $972 a year later, and you keep unlimited.

No I don't at the moment. I'm working on it though. You made a good point and I'm going to see what I can do. But It would be nice to take donations...

[iHEARTcartoons]

I want to know when they'll allow customers to buy smart phones (ie: iPhone) without a data plan.

[chakraj]

Originally Posted by Kelly682

Okay I need someone to clear something up for me. I know that to keep the unlimited plan we would need to buy a phone at full retail price. I looked at both verizon and apple.com.

On Verizon you can purchase the phone at full retail. However they then give you the option of it being an upgrade to your current device, or adding the device as a 2nd line. My questions here would be... if you upgrade, wouldn't that void your unlimited data? What if you don't need a 2nd device? Even if it didn't void your unlimited data plan, it prompts you to chose a data plan online. Won't let you purchase without a voice/txt/data plan.

On apple.com you can buy an unlocked phone with no contract. However... there is this little fine print... "The unlocked iPhone will not work with CDMA carriers such as Verizon Wireless or Sprint." Since Verizon doesn't use Sim cards (besides for 4G) exactly how would this work for Verizon users?? Unless the 4G Sim card is now Verizons Sim card like AT&T has...

How are people going to be purchasing unlocked Verizon capable iPhones on launch day, all while keeping their unlimited data plans??

I must be missing something. I'm not all that technical with purchasing phones so can someone please enlighten me.

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No I don't at the moment. I'm working on it though. You made a good point and I'm going to see what I can do. But It would be nice to take donations...

The next iphone will be LTe, and on Verizon LTE you do get a sim card that is swapable. SO yes the next iphone from the apple store will work with verizon as long as you get the verizon version.