Grandfathered Verizon User: Should I Learn to Live with Limited Data?

[DVNIEL]

The day of reckoning is approaching: October 1st, 2014. I'm a rather "regular" user of my device in the San Francisco Bay Area (one of the heaviest locations for data usage).

I love YouTube. I use my Google Maps because I hate the dated GPS in my 2008 BMW. I surf a lot. I have a company iPhone/iPad but I hate using them because I want to get away from work so I only use it when I'm working; working on the work/life balance. Also, no big-brother monitoring about my work device usage, too. My Comcast at home is great but sometimes the Wi-Fi is just wonky so I switch to my amazing LTE Verizon connection and sometimes forget to turn my phone's Wi-Fi back on.

I know I'm definitely going to get throttled. My data usage has undeniably gone well above 4.7GB (the supposed 5%) in the past 6 months.

For the past 2 years I've bought all my toys on the off-contract price, enjoying my unlimited, throttle-free LTE. But throttling is coming, and the 6 Plus I want is a mighty hefty price off contract. I'm actually having to consider learning how to limit my use and buy my iPhone with a renewed contract. There's less incentive paying off-contract price, knowing that my data speeds will be throttled.


Anyone of you with a similar dilemma thinking of the similar jump? Any reformed grandfathered plan users learn to live with limited data? How did you do it? Should I fork the hefty price and keep my unlimited data? Any suggestions on living this limited life?

Feel free to answer any of the questions above.

Updated: I've considered T-Mobile. T-Mobile does not have great reception in the areas I frequent the most. Also, they no longer honor my company's corporate discount with the throttle-free plan.

 

[imaketouchtheme]

The day of reckoning is approaching: October 1st, 2014. I'm a rather "regular" user of my device.

I love YouTube. I use my Google Maps because I hate the dated GPS in my 2008 BMW. I surf a lot. I have a company iPhone/iPad but I hate using them because I want to get away from work so I only use it when I'm working, working on work/life balance. Also, no big-brother monitoring about my work device usage, too. My Comcast at home is great but sometimes the Wi-Fi is just wonky so I switch to my amazing LTE Verizon connection and sometimes forget to turn my phone's Wi-Fi back on.

I know I'm definitely going to get throttled. My data usage has definitely gone well above 4.7GB (the supposed 5%) in the past 6 months.

For the past 2 years I've bought all my toys on the off-contract price, enjoying my unlimited, throttle-free LTE. But throttling is coming, and the 6 Plus I want is a mighty hefty price off contract. I'm actually having to consider learning how to limit my use and buy my iPhone with a renewed contract.


Anyone of you with a similar dilemma thinking of the similar jump? Any reformed grandfathered plan users learn to live the limited? How did you do it? Should I fork the hefty price and keep my unlimited data? Any suggestions on living this limited life?

Feel free to answer any of the questions above.

If you decide to switch, Verizon has a "Max" plan available to only people upgrading from unlimited data. Your plan stays the same, but you get 5GB of data instead of the traditional 2GB offered to regular customers. Just something to think about.

 

[ilkevinli]

No. You get 6 GB for 30 or 8 GB (with tethering) for 50.

If you decide to switch, Verizon has a "Max" plan available to only people upgrading from unlimited data. Your plan stays the same, but you get 5GB of data instead of the traditional 2GB offered to regular customers. Just something to think about.

 

[Applejuiced]

I'd try to keep it.
But its verizon so I'd look on switching carriers all together.
If you stay on unlimited with them they will throttle you for 2 months period instead of 1 billing cycle like everyone else.

 

[mvsrt99]

I'm riding this unlimited (15-20 gbs/month) train until it falls off the tracks. It's going to be interesting to see how many of these towers Verizon deems "congested."

I'm also still interested to see if the FCC has an additional response to Verizon before October 1st.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[DVNIEL]

I'd try to keep it.
But its verizon so I'd look on switching carriers all together.
If you stay on unlimited with them they will throttle you for 2 months period instead of 1 billing cycle like everyone else.

Though about carrier switching but no one does it in terms of reception for me like Verizon. Also, where did you read about the 2-month throttling? This is new information to me.

I'm riding this unlimited (15-20 gbs/month) train until it falls off the tracks. It's going to be interesting to see how many of these towers Verizon deems "congested."

I'm also still interested to see if the FCC has an additional response to Verizon before October 1st.

Good luck with your decision!

Yikes 15-20 GBs? Hats off to you. I've spent 2 hours of my day off today trying to find any updates from the FCC regarding their frowning on this. Let's hope something something positive comes into fruition before October 1st. Cheers.

 

[EzDoesItSC]

My wife gave her unlimited up for the 5s and usually doesn't use more than 1.5gb we were offered the max plan 5gb for $30 but she wanted to keep her hotspot on her phone and was told the only way we could get the hotspot was to go with 8gb max plan. I have thought about doing the same and getting the 8gb so i could keep my hotspot as well but I just wonder is one of these more everything plans would be cheaper than having $100 worth of data charges on 2 phones .

 

[Applejuiced]

Though about carrier switching but no one does it in terms of reception for me like Verizon. Also, where did you read about the 2-month throttling? This is new information to me.

Of Course Verizon had to beat AT&T greediness with stricter throttling terms so its 4.7GB of data for them and for 2 billing cycles.
You know that's what they all think when switching carriers. Noone does it better than verizon is bs.
All you gotta do is give it a try. You can save yourself money, aggravation and still be able do what you been doing with another network.
Try Tmobile's test drive for a few weeks. Its free and you got nothing to lose.
Also AT&T will let you test out their network and return the device within a month if you're not happy with them.
Don't put up with worst terms, more money for similar services and tons of restrictions by Verizon. They are the worst and most expensive carrier out there.

 

[blcfla]

I'm in the same boat as you, bought the 5 & 5S off contract to keep my U/L. I really plan to keep doing it until it's totally banned or they throttle me badly enough that I wanna quit it. Here's my 6 month chart:

When will anyone begin to notice these "optimization" throttling procedures? I was in Orlando over weekend and did speed test and it was pulling 43~mb download & 5~ up. That is after I've used about 9+gb for the month.

Should be interesting to see what happens but I'll keep it for now!

 

[Applejuiced]

When will anyone begin to notice these "optimization" throttling procedures?

They are starting October 1st.

 

[blcfla]

They are starting October 1st.

ohhhh this should be interesting, I didn't think 4.7gb to be a top 5% user but I definitely use double that most months so I'll be able to notice. If they throttle me to 3G-type speeds I'll be jumping ship or changing plans real quick.

 

[Applejuiced]

ohhhh this should be interesting, I didn't think 4.7gb to be a top 5% user but I definitely use double that most months so I'll be able to notice. If they throttle me to 3G-type speeds I'll be jumping ship or changing plans real quick.

Yeah, they claim whatever percent they want and put more and more restrictions.
Completely anti consumer company.
And they wont just throttle you to 3G speeds. With AT&T throttling is 0.5mbps, with Tmobile their throttling is even worst between 100-160kbps.
Knowing Verizons slick moves I bet its down to miserable data speeds like T Mobile.

 

[blcfla]

Yeah, they claim whatever percent they want and put more and more restrictions.
Completely anti consumer company.
And they wont just throttle you to 3G speeds. With AT&T throttling is 0.5mbps, with Tmobile their throttling is even worst between 100-160kbps.
Knowing Verizons slick moves I bet its down to miserable data speeds like T Mobile.

Stinks I use my phone all day to run a business and Verizon has been pretty flawless for me up to this point. I'd rather pay for the data and get real speeds then have "unlimited" with a snail pace.

 

[DVNIEL]

Stinks I use my phone all day to run a business and Verizon has been pretty flawless for me up to this point. I'd rather pay for the data and get real speeds then have "unlimited" with a snail pace.

Ugh. If I get snail speeds after throttling I just might have to jump ship: either go to a Max plan or bring my new 6+ to T-Mobile.

 

[3rdiguy]

I'm living in Oakland CA & I'm planning on jumping to tmobile. Love my verizon unlimited data but I don't wanna drop over $900 + tax to keep it. My girl has a htc one m8 and she says service is good

 

[DVNIEL]

I'm living in Oakland CA & I'm planning on jumping to tmobile. Love my verizon unlimited data but I don't wanna drop over $900 + tax to keep it. My girl has a htc one m8 and she says service is good

I live in Oakland, CA also (Chinatown to be exact)... have you tried or heard how T-Mobile is here?

 

[campingsk8er]

I'm in the same boat as you, bought the 5 & 5S off contract to keep my U/L. I really plan to keep doing it until it's totally banned or they throttle me badly enough that I wanna quit it. Here's my 6 month chart:

Image

When will anyone begin to notice these "optimization" throttling procedures? I was in Orlando over weekend and did speed test and it was pulling 43~mb download & 5~ up. That is after I've used about 9+gb for the month.

Should be interesting to see what happens but I'll keep it for now!

how'd you get this chart?

 

[campingsk8er]

The day of reckoning is approaching: October 1st, 2014. I'm a rather "regular" user of my device in the San Francisco Bay Area (one of the heaviest locations for data usage).

I love YouTube. I use my Google Maps because I hate the dated GPS in my 2008 BMW. I surf a lot. I have a company iPhone/iPad but I hate using them because I want to get away from work so I only use it when I'm working; working on the work/life balance. Also, no big-brother monitoring about my work device usage, too. My Comcast at home is great but sometimes the Wi-Fi is just wonky so I switch to my amazing LTE Verizon connection and sometimes forget to turn my phone's Wi-Fi back on.

I know I'm definitely going to get throttled. My data usage has undeniably gone well above 4.7GB (the supposed 5%) in the past 6 months.

For the past 2 years I've bought all my toys on the off-contract price, enjoying my unlimited, throttle-free LTE. But throttling is coming, and the 6 Plus I want is a mighty hefty price off contract. I'm actually having to consider learning how to limit my use and buy my iPhone with a renewed contract. There's less incentive paying off-contract price, knowing that my data speeds will be throttled.


Anyone of you with a similar dilemma thinking of the similar jump? Any reformed grandfathered plan users learn to live with limited data? How did you do it? Should I fork the hefty price and keep my unlimited data? Any suggestions on living this limited life?

Feel free to answer any of the questions above.

Updated: I've considered T-Mobile. T-Mobile does not have great reception in the areas I frequent the most. Also, they no longer honor my company's corporate discount with the throttle-free plan.

how'd you get this chart?

Nevermind, I found it... Well I use about 10GB a month, thats without tethering... So I will not be switching to limited, I need my unlimited haha

 

[3rdiguy]

I live in Oakland, CA also (Chinatown to be exact)... have you tried or heard how T-Mobile is here?

My lady has had it for a couple years and she says it's pretty good. She has htc one m8 and has LTE at home so that's cool