Two iPhones, shared 1400 minutes, unlimited messaging, one with unlimited data, one with 2GB data.
Saved a little money.
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I CANNOT BELIEVE How Much of a Rip-off Shared Data Plans Are!
- Thread starter opeepingtomo
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Two iPhones, shared 1400 minutes, unlimited messaging, one with unlimited data, one with 2GB data.
Saved a little money.
Over 60% of Verizon (and probably ATT and Sprint) users are all on family plans.
Verizon knows many people create "spare/un used extra lines" and just use that line to get another $199 subsidized iphone 5.
That's really the real reason they created "share everything plan". So you are locked into at least paying $30 for a flip phone if you wanted to add that spare line ($40 for the smartphone) rather than the old plans of paying $10/line and keeping a flip phone on that spare line.
Also do the math. The true savings only start kicking in with 4 lines or more (at 3 lines, it's a wash in terms of whether you have any savings with mobile sharing).
If you have 1 or 2 lines, than you end up paying the most to Verizon (or ATT) for any of their plans.
Verizon knows many people create "spare/un used extra lines" and just use that line to get another $199 subsidized iphone 5.
That's really the real reason they created "share everything plan". So you are locked into at least paying $30 for a flip phone if you wanted to add that spare line ($40 for the smartphone) rather than the old plans of paying $10/line and keeping a flip phone on that spare line.
Also do the math. The true savings only start kicking in with 4 lines or more (at 3 lines, it's a wash in terms of whether you have any savings with mobile sharing).
If you have 1 or 2 lines, than you end up paying the most to Verizon (or ATT) for any of their plans.
Data plans as a whole from carriers are a rip off. Welcome to reality!
You guys must have picked the expensive plans before. We have 2 iPhones on at&t and our bill went up $20/month after going on the shared plan (only 1GB too)
You guys must have picked the expensive plans before. We have 2 iPhones on at&t and our bill went up $20/month after going on the shared plan (only 1GB too)
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why is everyone clamoring for Unlimited Data when they throttle you after a certain amount of GBs and don't really let you exceed 5GB?
My dad, my mom and I have the 4GB AT&T Shared Data and it's $150 + tax which comes out to about $165 a month.
We were paying $227 before.
My dad, my mom and I have the 4GB AT&T Shared Data and it's $150 + tax which comes out to about $165 a month.
We were paying $227 before.
Well I just called Verizon and asked what my total bill woud be after taxes and after my discount on the 4GB plan with 2 smartphones. He said it would be about 132 a month after taxes and discount (this sounds like the before taxes price to me). If this is the case with taxes though I would be saving a couple of dollars, it just still doesn't seem like a good deal because I am trading unlimited data for unlimited minutes and only Saving a few dollars.
Not sure what I am gonna do as I hate to shell out 600-800 dollars for a freaking phone that i probably won't want 2 years from now ( I hate the 2 year phone cycle and I'm over 2 years now but these things get SLOWWW as applications get more features and require more "horsepower"
Yes, throttling isn't ideal but I'd rather be throttled than be hammered with overages.
You'd actually be saving a few dollars every month, for 24 months. You'd also be saving $400+ on the cost of the phone. So the question is, is it worth $450 - $500?
Yes, the discount is ONLY on the Mobile Share data fee. There is no discount on the actual device monthly cost nor any add-on's like roadside assistance, family map, etc.
They told me the discount you receive is on the data you have on the shared plan so you can figure it yourself to see how they get the $132. Verizon is a pain. At least AT&T let's their customers upgrade with a discount without losing their unlimited data plans.
That is what I'm debating on. As LTE becomes standard we will all only begin using more data on our phones. So today is it worth it... Probably. But in 2 years if the plans don't make a move for the better in the data department we will all end up getting screwed and that is what I am afraid of.
That's the part I don't understand. The people clinging to their precious unlimited plans even though they are NOT unlimited.
Since my 'unlimited' plan has a 5 gig data cap, I check my consumption and use my device against that cap...the truth is I have a data cap.
The carriers are playing a lot of people for a sucker by letting them pretend like they have their 'unlimited' plans when they really don't. Because once you get throttled, it doesn't your device is essentially useless for all but very basic data needs.
(at least on AT&T)
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Better deal for me and my family ... I have two iPhone 4S's and an iPhone 5. Bill before mobile sharing averaged $340. Now I have the 15gig plan from AT&T which is unlimited voice and text (not all text are iMessage) and my new bill is estimated to be $260 a month .. No brainier but I think you need 3+ devices to have it make sense ... IMHO
Shared data plans ONLY save you money if you:
- Have users that use more than the 300 Mb allotment, but still a lot less than the 2/3Gb allotment
- Use a lot of minutes to non cell phone lines
Verizon does not throttle unlimited LTE data. That's why unlimited data is so valuable.
Plus Verizon cannot not disable your data plan like ATT does if you want to move your LTE sim from a phone to a tablet.
Right now, I don't even use my Verizon phone number with unlimited LTE data. I just put the LTE sim into my Verizon LTE ipad.
My 2 year old has blown through 10GB of data streaming LTE data in 2 weeks with his Disney and PBS kids app.
If you tried to move your ATT sim from your iPhone to an ATT LTE ipad, ATT will send you a nasty text message warning than disable your data the rest of the month regardless if you have unlimited data or not.
Let's see for "on the go":
If i get an app udpate for one of my 150 games, it can be as much as 1.8gb for one update (NOVA 3).
OK, others have said you can't even do this over celluar but even if you can... why? You really can't wait to update your games? Sounds like a personal decision made. Next...
If I want to stream Pandora instead of listening to the radio or my own songs.
As mentioned, Pandora does NOT consume much data. I'm a pandora one subscriber and have the "higher quality audio" option enabled. it *still* doesn't use that much data. Not to mention, streaming Pandora versus listening to music locally on your phone is a personal decision. I personally bought a larger capacity phone JUST SO I could have my favorite music locally on my device and not have to use Pandora or iTunes match or anything. So, personal choices. Next....
If I want to watch Netflix and catch up on some 30 Rock episodes (mucho data).
I love Netflix and I love 30 rock just like the next guy but:
1. Who wants to watch crap on your phone?
2. You really can't wait to watch TV? You have to do it on your phone?
Sounds like a personal decision. I watch netflix, at home, on my home internet. Next...
If I want to watch the Thursday Night NFL Network game (we don't have cable) and i'm on Verizon. Pop up the NFL app and stream the game (LOTS of data).
I too am a "cord cutter" when it comes to cable. I'm done with it. Time Warner can plummet and burn for all I care. BUT.... that was *my* decision. I have to face the reprocussions of it. I kept internet and dropped cable. Cut my bill by something like 70%. Personal choices. Next...
Those are just 4 instances where I can use tons of data. Seriously if MC3 and NOVA 3 got an update on the same day and I didn't want to wait to get to a wifi hotspot that is over 3.5 gigs right there. In 2 downloads I just used up many of your MONTHLY FAMILY SHARE plans.
That's why shared data sucks.
And before someone says "you have wifi at home" or "wifi is everywhere", 2 things: 1) i cancelled my Comcast because they were charging me $55/mo. I could pay $20/mo if i wanted to be capped at 1.5mb down. So here now i'm saving over $20/mo adding unlimited mobile hotspot. and 2) my work blocks all gaming related stuff so downloads like that can't happen. And i'm not going to find a starbucks to do the download when i hate coffee, and starbucks
People know how to use data and it doesn't have to include torrenting or streaming porn.....
The other bold items are also choices you have made. How can you spout off how badly shared data plans stink when you're putting yourself in the position you are in.
I'm very similar, as mentioned, as I have gotten onto a shared data plan, I have cancelled my cable (but retained my 20-something mbps internet connection), and I don't have wifi at work (company policy).
If I were you, I would:
A. Try to develop some patience. You don't *have* to have your apps/games updated immediately... you don't *have* to watch the latest episode of XYZ as soon as it hits netflix, you don't *have* to really do much of anything that consumes data through the day.
B. Consider picking up some sort of broadband internet service and a cheap-o wifi router. This is CRITICAL to me and my life. I work from home from time-to-time and, as mentioned, I dropped cable and rely solely on streaming content (netflix, Hulu + (might cancel this one), Amazon Prime (might not renew), and Pandora). Mine is $53/month which is steep but better than the $127/month I was paying for full-blown cable. I intend to buy a nice antenna for over-the-air programming.
C. Try to better understand how the decisions YOU make impact YOU and how you could make different choices for different outcomes.
I don't think so.
We had...
Shared 1400 minutes
+ Unlimited Txt
+ Unlimited data
+ 2GB data
Now we have shared 4GB which includes unlimited voice and unlimited text. Its not a lot of savings, but its still savings. If we go up to shared 6GB it will be what we were previously paying.
You make a lot of good points. The one thing I'd add is that LTE provides speeds fast enough to end (at least in the short term) the arms race to build faster and faster towers.
It's like the when the home broadband market reached the point where everybody could had a 10/15Mbs speed. That pretty much met the need of 99% of the users. Anything above that was overkill.
Once the telco's reach major market saturation at LTE speeds, there isn't going to be a demand for faster speeds or the huge infrastructure costs to upgrade networks. At that point there is going to suddenly be a shift to compete on price and service.
As our European friends like to stick in our faces, their prices are much lower. A lot of that is because they didn't have cell companies fighting to build duplicate towers over 3,000,000 square miles.
Take away that huge capital expense and competition will drive down the price.
I have five iPhones on Verizon's share everything plan with 8GB of data and the monthly service plan comes to $270 + ~$30 taxes. So, more or less we are paying $60/line and that is definitely a better deal for me.
I had two lines with unlimited data with ATT, but I wasn't using more than an average of 1.5GB/month. Definitely made sense for me to combine it into a family share everything plan with Verizon.
I had two lines with unlimited data with ATT, but I wasn't using more than an average of 1.5GB/month. Definitely made sense for me to combine it into a family share everything plan with Verizon.
I prefer the share everything plans. I am a pretty light data user. My iPhone is for email on the go, and some medical reference apps I use at work. Other than that I hardly use any data. Additionally, I have fast WiFi at home and at school. So apart from my couple hours at clinic and my commute I'm not using data actively at all.
I have 5 lines on a share everything plan from Verizon. Between us all, we're on track to use around 2GB this month. And it's honestly not like we are careful about using our data. I know I do what I need to do when I need to do it, WiFi or not.
So for folks like us, we can save a TON of money. Unlimited data sounds nice, but it would be a waste for me to pay for it when I can save so much based on my usage habits.
Individual metered data plans are OK too, but I found that I couldn't get a plan that fit well. 500MB seemed like too little on AT&T, but 2GB was more than I ever used. So I had to pay a higher price cause I landed somewhere in between. Now that we share, I can shunt some of my portion to a family member who might use more than me, all while saving enough that it's cheaper than I would have been paying with 500MB on AT&T.
I think I'm to the point where I'm sitting at about $50.00 per month for unlimited minutes and text (which I actually use) and more than sufficient LTE data.
Huge improvement over my $75.00/month AT&T bill with 1400 minutes, unlimited text, and 2GB data that I rarely even used half of.
I have 5 lines on a share everything plan from Verizon. Between us all, we're on track to use around 2GB this month. And it's honestly not like we are careful about using our data. I know I do what I need to do when I need to do it, WiFi or not.
So for folks like us, we can save a TON of money. Unlimited data sounds nice, but it would be a waste for me to pay for it when I can save so much based on my usage habits.
Individual metered data plans are OK too, but I found that I couldn't get a plan that fit well. 500MB seemed like too little on AT&T, but 2GB was more than I ever used. So I had to pay a higher price cause I landed somewhere in between. Now that we share, I can shunt some of my portion to a family member who might use more than me, all while saving enough that it's cheaper than I would have been paying with 500MB on AT&T.
I think I'm to the point where I'm sitting at about $50.00 per month for unlimited minutes and text (which I actually use) and more than sufficient LTE data.
Huge improvement over my $75.00/month AT&T bill with 1400 minutes, unlimited text, and 2GB data that I rarely even used half of.
The unlimited data was a real boon and a huge savings to people.
For those that didn't get in on it the shared data plans are a fantastic deal.
I used to pay $150 per month for unlimited talk and text, with 4GB of data on one phone with a 18 month upgrade cycle.
I now pay $150 per month for unlimited talk and text on two lines, with 6GB of shared data and an 9 month upgrade cycle.
That's twice the upgrades, twice the talk and text and 50% more data for the same price.
It's really good.
Also FYI they start throtling you if you use more than 5GB of data, to the point where you get 100 times slower download speed.
For those that didn't get in on it the shared data plans are a fantastic deal.
I used to pay $150 per month for unlimited talk and text, with 4GB of data on one phone with a 18 month upgrade cycle.
I now pay $150 per month for unlimited talk and text on two lines, with 6GB of shared data and an 9 month upgrade cycle.
That's twice the upgrades, twice the talk and text and 50% more data for the same price.
It's really good.
Also FYI they start throtling you if you use more than 5GB of data, to the point where you get 100 times slower download speed.
I knew AT&T was evil, but damn. Smh. Well this is my first month using Mobile Share so we'll see how it goes.
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Exactly. In my 5+ years using the iPhone, the most data I've used is 1.2GB in a month. My mom? not over 70MB. My dad? Not over 300MB.
The 1.2GB was used last December when I got the 4S.
Even if I get 6GB we STILL are saving money. Hell, even 8GB.
I did the math and came up with 132, however I didn't add any taxes and fees in and i asked him multiple times if this was after taxes and fees.
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I will Hold onto my VZW plan until they rip it away from me. I paid full retail for my 5 to keep this. I have a 20% discount on my voice and data
450 Anytime - $33
Unlimited night and weekends
250 Text - $5
Unlimited Data - $24 (VZW does not throttle LTE)
Total before taxes - $62
I can also add unlimited hotspot when needed for $24
450 Anytime - $33
Unlimited night and weekends
250 Text - $5
Unlimited Data - $24 (VZW does not throttle LTE)
Total before taxes - $62
I can also add unlimited hotspot when needed for $24