I actually think eventually verizon will have to let up a little. The economy is getting even worse and people are starting to spend less on luxury items. They will need to drop prices to stay competitive
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Verizon shared data
- Thread starter tl01
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
^The Economist ran an article a little while ago that showed that almost ALL the wireless players prospered during the recession. It had a lot to do with the prepaid business it sounded like, but also because mobile phones are now considered a "necessity" by such a large part of the population. So no....I don't see Verizon or AT&T "letting up" unless/until they start losing subscribers in the double-digit percentages. And that's not likely to happen.
I would think the growth would have come from the data charges that gets tacked on everybody's bill as they transitioned from the feature phones to smartphone. Pre 2008 recession less than 10% had a smartphone, now we are up to around 50% of users.
I don't know man. I agree a cell phone is a necessity these days but a smart phone with data plan isnt and when families start seeing their bill going up 100,200,300 in overages during a given month people will start looking at the alternatives. I know the day I lose unl data I will no longer be a vzw customer.
@ unlimitedx
Most of the upcharges for data plans were totally offset by higher costs for the subsidies on smartphones, loss of texting revenues and investment in 4G network upgrades. Customer loyalty also dropped so they don't make as much per customer now as they did 5 years ago. But where they are making money is in arbitrage value of prepaid revenue float versus unused minutes/data/texts. That's been a huge win for them. And prepaid also opened up the non-creditworthy as a new and lucrative market that actually pays more per minute of use than contract customers.
@ einmusiker
Statistically, most customers that hit a huge overage penalty just reign in their consumption habit. They don't cancel and pay the ETF. And after a few months of change in consumption behavior it just becomes the new "normal."
Most of the upcharges for data plans were totally offset by higher costs for the subsidies on smartphones, loss of texting revenues and investment in 4G network upgrades. Customer loyalty also dropped so they don't make as much per customer now as they did 5 years ago. But where they are making money is in arbitrage value of prepaid revenue float versus unused minutes/data/texts. That's been a huge win for them. And prepaid also opened up the non-creditworthy as a new and lucrative market that actually pays more per minute of use than contract customers.
@ einmusiker
Statistically, most customers that hit a huge overage penalty just reign in their consumption habit. They don't cancel and pay the ETF. And after a few months of change in consumption behavior it just becomes the new "normal."
WTF are overages? unless you have some grandfathered plan from 10 years ago m2m minutes are free 24x7 or free on your carrier.
----------
not surprised
the branded AT&T/VZW business costs a lot of money in advertising like any commodity business. wholesalers buying up your network capacity and taking on the risk of being a commodity player is probably a wet dream for them
that's when you smack your kids or start paying for spotify premium or slacker premium. most high bandwidth apps other than youtube have offline options with
wifi sync
or put your kids on prepaid and if their account is closed for too much data, lesson learned
do you live in the same country as me? I mean have you seen how americans raise their kids or manage their consuming?
i thinkSo, I have ran into a situation where I don't think Verizon is willing to do anything about it. So I have the typical employee discount from Verizon, and I also have one of the promotion $10 per month (for a year) on one of the phone line. This was giving to me from Verizon because I was experiencing tons of drop calls and having connectivity issues, so the rep give it to me as a way to apologize for the trouble.
Now, I have spoke to two representative about this issue. One just blindly told me "sure, I think they can arrange it and have it transfer over". The other one said, well since it was tagged on as a promotion I don't think we can do it, despite the fact I told him it was not given to me as a promotion but a way for Verizon to compensate for my trouble. I was then told that if I really want to keep the discount I can simply stay on my current plan until my contract is over.
And I do understand that I don't have to change plan and I know that some will say that it's my fault if I want to change and lost my compensation. But I can see a lot of potential issues coming from this. I'm sure I'm not the only person which Verizon has decided to compensate with a promotional offer. And I think it's low of Verizon to not have a plan for situation like this.
Now, I have spoke to two representative about this issue. One just blindly told me "sure, I think they can arrange it and have it transfer over". The other one said, well since it was tagged on as a promotion I don't think we can do it, despite the fact I told him it was not given to me as a promotion but a way for Verizon to compensate for my trouble. I was then told that if I really want to keep the discount I can simply stay on my current plan until my contract is over.
And I do understand that I don't have to change plan and I know that some will say that it's my fault if I want to change and lost my compensation. But I can see a lot of potential issues coming from this. I'm sure I'm not the only person which Verizon has decided to compensate with a promotional offer. And I think it's low of Verizon to not have a plan for situation like this.