Verizon to Drop Unlimited iPhone Data Plans as Soon as This Summer

[MacRumors]

Bloomberg briefly reports on comments from Verizon Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo revealing that the carrier is planning to discontinue its unlimited data plan for the iPhone as soon as this summer.

The carrier, which began selling the iPhone last month, now offers a $30 unlimited data plan on the device. Such plans on the handset are "not a long-term solution," Shammo said on a conference call at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference today.

The unlimited data plan had been positioned as a temporary offering as long ago as late January, before the device's launch, with Verizon Chief Operating Officer Lowell McAdam noting that it would disappear "in the not too distant future".

Existing Verizon customers are of course expected to be able to maintain their unlimited data plans at least through the end of their current contracts, although they may be able to switch to limited data plans at different price points if they so desire.

AT&T, which long offered unlimited data, made a similar shift to tiered data plans last June with the launch of the iPhone 4, although customers with unlimited data plans at the time of the transition have been able to keep their plans. The company has reportedly been offering some customers who had switched away from unlimited plans the option to switch back to unlimited in order to keep them from defecting to Verizon.

Article Link: Verizon to Drop Unlimited iPhone Data Plans as Soon as This Summer

 

[3goldens]

well that makes perfect sense to me!
Its what ATT did with the ipad.
Verizon may have better service but their probably worse with regard to pricing.

 

[darthraige]

I wanna be grandfathered in for LIFE with my unlimited data.

 

[dscuber9000]

Well that was fun while it lasted.

 

[iDisk]

untill sprint and tmobile get the iphone, expect the consumer in the usa to be raped with crazy data plans from att and verizon.

this is not a surprise.

if apple did a cheaper phone like a pay as you go phone, and had it on all carriers in the usa, then i believe these telecom companies would be forced to actually be competitive.

 

[Tailpike1153]

Jump-on the bandwagon while you can. Gravy train is coming to an end.

 

[gkarris]

untill sprint and tmobile get the iphone, expect the consumer in the usa to be raped with crazy data plans from att and verizon.

this is not a surprise.

I know - not great in today's economy to pay an extra $30/month for something you may not use...

T-Mobile is offering a $10/month 200MB plan - no iPhone though...

 

[vincenz]

Not surprised at all. It'd be perfect timing for the new iPhone.

 

[jb007clone]

The product may change, but the old bait 'n switch will never die.

 

[Jeremy1026]

Where are the VZW fanboys at? Remember, the ones that went on and on about how AT&T is most anti-customer company ever when they dropped their unlimited data.

 

[ECUpirate44]

I'm waiting for tiered data plans at lower prices. I have no need for a $30 unlimited plan. I have wifi everywhere I go.

 

[shartypants]

Once they have attracted as many people to the iPhone 4 as they can, they will change things, make sense.

 

[david77]

well that makes perfect sense to me!
Its what ATT did with the ipad.
Verizon may have better service but their probably worse with regard to pricing.

AT&T made the change only a month after the iPad hit the streets. At least Verizon is giving you a heads up.

 

[iDisk]

I know - not great in today's economy to pay an extra $30/month for something you may not use...

T-Mobile is offering a $10/month 200MB plan - no iPhone though...

exactly!

apple needs to do its part to make it better for the consumer..... these companies att & verizon are both greedy and monopolize the consumer.

 

[Full of Win]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; 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)

Unlimited data is the lifeblood of future innovation.

 

[timirving]

What's crazy is, any time something like this occurs, Apple takes a hit as far as reputation goes. When I first got an iphone (3G), people were saying things like,
".... oh, an iphone, that sucks that your data plan isn't as good as mine...." It's really had nothing to do with Apple and everything to do with the carrier.

One day, unlimited data plans will be standard..... pipe dream

 

[rwilliams]

Who didn't see this coming?

 

[yayitsezekiel]

Full o' crap. Well I guess I'll grandfather myself in

 

[R2D2 xx]

now i'm glad i didn't switch. they're both evil. i would have gone from one monster to another.

 

[Amazing Iceman]

The product may change, but the old bait 'n switch will never die.

Very true, I hope it backfires at them. Thieves!

 

[dagamer34]

I seriously hope they start competing on data, so I don't have to pay $40 for minutes I barely use. I'd rather get 20GB data and 100 minutes than 5GB data and 450 minutes.

 

[david77]

Where are the VZW fanboys at? Remember, the ones that went on and on about how AT&T is most anti-customer company ever when they dropped their unlimited data.

Anybody could have guessed this was coming. At least VZW is giving you a ~6 months heads up. What AT&T with the iPad was flat out dirty & unethical.

 

[Jeremy1026]

Anybody could have guessed this was coming. At least VZW is giving you a ~6 months heads up. What AT&T with the iPad was flat out dirty & unethical.

The carrier hasn't told their customers anything. There is speculation 6 months out that it will happen. Until an official statement is made by VZW they get no credit for forewarning.

 

[ugahairydawgs]

Who could have foreseen such an unpredictable set of circumstances?!?

 

[bassfingers]

I have unlimited data for AT&T, and I jeep forgetting to switch to tiered pricing. Gotta save that $$$$