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

lol This thread turned into Verizon vs. ATT and then into USA vs other countries.

Glad to have unlimited data plan though. Sucks it'll be taken off soon...
 
marksman said:
Why not just pay for the data you use?

They could offer a new unlimited plan but it would probably be $100 a month... So why not just do like AT&T and pay $25 for 2 gig, and $10 for each additional gig.

Anyone using less than 10 gigs would save money.
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I would be ok with this- but- why don't they offer no monthly minimum at all?
 
huntermaclean said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8B117)

Sucks to be in the States. Over here in Hong Kong, we get a free iPhone with an unlimited data plan and 2000 voice minutes with texting for US$52/month :)
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Yeah well the US is the best and you can.... wait- what? That is an awesome plan dude!!!

Seriously... this is why Sprint and Tmobile need the iphone..
 
yiyopr said:
And how exactly do you know that the iphone 5 will arrive on Verizon on Summer? I assume you have proof, because you LOVE proof. Am I right?

This is a bait and switch, but not in the usual sense. Because we have not heard from either Apple or Verizon that the iPhone 5 will be available in summer we can only assume that the iPhone 4 will continue to be latest iPhone at that time, until we hear otherwise from them.

So summer arrives, Verizon cuts their unlimited data and the iPhone 4 is still being sold (until proven otherwise). What is a usual prospective iPhone 4 customer going to do, they'll read the reviews of course. They look up their old magazine where they distinctly remember there being a review, and they see it clearly. Verizon has things ATT doesn't they have unlimited data + mobile hotspot for $20! Holy flickers that's a good deal! i want to get in on that! So they stroll down to the Verizon store and state their wish to purchase the elusive and superior verizon iphone 4. One of two things happen here, either the customer notices that the data plan has changed (we probably would), or the customer could be a "tech newb" (like my mother) and not know all that fancy smanchy language that Verizon puts on the 20 page contract. Either way the customer ends up getting the phone anyway. I mean their contract is up, they need a new phone, and they drove all the way to the store, it's silly not to buy the phone now.

Bait= Reviews and the little stars on reviews are influenced by Verizon's current data plan. While some websites will obviously update their pages, other websites won't and magazines certainly won't.

Switch = customer arrives at the store, with money in hand. They leave with a phone that is not as good as what they read in the review.
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That still isn't bait and switch. Bait and switch means Verizon advertises it on June 24 to have unlimited, customer comes in on June 24th and Verizon all the sudden claims they "ran out" (so to speak, they'll find some excuse basically that they cannot offer it) and can only offer this "more expensive, not as good" plan. In the meantime, they never had that unlimited plan (never intended to sell any unlimited plans) in the first place or had so ridiculously few no one could expect they'd have any left in stock by the time they got there (just a very lucky few).

Try to understand the concept of bait and switch before you twist things around so you can claim something that simply just shows your ignorance.

Verizon does not have control over reviews and did not put the reviews out. They only control their advertising and as long as they are not advertising having unlimited when they no longer have unlimited, they are not doing bait and switch. Now maybe it was purposely tricky on their part, but it was not bait and switch. You'd never get them convicted of doing bait and switch with that argument and what they are doing is perfectly legal even if that is their marketing strategy.
 
shaytmg said:
I will be keeping my unlimited AT&T data plan until they rip it from my dead cold hands.

In the next couple of years as wireless networks get more reliable and faster (although not holding my breath for that) and we consume more media on our devices having no cap on data will be key.
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Agreed, having unlimited data is one reason why I have refused to upgrade from my 3GS. I do have a question though, when my contract 'ends' after the original 2-year agreement is AT&T required to continue giving me unlimited data or since I'm officially month to month on my plan can they change it at any time?
 
jrb363 said:
Agreed, having unlimited data is one reason why I have refused to upgrade from my 3GS. I do have a question though, when my contract 'ends' after the original 2-year agreement is AT&T required to continue giving me unlimited data or since I'm officially month to month on my plan can they change it at any time?
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Why? If you upgrade you can still keep your unlimited. You just couldn't get unlimited as a new customer or if you discontinued your unlimited plan and tried to reinstate it (basically, long as you pay for an unlimited plan and don't change your plan to a limited one, you are fine).

You wont lose your unlimited by going to the iphone 4. You will if you change plans or do something that has you discontinuing your current plan.

Now what AT&T might do is when they get an LTE iphone/4G iphone, force you to use the new 4G plans for the new iphone which may not include unlimited. So then, yeah, you would lose unlimited by going to the new phone. But for right now the newest phone uses the 3G plans so the unlimited is still viable long as you are grandfathered in.
 
The people all outraged about this might as well get used to it. Unless some method is created to expand faster and faster wireless networks cheaper and cheaper, you're not going to get the unlimited gravy train on wireless for much longer. It's the only thing people like Sprint and T-Mobile can do to compete with their much more limited network coverage. Verizon is probably making this move early so it doesn't suffer from the same PR nightmare that AT&T did. If you're going to have network problems, you should really not have them in a city that contains a huge percentage of the national media and one so close to so many tech companies.

Me, I don't mind. I think there should be some higher-priced unlimited option available, but the single $30 data plan offered is one reason I consider Verizon a nonstarter right now. The other is the 18 months or so left on my AT&T contract. I've got crappy reception at my home, so I'd love to explore a switch when I can. I'm on the $25 plan and my mom is on the $15 plan. If I were to switch and not pay a dime to AT&T for leaving, I'd still be paying an extra $20/month. My mom doesn't come close to using her allotment. I only can when I go a little nuts with video.
 
AT&T here is a solution - offer pooling of family plan data usage. Example: I have 200MB and my wife have 200MB. Allow us to use a total of 400MB between our 2 phones. Thus, one month I can use 300 and my wife 100 and the next we split it 200/200. Do the same for higher plans as well.

Data is where AT&T needs to compete.
 
I wonder if multiple calls to customer service and the offer of switching an entire household over to verzion iPhones would be enough to sneak in a couple unlimited data plans for iPhone 5s :confused:

Either way, I'm sure there are a decent amount of people sitting on at&t's awful network just waiting to jump ship but don't want to buy last years technology. Not having an unlimited option would be terrible though. I use about 2.5-3GB/month of data and that's without really trying.

tl;dr: lame
 
verizon you draw people into your network with a promise of something good to hit your sales targets and then boom... yeah.
 
Good old Ma Bell....

Hooked you guys, and then reeled you in. Now when they upgrade to the LTE network, and squash your grandfather claim because of there "increased network speed", all us AT&T guys will still be laughing.

There is nothing smart about a phone that can't do voice & data concurrently. You should of heard all the s*it i caught from the verizon fanboys when i suggested that the unlimited data package would be dropped withing 3 months of launch....

Here is my post from Jan25th:

Quote:
Originally Posted by tjb1
Yeah and its there now so your argument means nothing, when you can prove that Verizon is dropping the unlimited plan then fine have at it...
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Dude are you serious, Verizon has gotten rid of there unlimited data for all phones except the iphone, they have been talking about tiered data pricing for more than a year.

This is just a customer grab, so when you upgrade to the LTE version.....
ow sorry no more unlimited data..
 
Like i said it was a customer grab...

"Verizon Wireless kept its unlimited plan for its first iPhone customers as it "didn't want to put up a barrier" to consumers who wanted to try out the device on its network, the executive said."

That's corporate speak for "hook, line, & sinker"

Yes we know our network is not as good as AT&T's is but we run alot of commercials, and no our phone shouldn't even be considered a "smart" phone but hey will give you unlimited data for 4 months

---------------------------------------------
From Jan, 25th:

Quote:
Originally Posted by tjb1
Yeah and its there now so your argument means nothing, when you can prove that Verizon is dropping the unlimited plan then fine have at it...


Dude are you serious, Verizon has gotten rid of there unlimited data for all phones except the iphone, they have been talking about tiered data pricing for more than a year.

This is just a customer grab, so when you upgrade to the LTE version.....
ow sorry no more unlimited data..
--------------------------------------
yes he is a tool, and obviously has the foresight of a 14yr old girl
 
tigress666 said:
Now what AT&T might do is when they get an LTE iphone/4G iphone, force you to use the new 4G plans for the new iphone which may not include unlimited. So then, yeah, you would lose unlimited by going to the new phone. But for right now the newest phone uses the 3G plans so the unlimited is still viable long as you are grandfathered in.
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AT&T still lets you have unlimited data on their current 4G data plans (HSPA+).
I went from an iPhone to an Atrix (HSPA+ 4G) and they let me keep my unlimited data. They simply changed the billing code. Price is still the same.
That may change with LTE, but if Apple releases an HSPA+ iPhone, AT&T won't kick you off of a grandfathered unlimited plan.
 
I could give a crap about the unlimited data. But offer more than two different data plans with more realistic rates. $25/month for 2 gigs when I only need 250-400mb is robbery.

Both companies offered "unlimited" data as long as no one was actually using more than a couple of gigs. Once the iphone took off and people actually started using the unlimited data that they paid for, "Oohhhh, wait a minute, did we say unlimited? Sorry, we have to cap that."

I pay $170/month for 750 shared minutes (lowest plan) between two phones, an iphone $25/month data plan, $30 for unlimited messages. What do we use? About 200 minutes, 800 messages, and 400mb data. And I have no other options as a consumer. If I try to reduce any of the parts of that inclusive plan with a la carte pricing ... my monthly payment goes UP! That's the minimum.

All hail the market!
 
Last edited:
Just boycott silly high-cost plans you don't really need. Get pre-pay and live a life without texting and porn. It can be done! Then the carriers will have to offer reasonable options.

Yes, I know this will never happen...
 
$30 is a lot, I don't understand why they would get rid of it. Why not improve their infrastructure to adapt to the increasing number of smartphone buyers.

Also why is it only the iphone? Android uses the same amount of data as the iphone i believe. :confused:
 
carlgo said:
Just boycott silly high-cost plans you don't really need. Get pre-pay and live a life without texting and porn. It can be done! Then the carriers will have to offer reasonable options.

Yes, I know this will never happen...
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I don;t watch porn on my phone. I need my 50 inch plasma for that.
 
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