Verizon Unlimited with Tethering?

[Travisimo]

I have a Verizon iPhone 4 with the Unlimited data plan. I occasionally add the Personal Hotspot feature when needed when I go out of town, etc. Will I stay grandfathered on Unlimited data if I have the tethering plan after the July cut-off date? Specifically, there are several clarifications that are needed:

With the premise that I currently have the Unlimited data plan:

1) If I add the $20/mo tethering Hotspot option *after* the July introduction of tiered data plans, can I continue to stay grandfathered into Unlimited with the tethering feature enabled?

If the answer is NO, then:

2) If I add the tethering plan now before the July date, can I then keep the Unlimited data and would I have to keep it on my plan indefinitely?

 

[Travisimo]

Do we not have a clear answer on this yet?

 

[zflauaus]

First, Verizon hasn't even officially announced these data plans so everything is up in the air for now.

As of now, the tethering package is a simply 2GB add-on provision for your iPhone package. I believe that you should be able to add it on as you need but don't quote me on that.

 

[ap3604]

Yes, you will stay on unlimited data. The tether option is an add-on of 2gb tethering data.

 

[Travisimo]

Yes, you will stay on unlimited data. The tether option is an add-on of 2gb tethering data.

Ok, the reason I was asking because in the last TIPB podcast they mentioned that you would only be able to keep Unlimited data if you did NOT have tethering. But I think they might have been assuming it would work the same way as it does on AT&T, since on AT&T you cannot add Tethering without switching to the Tiered data plan.

Can anyone else confirm that you can indeed keep your Unlimited data plan and still add the Tethering feature?

 

[MBHockey]

Can anyone else confirm that you can indeed keep your Unlimited data plan and still add the Tethering feature?

how could anyone confirm this if it hasn't been announced by verizon yet? use your noodle.

 

[tdar]

I believe the concern here comes from how ATT did this. If you tried to turn on tethering after the end of unlimited data, they called that a change in your data plan and you lost your grandfathering. Verizon has not as of yet said how they will do it as they have not released the new plans. I'm planing to turn on tethering before the plans start date (believed to be 7/7) and plan to leave it on, to prevent this being an excuse to remove the unlimited data from my account.

 

[Travisimo]

how could anyone confirm this if it hasn't been announced by verizon yet? use your noodle.

Well, there's a whole lot that's been confirmed without Verizon's official press release already (due to leaked documents and the like). So I'm using my "noodle" more now than I would be if it was as easy as going to the Verizon website and looking at a press release. We don't even know if we'll see official word from Verizon ahead of time or not, and yet it's imperative to find out the answer to my question before the changes take place, no?

So there could be "confirmation" through various avenues without an "official" press release. Furthermore, it's questionable whether Verizon's press release regarding changes to their data plans will address this specific question. More than likely, it'll need to be gleaned by other sources who press Verizon on the issue.

Bottom line is this: those of us interesting in tethering need to know ahead of time whether having and/or adding the tethering feature will affect our Unlimited data grandfathered status. And just because nothing has been officially announced by Verizon does not mean we can't "confirm" certain details of the upcoming changes. In fact, a good deal has already been confirmed, but I was unable to dig anything up regarding this specific issue.