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Verizon's Tiered iPhone Data Plans to Debut on July 7th

Yeah, I'm still going to wait and see how this all shakes out, but it's looking likely that I will stay with AT&T. Ouch...it burns. But that seems likely now. Sad, I want to switch, but they're all making it so hard for me to give them my money.

Hopefully the T-Mobile acquisition will boost AT&T's network and make it usable in any sort of populated area and the less populated areas that my wife has to drive through to help lower-income families with autistic children. I worry about her breaking down without coverage in the middle of nowhere. Wish we had OnStar or something in her car. That would fix my biggest worry.
 
OK I did it....

My son has a 3Env with no data, but an upgrade on 8/22 and he has already told me he wants an iPhone 5 for his upgrade. I just added unlimited data to his phone in the hopes he will be grandfathered in when we upgrade. I mean, if I am going to HAVE to pay $30 for 2gb anyway, we might as well see if he can get unlimited for the same amount. These family data plans can't come soon enough. No one here uses much data. But who knows about the future.

(2 iPhone 4's.. Soon to be 3)
 
Ivabign said:
My son has a 3Env with no data, but an upgrade on 8/22 and he has already told me he wants an iPhone 5 for his upgrade. I just added unlimited data to his phone in the hopes he will be grandfathered in when we upgrade. I mean, if I am going to HAVE to pay $30 for 2gb anyway, we might as well see if he can get unlimited for the same amount. These family data plans can't come soon enough. No one here uses much data. But who knows about the future.

(2 iPhone 4's.. Soon to be 3)
Click to expand...


It shouldn't be a problem since you won't be changing your plan. Just adding the Iphone in place of the EnV and agreeing to continue your plan for another 2 years.
 
DiamondMac said:
So that is your way of not even remotely answering the question of how people using between 5gb-10gb (or that range) actually "slow down" the network?

Traffic numbers on the whole go up...nobody argues that.

Yet this idea of people using a few GB and THUS being the reason for a network slowdown are not just laughable but utterly ridiculous and not ONE PERSON has ever shown how or why this rumor keeps on living

Give me actually proof. Stop living off the general statements given to us daily by Verizon and AT&T
Click to expand...

It's a fairly easily understood concept. What part do you not understand? You expect someone to go pull log files off the network swithches?

Nobody needs proof to understand this. Take it from the networking experts and accept it.....because even if you were provided the logs I'm sure they would mean nothing to you.
 
I know several people at my office who would be willing to pay as much as $60 or even $70 a month if a provider offered unlimited data, with no caps. For those people it's the peace of mind of being able to use as much data as they need, without having to worry about overages. Of course those same people are willing to pay out the nose for unlimited every thing, calling, data, texting, etc. The problem is that a lot of people, if given the option, will almost always pay less for a service if they are more frugal with their usage.. The fact is, the frugal shopper will pay a lot less and use less with these tiered plans. So for the 30% or so of consumers who value a bargain over almost every thing else, they will see this as a reason to purchase a smartphone, like the iPhone. Whereas they may have shied away from such a large data price that offered unlimited data, simply because they didn't want to overpay for a feature or service that they would hardly use. This will open up a larger market for Verizon. That is what the company is looking at.
 
I am nervous today . . . trying to decide whether to add unlimited data to my LG Dare to get grandfathered in . . . it seems both crazy and smart at the same time. I keep telling myself I need to calm down first to rationally think about this, but I feel like I can't calm down to think rationally until I make a decision, quite a catch 22. I don't know if Verizon intended people to run like rats off a sinking ship like this toward buying a data plan, but it's kind of working in my case if they intended it . . .
 
Data caps are the future, people. I have no doubt that Verizon will introduce a data cap for their DSL plans in the future. High switching costs for consumers ensure that customer service falls by the wayside.

The telecoms are cartels. They might not actively collude with one another, but they certainly follow up on one another quite quickly...

Personally, I think that Verzion should have kept the unlimited plan, charge more for it, and justify the additional cost by adding more infrastructure. That would be fairer. But, companies would rather add data caps because that doesn't require a major capital investment.
 
hmmm, kinda kills the whole cloud idea...

XX55XX said:
Data caps are the future, people. I have no doubt that Verizon will introduce a data cap for their DSL plans in the future. High switching costs for consumers ensure that customer service falls by the wayside.
The telecoms are cartels. They might not actively collude with one another, but they certainly follow up on one another quite quickly...
Click to expand...

Not that I needed convincing, Verizon sucks.
But maybe I should change that to... sucks the life out of its customers.
And I have been a customer for 10+ years...
michael
 
swingerofbirch said:
I am nervous today . . . trying to decide whether to add unlimited data to my LG Dare to get grandfathered in . . . it seems both crazy and smart at the same time. I keep telling myself I need to calm down first to rationally think about this, but I feel like I can't calm down to think rationally until I make a decision, quite a catch 22. I don't know if Verizon intended people to run like rats off a sinking ship like this toward buying a data plan, but it's kind of working in my case if they intended it . . .
Click to expand...

FYI, I went to two Verizon stores today and both employees stated that adding data to a feature phone would NOT work. I have an old Verizon flip phone, so it's an option I'd have considered.

Both assured me that 3G unlimited plans would be grandfathered when I upgrade to LTE in the future. For that, I ended up biting the bullet and getting a white iPhone 4 with my final NE2 discount. Probably the best piece of equipment I ever bought for $150 (yay for tax free states!) I'm giving myself the two weeks to test it out but the signal is pretty good so far. It may well be so long AT&T...
 
chalpin said:
If you continue the logic, why would anyone sign up for a $30/month 2GB plan?
If you sign up for a 75MB plan for $10 with $10/GB overage:
$10 = 0 - 0.075GB
$20 = 0.075GB - 1.075GB
$30 = 1.075GB - 2.075GB.

Or am I missing something?
Click to expand...

I also saw this when I looked at the new pricing plan. It makes more economic sense to pay for less and then pay extra for what you actually use. I might only use 75 MB at most, because most of what I'm interested in is e-mail and maybe some images. I don't really need to stream audio and video, and if I did, I'd probably not care about paying extra for the delivery. I cringe at having to pay $30 or more per month extra for my purposes, when I'm basically being charged for consumers to stream entertainment at my expense of available bandwidth. If I could get the monthly price of an iPhone down to $10 or so, I'd be more willing to pay the extra fee for the smartphone service.
 
I'd like to see everyone stop using data completely. You'd see how fast the prices would drop and the unlimited plans would be back in no time.
 
Lara F said:
FYI, I went to two Verizon stores today and both employees stated that adding data to a feature phone would NOT work. I have an old Verizon flip phone, so it's an option I'd have considered.

Both assured me that 3G unlimited plans would be grandfathered when I upgrade to LTE in the future. For that, I ended up biting the bullet and getting a white iPhone 4 with my final NE2 discount. Probably the best piece of equipment I ever bought for $150 (yay for tax free states!) I'm giving myself the two weeks to test it out but the signal is pretty good so far. It may well be so long AT&T...
Click to expand...

Yeah, you're right. In spite of Verizon assuring me on I believe 3 phone calls in total that I could add it to a feature phone and later transfer it, at this point I don't believe you can. I called into the sales department tonight to add it, and the woman I talked to said I couldn't (there seems to be a game where every other representative says you can or can't in alternating order). However, she had me wait while she pulled up a FAQ the representatives had received today and one of the questions was specifically whether I could do what I was trying to do and the answer was no. So apparently a lot of people have been trying to do the same thing.

I realized that for one thing, it's OK, because I don't like having to make decisions under the threat of deadlines, and I hadn't really decided on whether I wanted an iPhone yet or not--I was sort of making the decision out of a frenzied state of mind. Plus, I am not a very mobile person, and there are fairly few places I go that don't have WiFi, so I may be OK even if I get an iPhone later.

I don't know how accurate or helpful this is, but I found it helpful as a guideline, one of the reps pointed it out to me:

http://www.verizonwireless.com/splash_includes/datacalculator.html

It makes it look like your data use situation would be pretty dire without unlimited, but I have to remind myself I am not too often without WiFi.

At least this way, I have some time to clear my head. I have also been thinking of getting a MacBook Air--not that it's mutually exclusive to getting an iPhone--but I just have time to think now and act on desire rather than fear.
 
I feel the need to announce this.

I spoke with Verizon about these tiered data plans. In the past, they MADE you get a $30 data plan for all smart phones, then the cheaper plans for "feature" phone. It turns out, this is still true.

You HAVE to get the $30 plan if you have a smartphone... Sorry, no cheap option for iPhones... bummer.
 
AppleScruff1 said:
I'd like to see everyone stop using data completely. You'd see how fast the prices would drop and the unlimited plans would be back in no time.
Click to expand...

Haven't people tried that with gasoline?

I don't think it has much impact, but I can't say it would be the same with data. I think what you would need for it to work would be an organized union of consumers. And I doubt even sure then that you could get everyone to commit. Perhaps some bargaining of some sort, though. Although, still, you have to have something you're willing to withhold. I guess you could have union members threaten to not pay their bill. Ehh, I don't know. It would take a lot of thought and organization.
 
swingerofbirch said:
Haven't people tried that with gasoline?

I don't think it has much impact, but I can't say it would be the same with data. I think what you would need for it to work would be an organized union of consumers. And I doubt even sure then that you could get everyone to commit. Perhaps some bargaining of some sort, though. Although, still, you have to have something you're willing to withhold. I guess you could have union members threaten to not pay their bill. Ehh, I don't know. It would take a lot of thought and organization.
Click to expand...

It won't work with gas because people just buy it a day before or after. It also won't work for people who really need data, they must have it no matter what. But there are an enormous amount of data users out there who use it as toy only, not a necessity. If they all cancelled, the hit would be tremendous.
 
swingerofbirch said:
I did call back (to CS again) and this agent said the exact opposite of the previous, in agreement with what you are saying. He said that I could get an unlimited plan now on my feature phone but it couldn't transfer because the $30 feature phone plan has a different name in their system than the $30 smartphone plan and that any changes disrupt the grandfathering magic (my paraphrasing of what he said).

However, the previous rep I spoke to was very clear that the opposite was true. I asked him if he was sure and even asked if he could guarantee I could transfer the plan to a future iPhone, and he said he would double check, and then he came back and said he was sure.

I tend to believe the second one I spoke to because it seemed like he had a bit more precise knowledge and did some more investigation than the first, so you're probably right. I think

Update: Before I posted this I decided to call one more time, this time to sales like you suggested. Like a lawyer I walked him through what I wanted to do very carefully multiple times. And he confirmed multiple times I could add a $29.99 unlimited data plan to my LG Dare (feature phone) and be grandfathered into an updated iPhone in the future with the same plan. I recorded the last call just in case.
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recording the call won't do you any good if he ends up being wrong anyway
 
And the plans have changed. Boy that was underwhelming. Grabbed a 4 last month and my wife decided to upgrade yesterday just before the change. Yeah we won't get the 4s/5 when it arrives, but we will get the 6 or 7. The 4 is still a great phone, and now we have unlimited for 2 years. Just checked are plans and it is still on there. Only reason I might change to the 2gb plan is if they bring out family share data plans. Just checked my phone and I have only used 600 mb (and used heavily, not much streaming though). So my wife and I could share 2gb, unless they get the bright idea to charge more for the share plans.
 
Last edited:
FYI, yesterday I had added the unlimited data plan to a feature phone after calling customer service and the rep said it would carry over to an iPhone4. This morning I called customer service and was able to upgrade to an iPhone4 and retain the unlimited data plan. For anyone in the same situation I suggest calling for your upgrade instead of visiting a store!
 
Cp96alumni said:
And the plans have changed. Boy that was underwhelming. Grabbed a 4 last month and my wife decided to upgrade yesterday just before the change. Yeah we won't get the 4s/5 when it arrives, but we will get the 6 or 7. The 4 is still a great phone, and now we have unlimited for 2 years. Just checked are plans and it is still on there. Only reason I might change to the 2gb plan is if they bring out family share data plans. Just checked my phone and I have only used 600 mb (and used heavily, not much streaming though). So my wife and I could share 2gb, unless they get the bright idea to charge more for the share plans.
Click to expand...

AT&T doesn't offer any shared data plans (you can share minutes and texts, but not data, which is per phone). Does Verizon have shared data? I wish someone would. A $25 2 GB plan would be more than enough for the 3 users on my family plan (am now paying $45 for 600 MB total, 3X 200). Although I guess I just answered my own question- The telecoms make much more by not having shared data plans...
 
brady220 said:
FYI, yesterday I had added the unlimited data plan to a feature phone after calling customer service and the rep said it would carry over to an iPhone4. This morning I called customer service and was able to upgrade to an iPhone4 and retain the unlimited data plan. For anyone in the same situation I suggest calling for your upgrade instead of visiting a store!
Click to expand...

Wow. That totally undermines what the last rep told me. Although, like I said, the reps alternated their stories each time I called in.
 
brady220 said:
FYI, yesterday I had added the unlimited data plan to a feature phone after calling customer service and the rep said it would carry over to an iPhone4. This morning I called customer service and was able to upgrade to an iPhone4 and retain the unlimited data plan. For anyone in the same situation I suggest calling for your upgrade instead of visiting a store!
Click to expand...

Can I ask why you didn't just buy the iPhone 4 yesterday and not risk getting just 2GB for your $30 bucks?
 
Ivabign said:
Can I ask why you didn't just buy the iPhone 4 yesterday and not risk getting just 2GB for your $30 bucks?
Click to expand...

Sorry, I should have explained that my contract wasn't up for renewal until 7/7. Otherwise I wouldn't have run the risk!
 
Geckotek said:
What part do you not understand?
Click to expand...

The part that I have mentioned several times and the part which you can't actually find any proof of? The only evidence you have is Verizon and AT&T telling us so....that's it.

The fact that someone would live off such laughable evidence shows how either low peoples IQ is or how much Kool-Aid they are drinking. And come on, who wouldn't find it funny that you threw in the "networking experts" line without showing any. I mean, brilliant. I am sure you will now pull some article off Google showing data usage is high which nobody argues and claim some off-topic point.

BTW, feel free to pull logs. I would listen. It would be the only real evidence present other than a general statement released from the ISP PR people.
 
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