Verizon Killing Unlimited Data Plans Soon

[Derechos]

No more unlimited data for new Verizon customers: The wireless carrier will begin to roll out tiered data plans for new customers beginning July 7.

According to DroidLife, the new plans will begin at $30 a month for 2GB of data. Other packages will include $50 for 5GB, or $80 for 10 GB.

Tethering will be another $20 for 2GB more. For those who hit the cap, Verizon will charge $10 for each GB over the limit. The plans are priced the same for both 3G and 4G plans. Unlimited plans had been offered at $30 per month. Verizon confirmed the change to All Things Digital.

Customers already on unlimited data plans will not be affected by the change. Verizon has long planned to turn to tiered plans, and has already started to throttle speeds for heavy data users.

DroidLife also says it could be possible current customers will be able to upgrade to new devices even after July 7 and hold onto unlimited data plans, though it's not yet been confirmed. For tablet users, data plans will increase to $30 per 2GB each month, up from the $20 for 1GB now offered.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/21/verizon-unlimited-data-plan_n_881091.html

[RKP5637]

1. Most people could do fine without this crap and the monopolies IMO. n/t

[no limit]

2. And here I was getting ready to switch to verizon from sprint. Not anymore

[AngryAmish]

3. When my contract is up I think I'm leaving verizon

too expensive

[sarcasmo]

5. I agree and they keep tacking on new fees.

[RKP5637]

15. See post #12.

[hobbit709]

4. If everybody canceled their data plan, it would get their attention.

What did people ever do when cell phones were just phones. How did they ever cope?

[nichomachus]

6. I was in the Verizon store the other day

Every phone that was on display required a data plan. I asked the clerk if they didn't have any phones that were just phones. She replied that they had a few, but they were in the back and she could bring a couple out if I wanted to see one.

[ejpoeta]

9. had a hard time finding phones that don't require the data.

we went online and bought phones that were refurbs for $30. i think it's crap that they can make you get a data plan. for any phone. i mean, i had an env3 which is great as a texting phone but sucks for using online. i never used it online except once. but it requred a $10/mo data plan. that is such crap!

[RKP5637]

12. We dumped verizon and went from $90/mo to $17/mo for two phones. We went

to TracFone. Their LG420G with the double minute bundle is an incredible deal. Both phone numbers were ported with no difficulty. The quality/coverage is as good/better than Verizon. I had a Navigator on my old Verizon phone, so I bought a separate small Navigator. Everything was done online with their website, absolutely no problems at all and now saving a lot of money.
http://www.tracfone.com/

[Betty88]

16. did the same thing a few years back

we don't use the phones for much and were paying about $90 a month so changed over to TracFone. That double minute bundle is the best deal.

[RKP5637]

17. I looked at our cumulative minutes for Verizon one month and

saw we had paid $180 to Verizon over 2 months and used about 30 minutes one month and 0 the next. That's when we decided it was time to change. I've been really impressed with TracFone. Not one single problem or complaint.

[Lugnut]

18. That's what I have.

My husband and I have had Tracfones for many years. Granted, we only use them as phones but still. It costs around $22.00 every three months for 120 minutes with the double minute plan. Right now I have over 600 minutes left on my phone.

[obxhead]

7. They don't have unlimited data plans now and never have.

the unlimited plan has never been unlimited. Verizon admits that after 5GB of use on an unlimited plan they reduce your speed to a dial up rate of 56k for the remainder of the month. That severely limits your use of the internet.

[ejpoeta]

8. we don't have a smart phone and ended up actually getting rid of our env3s because

they require a $10 data plan. the env3s suck for using online. they are great for texting phones though. I tried a smartphone for a month but couldn't afford the data plan. So we were thinking of ditching verizon after our contract is up. Have been looking around. Verizon has been the most reliable though. But I am willing to try different services without the contract to see what we can get. We have had verizon for several years now. I think the unlimited data is the thing keeping people with them now. They might be making a big mistake. They probably don't care. Things keep going the way they are what choice will we have... at&t or verizon. uggh.

[Lucian]

22. Sprint still has unlimited data plans.

I'm going to them once my contract expires with Verizon. I want my unlimited data.

[ejpoeta]

24. my husband's work has sprint smart phones. it is always in roaming here.

i have been tempted, but i know he has a lot of problems with his work phone. not sure how much of it is the crappy phone. it's like the salesperson saw a sucker coming to dump a whole bunch of unsellable phones on.

[grasswire]

10. I read the other day that Sears is offering plain phones

Without the bells and whistles that many people don't need, don't want, and can't figure out. I've forgotten the name of the provider, but it is recognizable and not a newbie. Only available through Sears.

[madinmaryland]

11. Do know what Sears offers, but a Trac-fone will also give you POCS.

"Plain Old Cell Service"

[RKP5637]

14. We've been using TracFones here with great success and just a fraction of

the cost of the Verizon phones we had. I think the TracFone LG420G is an incredible phone for POCS, and you still can do text if you want + web browsing if wanted. We use it for POCS, more than adequate, way more than adequate for most needs IMO. The bill here went from $90/mo. to $17/mo. And the minutes roll over. In today's world I really hate leaving the house without a cell phone. I feel really disconnected. It's not used for gabbing on the cell phone so the TracFone plans work well for us, especially with the automatic minutes update each month plan.

[RKP5637]

13. See post #12.

[SoCalDem]

19. Are people really surprised? I don't think they ever really expected

their customers to spend 24/7/365 diddling their phones with their thumbs and watching movies on the postage stamp sized screens..:)..They probably expected people to use those "features" occasionally.. They probably also though the camera thing would be used occasionally..

People just use them too much for what they pay..and phone companies will find a way to make more money..

[Lordquinton]

26. You've got it backwards

They planed for people to use them 24/7/365, and now that they have a large subscriber base, and many, many people hooked/dependent on them, they can switch their fees around to maximize profits. The thing that really gets me about all this plan changing is that they are, essentially, putting the cost of ads onto their subscribers, esp with ads being more and more bandwidth intensive.

[rufus dog]

20. Good news I just switched to Verizon so I am covered for 2 years

Bad news, is the entire family got set up with smart phones for free! (and yes I was not happy to get this deal)

So even though we dropped our costs from our previous plan by 15% I now have four friggen phones that do everything. Sounds good? I have 1500 songs on my phone now, but I take the phone to work and it goes dead by noon. (I ain't listening to tunes, it is just sitting there) Switched everything off and charge it up and I get 3 hours today. In reality all I need is a phone and the ability to pick up emails, now I have a device that can scratch my balls but only for a short time. Now this isn't a 4g phone, when the sales rep started to push that one I told him I needed something to last 12 hour at a minimum so that is when he went back to a 3g phone and guaranteed I could easily make it from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM.

I never appreciated my basic BlackBerry until the last two days.

[ejpoeta]

25. i took my sister's smart phone and unlocked it and put a different rom on it

that had less bloatware. plus they have free apps that help with the battery life. can't think of the names right now, but you do need to root your phone for somoe of them. it really extended the battery life of the phone. there probably are some you don't need to root the phone for. not sure if you have an android which was what i did it on. here is one of the sites: http://www.droidforums.net/ but there are many others. just look around and you can find lots of info on extending battery life and stuff.

[Lucian]

21. So...what's the point of getting a 4G LTE phone then if you can't use it...

to its full potential? Say you have a 4G phone (ie the Thunderbolt) and a 2GB data plan. You stream high-def vids on youtube and listen to music on pandora, along with the usual apps running in the background, like Facebook, Weatherbug, etc., and you know how fast you'll kill through that 2GB? Before you know it, you'll be at 3 or 4GB at the end of the month and end up getting severely burned.

What's the point of buying a newer, faster phone then if they're going to end up screwing you in the end? I have Verizon now, but I may switch to Sprint once my plan is up. I want my unlimited data. It gives me a peace of mind that I won't go over my monthly allowance.

[RandomThoughts]

23. The correction would be high speed lines to customers.

But that would remove there ability to try and control customer access.

Why not have high speed lines to houses, and not claimed to be owned by a corporation, why is a for profit entity deciding the information flow for all of society. Decentralized backbones, like the Internet was originally set up. Or even move to each computer being both server and client, where nobody can filter the information.

And if you say some information is bad, and should be filtered, you would have a case, but they put out that video about people eating crap, and filter out insightful commentaries on much of society that can help many people. So they don't have a case.

Information flow should be something society should decide.

And they need to be crushed and broken up, by there use of filtering and censorship, or cooperation with those that do those things.

Furthermore, the censoring and creating of controls on information through computer systems, by rules applied back, allows for alterations to information as they process it between there brain, and eyes, ears, and speech, and also even the neural connections within their processing of information, within rules applied back.

No wonder they see things with a knife in there head.

[cbdo2007]

27. I can't believe so many people waste their money on these data plans.

My wife and I don't have them and there are very few instances every month, maybe one or two times where it would be helpful, but not necessary. Mostly it comes in handy if we're out somewhere and need to look up movie times nearby, then my brother in law will whip out his smart phone and tell us the movie times. It use to be you could just call the theater and get this for free - not waste $360 per year looking up movie times and youtube videos (on your incredibly small screen).