I'd like to have some opinions...

[king72a]

I have a single line Verizon account where I pay $90 for 450 minutes, unlimited text & data.

Verizon now has the Max plan that goes along with the Edge plan. My understanding is the Max plan is $30 for 6GB of data on top of the $40 unlimited talk and text for a total of $70. I use on average about 6 GB.

I'm considering signing up for this plan for the following reasons...

1. A payment plan would be nice to have for buying phones.
2. After a 12 months of making regular payments half the phone would be paid off and I could get a new one for what ever reason.
3. Monthly bill would only go up $15.

I know I could buy a phone full retail and keep unlimited data but I potentially could be stuck with a phone that I don't like. I'm also aware of the whole double dipping Verizon does with adding cost into plans for subsidized phone. Unfortunately I doubt that will ever change.

So I'd like some feedback/thoughts about making this move. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

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[mountainbikermark]

It sounds like you've decided the pros outweigh the cons in your case.
My only question is you said you use "about 6gb a month now". Are you hovering near the 6gb each month, sometimes peak there or something different? Reason I ask is a new phone is going to get used, at least initially, more often during setup and acclamation so you might incur overage the first billing cycle or so.

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[king72a]

My data ranges from 5 to 7 GB a month. I would have to change my habits a bit and use wifi a little more but that shouldn't be a problem. I'm really on the fence because I hate to give up unlimited data but whose to say Big Red wouldn't force me out of it at a later date.

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[FoxKat]

The other things to consider are the variables you don't have as much control over.

1) As software migrates more and more toward "cloud" storage, you WILL use more data - whether on plan or off in the case of WIFI.
2) Also, as software becomes larger and larger, and the memory in phones increases, the additional data used for the regular "updates" to all the apps you have installed (and which happen in the background), will consume more data as well.
3) Then there's the social networking sites and utilities which are getting more and more data hungry, sending and receiving pics (such as Instagram), and even video.
4) Speaking of video, how about ooVoo, Skype, Tango or Gtalk, with video phone calls... We are fast moving toward full-blown video communication as the standard.
5) Since we're speaking of video streaming (i.e. video calls), let's talk about audio streaming...Pandora, TuneIn, Shazam, SkyFM, Google Play Music? If you're like me, you want to have greater say as to what type of music you listen to and broadcast radio is too commercialized and with far too limited playlists to satisfy my thirst for good music.
6) And since we're talking about music, why not include audio books? This is another rapidly growing form of information transfer and will only get bigger.
7) We all want to know what's going on around town, state, country and globe...so weather and news apps or widgets consume considerable amounts of data and are often updating to remain current with the information you desire.
8) Now as we shop, we use our phones to find local services we're in need of such as a good restaurant, a retailer who carries a specific product, the nearest Gas Station with the lowest price, etc.
9) Speaking of nearby, while we shop we often look up the items on the shelf (or flea market, yard sale, consignment shop, etc.), by scanning the barcodes or doing Google searches to see what something costs, where you can get it cheaper, or what it's worth versus what it's being sold for.
10) Also, there's the increased use of email as a form of communication, though probably low on the respective totem pole of data usage.
11) If you're a gamer, games like Ingress or other multi-player live interaction role-playing games can at times use huge amounts of data.
12) Lastly from my memory banks, but not least are the heavier and heavier uses of your location by both pre-installed and third party apps to "tailor offers" to your phone without your asking for them. These constant requests for your location and the subsequent sending of that data are very low on the whole data scheme, but like a charger that remains plugged into a wall it may consume very little, but its cumulative impact can be significant and a nuisance.

What am I saying?? Well only that the rate of data consumption is NOT going down (for anyone), and so it seems even no matter how hard you try to limit it there are more and more "leaky" apps and phone systems that are using smaller bits but in greater frequency and spread out over more and more apps and utilities. There are so many apps that use the internet for data now, apps you wouldn't even think need internet access. To be more and more powerful while remaining streamlined and smaller to take up less space on the phone, the developers may revert to hosting a portion of the apps' workloads on servers and letting the phone handle the front-end, while their servers handle the back-end, so to speak. This means the apps themselves are doing back and forth communications to perform what you perceive as being completely running on the phone.

I will not give up unlimited data until they rip it from my dying hands... I really think that unlimited data will make a comeback, simply because becomes less and less expensive to move huge volumes of data on the web - on a cost per bit (or GB), basis as time goes on, so as the pipeline becomes bigger and bigger (until it reaches max capacity, mind you), the costs understandably come down. No matter how you slice it, they'll always figure out a way to increase profits by charging more for what you have become accustomed to, and "offer" greater access at a premium, but the bottom thresholds are rising rapidly so it's all relative.

 

[SFGate]

The entire concept of trying to stay one step ahead of the money grubbers is too taxing for me and pushes my headache into migraine status, so I just make a decision with the thought in mind that they will do something, some time to screw it up for me. Been disillusioned ever since "unlimited" turned into "we're going to throttle your use when we want to".

 

[king72a]

Very legitimate point FoxKat. Didn't think of it that aspect.

Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 4

 

[JFMFT]

The other things to consider are the variables you don't have as much control over.

1) As software migrates more and more toward "cloud" storage, you WILL use more data - whether on plan or off in the case of WIFI.
2) Also, as software becomes larger and larger, and the memory in phones increases, the additional data used for the regular "updates" to all the apps you have installed (and which happen in the background), will consume more data as well.
3) Then there's the social networking sites and utilities which are getting more and more data hungry, sending and receiving pics (such as Instagram), and even video.
4) Speaking of video, how about ooVoo, Skype, Tango or Gtalk, with video phone calls... We are fast moving toward full-blown video communication as the standard.
5) Since we're speaking of video streaming (i.e. video calls), let's talk about audio streaming...Pandora, TuneIn, Shazam, SkyFM, Google Play Music? If you're like me, you want to have greater say as to what type of music you listen to and broadcast radio is too commercialized and with far too limited playlists to satisfy my thirst for good music.
6) And since we're talking about music, why not include audio books? This is another rapidly growing form of information transfer and will only get bigger.
7) We all want to know what's going on around town, state, country and globe...so weather and news apps or widgets consume considerable amounts of data and are often updating to remain current with the information you desire.
8) Now as we shop, we use our phones to find local services we're in need of such as a good restaurant, a retailer who carries a specific product, the nearest Gas Station with the lowest price, etc.
9) Speaking of nearby, while we shop we often look up the items on the shelf (or flea market, yard sale, consignment shop, etc.), by scanning the barcodes or doing Google searches to see what something costs, where you can get it cheaper, or what it's worth versus what it's being sold for.
10) Also, there's the increased use of email as a form of communication, though probably low on the respective totem pole of data usage.
11) Lastly from my memory banks, but not least are the heavier and heavier uses of your location by both pre-installed and third party apps to "tailor offers" to your phone without your asking for them. These constant requests for your location and the subsequent sending of that data are very low on the whole data scheme, but like a charger that remains plugged into a wall it may consume very little, but its cumulative impact can be significant and a nuisance.

What am I saying?? Well only that the rate of data consumption is NOT going down, and it seems even no matter how hard you try to limit it there are more and more "leaky" apps and phone systems that are using smaller bits but in greater frequency and spread out over more and more apps and utilities. There are so many apps that use the internet for data now, apps you wouldn't even think need internet access, but to be more and more powerful while remaining streamlined and smaller to take up less space on the phone, the developers revert to hosting a portion of the apps workload on servers and letting the phone handle the front-end, while their servers handle the back-end, so to speak.

I will not give up unlimited data until they rip it from my dying hands... I really think that unlimited data will make a comeback, simply because it's less and less expensive to move huge volumes of data on the web, so as the pipeline becomes bigger and bigger (until it reaches max capacity, mind you), the costs understandably come down. No matter how you slice it, they'll always figure out a way to increase profits by charging more for what you have become accustomed to, and "offer" greater access at a premium, but the bottom thresholds are rising rapidly so it's all relative.

You make a few excellent points about the growth in data usage by apps and services and by extension the sheer luxury and benefit of having an unlimited data plan. I, too, am holding onto my data plan with a firm grip.

However, it is important to consider the staggering amount of data that is consumed by Netflix alone. It is insane just how much that one service dominates data usage across Broadband/Wi-Fi and mobile networks. And yet services such as Netflix are making changes to reduce streaming bandwidth usage. Look at Netflix's partnership in 2012 with EYE IO, for example. Netflix's load times increased because they can deliver the same 720p or 1080p video using a much smaller data footprint. This saves time and bandwidth. Further, google came up with Webp, which allows images to come in with ~26% reduction in size and no loss in quality. They're using the format on the newly revamped desktop browser version of the Google Play Store. Now, these are two isolated services, but if Google extends Webp and other new encoding technologies across its services (YouTube comes to mind) and Netflix continues its relationship with EYE IO (the startup that they license technology from to reduce bandwidth usage), we could see some important mitigating factors toward the rise of data usage, at least across some of the top data-guzzling services and apps. Of course, this doesn't solve the data conundrum.

I also can't help but point the finger at the carriers a little. Verizon said back in 2010 or 2011 that it can deliver the same data over 4G at a huge reduction in price versus delivering the same data over their legacy 3G network. Basically, they made an official public statement that if all users moved to 4G, they could send and receive all of the same information at a much reduced cost due to the technical benefits of 4G LTE technology. Has this translated into savings for consumers? Nope. Instead, we had our unlimited data taken from us. How ironic is it that as things become cheaper for Verizon, they become more expensive for us consumers. Verizon is surely many things, but they are absolutely great at business. And that is both good and bad for us as consumers. This is just one carrier, but it is the one I know most about.

It's all a mixed bag, naturally, but the important things to note are the following: 1) data usage increases naturally over time for doing the same things because of higher quality and higher resolution icons, graphics, etc. - I mean, when you have tablets approaching 4K resolution, things are getting a bit crazy; 2) users, despite this, still have control over what they download and how much data they use based on app download history, usage, etc.; 3) mitigating factors do exists regarding the increase in data usage by apps, services, and users - we should take advantage of these whenever and wherever we can to realize data savings (which translate to cost savings).

 

[FoxKat]

Totally missed Netflix and the other similar sites, simply because I don't subscribe to them...but heck yeah. Movies are HUGE and some people download lots of movies on a very regular basis. Another thing I missed was tethering. More and more people are using their phones as the wireless hub for tablets, notebooks and other wireless internet-dependent devices. I've seen some who brag about 75GB/month, 88GB/month, and one I recall which I think was in the realm of over 110GB/month. They couldn't even survive financially if they had to carry that data load on a tiered pricing plan. Oh, and how about auto-backup of your camera phone photos and videos to the Google+ account or other site such as Picasa, Dropbox or Box.com...that's another data suck that many probably don't even think about. I really don't wonder why the Nokia Lumina 1020 has a 41MP imager. I would bet the carriers have something to do with that.