[Rumor] Verizon May Share Plan Changes on June 26; Family Data Sharing Plans Possible

[milski65]

My mind can't fathom how someone can use 10-20 gigs a month. I've not broken 1/3 gig yet. I don't have an issue with how much someone uses (tethering or not). I DO believe whatever Verizon has planned it's strickly to benefit them, not the consumer.

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[N4UPD]

Can't you stay with unlimited if not grandfathered if you then pay full price for your upgrade then there will be no change?

 

[rivera82falcon]

My mind can't fathom how someone can use 10-20 gigs a month. I've not broken 1/3 gig yet. I don't have an issue with how much someone uses (tethering or not). I DO believe whatever Verizon has planned it's strickly to benefit them, not the consumer.

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Its pretty much the fact that instead of using your home pc people are substituting that for the android os/iphones. They ARE computers and I use mine more than my home pc or even laptop now. It may seem tough to take in but for others its just a fact of life. Just imagine at&t users that use the phone AND data at the same time or even use facetime instead of the phone...that's massive data time right their.

My wife freaked out when she saw I used 2GB of data once and I explained it to her how. She didn't understand until she gor an iphone and looked at the data...it happens. Now I'm definitely using more with other apps and tethering now to my tablet. Haven't seen the usage bill yet but will be curious in a month or two.

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[NeoandGeo]

Can't you stay with unlimited if not grandfathered if you then pay full price for your upgrade then there will be no change?

It may be similar to ATT and allow you to be grandfathered even on line upgrades so long as you don't change anything else about your plan.

 

[huskur]

I think most of you people that think this will somehow save you money, are absolutely deluding yourselves....

If 95% of the people using a data connection are only using a tiny amount of actual data (as in under 1 GB/Month), as all the studies claim, do you guys really think that VZW is going to move to a tiered pricing system that miraculously lets 95% of their customers decrease their bill?

They'll cap the top end, to stop tetherers/bittorent users, and maybe offer a higher tier to accommodate people who want to use/pay MORE, but you better believe that no big business is stupid enough to take all that revenue, throw it into a pile, and light a match just to make a bunch people who don't actually use the products they already are paying for can feel better about themselves. There is -zero- business incentive to give you guys a discount, because VZW already has you sheeple right where it wants you: Getting continually fleeced by making up the vast chunk of VZW's profit from data plans.

I think you're looking at it completely wrong. Just because it has potential to save 95% of their customers, doesn't mean it's going too...that's the whole point of tiers.

On an individual tier, even if 95% of their customers choose the lowest tier, do you really believe that 95% of them are not going to go over? That suddenly 95% of their customers are going to start counting data religiously to make sure they don't go over? Absolutely not. 99% of those 95% probably don't even know you can do #3282 to figure out your current data usage. On an individual tier, let's say they offer $15 for 200MB. If you use 201MB you pay $30. Trust me, 95% of their customers are not going to maintain 200MB month in and month out perpetually. Of course the tiers are designed to bring VZW more money and not give discounts to 95% of their base...

Second, by lowering tiers, they entice more people to sign up at a $15 tier where they normally wouldn't at $30. And some of those people will go over too. And lastly, there are people who know they'll use more then 200MB and they'll buy the higher tier.

Not sure why you think VZW hasn't thought this stuff out. They're not just arbitrarily picking tiers and crossing their fingers hoping they dont lose 95% of their revenue. They will have no problem with margins.

All that being said, there will be people who save money, like me, because they never use a lot of data, are always on wifi or know how to monitor their usage. To say I'm deluding myself is silly. Last cycle, my line used 102MB. I've never used 1/2 a gig. I'm not worried about being pummelled with overages every month and will pick the lowest tier they offer.

2 things strike my fancy here. #1 You are exactly right about VZW. They are not going to lose "millions" of dollars to help out their customers. They know the current data usages on the devices on their network. Some of the people will indeed save. Some will go over and make up for the people that are saving. It all works out for VZW in the end. Believe that. #2, sure you may not be affected with low data usage because you use wifi alot and don't use much data when not on wifi. Personally i DO NOT want to have to worry about "monitoring my usage" and having to wonder what i have left to use in my cycle. That is BS to me. Some months i use 1.5 GB and some months 3 GB. All depends on my travel and where i am. What crap VZW if you tier your data. I have been a customer since October 23rd 1999. After some research of my total true cost and usage it may change.

 

[rbw62]

I have read and heard from various news sources that people are cutting the line, cable, that includes internet and tv, and here in Atlanta, there are more households with cell and no landline. What does all this mean? It is costing cell companies more money because of higher data usage. Netflix and all the other movie rentals and free tv web sites are to blame. My last cable bill 135. So paying 20- 40 for a data plan saves me money, as it does for lots of others. This will cause Sprint, AT&T and VZW to restructure data plans. Oh yea it will be to rake in the money.

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[czerdrill]

I think most of you people that think this will somehow save you money, are absolutely deluding yourselves....

If 95% of the people using a data connection are only using a tiny amount of actual data (as in under 1 GB/Month), as all the studies claim, do you guys really think that VZW is going to move to a tiered pricing system that miraculously lets 95% of their customers decrease their bill?

They'll cap the top end, to stop tetherers/bittorent users, and maybe offer a higher tier to accommodate people who want to use/pay MORE, but you better believe that no big business is stupid enough to take all that revenue, throw it into a pile, and light a match just to make a bunch people who don't actually use the products they already are paying for can feel better about themselves. There is -zero- business incentive to give you guys a discount, because VZW already has you sheeple right where it wants you: Getting continually fleeced by making up the vast chunk of VZW's profit from data plans.

I think you're looking at it completely wrong. Just because it has potential to save 95% of their customers, doesn't mean it's going too...that's the whole point of tiers.

On an individual tier, even if 95% of their customers choose the lowest tier, do you really believe that 95% of them are not going to go over? That suddenly 95% of their customers are going to start counting data religiously to make sure they don't go over? Absolutely not. 99% of those 95% probably don't even know you can do #3282 to figure out your current data usage. On an individual tier, let's say they offer $15 for 200MB. If you use 201MB you pay $30. Trust me, 95% of their customers are not going to maintain 200MB month in and month out perpetually. Of course the tiers are designed to bring VZW more money and not give discounts to 95% of their base...

Second, by lowering tiers, they entice more people to sign up at a $15 tier where they normally wouldn't at $30. And some of those people will go over too. And lastly, there are people who know they'll use more then 200MB and they'll buy the higher tier.

Not sure why you think VZW hasn't thought this stuff out. They're not just arbitrarily picking tiers and crossing their fingers hoping they dont lose 95% of their revenue. They will have no problem with margins.

All that being said, there will be people who save money, like me, because they never use a lot of data, are always on wifi or know how to monitor their usage. To say I'm deluding myself is silly. Last cycle, my line used 102MB. I've never used 1/2 a gig. I'm not worried about being pummelled with overages every month and will pick the lowest tier they offer.

2 things strike my fancy here. #1 You are exactly right about VZW. They are not going to lose "millions" of dollars to help out their customers. They know the current data usages on the devices on their network. Some of the people will indeed save. Some will go over and make up for the people that are saving. It all works out for VZW in the end. Believe that. #2, sure you may not be affected with low data usage because you use wifi alot and don't use much data when not on wifi. Personally i DO NOT want to have to worry about "monitoring my usage" and having to wonder what i have left to use in my cycle. That is BS to me. Some months i use 1.5 GB and some months 3 GB. All depends on my travel and where i am. What crap VZW if you tier your data. I have been a customer since October 23rd 1999. After some research of my total true cost and usage it may change.

Oh I absolutely agree with you. If it was up to me, I'd rather not have to worry at all (that being said, I really don't worry anyway because I'm on wifi 23.99 hrs out of a day), but not having to ever worry is obviously the better deal. However, and that's why I said "like me", I'm sure there will be people who are going to get screwed by this, but I'm not one of those people. I was speaking to the person I quoted who said people who think they're going to save are deluding themselves. I think the people who are sure they are going to save, like me, are sure about that because (1) they monitor their usage and/or (2) they are on wifi the majority of the time and/or (3) have never come close to 2GB and that's not suddenly going to change because tiers are introduced. I can say with 100% certainty that even with tiers I won't use even 500MB (which I think I've only hit once or twice in 2 years and I'll eat the overage if that happens). Most of the time I'm around 100-200MB/month. Tiers will save me money because I'm going to pick the lowest tier, and have no worries about going over whatever their low tier is. Now if their low tier is $30, then no I won't save, but at that point it doesn't make a difference.

No matter what tiers they introduce, I'm getting screwed cuz I don't use any data ever. So a lower tier will save me money no matter what it is.

 

[czerdrill]

^ correction on a previous post where I said I've never used 1/2 a gig...it's happened once or twice, and those were months where I was surprised it happened.

 

[huskur]

I think you're looking at it completely wrong. Just because it has potential to save 95% of their customers, doesn't mean it's going too...that's the whole point of tiers.

On an individual tier, even if 95% of their customers choose the lowest tier, do you really believe that 95% of them are not going to go over? That suddenly 95% of their customers are going to start counting data religiously to make sure they don't go over? Absolutely not. 99% of those 95% probably don't even know you can do #3282 to figure out your current data usage. On an individual tier, let's say they offer $15 for 200MB. If you use 201MB you pay $30. Trust me, 95% of their customers are not going to maintain 200MB month in and month out perpetually. Of course the tiers are designed to bring VZW more money and not give discounts to 95% of their base...

Second, by lowering tiers, they entice more people to sign up at a $15 tier where they normally wouldn't at $30. And some of those people will go over too. And lastly, there are people who know they'll use more then 200MB and they'll buy the higher tier.

Not sure why you think VZW hasn't thought this stuff out. They're not just arbitrarily picking tiers and crossing their fingers hoping they dont lose 95% of their revenue. They will have no problem with margins.

All that being said, there will be people who save money, like me, because they never use a lot of data, are always on wifi or know how to monitor their usage. To say I'm deluding myself is silly. Last cycle, my line used 102MB. I've never used 1/2 a gig. I'm not worried about being pummelled with overages every month and will pick the lowest tier they offer.

2 things strike my fancy here. #1 You are exactly right about VZW. They are not going to lose "millions" of dollars to help out their customers. They know the current data usages on the devices on their network. Some of the people will indeed save. Some will go over and make up for the people that are saving. It all works out for VZW in the end. Believe that. #2, sure you may not be affected with low data usage because you use wifi alot and don't use much data when not on wifi. Personally i DO NOT want to have to worry about "monitoring my usage" and having to wonder what i have left to use in my cycle. That is BS to me. Some months i use 1.5 GB and some months 3 GB. All depends on my travel and where i am. What crap VZW if you tier your data. I have been a customer since October 23rd 1999. After some research of my total true cost and usage it may change.

Oh I absolutely agree with you. If it was up to me, I'd rather not have to worry at all (that being said, I really don't worry anyway because I'm on wifi 23.99 hrs out of a day), but not having to ever worry is obviously the better deal. However, and that's why I said "like me", I'm sure there will be people who are going to get screwed by this, but I'm not one of those people. I was speaking to the person I quoted who said people who think they're going to save are deluding themselves. I think the people who are sure they are going to save, like me, are sure about that because (1) they monitor their usage and/or (2) they are on wifi the majority of the time and/or (3) have never come close to 2GB and that's not suddenly going to change because tiers are introduced. I can say with 100% certainty that even with tiers I won't use even 500MB (which I think I've only hit once or twice in 2 years and I'll eat the overage if that happens). Most of the time I'm around 100-200MB/month. Tiers will save me money because I'm going to pick the lowest tier, and have no worries about going over whatever their low tier is. Now if their low tier is $30, then no I won't save, but at that point it doesn't make a difference.

No matter what tiers they introduce, I'm getting screwed cuz I don't use any data ever. So a lower tier will save me money no matter what it is.

Gotcha man. See i don't ever bother looking for wifi. I shouldn't have to. I pay for unlimited data for a reason. If i was going to use wifi most of the time i would have kept a dumbphone and just bought a hand held tablet. I thought about that route at one time but i never know when/where i am going to be around and open wifi signal. If the tiered data isn't going to be beneficial for me i will like have to end it with VZW. I will have to see how it plays out. My wife also has a droid and uses like 500 MB - 1GB monthly. So if it is sharable at a reasonable rate i may be able to work with that. I just hate the fact of being "limited".

 

[czerdrill]

2 things strike my fancy here. #1 You are exactly right about VZW. They are not going to lose "millions" of dollars to help out their customers. They know the current data usages on the devices on their network. Some of the people will indeed save. Some will go over and make up for the people that are saving. It all works out for VZW in the end. Believe that. #2, sure you may not be affected with low data usage because you use wifi alot and don't use much data when not on wifi. Personally i DO NOT want to have to worry about "monitoring my usage" and having to wonder what i have left to use in my cycle. That is BS to me. Some months i use 1.5 GB and some months 3 GB. All depends on my travel and where i am. What crap VZW if you tier your data. I have been a customer since October 23rd 1999. After some research of my total true cost and usage it may change.

Oh I absolutely agree with you. If it was up to me, I'd rather not have to worry at all (that being said, I really don't worry anyway because I'm on wifi 23.99 hrs out of a day), but not having to ever worry is obviously the better deal. However, and that's why I said "like me", I'm sure there will be people who are going to get screwed by this, but I'm not one of those people. I was speaking to the person I quoted who said people who think they're going to save are deluding themselves. I think the people who are sure they are going to save, like me, are sure about that because (1) they monitor their usage and/or (2) they are on wifi the majority of the time and/or (3) have never come close to 2GB and that's not suddenly going to change because tiers are introduced. I can say with 100% certainty that even with tiers I won't use even 500MB (which I think I've only hit once or twice in 2 years and I'll eat the overage if that happens). Most of the time I'm around 100-200MB/month. Tiers will save me money because I'm going to pick the lowest tier, and have no worries about going over whatever their low tier is. Now if their low tier is $30, then no I won't save, but at that point it doesn't make a difference.

No matter what tiers they introduce, I'm getting screwed cuz I don't use any data ever. So a lower tier will save me money no matter what it is.

Gotcha man. See i don't ever bother looking for wifi. I shouldn't have to. I pay for unlimited data for a reason. If i was going to use wifi most of the time i would have kept a dumbphone and just bought a hand held tablet. I thought about that route at one time but i never know when/where i am going to be around and open wifi signal. If the tiered data isn't going to be beneficial for me i will like have to end it with VZW. I will have to see how it plays out. My wife also has a droid and uses like 500 MB - 1GB monthly. So if it is sharable at a reasonable rate i may be able to work with that. I just hate the fact of being "limited".

i agree with you there, too. you shouldn't have to worry about finding wifi when you're paying for unlimited data. only reason i'm on wifi so much is that i work from home, i'm always near wifi and wifi is far faster for me then 3G ever will be (I honestly don't know how people put up with the speeds as they're ridiculously slow, but whatever). I'm not actively looking for wifi hotspots, it's just I never have a need to use 3G.

Being "limited" does suck, but as we've seen 95% of the customers are paying $30 for nothing. If some of them can save, I'm sure they don't mind.

As for leaving VZW, I probably would never consider it simply because I have never had any issue with them. I don't make up or try to lie to myself ways in which they are screwing me, because they're not (except for the $30/month for nothing haha, but that comes with a smartphone and the tiers will alleviate that for me). I don't believe I'm entitled to an ISP because I have a smartphone, I don't think VZW is an evil conglomerate hell bent on destroying the ideals of society or whatever other kiddy conspiracy theory some people have on here. I'm not going to move to another carrier to get "unlimited" data that I don't use, and pay the price of poor service. Further, it's not like Sprint isn't going to move to tiers...they will eventually, I'm sure. Regardless, if people feel they want to move to Sprint, it might be better for them.

 

[huskur]

Oh I absolutely agree with you. If it was up to me, I'd rather not have to worry at all (that being said, I really don't worry anyway because I'm on wifi 23.99 hrs out of a day), but not having to ever worry is obviously the better deal. However, and that's why I said "like me", I'm sure there will be people who are going to get screwed by this, but I'm not one of those people. I was speaking to the person I quoted who said people who think they're going to save are deluding themselves. I think the people who are sure they are going to save, like me, are sure about that because (1) they monitor their usage and/or (2) they are on wifi the majority of the time and/or (3) have never come close to 2GB and that's not suddenly going to change because tiers are introduced. I can say with 100% certainty that even with tiers I won't use even 500MB (which I think I've only hit once or twice in 2 years and I'll eat the overage if that happens). Most of the time I'm around 100-200MB/month. Tiers will save me money because I'm going to pick the lowest tier, and have no worries about going over whatever their low tier is. Now if their low tier is $30, then no I won't save, but at that point it doesn't make a difference.

No matter what tiers they introduce, I'm getting screwed cuz I don't use any data ever. So a lower tier will save me money no matter what it is.

Gotcha man. See i don't ever bother looking for wifi. I shouldn't have to. I pay for unlimited data for a reason. If i was going to use wifi most of the time i would have kept a dumbphone and just bought a hand held tablet. I thought about that route at one time but i never know when/where i am going to be around and open wifi signal. If the tiered data isn't going to be beneficial for me i will like have to end it with VZW. I will have to see how it plays out. My wife also has a droid and uses like 500 MB - 1GB monthly. So if it is sharable at a reasonable rate i may be able to work with that. I just hate the fact of being "limited".

i agree with you there, too. you shouldn't have to worry about finding wifi when you're paying for unlimited data. only reason i'm on wifi so much is that i work from home, i'm always near wifi and wifi is far faster for me then 3G ever will be (I honestly don't know how people put up with the speeds as they're ridiculously slow, but whatever). I'm not actively looking for wifi hotspots, it's just I never have a need to use 3G.

Being "limited" does suck, but as we've seen 95% of the customers are paying $30 for nothing. If some of them can save, I'm sure they don't mind.

As for leaving VZW, I probably would never consider it simply because I have never had any issue with them. I don't make up or try to lie to myself ways in which they are screwing me, because they're not (except for the $30/month for nothing haha, but that comes with a smartphone and the tiers will alleviate that for me). I don't believe I'm entitled to an ISP because I have a smartphone, I don't think VZW is an evil conglomerate hell bent on destroying the ideals of society or whatever other kiddy conspiracy theory some people have on here. I'm not going to move to another carrier to get "unlimited" data that I don't use, and pay the price of poor service. Further, it's not like Sprint isn't going to move to tiers...they will eventually, I'm sure. Regardless, if people feel they want to move to Sprint, it might be better for them.

In all likely hood i will not leave either. I am just thinking of 4G. If my phone was faster (which 4G LTE is lightyears faster than 3G) then my data usage will increase. Along with data hungry apps it just gets me worried about overages beyond ordinary control.

 

[czerdrill]

Yeah that's true, with 4G it may be a viable alternative to wifi and I can see where that could worry people. Unfortunately for those people, they might have to pay for a higher/the highest tier.

 

[kodiak799]

Yeah that's true, with 4G it may be a viable alternative to wifi and I can see where that could worry people. Unfortunately for those people, they might have to pay for a higher/the highest tier.

If people want to use their phone as an ISP, they should expect to pay for it, upwards of $80+. So simple and...yet...so...fair.

I see people posting how they hit 8-10 gigs or whatever, and clearly a lot is doing it "just because you can". I still see no reason to rack up that kind of usage on a tiny smartphone screen. Now, with a shared data plan and a tablet (or tethered laptop), completely different ballgame. But no reason to listen to 30 hours of Pandora a month when you have 40gigs of storage and can play MP3's that use no data. Dropbox and slingbox - why?

Even for the heavier "legit" users, I don't think it will be that painful for them to make some slight changes in usage habits to work with a few gigs of data. Like you, I'm on wifi almost all day, but with LTE I'd consider possibly dropping home broadband - which would save me $50 but the cable company will get its money one way or another (since they own most of the pipes) which is why I'd have to pay at least $80 for 10+ gigs of data.

 

[czerdrill]

Yeah that's true, with 4G it may be a viable alternative to wifi and I can see where that could worry people. Unfortunately for those people, they might have to pay for a higher/the highest tier.

If people want to use their phone as an ISP, they should expect to pay for it, upwards of $80+. So simple and...yet...so...fair.

I see people posting how they hit 8-10 gigs or whatever, and clearly a lot is doing it "just because you can". I still see no reason to rack up that kind of usage on a tiny smartphone screen. Now, with a shared data plan and a tablet (or tethered laptop), completely different ballgame. But no reason to listen to 30 hours of Pandora a month when you have 40gigs of storage and can play MP3's that use no data. Dropbox and slingbox - why?

Even for the heavier "legit" users, I don't think it will be that painful for them to make some slight changes in usage habits to work with a few gigs of data. Like you, I'm on wifi almost all day, but with LTE I'd consider possibly dropping home broadband - which would save me $50 but the cable company will get its money one way or another (since they own most of the pipes) which is why I'd have to pay at least $80 for 10+ gigs of data.

Yep, if you want to play you gotta pay. Problem is people want stuff for free (not that it matters because all they can do is whine), so we'll see whining no matter what the tiers are.

And remember even including heavy users (legit or not), Nielsen has shown that 99% of smartphone customers (and that's not just VZW) don't even use 5GB. So for that 1% (which when you think about is such a ridiculously minuscule amount comparatively) who want to use 90GB a month....sorry, you gotta pay.

 

[kodiak799]

And remember even including heavy users (legit or not), Nielsen has shown that 99% of smartphone customers (and that's not just VZW) don't even use 5GB. So for that 1% (which when you think about is such a ridiculously minuscule amount comparatively) who want to use 90GB a month....sorry, you gotta pay.

Yeah, and idle threats or not, VZW LOSES money on that 1% (or at least doesn't make much) so VZW doesn't shed a tear if those people actually do leave. Sort of like a 500lb man threatening to leave my buffet because I limit him to 3 plates - LOL, don't let the door hit you....