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.