Verizon Implementing Tiered Data Plans Soon

[kodiak799]

Let's couple today's news with yesterday's news...

Verizon CEO hints iPhone not coming soon - Yahoo! News

Well, he said a few months ago tiered pricing wasn't coming any time soon, and I would say 4-6 months from now doesn't invalidate that thinking.

So, along those same lines, "not coming soon" on the IPhone doesn't mean they won't have an IPhone in 6 months. But there's also a tricky marketing aspect to that where you probably don't want to say the IPhone is coming in 3 months because people wait for that and you lose revenues.

I still maintain Apple needs VZW a lot more than VZW needs Apple. And if VZW truly is starting to seem some capacity constraints (perhaps in select markets, but I don't really buy it I think it's just a profitability decision that demand shows an opportunity to raise pricing) then they have little incentive to bring Apple on board and be forced to deal with Jobs.

 

[kodiak799]

I'm not that concerned about being grandfathered. I will upgrade to LTE as soon as it hits my area (living in a large city I'd expect to have this as soon as the phones are available @May 2011). I'd guess most on this site will upgrade to LTE as soon as it becomes available. And most certainly LTE will be tiered pricing (no grandfather, different service) so they get us all sooner or later.

 

[kodiak799]

I've been traveling a lot more the last few months and on 3G most of the time (still on wifi at home)....Even been doing some tethering. I think it would be hard (for me) to hit 5gigs a month with that. Hopefully they have a reasonably priced 5 gig tier.

But, admittedly, if an unlimited LTE tier is like $60 a month then I'm going to cancel home broadband and tether my heart out (provided the new LTE phones have the ability to tether and still receive calls). When tethered I probably average @300kbps and a consistent speed of 3 times that would be acceptable but LTE should average at least 10X that speed, probably 20X. I think I've found most websites don't send data faster than that, anyway, making 15gig home broadband connections mostly overkill.

 

[furbearingmammal]

I get about 60k when I tether. That's like 30x what my dialup was. You can see why I tether to get online.

Tiered LTE will be the only way they're going to go. They put a lot of $$$ into upgrading their system and they want/have a responsibility to get it back ASAP.

 

[mtz_gto]

DL's I get 80 to 120 on a perfect day.
Avg I get 60 to 80

In my bedroom I just set the phone in the window while
its on the charger. My temps dont rise above 104

 

[kodiak799]

I assume you guys have tried different channels and LAN settings?

I had a heck of a time even getting wireless tether to keep connected (could have been BB0.4). But there is definitely a difference on channels. My 3G tests normally around 700kbps down, and wireless tether bounces all over between literally 0 and 500+, but probably averages 2-300.

 

[Zippster]

Great, the most expensive carrier out there getting cheaper and more money hungry yet.

 

[HarleyDad09]

I will upgrade to LTE regardless of tiered or not. It is Supply and Demand! You want it, they know you want it, they are going to make you pay for it!

I see a lot of people bolting for Sprint though, they have some great Android phones and an unlimited plan!

 

[furbearingmammal]

I will upgrade to LTE regardless of tiered or not. It is Supply and Demand! You want it, they know you want it, they are going to make you pay for it!

I see a lot of people bolting for Sprint though, they have some great Android phones and an unlimited plan!

This is about the fact they're going to tier 3G. LTE was going to be tiered from day 1.

 

[kodiak799]

I see a lot of people bolting for Sprint though, they have some great Android phones and an unlimited plan!

This is about the fact they're going to tier 3G. LTE was going to be tiered from day 1.[/QUOTE]

Supply and demand. If people are willing to pay more, you should charge whatever maximizes profits. Only a moron would do differently if it was their own personal business. People always want a deal and always want a freebie. Whining about paying for a service what you actually value at is disingenuous at best. Hopefully Sprint gets better and AT&T as well to provide competition and choice.

Nevertheless, the whining kind of amazes me. People who want (don't need) the convenience and luxury of mobile broadband complaining about paying for it. My goodness, how did people ever function just 5 years ago?

Everyone is a capitalist when it comes to making money, but as soon as we start talking about paying someone else people tend to lean heavily socialist.

 

[Bear in NM]

As was posted a few pages back, I think that for many folks the "anger meter" is gonna be pegged to whether or not going over a tier level incurs a reasonable charge or a penalty charge. If for example, 5 GB is 15 dollars a month, and 10 is 30 a month. If I were to go over 5 by any amount, then I pay 15.00 dollars no matter the data amount, still under the next tier level cap. I could live with that. If on the other hand, going over by a few megs results in some extreme penalty rate, then I think we have problems.

My guess is that they will implement more of a penalty rate. This will allow the store sales folks to "scare" buyers into higher tier plans. I also think that VZW needs to implement some type of trial period rate whereby the new customer (especially new to data user) gets 30 or 60 days at a reasonable rate when signing up to get a baseline peg of their use. But again I will err on the side of VZW bottom line and guess that they will tell sales to push/scare the higher tier, then make it known to the user that they can downgrade later if their use warrants it.

In any case, we are going to have much more interesting legal language and weasle words to evaluate in future contract commitments.

Craig

 

[xmguy]

As was posted a few pages back, I think that for many folks the "anger meter" is gonna be pegged to whether or not going over a tier level incurs a reasonable charge or a penalty charge. If for example, 5 GB is 15 dollars a month, and 10 is 30 a month. If I were to go over 5 by any amount, then I pay 15.00 dollars no matter the data amount, still under the next tier level cap. I could live with that. If on the other hand, going over by a few megs results in some extreme penalty rate, then I think we have problems.

My guess is that they will implement more of a penalty rate. This will allow the store sales folks to "scare" buyers into higher tier plans. I also think that VZW needs to implement some type of trial period rate whereby the new customer (especially new to data user) gets 30 or 60 days at a reasonable rate when signing up to get a baseline peg of their use. But again I will err on the side of VZW bottom line and guess that they will tell sales to push/scare the higher tier, then make it known to the user that they can downgrade later if their use warrants it.

In any case, we are going to have much more interesting legal language and weasle words to evaluate in future contract commitments.

Craig

If I could get 5GBs for $15-$20. I'd be happy to downgrade. But I agree with the above.

 

[mountainbikermark]

As was posted a few pages back, I think that for many folks the "anger meter" is gonna be pegged to whether or not going over a tier level incurs a reasonable charge or a penalty charge. If for example, 5 GB is 15 dollars a month, and 10 is 30 a month. If I were to go over 5 by any amount, then I pay 15.00 dollars no matter the data amount, still under the next tier level cap. I could live with that. If on the other hand, going over by a few megs results in some extreme penalty rate, then I think we have problems.

My guess is that they will implement more of a penalty rate. This will allow the store sales folks to "scare" buyers into higher tier plans. I also think that VZW needs to implement some type of trial period rate whereby the new customer (especially new to data user) gets 30 or 60 days at a reasonable rate when signing up to get a baseline peg of their use. But again I will err on the side of VZW bottom line and guess that they will tell sales to push/scare the higher tier, then make it known to the user that they can downgrade later if their use warrants it.

In any case, we are going to have much more interesting legal language and weasle words to evaluate in future contract commitments.

Craig

The only good thing about the mm phone mandatory data add on was overage was/is .20 a mb
It would be asking too much for the same thing on tiers but one can dream

wified from my Incredible monolith using Swype on Tapatalk

 

[Smokie]

awesome for people like my dad, worst thing for me!
at least they have to grandfather our unlimited in

Has anyone heard anything about grandfathering? And what would change it for you; if you updated your phone, or changed your plan?

the guy i work with has an iPhone.. he told me that anyone already a customer with AT&T w/ an unlimited plan gets to keep it.. they can't all of a sudden make a change to your plan like that while under contract? it would at least have to wait until renewal i would think.

 

[Cunha]

Guys, all old plans get grandfathered in.

If you change your plan you can only change it to current plans, so think about it before you tinker around with your plan, because your options have changed.

If you need to upgrade, you can get under the 2 year contract again for your existing plan.

If not, than pay cash for a phone and keep your superior plan and the unhindered light heartedness of not being under a contract.