Verizon Unveils their New Verizon Video Service

[dgstorm]

There is a new application on many folks Verizon Android device called Verizon Video. In case you haven't investigated it, it is a new service that Verizon has rolled out. It is a monthly streaming service with over 250 TV shows. You can get access to it for $10 bucks a month. Some of the content comes from the various stations including ABC, NBC, CBS, ESPN, CNBC, Animal Planet, Comedy Central, Disney Channel, etc. Temporarily you can try out the service with a free preview, and after the free preview period ends you will be able to try it for $3 bucks for 24 Hours.

Keep in mind that this service will still chew through your data limit if you don't have a grandfathered unlimited plan. Hmmm... that seems almost "sneaky" of Verizon...

Source: PhoneArena

 

[sqchram]

Neat one dgstorm - if it works out, with an HDMI cable, this will mean no $70 cable or satellite bill

 

[sqchram]

Hmm, can't find the free preview - It appears as though a download and install may initiate the $10 charge billed on your Verizon wireless bill.

I'll hold off until reviews are more solid on function and content.

 

[Trusstopher]

How is this different from the old V-Cast service?

 

[SquireSCA]

So they charge you for a service that will chew up your tiered data plan in a few days so that they can then charge you for usage fees?

I thought that the way technology and things worked was that as things matured and you got more adept at producing things and had more customers, that costs went down? And in this economy when people are having to cut back, all we see are companies jacking prices up? Japanese motorcycles have gone up 15% in the past two years, at a time when hardly anyone is buying them because of cost.

Netflix doubles their price overnight. VZW gets rid of unlimited and jacks their prices up.

Do they not realize that in a down economy, that raising prices will turn away customers who are already struggling to make ends meet?

But hey, if it makes the millionaire investors happy and lets them buy that extra house on an island somewhere, screw the customers, right?

It would make sense for them to not count this video data against your tier in an effort to get people to switch from Netflix to Verizon.

 

[sst45jeff]

Its called INFLATION.
It's just that nobody has recognized it yet & the government isn't going to call it that in fears that it will put another nail in the economies coffin.

So they charge you for a service that will chew up your tiered data plan in a few days so that they can then charge you for usage fees?

I thought that the way technology and things worked was that as things matured and you got more adept at producing things and had more customers, that costs went down? And in this economy when people are having to cut back, all we see are companies jacking prices up? Japanese motorcycles have gone up 15% in the past two years, at a time when hardly anyone is buying them because of cost.

Netflix doubles their price overnight. VZW gets rid of unlimited and jacks their prices up.

Do they not realize that in a down economy, that raising prices will turn away customers who are already struggling to make ends meet?

But hey, if it makes the millionaire investors happy and lets them buy that extra house on an island somewhere, screw the customers, right?

It would make sense for them to not count this video data against your tier in an effort to get people to switch from Netflix to Verizon.

 

[SquireSCA]

I am not so sure. When something new and cutting edge comes out, the price is high because the costs to produce it are high and you also have to recover R&D, etc.. But as you continue to crank the stuff out and manufacturing processes improve, you sell more of them so economies of scale improve, etc... prices come down. Be it CPU's, laptops, Blu-Ray players, etc...

Things like cars go up because the largest componant there is labor, and labor and benefit costs always go up faster than anything.

Long distance phone bills used to be outrageously expensive, but as technology improved, prices came down.

I think that this is more of a case of corporate greed in a down economy. They are losing money like everyone else and they figure they can squeeze a bit more out of the customers that do have some money, nothing more.

It just seems that as time goes on, your cell phone bill keeps going up while what you get for that money keeps going down, which is the opposite of a lot of industries, that is all I am saying.

 

[Trusstopher]

I think the best benchmark for a wireless carrier's "goals for profit" is to look at their profit margin on a single text message... from: Skype, GroupMe and the death of the text message - Aug. 22, 2011

"Texting may sound cheap, but it's actually an incredibly expensive way for consumers to send data. Text messages max out at just 160 bytes, which means 20-cents-per-message plans cost wireless customers an astounding $1,250 per megabyte.

Unlimited plans are also a rip off. If a wireless customer sent one text message every minute of every day of every month (44,640 texts per month), at "just" $20 per month, that still works out to $2.80 per megabyte.
By contrast, AT&T and Verizon offer data plans that give customers 2 gigabytes of monthly Internet usage for $25 and $30 respectively. Those plans both work out to less than 2 cents per megabyte."