Verizon's CFO Says that "unlimited" is "just a word" and "doesn't mean anything."

[mountainbikermark]

SO let me see if I understand his argument... We used to pay $30 a month for Unlimited. Now we pay $30 a month for 2GB and have to share that 2GB with other phones in the plan, and that is somehow to *my* benefit? LOL

This is why my GF and I just switched to Sprint a few days ago. F Verizon.

Remember their goal is push smartphones and data plans. The whole family share is for those that have dumbphone plans to get them onto smartphone plans while still using as little data as possible. Data is the cash cow of choice now since the texting cash cow had been saturated. Texting and surfing costs them less than talking so they've been slowly pushing that for years. Remember the days of a $10 data plan forced upon certain dumbphones experiment? The old vcast pack that suddenly became not unlimited anymore? Text plans suddenly got cheaper around that time to entice the users as well.

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From my Beano

 

[jroc]

I forgot to say...some already touched on this.....unlimited is just a word....yet these new Share Plans all have....unlimited....talk n text. Verizon, if you wanna be greedy, so be it. But dont try to insult our intelligence.

I really hope some of the CEO's, or CFO, or BS artists start brainstorming before they give interviews, say things.

To me...the best thing to do from a promotional, marketing standpoint was to have a Unlimited everything plan. An unlimited everything plan can be a share everything plan if they add the free hotspot feature. I have actually started paying more attention to T Mo and Sprint because of unlimited data. I will have to choose the lesser of 2 evils with them tho...and I see that Sprint doesnt just cut your phone off the very next day past the due date anymore. That I hated about them. Sprint is looking a lil more appealing. Now that LTE is rolling out for other carriers....

Verizon, dont get to big headed thinking you wont lose customers. As long as their is choice......its always a possibility. Android being among the most popular phones on your network should tell you this.

 

[mountainbikermark]

I forgot to say...some already touched on this.....unlimited is just a word....yet these new Share Plans all have....unlimited....talk n text. Verizon, if you wanna be greedy, so be it. But dont try to insult our intelligence.

I really hope some of the CEO's, or CFO, or BS artists start brainstorming before they give interviews, say things.

To me...the best thing to do from a promotional, marketing standpoint was to have a Unlimited everything plan. An unlimited everything plan can be a share everything plan if they add the free hotspot feature. I have actually started paying more attention to T Mo and Sprint because of unlimited data. I will have to choose the lesser of 2 evils with them tho...and I see that Sprint doesnt just cut your phone off the very next day past the due date anymore. That I hated about them. Sprint is looking a lil more appealing. Now that LTE is rolling out for other carriers....

Verizon, dont get to big headed thinking you wont lose customers. As long as their is choice......its always a possibility. Android being among the most popular phones on your network should tell you this.

Verizon assimilated Alltel, their biggest competition for killer plans, in 09. Since then they've basically had the attitude of they are number 1 and dare us to leave.

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A Rezound phone was used for this Tapatalk post

 

[LoudRam]

For me AT&T is a real option. My son's aide has a One X and she gets a good 4g signal at my house while I live off wifi. My 3g is weak so I'm paying for data that I can't use. I know their 4g isn't LTE but it's fast enough for me. But I have a ways to go before my contract is up. So I'll be looking at who has what at that time. I know VZ watches and reads forums like ours so this is directed at them...There are other carriers out there that I can switch to so get your act together or you might be losing another customer. And as you have read in here I'm not the only one that is willing to leave.

Sent from my HTC Rezound using Droid Forums

 

[geoff5093]

For me AT&T is a real option. My son's aide has a One X and she gets a good 4g signal at my house while I live off wifi. My 3g is weak so I'm paying for data that I can't use. I know their 4g isn't LTE but it's fast enough for me. But I have a ways to go before my contract is up. So I'll be looking at who has what at that time. I know VZ watches and reads forums like ours so this is directed at them...There are other carriers out there that I can switch to so get your act together or you might be losing another customer. And as you have read in here I'm not the only one that is willing to leave.

Sent from my HTC Rezound using Droid Forums

I'm in the same boat, I'm still with Verizon because I was lucky enough to get their unlimited text, data, and 450 minutes for $59.99 plan. But now that I need to pay full price for a new phone, essentially I'm paying $80 a month. While AT&T's LTE footprint is smaller, their 4G is MUCH better than Verizon's 3G service, I was getting around 6-10Mbps download. Plus, it's nicer to have GSM over CDMA.

 

[sharkattack99]

well the way i see it just about every company (besides sprint) realized that data was the big ticket item for users, they realized "Hey customers are using mondow amounts of data, lets get rid of the unlimited and make crap loads of money off them" cause the prices for there plans are just rediculous, i was told when i called about my bionic told them there share everything plans were a joke she asked why do i think that and i told her, then she said no you can keep your current plan but have to go to the tiered data plan and then told me what my average per month was, well i only have 3g here were i live and that was probably right for 3g speed i expect way way way more on 4gLTE. Its about money its always been that way and im sorry to say it always will be that way. i would go to sprint but like everybody says sprint has crappy coverage of there 4G LTE service so im kind of stuck.

 

[droidxd00d]

Im in the same kind of being stuck boat. Sprint doesn't even have 3g where I live, at&t doesn't get any signal at all and T-Mobile is nowhere around.

 

[suzukimethod]

1) I once paid $50 a month for cell phone that had 120 minutes/month. total. eventually the price came down. it will with data plans too.


as for the shared vs. unlimited? I gave away my grandfathered plan to upgrade the wife to a gnex.


2) ..since insurance covers (mostly) everything (unlimited data), consumers have no idea as to the real costs of their (data use/bandwidth)...by introducing pricing into the argument, consumers can decide how much they pay for the data levels they want to use (rather than blanket everything).

of course, i think their pricing tiers suck, and are clearly designed to cause users to break even or pay more, but then again, see (1) above.


3) as for switching to "show them" - gadgetrants has it right...you think they are sad to see a few unlimited heavy data users go? lol, please. i can switch to sprint or T-Mo in my area, and i'll have unlimited access to no signal in a bunch of areas where i get good VZW (sometimes even 4g). (t-mo is particularly laughable in tucson)

 

[SquireSCA]

1) I once paid $50 a month for cell phone that had 120 minutes/month. total. eventually the price came down. it will with data plans too.


as for the shared vs. unlimited? I gave away my grandfathered plan to upgrade the wife to a gnex.


2) ..since insurance covers (mostly) everything (unlimited data), consumers have no idea as to the real costs of their (data use/bandwidth)...by introducing pricing into the argument, consumers can decide how much they pay for the data levels they want to use (rather than blanket everything).

of course, i think their pricing tiers suck, and are clearly designed to cause users to break even or pay more, but then again, see (1) above.


3) as for switching to "show them" - gadgetrants has it right...you think they are sad to see a few unlimited heavy data users go? lol, please. i can switch to sprint or T-Mo in my area, and i'll have unlimited access to no signal in a bunch of areas where i get good VZW (sometimes even 4g). (t-mo is particularly laughable in tucson)

1) Plans won't come down. They WERE down, and are steadily going UP. That's the problem.

2) My GF and I were not heavy users, averaging maybe 4GB between us per month, and we each had 4GB plans, so at best we were averaging half the data that we were paying for. Now, if they had roll-ever data the way they used to have roll-over minutes, that would be different.

The way I see it, I was paying for 4GB a month and using half that. I was paying over $200 a month for our phones and data plans. My new bill is $140 a month for the same minutes, but unlimited data with Sprint. And they are rolling out Sprint LTE here in Atlanta as we speak.

 

[suzukimethod]

i misspoke. price/unit will come down. price paid may not. (you'll note that what i paid for my 120 minutes (and this was in a single metro area too, roaming was long distance ++) - and for that price, you can now get an unlimited phone/data plan....something has changed. same with AOL, anyone remember internet priced by the minute? these things change.

my larger point (buried in the weeds) agrees with you. I think verizon structured their pricing on shared plans so that no one who switched would save a ton of money (which makes sense from a bottom line perspective - their stock price is probably happy that revenue projections stayed stable or increased), but frankly, this part sucks.

I was willing to give up my unlimited data to be more mindful of when/how i used data, and i expected a bit of a kickback for doing so, frankly. As it stands, converting a 2 smartphone plan FROM metered talk/text & unlimited data TO unlimited talk/text & metered data (2GB) is about a wash....I'm pretty sure if the data amount per price paid was a bit more reasonable, it would be harder to be up in arms over these comments... I would have liked to see 5-6 GB at this pricing tier, plus a lower pricing tier for the 2-4 GB plans, along with reasonable numbers for the >6GB plans -- and my point about prices dropping (per unit) apply to this. the base rate for a data plan equipped phone may not drop, but the amount you get for that price paid should go up over time.

With my work discount, we were paying just over $150/month for unlimited data with metered talk/text, and now we pay just under $150/month for 2 gnex phones with unlimited talk/text and 2GB shared data. because of the wifi situation at home and work, we could actually get away with a 1GB shared plan, but the cost savings isnt worth the hassle. Sprint has nice coverage in our metro area, but because of the alltel/VZW merger, the "hinterlands" coverage is second to none for verizon (monopolies suck, but such as it is)...any savings on another company would be offset by network (lack of) coverage...and vzw knows it, hence the non-aggressive pricing.

 

[LoudRam]

QUOTE=suzukimethod;2277645]

3) as for switching to "show them" - gadgetrants has it right...you think they are sad to see a few unlimited heavy data users go? lol, please. i can switch to sprint or T-Mo in my area, and i'll have unlimited access to no signal in a bunch of areas where i get good VZW (sometimes even 4g). (t-mo is particularly laughable in tucson)[/QUOTE]

Speaking for myself, I really don't care if I "show them" or not. If someone has a better deal when my contract is up I'm going to leave. I'd rather not because I like their service overall. The part I don't like is the lack of a decent data signal and the high price of having no data. And that's enough to get me to leave. I know they aren't putting another dime into 3g and that's fine as long as they expand 4g a few more miles. They are so close yet so far.

 

[summit21]

Man....Come December I'm canceling my Verizon contract. I want to the Note 2 and it would be cheaper to pay the early termination fee of probably 300 dollars (My contract ends next September so it should be cheaper to cancel), sell my Galaxy Nexus on eBay to help with the fee, go to Sprint and sign up with an unlimited data contract with the Note 2 for 300 dollars, which is what the phone should cost. With my military discount, the bill should be cheaper than what I pay with Verizon. So either end up paying about 400 dollars to switch and get a new phone or I could just stick with Verizon, pay 800 dollars for the Note 2 and still get reamed....That's a tough choice wouldn't you say?

Enjoy Sprint's 3G speeds....Link: iPhone 5 Network and Wi-Fi Speed Tests: Which One's Fastest?

"Sprint's truly unlimited data plan makes it a tempting buy, but without 4G it was painful to use. You can really see the disparity in the top image. (Sprint's LTE network will be slowly rolling out over the next couple of years.)

 

[suzukimethod]

Speaking for myself, I really don't care if I "show them" or not. If someone has a better deal when my contract is up I'm going to leave. I'd rather not because I like their service overall. The part I don't like is the lack of a decent data signal and the high price of having no data. And that's enough to get me to leave. I know they aren't putting another dime into 3g and that's fine as long as they expand 4g a few more miles. They are so close yet so far.

as i said above, i'm not happy with their pricing choices for their shared plans, and if anyone had data coverage even close to VZW in my area, i'd be all over switching (i have no loyalty to big red) and fully support anyone who thinks they can get a better deal elsewhere. I'm lucky enough to have good wifi at home/work, and good to great 4g at places where friends phones dont even get a signal, so i am stuck with them and their prices if i want my phone to work all the places i use it, and able to choose a lower data tier since i can supplement with wifi.

my larger point was that verizon is probably happy to lose the small percentage of users who use very large amounts of data, especially if they can offset those losses with shared plans that are more favorable to them. my hope is that they gradually (or sooner/faster) increase the data available at the same price point, since their current tiers are weak.

 

[LaurelRaven]

as i said above, i'm not happy with their pricing choices for their shared plans, and if anyone had data coverage even close to VZW in my area, i'd be all over switching (i have no loyalty to big red) and fully support anyone who thinks they can get a better deal elsewhere. I'm lucky enough to have good wifi at home/work, and good to great 4g at places where friends phones dont even get a signal, so i am stuck with them and their prices if i want my phone to work all the places i use it, and able to choose a lower data tier since i can supplement with wifi.

my larger point was that verizon is probably happy to lose the small percentage of users who use very large amounts of data, especially if they can offset those losses with shared plans that are more favorable to them. my hope is that they gradually (or sooner/faster) increase the data available at the same price point, since their current tiers are weak.

I wouldn't call myself "loyal" to them, so much as I like their network better.

I just don't like them very much.

Sent from my Nexus 7

 

[Theot]

I wouldn't call myself "loyal" to them, so much as I like their network better.

I just don't like them very much.

Sent from my Nexus 7

I love the network most of the time. After 2 months with a 4G phone I may be hooked. However to me it just feels like blatant gouging.

From an Eclipsed GNEX