VZW Petition to Ditch Contracts Nears 100k; Verizon Offers Expensive Payment Plans

[Dalvik_Cache]

You are mistaken, Verizon (and all carriers) impliment whats called a fair use policy. Basically it means that if you do something like hog bandwidth then your rate plan can be changed automatically to a metered one, or your service could legally even by terminated.

Excerpt from TOS:
You may not use our Data Plans and Features for illegal purposes or purposes that infringe upon others’ intellectual property rights, or in a manner that interferes with other users’ service; that violates trade and economic sanctions and prohibitions as promulgated by the departments of Commerce, Treasury or any other U.S. government agency; that interferes with the network’s ability to fairly allocate capacity among users or that otherwise degrades service quality for other users.

This is actually just one of several places where the fair use policy is mentioned.

Well then, that's not really unlimited then, is it?

I may be mistaken, but the TOS doesn’t restrict the amount of data that can be used on the unlimited plan, but rather how the data is consumed. Meaning, you can use as much as you like as long as you're not tethering.

 

[kodiak799]

Well then, that's not really unlimited then, is it?

Sure it is, it's unlimited data for the service you purchased, but you did not purchase service without limits. Unlimited data in CA doesn't become limited data in CA when you drive to NV.

 

[skennelly]

You are mistaken, Verizon (and all carriers) impliment whats called a fair use policy. Basically it means that if you do something like hog bandwidth then your rate plan can be changed automatically to a metered one, or your service could legally even by terminated.

Then why not let Verizon handle the people using 200+ gig a month and you guys can get off their back. If Verizon sees these users as a problem, then they obviously have a clause that can deal with them. Verizon's rates are what they are because they can get people to pay it, not because someone "abuses their unlimited data plan". For people to think otherwise it's foolish.

 

[skennelly]

Sure it is, it's unlimited data for the service you purchased, but you did not purchase service without limits. Unlimited data in CA doesn't become limited data in CA when you drive to NV.

Really? Last I checked, I had national coverage.

 

[Dalvik_Cache]

They do regularly deal with people doing that. Unfortunately probably 65% of all unlimited users abuse it, so there is plenty of work to do. I personally have an unlimited plan. I NEVER use Wifi. I am on LTE 100% of the time. I check email, surf the web, answer forum replies, stream audio on Pandora, watch Netflix on occasion, etc., and never use more than 4-5 GB of data. Long story short, if you are using your phone as a phone and not tethering or abusing the system in some way then its very hard to use more than 8 GB monthly.

Then why not let Verizon handle the people using 200+ gig a month and you guys can get off their back.

 

[huskur]

They do regularly deal with people doing that. Unfortunately probably 65% of all unlimited users abuse it, so there is plenty of work to do. I personally have an unlimited plan. I NEVER use Wifi. I am on LTE 100% of the time. I check email, surf the web, answer forum replies, stream audio on Pandora, watch Netflix on occasion, etc., and never use more than 4-5 GB of data. Long story short, if you are using your phone as a phone and not tethering or abusing the system in some way then its very hard to use more than 8 GB monthly.

I also have unlimited data. I am in a LTE area 99% of the time. I stream Pandora, watch youtube and netflix, surf the web, email and use the TV portal app. I use the phone for what Verizon originally intended it to be used for. They are the ones telling you in their commercials to use all these new fangled apps that are available BUT they want you to keep off their network and use wifi when you can to conserve data usage. OH, so now I have to use my Comcast wifi at home to use my Verizon phone? NO WAY! NOT EVER! Comcast (or any other wifi) should not have to be used for your "verizon" device. Anyway, that is just my view.....I am 14 days into my cycle and have used 5.122 GB and I have 16 days left to go. I should use around 10-12 which is my normal usage. Thats not abuse.

By definition...."unlimited" cannot be abused. Don't take this out of context......I am saying by definition of the word it's impossible to do.

 

[skennelly]

They do regularly deal with people doing that. Unfortunately probably 65% of all unlimited users abuse it, so there is plenty of work to do. I personally have an unlimited plan. I NEVER use Wifi. I am on LTE 100% of the time. I check email, surf the web, answer forum replies, stream audio on Pandora, watch Netflix on occasion, etc., and never use more than 4-5 GB of data. Long story short, if you are using your phone as a phone and not tethering or abusing the system in some way then its very hard to use more than 8 GB monthly.

I'm sorry, but I can't take a statistic seriously when it begins with "probably". Show me a fact that 65% abuse it and not a random number that you think makes your point.

My point is that it's not the job of the people on this forum to police, or even be concerned with someone else's data usage because Verizon is a big boy and can (and will) deal with the people who they feel are "abusing unlimited data".

I have been rehabbing a foreclosure since November. I work some evenings and every weekend on it. I stream Pandora while I work and watch some Netflix before bed. Plus all my emails, news, Facebook and what not. I have easily chewed through 25 gigs of data doing this. Prior to this I'd be anywhere from 5-10 gigs/month. No tethering and I don't worry about anyone here feeling that I abuse my unlimited plan. If Verizon has a problem, they'll let me know. I don't believe for a minute that they don't have a system in place to flag an account based on data consumption, or that it is at all difficult for them to police this.

 

[jseah]

I also have unlimited data. I am in a LTE area 99% of the time. I stream Pandora, watch youtube and netflix, surf the web, email and use the TV portal app. I use the phone for what Verizon originally intended it to be used for. They are the ones telling you in their commercials to use all these new fangled apps that are available BUT they want you to keep off their network and use wifi when you can to conserve data usage. OH, so now I have to use my Comcast wifi at home to use my Verizon phone? NO WAY! NOT EVER! Comcast (or any other wifi) should not have to be used for your "verizon" device. Anyway, that is just my view.....I am 14 days into my cycle and have used 5.122 GB and I have 16 days left to go. I should use around 10-12 which is my normal usage. Thats not abuse.

By definition...."unlimited" cannot be abused. Don't take this out of context......I am saying by definition of the word it's impossible to do.

FWIW, at home I am paying about $100 a month for Time Warner 50 MB Wideband. Between the 5 of us (my two boys are constantly streaming Youtube and playing games online), we are using between 350-400 GB per month. While theoretically I could cancel Time Warner and rely on the unlimited LTE data on our smartphones, I don't plan on it because

1. I don't plan on "abusing" our unlimited data plans, and
2. Data transfer rates with Time Warner is consistent at 50 Mbps while LTE is still not built out enough to be consistent and with more and more people using LTE now, it can't match what we are getting from our cable internet.

 

[kodiak799]

Really? Last I checked, I had national coverage.

Whatever. Now you're just being argumentative. You have unlimited data and limited service, which is why the service you bought is defined in the TERMS of service.

 

[skennelly]

Whatever. Now you're just being argumentative. You have unlimited data and limited service, which is why the service you bought is defined in the TERMS of service.

Yes, I may be, but to use the example that using data in California is any different than using the same data is Nevada doesn't make sense to me.

Unless I miss understood something.

 

[liftedplane]

Congrats. But I fail to see how that's an argument against anything I said. It's not an unlimited resource, supply and demand dictates you'll pay more. I'm almost tempted to ask what the heck you do for a living that you're racking up that kind of data usage and watching that much netflix.

I was in the army, and the time that we had no work to do in the shop (most of the time) I could either sit around twiddling my thumbs or watch movies,

now I'm an IT specialist, I spend alot of time traveling around seattle I listen to pandora whenever the men's room isn't on, and I watch netflix while waiting for my clients. I tend to get to places early, it looks better. there is rarely wifi where I go, and if there is most often it's not wifi I can access. I pay for unlimited service, what I do with it inside the bounds of the TOS is my business. I download rom updates for jellybeans straight to my phone, there's nothing wrong with that is there? also when I download some of the larger games and I'm not home is uses my LTE, photos upload automatically when I take them, youtube, editing documents and saving them to my dropbox. I use my data on my phone only as intended and I use over 6gb every month, I'd have to pay an arm and a leg on tiered data, not the 30 a month I pay now. You can't tell me VZW doesn't know this as well and you certainly can't tell me it's not about capitalizing on their customers. they are a business, they don't care about us, it's about lining their pockets, and they've showed this repeatedly with ridiculous pricing like this.

They do regularly deal with people doing that. Unfortunately probably 65% of all unlimited users abuse it, so there is plenty of work to do. I personally have an unlimited plan. I NEVER use Wifi. I am on LTE 100% of the time. I check email, surf the web, answer forum replies, stream audio on Pandora, watch Netflix on occasion, etc., and never use more than 4-5 GB of data. Long story short, if you are using your phone as a phone and not tethering or abusing the system in some way then its very hard to use more than 8 GB monthly.

really? 65% of people, I heard that 147% of all statistics are pulled from thin air. don't throw out ridiculous numbers that have zero basis in fact and try to tout said numbers as the truth when they aren't

not to mention the majority of unlimited users are now people such as me who are holding onto their unlimited because they know, without shadow of a doubt it will save them money, I've seen plenty of people say. "eh, I don't need unlimited, I'll get tiered and upgrade my phone" that's cool for them, I really wish I was in that boat, sadly, I'm not, I need my unlimited and I'm going to do everything I can to keep it, and when/if verizon finally forces me off of my unlimited I will leave and go somewhere else. Until then I'm happy enough with my service to stay here.

as for being difficult to use more than 8gb? look above I use my phone, AS a phone, as it's intended to be used, it's a damn computer in my pocket I can download videos, stream netflix, backup photos, download apps, listen to music, edit save and backup documents play online games and use more than 8gb a month. Just because it's hard for YOU to use more than 8gb doesn't mean it's hard for others. not to mention some of these phones, i.e. my note 2, are more powerful than some laptops you can buy. I recently fixed my friends desktop and started laughing because my phone has more ram power AND ram then his computer does.

 

[cybertec69]

I also have unlimited data. I am in a LTE area 99% of the time. I stream Pandora, watch youtube and netflix, surf the web, email and use the TV portal app. I use the phone for what Verizon originally intended it to be used for. They are the ones telling you in their commercials to use all these new fangled apps that are available BUT they want you to keep off their network and use wifi when you can to conserve data usage. OH, so now I have to use my Comcast wifi at home to use my Verizon phone? NO WAY! NOT EVER! Comcast (or any other wifi) should not have to be used for your "verizon" device. Anyway, that is just my view.....I am 14 days into my cycle and have used 5.122 GB and I have 16 days left to go. I should use around 10-12 which is my normal usage. Thats not abuse.

By definition...."unlimited" cannot be abused. Don't take this out of context......I am saying by definition of the word it's impossible to do.

I also have unlimited data but when at the office or at home I use wifi, because the carrier gives me unlimited data does not mean I need to be an ahole about it, can you tell me what you are trying to prove. The reason I like the unlimited data option is the peace of mind, that's all, I have had unlimited data since it's inception, and only went over 3 gigs one time. Unlimited data on smartphones was intended to be used for the smartphone not to compensate for home data services. Now no one is telling you or anyone else what to stream or how much in your unlimited data on your smartphone, but when there is wifi available and you don't use it to spite the company, it just makes you look childish, but I could be wrong and you are a child. At the end of the day, nothing is free, get used to it.


Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

[liftedplane]

I also have unlimited data but when at the office or at home I use wifi, because the carrier gives me unlimited data does not mean I need to be an ahole about it, can you tell me what you are trying to prove. The reason I like the unlimited data option is the peace of mind, that's all, I have had unlimited data since it's inception, and only went over 3 gigs one time. Unlimited data on smartphones was intended to be used for the smartphone not to compensate for home data services. Now no one is telling you or anyone else what to stream or how much in your unlimited data on your smartphone, but when there is wifi available and you don't use it to spite the company, it just makes you look childish, but I could be wrong and you are a child. At the end of the day, nothing is free, get used to it.


Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

I pay for data why should I use my Wi-Fi? Maybe his office doesn't offer Wi-Fi that you can connect your phone to? Not everyone has the same situation. I don't use Wi-Fi because it sucks at my battery life, I also don't always have Wi-Fi available.

---
I hate jelly beans, Google's jellybean is alright though.

Sent from my sickeningly sweet Galaxy Note II

 

[MissionImprobable]

Unlimited is unlimited as many others have said. I remember when AT&T/Cingular was trying to charge customers who went over 'x' number of texts even when those people had unlimited texting and texts cost nothing for companies to transmit. It's all just gotten silly.

 

[huskur]

I also have unlimited data but when at the office or at home I use wifi, because the carrier gives me unlimited data does not mean I need to be an ahole about it, can you tell me what you are trying to prove. The reason I like the unlimited data option is the peace of mind, that's all, I have had unlimited data since it's inception, and only went over 3 gigs one time. Unlimited data on smartphones was intended to be used for the smartphone not to compensate for home data services. Now no one is telling you or anyone else what to stream or how much in your unlimited data on your smartphone, but when there is wifi available and you don't use it to spite the company, it just makes you look childish, but I could be wrong and you are a child. At the end of the day, nothing is free, get used to it.


Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

What am I trying to prove? Well 4G is faster than 90% of wifis and is secure unlike most wifis. I use 4G exclusively for those reasons. I pay VZW for the right to do that. Just as I pay Comcast for internet service. If verizon told me I had to use wifi everywhere I would just carry a tablet since wifi is everywhere for the most part. I pay for data for my phone so I use it. I am not a ahole at all. You (public in general) are a ahole to all the wifi providers you connect to if you look at it that way. Unlimited for me is also peace of mind. No, I do not abuse it. I use my data and my phone for what it is intended for.