Verizon to overhaul its phone and data pricing plans

[tylonal]

But let me guess. Those of us who just bought a Droid and signed a new contract, those of us who have been Verizon customers for years, will be left out in the cold until our current contracts run out. Is that correct?

No, you can always change your rate plan, it just renews your contract from the date of change, but if I remember correctly, your phone upgrade date will not change.

****NO! you can change your price plan at any time, without affecting your contract end date. the ONLY THING that will affect your contract end date is if you upgrade your phone USING YOUR DISCOUNT (example, using your new every 2 for your primary, or your annual upgrade). you can change your pplan, data packages, and features on your acct at any time, without reprecussions (proration may occurr, depending how you change tho)
**exception..if you suspend a line for any ammount of time WITHOUT billing, that line's contract will extend for the ammount of time it was suspended. (example. 2yr contract, supposed to end jan 1st, was suspended for 5 days without being billed, will now end on jan 6th.)
*also, if your upgrade date did change when you did a feature change, or did a manufactures warranty, the rep who processed the change did it wrong. have them correct it, and dont take "no" for an answer.

But let me guess. Those of us who just bought a Droid and signed a new contract, those of us who have been Verizon customers for years, will be left out in the cold until our current contracts run out. Is that correct?

Don't be so sure about that. I've had many instances when a Verizon rep has noticed ways to save me money and advised me to switch from one plan to another. It's usually available for you to change on the web as well.

**this is correct, (see above answer) you can change anything at any time. BUT if you want to KEEP the plan and features u have, even if verizon no longer offers them, you are "grandfathered". but if at any time you want to change, for example if you are on the "americas choice" plan, (grandfathered) and you switch to a nationwide plan, thats fine, but once you switch, there is no going back.....

I noticed it says 10 friends and family on the 900 and 2000 tier on one of the pictures near the bottom. Does that mean the family plan with 1400 will lose friends and family?

I'm glad they are at least reducing the amount of plans. We had been on AT&T for 5 years and it took me awhile to review all of the plans and what made them different. I was hoping there would be a reduction on the current price of my 1400 family with 4 lines but it looks like no dice.

**1400 and above family share plans are eligable for 10 friends and family. likewaise with 900 and above single line plans but with 5 friends and family.
***the only price changes for plans are the unlimited plans currently. the names of all the plans have changed, as verizon has also done away with the "connect" and "premium" plans, and now only offer the basic and select plans, altho, they have changed the names to "talk" and "talk and text" to simplify. you can still get the features of the "connect" and "premium" plans, although it is now done thru "feature" additions.

If you don't have any friends or family, do you still qualify for the friends and family plan?

***Friends and Family is not a feature you add to a plan, it is part of the price plan itself. to "qualify" for said plans, you simply haveto be on them. for example, if you are on a 450 single line plan, you dont "qualify" because F&F is not an available feature for that. if, however, you are on the 900 min single line plan, and you werent informed you qualify for F&F, you do. simply go to vzw.com, sign in, goto my services, on left hand side in black colum is "my friends and family". go in there, add desired numbers, and click "add". voila!
****EXCAPTION***if you are on an older plan, like the "americas choice", even if you are on a "qualifying plan", you do not get F&F. only the newer "nationwide" plans qualify. there is NO drawback for switching from amchoice to ntnwide, no cost difference, and (as stated above) no change made to your contract date.

Hey... am i reading their pricing right...

Did verizon finally get smart and realize that people hate paying 29.99 per line on family share plans or do we still have to play 29 per line for unlim data?

I mean that is if you have ...for example 2 droids on ur family plan...

***nope, ur not reading it right. it is still $29.99 per phone that is on a smartphone plan.

on the 39.99 plan so i think it doesnt affect me.

i can keep my 10 dollar text plan right? i dont see that listed

**as stated above, features are not affected. and since the $10 text package is a feature, no changes will be made unless you request them.

So for a customer like me, will anything change?

I pay for 450 minutes, and unlimited text & data.

Also, does unlimited data include messaging, or do you have to pay for them separately? I have both unlimited, but I'm not sure on this.

Lastly, on a shared plan, do you have to buy the unlimited data for each line, or do they share one data package?

** simply? no. nothing will change for you at the current time.
no, unlimited data, and unlimited texting are differend, and you do need to pay for both services if you want both.

haha, I don't know, I'm already in love with it and know so much about it, shoot, i've been here for 2 months now with no droid.

If your current phone is with Verizon, just give them a call and ask them to move your renewal date up. They'll do it if you ask nicely. My former contract didn't expire until the end of February and they moved my renewal date up to Dec 21. Got my Droid for Christmas dontcha know!

**ok, im not saying that that is incorrect, im just saying iv never seen an upgrade approved that much in advance. THAT BEING SAID, if you want your upgrade, just ask for it. lol. if you are eligable say, jan 1st, verizon will give you your upgrade upto one month in advance (that is the MOST i have EVER seen it set back.barring special circumstances)

From what I'm reading there won't be any change for me. I've got a family plan w/ two lins total. 700 min, 250 texts on each line, $30 data plan on my phone, and the full insurance on my phone. With my wifes current job we get a corporate discount so our bill comes out to $113.95.

Maybe my parents will have a better deal since they have 1400 minutes and unlimited texting on 4 lines.

**simply? no. you are on the right plan for you (from what i see)
and, as stated above, your parents' price wont change either.

Ok it doesnt look like this has been answered so i will ask again...

Are us Smartphone users still required to have a 29.99 data plan on each line or is it now shared on the family plan?

**yes. you are req. to have the data package.
*****BEWARE******there are "special" plans out there that you might be offered (example, verizon offers "blackberry plans" that include smartphone plan, txting if you want it, minuts, the works. but for that convenience...you pay $10 bucks more a month than if you just got a regular plan and added all of the same features.

Reading all of that confuses me. How much should it cost for the minimum minutes possible (450?), 250 texts, and unlimited data?

Right now, I am paying $39.99 + $5.00 + $44.99 = $89.98

Should I be paying $29.99 for data?

New Plan for minimum minutes(450), unl. texts is 59.99.
$44.99 for data? Do you have VZ navigator too? They snuck that in there on me when I signed up again.

***AHHHHHHHH NONONONONO. DO NOT EVER. i repeat EVER pay for the $44.99 smartphone package. EVER. unless you recieve emails from your work that require a special server. THAT is the only difference.
**AND! FYI, when you add a smartphone to your plan, it AUTOMATICLY puts you on the $44.99 per month feature, unless you request the $30 per month feature. and i would venture to guess, that unless you folks have a vested intrest in looking at your bill each month, or had a rep who gave a darn when you set up service, that you are probably paying the more expensive one.
**to answer your question, 450 is lowest, $5 for text is good if, in a months time, you only send and recieve a total of 250 texts or less,
and you shuld PROBABLY be on the $30 data plan.

if you guys have ANY questions about ANY of this stuff, or any questions in general about your verizon wireless service, feel free to post here, or pm me. in case you have any hesitations about why you shuld listen to me....hek i really dont care if you do, im just offering my services to help you all save a bit of money. i do work for verizon wireless as a customer service rep, and have done so for about a year. so i do know what i am talking about. so please, if anybody has any questions, like i said, post here, or pm me. i check back daily.

[Jer]

Tylenal: My wife and I have the $99 family plan for 700 minutes and each pay $30/mo for data for our Droids. Is there anything cheaper we can do other than going to the plan that had 450min? I don't think I saw any discounts to the family plans. My wife works for a company that uses Paychex for their payroll and we were sold the plans with the idea that we would qualify for the discount and we're only find out now that we don't. Needless to say we're beyond frustrated with this.

[tylonal]

Tylenal: My wife and I have the $99 family plan for 700 minutes and each pay $30/mo for data for our Droids. Is there anything cheaper we can do other than going to the plan that had 450min? I don't think I saw any discounts to the family plans. My wife works for a company that uses Paychex for their payroll and we were sold the plans with the idea that we would qualify for the discount and we're only find out now that we don't. Needless to say we're beyond frustrated with this.

***ok, just to clarify, the 700 is the LOWEST plan you can do for Family share plan. any lower and you would haveto split to single line plans. and since you said your paying a hundred dollars, i would assume your on the "select" plan getting unltd txts as well? i would check to see if you actually NEED the unlimited texts. because you can get 500 messages for each phone (to anybody outside verizon) and unlimited "in" verizon. now i would only suggest that you do this if the majority of your texts are to other vzw users, and if you DID do this, it would lower your monthly cost by $10.

now, partaining to the discount, it is only available if SHE is the account owner. also, if she puts in her info into vzw.com/discounts and everything goes thru correctly, it can take UPTO 3 months to be applied to your account.it is not a verizon fault here, what happens is that vzw sends the info you give us, to your employer to verify the info. NOW, however long it takes THEM to get back to US....thaaats where the waiting starts.

HANG in there man!!
(if this is too confusing, or didnt answer entirely, im srry, lol, go ahead and clarify or pm)

[Martin030908]

Good info Tylonal.

I knew the guy with the $44.99 data plan was getting hosed

[funken]

Reading all of that confuses me. How much should it cost for the minimum minutes possible (450?), 250 texts, and unlimited data?

Right now, I am paying $39.99 + $5.00 + $44.99 = $89.98

Should I be paying $29.99 for data?

New Plan for minimum minutes(450), unl. texts is 59.99.
$44.99 for data? Do you have VZ navigator too? They snuck that in there on me when I signed up again.

***AHHHHHHHH NONONONONO. DO NOT EVER. i repeat EVER pay for the $44.99 smartphone package. EVER. unless you recieve emails from your work that require a special server. THAT is the only difference.
**AND! FYI, when you add a smartphone to your plan, it AUTOMATICLY puts you on the $44.99 per month feature, unless you request the $30 per month feature. and i would venture to guess, that unless you folks have a vested intrest in looking at your bill each month, or had a rep who gave a darn when you set up service, that you are probably paying the more expensive one.
**to answer your question, 450 is lowest, $5 for text is good if, in a months time, you only send and recieve a total of 250 texts or less,
and you shuld PROBABLY be on the $30 data plan.

if you guys have ANY questions about ANY of this stuff, or any questions in general about your verizon wireless service, feel free to post here, or pm me. in case you have any hesitations about why you shuld listen to me....hek i really dont care if you do, im just offering my services to help you all save a bit of money. i do work for verizon wireless as a customer service rep, and have done so for about a year. so i do know what i am talking about. so please, if anybody has any questions, like i said, post here, or pm me. i check back daily.

Thanks a lot. I swear they don't even offer the $30 plan when you sign up on their website - great business practice. Not to mention they don't offer it when I go to change plans while signed into their website. I can imagine the majority of people who sign up online are paying $15 more a month than they should be. Maybe something the BBB should look into.

[DarrellM5]

I just went through the verizonwireless "change your plan" thing and found out that not only can I save $0.02 a month, but the two semi-smart phones on my plan would be downgraded from unlimited to 25MB of data a month.

We currently have a Droid, Alias II and LG Chocolate with the 1400 minute Family Share plan with unlimited text and data.

[tylonal]

I just went through the verizonwireless "change your plan" thing and found out that not only can I save $0.02 a month, but the two semi-smart phones on my plan would be downgraded from unlimited to 25MB of data a month.

We currently have a Droid, Alias II and LG Chocolate with the 1400 minute Family Share plan with unlimited text and data.

yea, somthing i meant to mention in my earlier post....if youv got a plan with a semi smart phone and you have the 75 megabyte plan..dont change it if you like it, because the new options are only 25 mb and unltd.
also, certain phones (such as the env3) now require data plans....lol
and if you have one like that, such as the env3, currently, and then you make a change to it (say you switch price plans, or need an insurance replacement, when you get your new device, and call to activate it, more than likly, because it is a "new device", verizon will add the data feature for $10. EVEN if you didnt have it befor.
not that i agree with it...i dont. but if this happens to you, the ONLY way to get it rectified, is to speak with a sup, and throw a fit. lol.

[jaxhunt]

we bought a Droid Eris for my mother-in-law in December (paid full price from eBay) and talked to a Verizon cust care rep on the phone when the new device was being activated, etc. about the charge. We were told there would be no charge for data (she went from a Treo to the Droid Eris) and her plan would stay the same. New Verizon bill now shows an increase per month of $40.l8. (Regularly $76.47 vs. $116.65). We called this morning and was told that every Smart Phone had a charge for data - for the Droid, for all it will do, the minimum data charge is $29.95 plus tax per month. Excessive - not in my mother-in-law's budget. What do you suggest? The rep said she could go back to her old phone for the same price she was paying before on the same "family" plan - $76.47 - w/her son and her on same account but obviously she wants the new phone we got her. How to go back to previous plan and keep the Droid Eris?

[Newps]

You can't. The Eris requires a data plan. Period. The first Verizon rep screwed up.