Droid 4 and Verizon 4G - what's their plan?

[ndu101]

Hi,

It's time to upgrade wife's phone, decided on Droid 4 but hesitated upon learning what appears to be now old-news shock that Verizon is tiering their data services. Of course, tiering per se isn't a terrible thing, it's all the stuff that can go wrong with tiering that can screw you that I'm worried about. My wife uses virtually no internet, so in theory, 2GB should be an overkill. BUT...

Flash back to 2006 when she got her motorolla RAZR with no data service as it was not needed and was optional. two years later, come time to upgrade the phone and I went to get her pictures off via USB and it wouldn't work. After some research, it turned out that Verizon in their underhanded ways disabled the phone's ability to transfer its data over USB in order to force customers to pay for data service. So my first question is, does anyone have Verizon service with any Droid data phone on 4G -- the phone being purchased through verizon through their promotional plans -- and can you confirm or deny that Verizon hasn't hacked the device in order to prevent users from transfering pictures and videos directly to PC (thus circumventing profit-making for V's data service)?

I have wireless at home, and if there is a way to seemlessly make it use wifi at home that should also help. Any other insights on the data usage behavior with this phones appreciated, tips on how to keep it below Verizon's limits. what would be awesome is if there's an app that would disable data service if a certain threshold is reached.

thanks!

 

[dezymond]

I have a Nexus and can transfer media to it through my PC flawlessly. I can also do it over WiFi via AirDroid.

The difference between your wife's Razr back then and phones now are the OS. Verizon can only have so much control over OS functions, but you can still see they put their bloatware on them.

 

[bdsullivan76]

I can copy and paste or just plain move files from phone to computer easily via supplied usb cord. Drop box is also a great way to move files from one device to another or to your computer. For light to moderate use 2GB is prolly enough, if you see your about to go over just bump up your plan 2GB ($10) for the time to avoid data overage.

Sent from my DROID4

 

[dezymond]

I think you're confusing what data usage is. Think of data usage as using internet (browsing web, youtube, downloading apps, etc), anything requiring internet is data use. Transferring files with a usb cable does not use internet, therefore doesn't use your data, think of it as plugging in a flashdrive.

All the smartphones, including the D4, are capable of using wifi and it's a great alternative to save your data use and battery life even.