Take Caution With 4G phones.

[stumbleflyx]

4g = 4 Gigs lol

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[sweeeeet]

I hate everything I'm hearing about lte... I want unlimited at a reasonable price... 200 for the phone and +10 for lte unlimited.. not asking a lot

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[JKingDev]

I dont quite understand your argument. Sprint did exactly what you are saying verizon wouldnt. People who bought the evo 4g still pay $10 even if they dont have wimax. Take your last sentence and replace LTE with wimax and sprint did exactly what you are saying verizon wouldnt. I agree it is stupid, but what exactly makes you think verizon wont do the same. Not that I think they will. I have no idea. Just wondering what makes you think they wont.

It is a completely different dynamic. Sprint did not have anywhere near the depth of 3G Android devices, and they didn't have the IPhone. Further, the Evo enjoyed almost 3 months of 4G exclusivity and even 7 months later they have just the Samsung Epic with the Evo Shift (also by HTC) just now debuting. VZW has 4 LTE handsets coming out late Q1/early Q2 and presumably more in the pipeline.

Also, even with the $10 premium Sprint is still cheaper than VZW despite being the pretty much the only 4G game in town until recently. It's not going to happen on VZW. For starters, you already have 4G on Sprint to compete with and AT&T coming this summer. You simply don't push the mfrs to develop LTE phones and then turn around and price those phones out of 3G markets. And if that were the case, no way HTC scraps the IncHD for the Thunderbolt - you have it supposedly ready to go in Nov but you delay it (quite possibly at the request of VZW) for 3-4 months only to get screwed by VZW?

You can take it a step further. If VZW says "I'll take 1mm LTE Bionics or 2mm 3G Bionics" what would happen? It's simply going to be implicit in that order that the phone is competitive in both markets. VZW is going to be on the hook here and if they price those LTE handsets out of 3G markets they are taking a big risk of eating thousands upon thousands of handsets, and that isn't going to happen.

Makes sense.

Eventually when LTE coverage is wide enough I will see if I can get a data only plan and use google voice + SIP for my services. Verizon = dumb pipe.

 

[New2u]

I think the person who wrote this read into the reps statement a bit too much. As far as a I know Verizon HAS NOT announced that will only have limited plans and that an unlimited plan will not be available with 4g.

Thank you for stating this, while verizon may or may not add a cap to the data, or charge alittle extra for unlimited, nothing has come out to state that. The only thing released was the pricing and data caps for their Data Devices (usb modems). I guess in the upcoming month or so, we should hear the pricing scheme they come up with.

 

[kodiak799]

Saw where Sprint will be adding a $10 premium to data plans for all new smartphone subscribers beginning Jan 31st. Don't think it's just a 4G thing, either.

That doesn't bode well. Sprint being lower limits the premium VZW can charge for better service. Now, for 4G it will be no different than it has been, but I don't like the added incentive here for VZW to bump prices, although Sprint will still be cheaper and it's unlimited data.

But $30 for smartphone data on top of $50 for home broadband is getting steep. I'm feeling pretty price sensitive here. I might pay $35 for LTE but don't think I'd go $40.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

So you could still have a normal 3G data plan for a 4G phone or are you forced to have a 4G plan?

 

[furbearingmammal]

Forced. It's like having a smart phone -- you're forced to have a data plan even if you only ever use it from your Wi-Fi'd house.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

Hmmm... I was really thinking of a Bionic, or do you think I should wait till 2013 when the whole 4G Verizon network is up and running and in the mean time just get something currently 3G? Because if I have to pay more than the normal 3G for barely using 4G (not the best area coverage right now) and be limited for both in terms of how much I can use, I think I might just go for a 3G only phone right now. Not sure though.

 

[furbearingmammal]

Do a one-year contract on a 3G phone. You'll pay $70 more but you won't be beholden to the phone for another year, and when the year's up you can get new-contract (or renewal) pricing for a 4G phone AND will have better 4G coverage. How's that sound?

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

The thing is, I'm on a family plan, and have been for some time and I can upgrade my phone in April/May, so yeah, it will still be a 2 year contract. But from everything I can tell, these phones are a lot more future proof than they seem, especially compared to the current phone I have now. I'd just pay for the phone and get a data plan.

I didn't mean to derail the thread. Carry on.