UPDATE: Verizon Cutting OFF Unlimited Data Users Using More Than 100GB Per Month

[lloydstrans]

I'm sitting at a little less than 5 gigs about 20 days through my cycle.

You really don't want to hear my thoughts on this matter, might offend a few people.

We must...We must...increase our boost

 

[FoxKat]

I'm sitting at a little less than 5 gigs about 20 days through my cycle.

You really don't want to hear my thoughts on this matter, might offend a few people.

We must...We must...increase our boost

Haha, that's what this is all about. I'm sure you won't offend anyone, just cause some elevated blood pressure perhaps.

 

[lloydstrans]

So here we are, once again at this biannual topic. The powers that be drew a line in the sand, 100 gigs, that sirs is the definition of abusive usage. Let's put on our big boy pants and deal with it. The smorgasbord analogy is great. You come in plop your ample being into a booth and start scarfing up everything in sight. Two things are bound to happen. (1) You eat all the food, (2) the smorgasbord closes. Either way if you are still hungry you didn't receive all you could eat. Come back tomorrow and start all over again. And yes people share plates and everything else to circumnavigate the rules.

Now on topic, you've used it. Some have abused it. Now I'm not saying you can abuse unlimited, you can't, if following by the TOS. This new development is not a blind sided strategy but a careful orchestrated move by Verizon. Us UDPers seen this coming, or should've. Grow up and embrace it.

Okay, motivation. Bean counters will see more money for Verizon. If they realize it, highly doubt it, kudos to them. Our personal bean counters in our heads see a loss of revenue to our wallets. This is the name of the game, money.

There is more to life then whining about price increases. Hell, since minimum wage went up here at the first of July, two places I frequent for lunch raised their prices. Roughly 2 bucks each. Now to find that smorgasbord.

This is all part of growing old in a society. And for the younger people out there, it only gets more unjust. Reassess, adapt and move on.

We must...We must...increase our boost

 

[Mustang02]

I'm sitting at a little less than 5 gigs about 20 days through my cycle.

You really don't want to hear my thoughts on this matter, might offend a few people.

We must...We must...increase our boost

panties are already twisted. Let it rip.

 

[FoxKat]

So here we are, once again at this biannual topic. The powers that be drew a line in the sand, 100 gigs, that sirs is the definition of abusive usage. Let's put on our big boy pants and deal with it. The smorgasbord analogy is great. You come in plop your ample being into a booth and start scarfing up everything in sight. Two things are bound to happen. (1) You eat all the food, (2) the smorgasbord closes. Either way if you are still hungry you didn't receive all you could eat. Come back tomorrow and start all over again. And yes people share plates and everything else to circumnavigate the rules.

Now on topic, you've used it. Some have abused it. Now I'm not saying you can abuse unlimited, you can't, if following by the TOS. This new development is not a blind sided strategy but a careful orchestrated move by Verizon. Us UDPers seen this coming, or should've. Grow up and embrace it.

Okay, motivation. Bean counters will see more money for Verizon. If they realize it, highly doubt it, kudos to them. Our personal bean counters in our heads see a loss of revenue to our wallets. This is the name of the game, money.

There is more to life then whining about price increases. Hell, since minimum wage went up here at the first of July, two places I frequent for lunch raised their prices. Roughly 2 bucks each. Now to find that smorgasbord.

This is all part of growing old in a society. And for the younger people out there, it only gets more unjust. Reassess, adapt and move on.

We must...We must...increase our boost

I'm no less impressed by you than I had expected to be. You've summed it up nicely.

 

[kodiak799]

VZW has maybe 750,000 people still on unlimited plans. I'm guess this will affect 50,000 at most (and probably much less). Most of those people are just going to leave.

They'll make very little money on this, and most likely lose money. I'm guessing the 100GB hurdle is not coincidental relative to the max plan they offer. They probably feared they had some sort of exposure there.

 

[FoxKat]

I agree on every point but I think the estimated potentially affected is even much lower. Remember we're the exception to the rules here. We who frequent forums are a small subset of the greater populous and we tend to me more technically inclined and so also are bigger users. So it makes sense that a greater portion of us are UDP customers, and furthermore that the greater percentage of our UDP users will be high data users.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[sharkattack99]

The way I see it is those on an a UDP should feel lucky that Verizon let them keep it. I mean you are no longer in a contract with them for it and they no longer offer it. So they could have made you go to a tiered plan.

But we're nice and let ya keep it...I was on Verizon many years ago and heard they had plans of getting rid of the UDP and I dropped them and went to att also got tired of paying full price for my phoned when I wanted to upgrade...lol.

Those individuals must be using there phone as there main home Internet to use 100gb+ used data....I don't know how you can use that much just by using your phone....and if that is the case you are abusing there UDP do to the fact it was ment for use on phone only not as a home internet.

Sent From My Galaxy S6 Edge+

 

[tech_head]

The way I see it is those on an a UDP should feel lucky that Verizon let them keep it. I mean you are no longer in a contract with them for it and they no longer offer it. So they could have made you go to a tiered plan.

Actually you know not of what you speak.
I'm under contract until Nov. 2017 and have "UNLIMITED" on four lines.
I don't have a problem with Verizon kicking me off a grandfathered plan, but kick *EVERYBODY* off the grandfathered plans. Verizon gransfathers plans because it has less administrative overhead.
Imagine the customer support nightmare of having to explain plans to everyone when they discontinue a plan. Imagine how many people would be inthe store threatening to leave because they have to pick a plan every time plans get retired. Verizon grandfathers plans because it saves them money. So no people don't have to be grateful Verizon let them "keep" a plan. It was a business decision that saved Verizon money.

But once again, don't assume people with "UNLIMITED" are not under contract.

But we're nice and let ya keep it...I was on Verizon many years ago and heard they had plans of getting rid of the UDP and I dropped them and went to att also got tired of paying full price for my phoned when I wanted to upgrade...lol.

But that was your choice many of us were okay with paying full price for phone because we saw the value in unlimited data. Your value was elsewhere, but don't hate us.

Those individuals must be using there phone as there main home Internet to use 100gb+ used data....I don't know how you can use that much just by using your phone....and if that is the case you are abusing there UDP do to the fact it was ment for use on phone only not as a home internet.

Sent From My Galaxy S6 Edge+

Let's see, someone streaming Amazon prime on their phone 4 hours a day or watching high quality video can burn through 4GB in a day. Add that do App updates and I can see how someone could get there. The bottom line is that you CAN get there without doing anything like tethering to your home.

So you can get there without violating the TOS and that is the important thing.
This is not about network protection or violation of the TOS. It's a money grab. Verizon is more than happy to sell those same individuals a different plan that costs $450 a month for 100GB of data.

I've been telling everyone on any forum this thread is on.
If your bill says "UNLIMITED" and you get the letter; file a formal complaint with the FCC for a Block-C violation. Contact the FTC and your state attorney general and complain about false advertising and fraud. Verizon has to prove that you violated the TOS and the mere fact that you used data does not mean you have violated the TOS.

 

[FoxKat]

The way I see it is those on an a UDP should feel lucky that Verizon let them keep it. I mean you are no longer in a contract with them for it and they no longer offer it. So they could have made you go to a tiered plan.

But we're nice and let ya keep it...I was on Verizon many years ago and heard they had plans of getting rid of the UDP and I dropped them and went to att also got tired of paying full price for my phoned when I wanted to upgrade...lol.

Those individuals must be using there phone as there main home Internet to use 100gb+ used data....I don't know how you can use that much just by using your phone....and if that is the case you are abusing there UDP do to the fact it was ment for use on phone only not as a home internet.

Sent From My Galaxy S6 Edge+

I will agree with almost everything you've said, but I do want to bring to light that there are a very small subset of those users who are using their phones the way they were intended but due to their unique circumstances they use what most would say are exceptionally large amounts of data.

We have one member here that I know of for sure, who drives a truck for a living on long, cross country hauls. For those who don't know what that's like for drivers on the road, they spend often several days or more every week away from home, they drive what are called "sleepers", which are truck cabs with a living and sleeping compartment behind and above the driving compartment. Since they are on the road and in most cases they don't leave the truck other than for food, water and rest stops, they need a way to remain in communication with their families (including video calls and such), their companies, for basic entertainment, a way to keep connected with society through news and other programming, and in some cases they also run other companies from the road.

They are using the phones in most cases in a way that is within the TOS in that they may not be tethering the phones to computers, however even in those cases they could be pulling down 100GB+ per month. A Youtube movie could be from 1-2GB, but an HD movie, even at 720P HD can range from 3.5-5.5GB. In that example, just one movie a day and no other data consumption could easily push a member over 100GB in only 20 days. I wouldn't call that "abusing" the service.

Even those people who have no cable TV or home internet, as long as they aren't tethering, may actually be using the phones in a way that is in alignment with the TOS but still could exceed 100GB/month, since in their cases as well, they are doing things with their phones that most people do with their home PC desktops and laptops, and instead who have WIFI and they're only using the phone for high data content in the car, at the park, at school (when no WIFI is available), etc.

The issue may be there has been enough abuse by those who are in violation of the TOS that it has essentially created a problem and caused Verizon to clamp down. It's difficult, if not impossible for Verizon to determine if the data consumption is happening right on the phone or through a tether, so they only have the quantity of data as a measure of perceived abuse and to decide who gets the letter.

The good thing is that Verizon is making new pricing plans that give even those high-data users access to plans that can fulfill their needs and in many cases at the same or lower pricing, and they still will have essentially unlimited data available, albeit at throttled low-speed rates. So some of them may need to moderate their usage some, others will feel absolutely no pain or restriction in their use, and some may even feel some relief that they no longer need to worry about going over limits and potentially suffering disconnection or penalties.

 

[FoxKat]

I'm under contract until Nov. 2017 and have "UNLIMITED" on four lines.

When you say you are under contract, can you explain where that contract was signed? In other words, was it a new 2-year contract with Verizon that was signed at a corporate Verizon Phone Center Store, a re-up of an earlier contract also done at a Verizon store, was this done at a "Authorized Retailer" Verizon store, or was it at a Best Buy?

I'm trying to determine where this possible error took place because everything I know about UDP plans is that they were retired far longer than 2 years ago. There have been people, MANY people who were able to circumvent the rules and get new contracts with new phones subsidized through third party retailers, some even through actual Corporate stores with some crafty techniques exploited by the sales representatives, which essentially disconnects the chain of the original contract from the new one, but reinserts it without triggering the systems put in place by Verizon to prevent re-upping of retired contracts and placing Verizon back under liability of a contract that they wouldn't have allowed if they were aware of the breech.

Many of these techniques have been defined and illustrated in great detail on forums like ours, essentially schooling members on how to circumvent the Verizon systems. Some were caught, but most slip through the cracks. Please understand that I am not suggesting you have done anything wrong or that you were in any way a part of such methods, but I do want to understand how you can have a contract that ends next year in a plan that was retired more than 2 years ago.

 

[sharkattack99]

I will agree with almost everything you've said, but I do want to bring to light that there are a very small subset of those users who are using their phones the way they were intended but due to their unique circumstances they use what most would say are exceptionally large amounts of data.

We have one member here that I know of for sure, who drives a truck for a living on long, cross country hauls. For those who don't know what that's like for drivers on the road, they spend often several days or more every week away from home, they drive what are called "sleepers", which are truck cabs with a living and sleeping compartment behind and above the driving compartment. Since they are on the road and in most cases they don't leave the truck other than for food, water and rest stops, they need a way to remain in communication with their families (including video calls and such), their companies, for basic entertainment, a way to keep connected with society through news and other programming, and in some cases they also run other companies from the road.

They are using the phones in most cases in a way that is within the TOS in that they may not be tethering the phones to computers, however even in those cases they could be pulling down 100GB+ per month. A Youtube movie could be from 1-2GB, but an HD movie, even at 720P HD can range from 3.5-5.5GB. In that example, just one movie a day and no other data consumption could easily push a member over 100GB in only 20 days. I wouldn't call that "abusing" the service.

Even those people who have no cable TV or home internet, as long as they aren't tethering, may actually be using the phones in a way that is in alignment with the TOS but still could exceed 100GB/month, since in their cases as well, they are doing things with their phones that most people do with their home PC desktops and laptops, and instead who have WIFI and they're only using the phone for high data content in the car, at the park, at school (when no WIFI is available), etc.

That's understandable thank you, never thought of that.....my mistake. And yes they're are always a few that take advantage and ruin it for those that are using it as intended.

Sent From My Galaxy S6 Edge+

 

[tech_head]

When you say you are under contract, can you explain where that contract was signed? In other words, was it a new 2-year contract with Verizon that was signed at a corporate Verizon Phone Center Store, a re-up of an earlier contract also done at a Verizon store, was this done at a "Authorized Retailer" Verizon store, or was it at a Best Buy?

I'm trying to determine where this possible error took place because everything I know about UDP plans is that they were retired far longer than 2 years ago.

I won't go into a lot of detail but nothing nefarious.
There were numerous ways to get back in contract before the $20 increase went into effect.
Calling a representative and giving the correct feature/account code could put you back under contract.

Needless to say, there are many people with UDP that are currently under contract.
With that being said, Verizon entered into contracts with LTE phones on the lines with full knowledge that they could possibly consume quite a bit of data so, the argument about when LTE phones cam into existence in previous posts are specious.

Also I pointed out that there are many ways to exceed 100GB per month and still not violate the TOS.
Just the fact that a person consumes 100GB of data does not itself mean that the person has violated the TOS. Verizon must prove violation of TOS. Consuming data is not enough.

 

[kodiak799]

Just the fact that a person consumes 100GB of data does not itself mean that the person has violated the TOS. Verizon must prove violation of TOS. Consuming data is not enough.

No they don't. You don't appear to understand the purpose of termination clauses nor how they are written. They are not going to attempt to validate or defend their decision to terminate you, but simply their contractual right to do so.

It's a common type of clause, and one that's fairly well established in contract law.

 

[FoxKat]

I won't go into a lot of detail but nothing nefarious.
There were numerous ways to get back in contract before the $20 increase went into effect.
Calling a representative and giving the correct feature/account code could put you back under contract.

Needless to say, there are many people with UDP that are currently under contract.
With that being said, Verizon entered into contracts with LTE phones on the lines with full knowledge that they could possibly consume quite a bit of data so, the argument about when LTE phones cam into existence in previous posts are specious.

Also I pointed out that there are many ways to exceed 100GB per month and still not violate the TOS.
Just the fact that a person consumes 100GB of data does not itself mean that the person has violated the TOS. Verizon must prove violation of TOS. Consuming data is not enough.

We will agree that people can exceed this new line in the sand of 100GB without using the phone in a typical fashion. I mentioned two examples of a long haul trucker and a home-bound individual without cable. But like I've said, it's usually the few that ruin it for the many. There's no way to determine from the switches if someone is using the phone for tethering or not if they don't subscribe to a tethering plan (mobile hotspot). They just see the phone's IP address, MAC address, location via tower IDs, IMEI, and the data streaming out or in. So there's no way to differentiate those who abuse it from those using it in a manner compliant with the TOS.

So they draw a line in the sand and some innocent suffer.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk