Verizon CEO Discusses Unlimited Data, Pricing and More at Investor's Conference

[bigdad63]

Completely agree, the reason that unlimited data might not be sustainable is because they put very little to no money towards the back-end of their network. They upgrade their towers yes, but the lines going from their towers aren't. It takes money to upgrade their network and they aren't willing to shell out the money vs the investors figures. If 96% of their network is covered in people who only use 2GB or less of data, what would change if they had kept unlimited plans? Oh that's right.. nothing except their pocketbooks. The share everything plan is actually more expensive for me then my unlimited plan. So going from unlimited data to 2GB of data costs me more, HMMM. I don't see how he says they don't lead on price.. :blink: Their network is the best in the country is most places, that's why the really won't have as many people leave the network as claim they will. In all honesty I do like the way that t-mobile has their plans, because after 24-months you no longer pay on the phone, which is how it should be. With a verizon plan, that extra price that you are paying them for subsidizing your phone never goes away, it's their penalty to you for keeping your plans and not upgrading basically. (I do know that this is how it was done for years and years but it should change)

With everything going to cloud storage and internet tv and radio, people will start using much more data on their smart phones then they had before. These plans were NEVER... let me say again NEVER intended to help the customers out at all, the CEO's knew this was going to happen so they put people on bucket data where they will end up forking over more money in the end to the companies for less of a product. Their edge plan for phones is just another gimmick to get themselves more money, oh we will let you upgrade earlier, but its a terrible plan for 99% of the customers who will be goaded into buying it.

And do not forget the sudden move to most phones negating the cheap simple easily exchangeable and expandable storage format of the SD card which will, surprise surprise,force more people to use more cloud storage

 

[dgstorm]

I actually admire this stance. I think Verizon has struck an exceptional balance between product, customer service, and profit. Many of us are angry, unhappy, and frustrated because OUR SPECIFIC NEEDS aren't optimized, but I bet every VZW customer can also highlight 2 or 3 great experiences they've had. Sure, some feel extorted and like they have no choice because there's no other game in town, but those are likely not the major metropolitan areas.

Each of us would run the company differently. But I really doubt any of us would make the shareholders more money.

-Matt

You make a solid point with a great argument gadgetrants! Thanks for adding to the discussion. I knew someone would be able to offer a counter-point to some of my article's innuendo. There are almost always two sides to every argument.

 

[huskur]

No, it is business, whether you like it or not. It is no different than the auto companies, defense companies or any other company. People use Verizon because they have the best network and the best service. They have invested a lot of money on their network and that is why we get the coverage that we demand.

Now, am I happy with going from 20 month update to 24 month update. NO. Am I happy with the additional $30 upgrade fee. NO. Am I happy with a few other things that they have taken away the last few years. NO. However, I would not give up the Verizon coverage and service to get these back. What is the use of getting an update at 20 months if I don't have a connection at some of the places that I spend days or weeks a year? What is the use of not paying a $30 upgrade fee if my wife loses the connection while talking to the nurse at her mother's nursing home while we're driving where the others don't have coverage and Verizon does? The vast Verizon coverage didn't come free for them. Somebody has to pay for it and that somebody is us. Are their profits too big? I don't know, perhaps, but they do have to make a reasonable profit to continue to increase coverage and move up to the next speed technology increase.

If you're unhappy with Verizon then dump them for one of the other companies. You'll still pay an upgrade fee, mostly a few dollars more. You'll still have data limits or slower service at some limit. You'll still have a rip-off every 6 month new phone plan.

The part that gets me is this: (I have been with verizon since Oct.23 1999) They introduce the "smartphone" for the general population (non-blackberry, it was already established) Android and iPhone. You get lured in and they tell you how awesome their coverage is (and it is) how fast their 4G is (and it is) and tell you "watch the game on NFL mobile app" then use Pandora and stream music and get you used to using all these data consuming apps the whole time you have unlimited data. Thats all fine and good. Then comes the tiered crap.....and they tell you basically......"still use all those apps but use someone else's data". Now that is crap...I have to use someone esles network and STAY OFF Verizons? I don't get it. Why should I have to use my home Comcast wifi or my employers Comcast wifi or free public wifi when i go places (which "open" leaves you vulnerable) on my VERIZON device? I use my phone the way it is supposed to be used.....just like they advertised. I stream BTN2go a couple hours a day.....use pandora all the time at work and in my truck....I use between 10 and 20 GB monthly (30 during football season). I don't "abuse" it. I just "use" it for what it is. Yes, I have unlimited data. I pay full price for my devices to keep it. Some may ask "why not just hook up to wifi?" Well....I have wifi at home and wifi at work and wifi is just about everywhere you go...the fact is 4G is safer and faster than most public wifi's and really, if I wanted to hook up to wifi all the time...I would just use my tablet and carry a tracfone.

 

[AECRADIO]

Service with VZW goes dark quite often for me. Usually the time is occurring late in the evening, and I see the signal level drop, I lose 3G, then it goes to 1X, then nothing. I get 'spurts' of service, then it goes out, and flutters up and down for hours, then I see the 3G indicator and it remains.
I perform cell site work, and these actions are not part of the site's normal operation, as and 'data grabbing' is handled at the switch side, these are brown-outs of service.
But if people are complaining about cost, then everybody desiring a new phone should buy them and forego the subsidy rape plans we have grown accustomed to, and request a lower average monthly bill for direct purchase.
You get businesses t listen best, when you talk with your wallet!
Want to help make these people 'see' the light, start dropping services, opt out of costly plans, and buy your phones over the subsidy rate, which actually forces people across the board to pay more for a form of phone welfare.
No subsidies, means less deadbeat churn, higher profits and possibly, better monthly plan charges.
I buy my phones, I prefer to own them outright as I have disdain for being placed on a leash over my choices.
When the majority yells, the people listen, especially when they can make their money speak on their behalf, you can make a difference if you CHOOSE to. Networks run on money, when that begins to dry up, they rethink their strategies, and offer suggestions on how to retain their customer base, knowing it is not ONLY pricing that matters, but the entire business model that needs an overhaul!
When shares drop due to poor performance, rest assured, the people pulling the strings WILL be paying attention.
All networks suffer churn, it's part of the business, but extreme loss due to churn and dissatisfaction are two different issues rolled up as one.
VZW does have the best service, and sure, in many ways they can improve, but the current plans/pricing is not sustainable to the customers, we WILL look elsewhere to get VALUE from the money we spend every month. Rural areas (RSAs) are hardest hit with repairs when outrages occur, this is because the revenue from these areas is not on par with metro areas (MSAs).
The rural portion of the network is the last to get restored service, and this should never be allowed to occur, but does, and often.
Business will always be business, and this should never be a part of customer service, they are mutually exclusive, as they serve two different masters.

 

[TheOldFart]

The part that gets me is this: (I have been with verizon since Oct.23 1999) They introduce the "smartphone" for the general population (non-blackberry, it was already established) Android and iPhone. You get lured in and they tell you how awesome their coverage is (and it is) how fast their 4G is (and it is) and tell you "watch the game on NFL mobile app" then use Pandora and stream music and get you used to using all these data consuming apps the whole time you have unlimited data. Thats all fine and good. Then comes the tiered crap.....and they tell you basically......"still use all those apps but use someone else's data". Now that is crap...I have to use someone esles network and STAY OFF Verizons? I don't get it. Why should I have to use my home Comcast wifi or my employers Comcast wifi or free public wifi when i go places (which "open" leaves you vulnerable) on my VERIZON device? I use my phone the way it is supposed to be used.....just like they advertised. I stream BTN2go a couple hours a day.....use pandora all the time at work and in my truck....I use between 10 and 20 GB monthly (30 during football season). I don't "abuse" it. I just "use" it for what it is. Yes, I have unlimited data. I pay full price for my devices to keep it. Some may ask "why not just hook up to wifi?" Well....I have wifi at home and wifi at work and wifi is just about everywhere you go...the fact is 4G is safer and faster than most public wifi's and really, if I wanted to hook up to wifi all the time...I would just use my tablet and carry a tracfone.

Verizon luring you into using data and then you finding out that you overrun your 2GB or whatever is sort of like Google and some of the phone manufacturers having low memory and no SD expansion and then charging you for cloud storage. They are both expecting you to need more of both than you thought and having to pay either the cell company or the cloud storage company for what you need.

Yes, I would like to have unlimited 4G data and never use wifi on my phone, but I can work around it easily. At home, I'm mostly on the computer, but if I want to web surf on the couch or in bed then I use either my tablet or phone on my secured wifi. Most times that I'm out there is wifi available. Does it really matter that the wifi is open if you're just web surfing the news, weather, Amazon, Newegg, etc? (Q: Does it put my phone at risk if no sensitive data is sent?) If I want to buy something or enter a password then I just turn off wifi and connect via 4G. I've only had 3G until I got my One last week, so I'm used to using my phone this way for the past 4 years. I've never had a problem. I've also never hit 1GB of Verizon data. Carrying a tablet and a basic phone is not an option. That is 2 devices compared to one and even the smallest 7" tablet is way to big to carry. Even the HTC One is pushing the max size for me, but it was worth it for the screen and speed. I don't stream music on my phone. I have about 18GB of MP3s loaded and listen to those through BT headphones or just use my Rockboxed Sansa Clip+ or iAudio7 with IEMs. I used to stream Pandora, but ended up not liking it as much as listening to the music that I already have. The sound quality is much better with even MP3 256 than it is with Pandora. To pay $550 more for the HTC One and then do that again in 2 years was not worth it to me to keep my unlimited data.

 

[Narsil]

Dear Mr. CEO:

 

[maomao]

I am seething. Verizon, better coverage? What coverage? I've had VZW since 12.22.1998? Okay, it's 14 years this December. Now I live in a hood with Frontier landlines - it was VZW! The reception is crap to be way too nice. I have phone calls go to call history sans the phone ever ringing. I've had times when I have no phone signal and I get a message that there's no phone network but I can call emergency services - really? The wifi is so bad sometimes the RAZR will turn it off on its own. So the 4G, 3G and wifi are all garbage. About 10 days into this Billing cycle I was to about 3 gig and I was being conservative usage wise. Which was screwing me since I'm job hunting.

I would LOVE to change companies but since my speed is guaranteed to go from crap to parvo puppy poop on purpose after 2 or 2.5 gig of data with all the cheaper companies - I just want to scream.

Has anyone used network extenders? Do they work? I mean are they cost effective? I read some reviews that were awful. Tell me anyone except VZW builds and sells them, Please.

"Security is always excessive until it's not enough." —*Robbie Sinclair, Head of Security, Country Energy, NSW AUS
Sent from my DROID RAZR via Droid Forums

 

[sharkattack99]

I would be happier with Verizon if they would have left the ppl with unlimited data alone "grandfather" and just did the share everything crap to the new customers. If it wasn't for Verizons great network I woukd have switched. So know I have to pay full price for my phones kinda sucks. Cause the share everything would cost me way more money. Its just ridiculous.

They just wanted more money thought hey ppl are using lots of data lets drop the unlimited and start charging for tiered data so we make more. Ya I know a company has to make money but how much is to much profit and at the cost of what ya know.

Sent From My Samsung Galaxy Note 2!

 

[Amagine]

Completely agree, the reason that unlimited data might not be sustainable is because they put very little to no money towards the back-end of their network. They upgrade their towers yes, but the lines going from their towers aren't. It takes money to upgrade their network and they aren't willing to shell out the money vs the investors figures. If 96% of their network is covered in people who only use 2GB or less of data, what would change if they had kept unlimited plans? Oh that's right.. nothing except their pocketbooks. The share everything plan is actually more expensive for me then my unlimited plan. So going from unlimited data to 2GB of data costs me more, HMMM. I don't see how he says they don't lead on price.. :blink: Their network is the best in the country is most places, that's why the really won't have as many people leave the network as claim they will. In all honesty I do like the way that t-mobile has their plans, because after 24-months you no longer pay on the phone, which is how it should be. With a verizon plan, that extra price that you are paying them for subsidizing your phone never goes away, it's their penalty to you for keeping your plans and not upgrading basically. (I do know that this is how it was done for years and years but it should change)

With everything going to cloud storage and internet tv and radio, people will start using much more data on their smart phones then they had before. These plans were NEVER... let me say again NEVER intended to help the customers out at all, the CEO's knew this was going to happen so they put people on bucket data where they will end up forking over more money in the end to the companies for less of a product. Their edge plan for phones is just another gimmick to get themselves more money, oh we will let you upgrade earlier, but its a terrible plan for 99% of the customers who will be goaded into buying it.

Most of this is incorrect. Verizon especially has spent untold BILLIONS on backhaul support. I work for a Fiber optic provider that, for the last 3 years done quite a lot of work for most of the big three. In order to haul back to the exchanges, they have been moving towers from reams and reams of traditional copper circuits to fiber optic networks. Honestly, there have been times I have been , but one thing I can tell you is that Verizon is hardly sitting on its laurels when it comes to bandwidth.
Some of the last LTE backhaul projects we won bids for are now wrapping up. Some of the first markets are already on to upgrade paths, bigger circuits, additional fiber and such. LTE-A is already on the table. That all comes at a cost. While I prefer having Unlimited data, I also know Bandwidth is mathematically limited. You can't cram 100 phones asking for 1 meg files at the same second on a 50 mb/sec circuit, just for an analogy.

I personally have been looking at other cell companies as I know the grandfather clause will soon phase out. I hate to say it but the devil that is the CEO of Verizon is right. ATT is at least a year behind. Sprint might be able to catch up faster than 3 years but, still they are behind.

Their tactics on phones aren't the only place they have been tight on. You should see my calendar for Verizon network freezes (areas that I can't make changes to the fiber route as it might take them down for .0001 seconds). Looks like a calendar in baseball season :icon_eek:. They stop their own builds for MAJOR circuits any time an iPhone comes out. Not even ATT used to do that.

I hate Verizon and Verizon knows that everyone hates them. But on this side of the business they basically print money. Until they hit a wall as far as customer service. Which I suspect will be in a few years, this is what we have to put up with as consumers.

 

[mountainbikermark]

Most of this is incorrect. Verizon especially has spent untold BILLIONS on backhaul support. I work for a Fiber optic provider that, for the last 3 years done quite a lot of work for most of the big three. In order to haul back to the exchanges, they have been moving towers from reams and reams of traditional copper circuits to fiber optic networks. Honestly, there have been times I have been , but one thing I can tell you is that Verizon is hardly sitting on its laurels when it comes to bandwidth.
Some of the last LTE backhaul projects we won bids for are now wrapping up. Some of the first markets are already on to upgrade paths, bigger circuits, additional fiber and such. LTE-A is already on the table. That all comes at a cost. While I prefer having Unlimited data, I also know Bandwidth is mathematically limited. You can't cram 100 phones asking for 1 meg files at the same second on a 50 mb/sec circuit, just for an analogy.

I personally have been looking at other cell companies as I know the grandfather clause will soon phase out. I hate to say it but the devil that is the CEO of Verizon is right. ATT is at least a year behind. Sprint might be able to catch up faster than 3 years but, still they are behind.

Their tactics on phones aren't the only place they have been tight on. You should see my calendar for Verizon network freezes (areas that I can't make changes to the fiber route as it might take them down for .0001 seconds). Looks like a calendar in baseball season :icon_eek:. They stop their own builds for MAJOR circuits any time an iPhone comes out. Not even ATT used to do that.

I hate Verizon and Verizon knows that everyone hates them. But on this side of the business they basically print money. Until they hit a wall as far as customer service. Which I suspect will be in a few years, this is what we have to put up with as consumers.

So what you're saying is my market could be suffering from sudden craptactic data signals because they are upgrading? The level 3 tech did say her computer shows "Alltel cleanup" going on in my area. She said the field tech called back and says there wasn't a problem that hasn't always existed. If that is so why wouldn't they just say they're improving things, sorry for the mess right now" instead of telling me the cell I was connected to for the last 3 years at my house, until a couple of weeks ago , never existed and the sudden drops at former excellent cell areas aren't a figment of my imagination, that I never had excellent speeds and ability, and the screen shots I provided to the level 3 rep are not real according to the field tech?

Support Our Troops!!!
<><
Notetoo

 

[New2u]

Most of this is incorrect. Verizon especially has spent untold BILLIONS on backhaul support. I work for a Fiber optic provider that, for the last 3 years done quite a lot of work for most of the big three. In order to haul back to the exchanges, they have been moving towers from reams and reams of traditional copper circuits to fiber optic networks. Honestly, there have been times I have been , but one thing I can tell you is that Verizon is hardly sitting on its laurels when it comes to bandwidth.
Some of the last LTE backhaul projects we won bids for are now wrapping up. Some of the first markets are already on to upgrade paths, bigger circuits, additional fiber and such. LTE-A is already on the table. That all comes at a cost. While I prefer having Unlimited data, I also know Bandwidth is mathematically limited. You can't cram 100 phones asking for 1 meg files at the same second on a 50 mb/sec circuit, just for an analogy.

I personally have been looking at other cell companies as I know the grandfather clause will soon phase out. I hate to say it but the devil that is the CEO of Verizon is right. ATT is at least a year behind. Sprint might be able to catch up faster than 3 years but, still they are behind.

Their tactics on phones aren't the only place they have been tight on. You should see my calendar for Verizon network freezes (areas that I can't make changes to the fiber route as it might take them down for .0001 seconds). Looks like a calendar in baseball season :icon_eek:. They stop their own builds for MAJOR circuits any time an iPhone comes out. Not even ATT used to do that.

I hate Verizon and Verizon knows that everyone hates them. But on this side of the business they basically print money. Until they hit a wall as far as customer service. Which I suspect will be in a few years, this is what we have to put up with as consumers.

I wouldn't really call most of what I said false, but merely as you point out 1 thing out of what I was talking about. They have stated before that unlimited data hurts their network, but with the 96%ish that they claim only use 2GB of data, having them stay on unlimited would not have mattered. They tried to claim that "well why pay for data you aren't using" so now they charge just as much for a 2GB data plan as they did for for having an unlimited plan pretty much. So now they can claim you do pay for the data you use. The way the phones work for large companies with the subsidies is true, and needs to go away. They need to start offering lower price plans for people who either are no longer on their contract or they bought their phone outright. The whole reason for slightly higher priced plans was to recoup the money of the phones, and i completely understand that and it's ok, except once I get off of the contract I have paid full price for my phone, so any month to month I pay after that contract is actually more then I should be paying because i'm no longer paying for the recoup of the phone. Lastly the bucket plans were truly never meant to help anyone out except the companies pocketbooks, not only that but if they switch over phone calls to VoIP, the data is pretty much the only thing we will be using, and then it's even more data.

 

[Amagine]

I wouldn't really call most of what I said false, but merely as you point out 1 thing out of what I was talking about. They have stated before that unlimited data hurts their network, but with the 96%ish that they claim only use 2GB of data, having them stay on unlimited would not have mattered. They tried to claim that "well why pay for data you aren't using" so now they charge just as much for a 2GB data plan as they did for for having an unlimited plan pretty much. So now they can claim you do pay for the data you use. The way the phones work for large companies with the subsidies is true, and needs to go away. They need to start offering lower price plans for people who either are no longer on their contract or they bought their phone outright. The whole reason for slightly higher priced plans was to recoup the money of the phones, and i completely understand that and it's ok, except once I get off of the contract I have paid full price for my phone, so any month to month I pay after that contract is actually more then I should be paying because i'm no longer paying for the recoup of the phone. Lastly the bucket plans were truly never meant to help anyone out except the companies pocketbooks, not only that but if they switch over phone calls to VoIP, the data is pretty much the only thing we will be using, and then it's even more data.

With LTE, there really isn't a voice circuit. LTE-A will have it pretty much VoIP-ish. Also part of the reason most companies switched to unlimited talk/text is because they knew once the government's reports about minutes and texts costing companies .000001 cent to transmit would land them in some pretty hefty fines or lawsuits. Moving everything over to IP traffic would easily give them a reason to stay that they need to charge for more bandwidth.

As I said, it's only a matter of time. Bills to allow unlocked phones on any network are coming down the pike and LTE is only going to make it easier. They know this. I don't think Verizon's dominate network will be a thought in a couple years and the market will once again return to a price war for service.

 

[huskur]

Verizon luring you into using data and then you finding out that you overrun your 2GB or whatever is sort of like Google and some of the phone manufacturers having low memory and no SD expansion and then charging you for cloud storage. They are both expecting you to need more of both than you thought and having to pay either the cell company or the cloud storage company for what you need.

Yes, I would like to have unlimited 4G data and never use wifi on my phone, but I can work around it easily. At home, I'm mostly on the computer, but if I want to web surf on the couch or in bed then I use either my tablet or phone on my secured wifi. Most times that I'm out there is wifi available. Does it really matter that the wifi is open if you're just web surfing the news, weather, Amazon, Newegg, etc? (Q: Does it put my phone at risk if no sensitive data is sent?) If I want to buy something or enter a password then I just turn off wifi and connect via 4G. I've only had 3G until I got my One last week, so I'm used to using my phone this way for the past 4 years. I've never had a problem. I've also never hit 1GB of Verizon data. Carrying a tablet and a basic phone is not an option. That is 2 devices compared to one and even the smallest 7" tablet is way to big to carry. Even the HTC One is pushing the max size for me, but it was worth it for the screen and speed. I don't stream music on my phone. I have about 18GB of MP3s loaded and listen to those through BT headphones or just use my Rockboxed Sansa Clip+ or iAudio7 with IEMs. I used to stream Pandora, but ended up not liking it as much as listening to the music that I already have. The sound quality is much better with even MP3 256 than it is with Pandora. To pay $550 more for the HTC One and then do that again in 2 years was not worth it to me to keep my unlimited data.

Right....That is why I wouldn't ever buy a device with no memory expansion and limited space on the phone itself. I have no use for the cloud in that manner.

If you are on "open" public wifi on your device you are indeed vulnerable at all times.

As far as paying full retail for the device.....well I can get a "new" device for less than an upgrade. $700 for the Note 3 but will sell my Note 2 with accessories for at least $450. $700-$450=$250 Upgrade price is $299.00 plus $30 upgrade fee. So in essence I get the new device for less than an upgrade anyway.