Verizon Comes Up With Crafty New Way to Entice Folks Out of Unlimited Plans

[Sydman]

Hmmm....it occurs to me this might be less about enticing people off of unlimited and more about propping up their launch of the Edge program. Possibly people aren't flocking as blindly and recklessly as they anticipated. And, actually, because of the $30 for 6gigs you are kind of making-up the difference on the $25/month.

And VZW also has a boatload of new phones to unload...

Yeah one way or another they will find a way to kill the unlimited plans if they really want to.

Might as well jump when the jumping is good.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 2

 

[gveserat]

i defiantly agree, however, i prefer to pay a little more and buy the phone from a retail store. if the phone breaks within a year, yes a refirb is bs, at least its not a total loss as with used purchases.

My last phone was a Motorola Droid Bionic. I had a couple of minor issues, the volume rocker switch fell off. I called Verizon and yes they would send me another "REFURBED" phone. I said it was only 3 months old, I want a new phone. No that was all they could do.

So, I called Motorola and they had me send it in for repair, and it was returned to me in about 14 days. NO CHARGE! and I got my new phone back, wiped of data, but repaired at no charge and my original phone.

I just purchased a used, excellent condition Galaxy Note 2, I don't know if I could ever send it in directly for repair, but Motorola was excellent about it.

 

[kodiak799]

Insurance is a waste of money. I broke one feature phone (easily replaced on EBAY for $50), and lost two others (both found/returned). $100 a year for insurance (plus $99 deductible!) is steep unless you are absolutely irresponsible. You literally have to lose/bust a phone every year just to break-even.

 

[_33]

Sadly I am one of those who have 4 lines with unlimited data and can't upgrade without losing it. We use a lot of data and the tiered plans wouldn't work for us. I would be paying more than I do now.

As much as I love new phones and playing with them, I had to come to terms with that I either had to switch to tiered or be a half of a generation behind in the phone cycle. Up until now it's worked fine. I can get pretty much any phone a month or so after launch for around $300.00 on CraigsList. I keep it for 6 months or so and can usually resell it for close to what I paid. I've done this with a few lines now and it's worked well. No issues at all except me learning to be more patient.

I have one more line to go with VZW. A line that they kind of lied about it being an upgrade. My wife thought she was buying a phone outright for 199.99 and here it was a renewal. The phone was an HTC Rhyme, which was old and not even worth the 199.99 retail, but my daughter had to have it. They kind of screwed us with that. T-Mobile has become a viable option now. I'll start grabbing phones for their service around December and make the switch (5 lines) in late January.

I almost caved in and went with a tiered plan. I even talked with my family about how they would need to use wifi when available to lower our usage and then....


Then I lost my data signal for almost a month! Same with my wife and our other lines... and everyone around us with VZW. Then I started a new job and lost my damn phone signal over and over at work! Once they lost me with the reliability that was it. Can't wait to switch! I don't hate them for being a company that wants to make money, but I do resent them for being smug pricks that make you feel like you owe them something when I'm shelling out over $325.00 a month for cell phone service.

 

[Brightonbrad]

Sadly I am one of those who have 4 lines with unlimited data and can't upgrade without losing it. We use a lot of data and the tiered plans wouldn't work for us. I would be paying more than I do now.

As much as I love new phones and playing with them, I had to come to terms with that I either had to switch to tiered or be a half of a generation behind in the phone cycle. Up until now it's worked fine. I can get pretty much any phone a month or so after launch for around $300.00 on CraigsList. I keep it for 6 months or so and can usually resell it for close to what I paid. I've done this with a few lines now and it's worked well. No issues at all except me learning to be more patient.

I have one more line to go with VZW. A line that they kind of lied about it being an upgrade. My wife thought she was buying a phone outright for 199.99 and here it was a renewal. The phone was an HTC Rhyme, which was old and not even worth the 199.99 retail, but my daughter had to have it. They kind of screwed us with that. T-Mobile has become a viable option now. I'll start grabbing phones for their service around December and make the switch (5 lines) in late January.

I almost caved in and went with a tiered plan. I even talked with my family about how they would need to use wifi when available to lower our usage and then....


Then I lost my data signal for almost a month! Same with my wife and our other lines... and everyone around us with VZW. Then I started a new job and lost my damn phone signal over and over at work! Once they lost me with the reliability that was it. Can't wait to switch! I don't hate them for being a company that wants to make money, but I do resent them for being smug pricks that make you feel like you owe them something when I'm shelling out over $325.00 a month for cell phone service.

I live in a fully covered 4g area and use my phone for work since I drive to hundreds of areas that I am unfamiliar with. Not fun when I have to wait 30mins on the road to search a location

Even when it shows great signal I still get well under 1mbps. I'm paying a premium for dial up speeds basically.

What happened to being the fastest 4g LTE network in America. My friend with T-Mobile gets better signal than me. Time to switch

 

[SwiftLegend]

Well just got off the phone with a nice gentleman at Verizon who confirmed it for me. This is ONLY for customers that are currently on Unlimited Data AND are due for an upgrade AND are switching to their new edge plan. The change is done automatically once you switch to the Edge Plan and can't be assigned by them to any given line of service manually.

I even tried to get him to back date it for me since I just lost my unlimited data when I got the S4 and it was a no go.

So for those that are not using a lot of data this might be a good time to unload it if you are due for an upgrade.

The new Edge Plan actually does not sound terrible, after six months you want a new phone you give them back the one you are "leasing" and the charge goes away and you pro-rate the new phone. Not too shabby for those that like to switch phones out a bunch and don't mind paying an extra $25 bucks a month.

So you're essentially renting your phone? Can you choose to "upgrade" but keep the old phone?

This plan could be perfect for me. I'm too inpatient to wait every 2 years to get a new phone but can't afford paying $600 each. Being able to switch every six months while paying the on-contract price sounds awesome, but that "leasing" part is a turn off.

 

[BOBD1950]

I knew it..This is just the beginning..VZW will be offering all kinds of so-called incentives for their loyal UL-data users to jump into a empty swimming pool...
AND when they start offering free 500 dollar phones to owners of off contract ULD lines....watch.:blink:

Long story short, the death of grandfathered unlimited data plans will come when all the people with UL data give up their devices for new ones. And that could take a LONG time...even in dog years.

LORD OF THE FLIES v.3

 

[droidbionicmaster]

They can offer all the good deals they want but with what I use and my unlimited is only $9.00 a month with my company discount I would rather pay full price for my.phone

Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX using Droid Forums

 

[hammerhead13]

I made the mistake of upgrading and losing my Unlimited back in Oct '12 when I got my S3 for $100. Since the change my bill jumped from $250/mo to $330 for 5 lines. My dad & I are the only ones that really upgrade our phones. My wife still has her Droid Pro since launch and my Stepson gets what ever my previous phone is after my upgrade plus I still have my ancient Motorola E815 flipphone. If Verizons service wasn't as good as it is I would have jumped ship. They are the Most expensive of all the Carriers IMO. Too Bad I can't use my phones with another Carrier.

 

[gadgetrants]

For those of you who already understand all the fine print, please bear with me as it slowly sinks in. In particular:

Verizon Edge - Verizon Early Upgrade Plan

Here’s how it works: Choose the phone you want and sign up for a month-to-month service plan, it’s as easy as that. The FULL RETAIL PRICE [caps added] of the phone will be divided over 24 months and you’ll pay the first month at the time of purchase. If you want to upgrade after 6 months, just pay off 50% of the full retail price of the phone and you can choose a new phone and start all over again.

I honestly wasn't tuned in when the Edge plan was announced -- about the only part of it that caught my attention was the "early upgrade" option. In hindsight, the idea of being charged $500 or $600 is pretty unattractive -- but let me emphasize that I'm a happy 1-phone-every-2-years owner, not a 1-phone-every-3to6-months owner. It makes no difference to me that the payments are stretched over 2 years. The right way to look at it is to run a scenario over ownership of several phones/years, and look at the total outlay, versus advantages gained by the plan. For example:

Jump, Edge, or Next: which mobile carrier's early upgrade plan screws you the least? | The Verge

AT&T and Verizon, meanwhile, charge no down payment, but split up the cost of the phone over nearly two years with what we’re calling "hardware payments." However, your monthly service plan from AT&T or Verizon includes about a $20-per-month subsidy on top of that, according to industry estimates. That’s one of the reasons why their individual plans cost so much more than T-Mobile’s, and this is precisely what makes both AT&T Next and Verizon Edge almost always a bad deal — you’re paying for your phone twice.

I realize that everyone else figured it out in July, but I honestly assumed that "if I switch over to a tiered/capped plan, I will continue to get upgrade prices even on the Edge plan." Duh, obviously not.

So yeah it's getting a bit clearer to me now: the promo says, "To help these customers take advantage of Verizon Edge..." which I take to mean, "you only get the 'new' data plan offer if you lock yourself into Edge as well." In other words, I "lose" unlimited and also kiss goodbye $200 and $100 subsidized phone prices. Like I said, spreading out retail prices, to me, is the same as paying up front, just more slowly (QUESTION: is there interest on those installment payments?).

Funny that they didn't offer the option to move into Verizon Max WITHOUT changing anything else, that is, just modify the terms of data delivery while keeping everything else the same. This feels like having my hand lured into a cookie jar that's filled with rattlesnakes.

-Matt

 

[gadgetrants]

The new Edge Plan actually does not sound terrible, after six months you want a new phone you give them back the one you are "leasing" and the charge goes away and you pro-rate the new phone. Not too shabby for those that like to switch phones out a bunch and don't mind paying an extra $25 bucks a month.

Syd, not exactly -- it took me several reads to get it, but at the 6-month point you must have a 50% paid-off phone to get the new one. In other words, for example if you picked up a $600 phone in January, in July you'd have paid a quarter of the full price ($150) and you'd then have to drop another $150 before they let you swap into the new phone. Ad infinitum (or is it ad nauseum?) every six months.

-Matt

 

[jspradling7]

So, you give up UL for 6gb.

And they will increase your monthly bill by 25 bucks.

Over 6 months that extra 25 dollars a month totals $150.00. At that time, if you want to kick in another $150.00 cash, they'll be nice enough to take your phone (that they can sell refurbed) and give you a new one.

Yeah, that sounds like a good deal. :blink:

 

[kodiak799]

I assumed that the Edge plan still had the $350 subsidy every two years or whatever baked in somewhere. VZW isn't really creating any value or doing you any great favors with that program - why wouldn't someone just take their subsidized phone every two years, and if they want more frequent upgrades they can flip on EBAY?

Really, I'm amazed at how many people believe they can afford $300+/yr for a phone. In a nutshell, it's part of why people have to get a job as Walmart greeter when they're 70.

 

[squeak]

I would be tempted if it didn't require the edge program. I rarely meet 2 gigs and am only keeping my unlimited as a piece of mind incase of a rainy day. I'm mainly waiting for one of 2 things: tmo to get decent coverage in my area, or Verizon and/or ATT to get tired of losing customers to tmo and offer a plan that's truly competitive to tmo, since they already decent coverage here.

 

[djspy]

Sorry to burst your bubble but haven't you read the reports of Verizon boasting that they're the carrier with more customers and more new activations? I don't think Verizon is going to get tired of losing customers to T-Mobile anytime soon.