Verizon to drop Unlimited Data on 7/29, tiered pricing to follow?

Backnblack

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LTE brings the potential to drop my home broadband - I'll again be paying more, but realizing a net savings.

LTE/4G would have to be in the 50 to 60Mbps range before I could even consider that...
 

czerdrill

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Tiered data plans are stupid. Not that I am advocating necessarily for unlimited plans - they are a bad deal for a lot of users.

BUT, why have a tiered structure? Why not a variable structure where you pay for what you actually use?

How about $15 for the first 1GB, then $5 for each additional 500MB.

Variable pricing isn't what pisses me off. It's the whole idea of "overage penalties." Cellular bandwidth is limited, I get that - so charge for what people use. But don't set some arbitrary number then totally nail people who go over it. Totally oligopoly pricing there - how much would you bet VZW's pricing exactly matches AT&T's?

The other thing that's stupid with ATT pricing is almost everyone uses over 200MB and very few use 2GB. So they screw the majority of users by forcing them to buy more than they need, then screw the power users by charging huge overage fees.

That's the cellular motto though - screw all of our customers, all of the ways we can.

that motto is the motto of any successful business. i'm still shocked that people are apparently just realizing this. NO COMPANY on the PLANET will put revenue on the backburner to make their customer's happy...i dont know how people even expect stuff like that. its simply not how the world works. when people complain about such things it makes me think they are one of two things:

1] EXTREMELY naive or
2] EXTREMELY childish

as much as people here would like to think that Verizon or any other multimillion dollar company gives a rat's ass what their customers think it's simply not true...no company is going to choose customer happiness over profit. and the reason they can do that is because they no that regardless of all the people saying "I'll promptly take my service to Sprint, that'll show them!!", the truth of the matter is, they don't care if you leave either.

Harsh. But true.
 

kodiak799

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LTE/4G would have to be in the 50 to 60Mbps range before I could even consider that...

Seriously? What are you, a university researcher that needs to transfer terabyte data files back and forth?

I have a 15mbps home broadband and few sites seem to come anywhere close to utilizing that. Heck, you can STREAM hi-def movies with a 5mbps connection.

Unless you are talking about multiple users on the same connection, I see no reason why people need more than 7mbps (which is about the range LTE is supposed to be in)...anything else is just overkill.

I think for 1 person, LTE would be a viable broadband replacement. If you have a family to share a connection, then I could see your point.
 

kodiak799

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Tiered data plans are stupid. Not that I am advocating necessarily for unlimited plans - they are a bad deal for a lot of users.

BUT, why have a tiered structure? Why not a variable structure where you pay for what you actually use?

How about $15 for the first 1GB, then $5 for each additional 500MB.

Variable pricing isn't what pisses me off. It's the whole idea of "overage penalties." Cellular bandwidth is limited, I get that - so charge for what people use. But don't set some arbitrary number then totally nail people who go over it. Totally oligopoly pricing there - how much would you bet VZW's pricing exactly matches AT&T's?

Interesting points.

Not sure about variable pricing. From a business perspective, I don't think variable pricing makes sense because people monitor/manage individual "purchases" much more than bulk purchases. I think that's a suboptimal revenue model.

I don't get all the fuss over tiered pricing. We've had that in cell for years - it works just fine for most people. AND, while it's an inconvenience to check usage and change plans, several times for both voice and text I've called up and had them backdate my plan to avoid overages for the month. What they are trying to accomplish with the tiered plans and overages is get users to purchase more than they normally need out of, basically, laziness. As long as they continue to allow me to backdate my plan, I see no real issues.

It will be interesting to see how this all evolves. For me, my main issue is using stuff off-line (airplane, or maybe download to watch later). Obviously things like flash and Netflix can spike data usage, but if they figure out how to let you download this stuff for offline use, you could do it from a computer (which is faster d/l anyway) or at off-peak times. Besides, downloading a whole file is ultimately better for network strain than streaming because it can make more efficient use of spare bandwidth.
 

dricacho

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So is this tierd data plan pricing definitely going into effect tomorrow? If so, I'm going to upgrade to Droid X tonight.
 

Attackcenter

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Say it is so. :) That is a change in their terms. Now, I can go to Sprint and get a real phone, like the EVO 4G or the Samsung Epic. Is this christmas? :p

AC
 

phoenix927

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There is not going to be a change to tiered data plans tomorrow. I work for verizon and we will not be changin to tiered data at this time.

The reason AT&T changed was because they couldn't handle the bandwidth caused by a large number of iphone users. We do not have this issue. Verizon spends $5.5 billion a year on the network so that it is always prepared for any situation.

There's nothing to worry about now. And do all the downloading you need to bc unlimited data is here to stay.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
 
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wuyanks

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There is not going to be a change to tiered data plans tomorrow. I work for verizon and we will not be changin to tiered data at this time.

The reason AT&T changed was because they couldn't handle the bandwidth caused by a large number of iphone users. We do not have this issue. Verizon spends $5.5 billion a year on the network so that it is always prepared for any situation.

There's nothing to worry about now. And do all the downloading you need to bc unlimited data is here to stay.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

thanks for the info. The 7/29 rumor had been put to rest awhile ago:

http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-news/62938-verizon-cfo-no-rush-tiered-data-plans.html

:)
 

lowboy

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There is not going to be a change to tiered data plans tomorrow. I work for verizon and we will not be changin to tiered data at this time.

The reason AT&T changed was because they couldn't handle the bandwidth caused by a large number of iphone users. We do not have this issue. Verizon spends $5.5 billion a year on the network so that it is always prepared for any situation.

There's nothing to worry about now. And do all the downloading you need to bc unlimited data is here to stay.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

Will those that have unlimited now be grandfathered in if/when this happens?
 

slinky

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There is not going to be a change to tiered data plans tomorrow. I work for verizon and we will not be changin to tiered data at this time.

The reason AT&T changed was because they couldn't handle the bandwidth caused by a large number of iphone users. We do not have this issue. Verizon spends $5.5 billion a year on the network so that it is always prepared for any situation.

There's nothing to worry about now. And do all the downloading you need to bc unlimited data is here to stay.

Right... Verizon is a company that wouldn't change the data plan if it felt it could make more money, it's all about sharing the goodness of the network. (I do remember something about having to buy VZ Navigator if I wanted to use my Blackberry's built in GPS rather than just using Google maps only a few years ago...)
 
R

RETG

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As a BB user, I have never use Navigator, but have always had access to my BB's GPS sensors and have used various GPS software programs quite successfully over the years. When was it that Verizon require you to use Navigator on a BB?
 
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