Deals with out loosing UDP

[_lisa_]

I am one of the grandfathered accounts just putting this out there. I know there are some really smart people on here and I don't want to get screwed by VZW so I am going to put this out there for guidance.
Here goes:
My bill last month total was $142.21 this month is $188.38
2 smart phones & 1 flip phone with no data
My plan is NATIONWIDE TLK&TXT SHARE 1400 with Friends & Family (10 numbers) plus unlimited mobile to mobile calling for Verizon customers. Email & Web Unlimited. This is what my hubby's line looked like on my bill...

Monthly Charges
These are your fixed monthly charges that are based on your Plan and Optional Services. If you change your plans or services during the month, an adjusted charge that includes partial month charges or credits, may appear on your bill.
Line Access 10/26 - 11/25 $9.99
Email & Web Unlimited 10/26 - 11/25 $29.99
Talk & Text Plus Data $20 Disc 10/26 - 11/25 -$20.00

Monthly Charges

$19.98
I jumped on the BIG RED secret deal that was posted on forums I would have to say at least 5 years ago. So Now my bill is a bunch more. I have 2 teenagers 1 with a dumb phone one without a phone. I want us all to have smart phones as they need them for BYOD (Bring your own Device) to school. So my question is what to do that isn't going to screw us in cost. I have seen people paying close to $300 for phones. I don't want to do that.
My hubby doesn't use much data so I was thinking, me keeping the unlimited but how do I do the rest. I am so lost and don't want to get screwed over by verizon. I need help I am lost

 

[Sajo]

I think it really comes soon to what you NEED. Do you need a UDP? I hate to even mention that because the UDP police may hijack the thread. With 5 phones on the same plan (4 smart, 1 basic, 1 UDP line) my bill was $299 a month. The new My Verizon plans are much cheaper, if you are willing to pick a shared data amount. Switching to a My Verizon 12GB plan would save me around $68 a month. If you don't need UD, these new plans are much cheaper, with unlimited talk and text. Let's hope we can continue this without the UDP police hijacking things.

 

[_lisa_]

I would like to keep it on mine for instances when our home internet sucks and I can use my foxfi app.(paid 7.99 one time fee to have a hotspot) We used that and used 39GB of data.

 

[94lt1]

I would like to keep it on mine for instances when our home internet sucks and I can use my foxfi app.(paid 7.99 one time fee to have a hotspot) We used that and used 39GB of data.

Until they shut foxfi off. Which happened for me...so i pay em.30$ for unlimited wifi hotspot....you might think of doing that..foxfi stopped on my Samsung edge....

So if you now pay vzw 30$ plus tax (according to your state, mine is confusion) you will have unlimited wifi hotspot capabilities.. They can't complain until you get reach a terabyte...

 

[Jonny Kansas]

To add to what these guys have said, it may benefit you to keep your plan exactly the same, but add the unlimited tethering like @94lt1 said. That'll cost you more a month initially, but like @sajokaz said, it's likely a good idea for you to put everyone else on the new VZW plans with unlimited talk and text and a shared pool of data. They're running a deal right now where if you go with their XL or XXL data plans, you get 2GB of free data per month, so if you're going to have 3-4 folks on that plan, that might help you.

A big thing to keep in mind, if you're trying your hardest to save money and keep everyone happy is how much data your husband and kids do/will use. You can go with a smaller data plan to start and increase it as you see fit. Obviously, you're not going to know right away how much data anyone that currently doesn't have smartphone might actually use, so the first month or so is a guessing game.

Another thing to keep in mind is wifi. I use about 4-5GB/mo of mobile data, but I use over 20GB/mo on my home wifi network with my phone. If you can get the husband and kids to use wifi while at home, it'll save on mobile data immensely. And, if you go with the extra $30/mo to get the unlimited mobile hotspot on your line, they can continue to do that through your phone when the home internet doesn't cut it for you. (Just be careful and make sure you know if there's a data cap on your home internet.)

So, to sum all of that up, without knowing more specifics, if it were me in your shoes, I'd keep my unlimited plan the way it is and add the unlimited tethering option. I'd then get the rest of the family on the new VZW plans with a shared pool of data. I'd then monitor their usage for a few month and adjust the amount of data they get each month as needed.

While monitoring that, be sure to set up alerts and/or set each phone to shut mobile data off once they've reached a cap. This can be done in the usage screen. You can set it to alert them when they reach a certain amount, then turn mobile data off when they reach another amount. You can also setup your VZW account so that you receive texts or emails when certain percentages of the allotted data have been used.

Hope that's not too confusing. Feel free to ask questions to clarify!

 

[94lt1]

To add to what these guys have said, it may benefit you to keep your plan exactly the same, but add the unlimited tethering like @94lt1 said. That'll cost you more a month initially, but like @sajokaz said, it's likely a good idea for you to put everyone else on the new VZW plans with unlimited talk and text and a shared pool of data. They're running a deal right now where if you go with their XL or XXL data plans, you get 2GB of free data per month, so if you're going to have 3-4 folks on that plan, that might help you.

A big thing to keep in mind, if you're trying your hardest to save money and keep everyone happy is how much data your husband and kids do/will use. You can go with a smaller data plan to start and increase it as you see fit. Obviously, you're not going to know right away how much data anyone that currently doesn't have smartphone might actually use, so the first month or so is a guessing game.

Another thing to keep in mind is wifi. I use about 4-5GB/mo of mobile data, but I use over 20GB/mo on my home wifi network with my phone. If you can get the husband and kids to use wifi while at home, it'll save on mobile data immensely. And, if you go with the extra $30/mo to get the unlimited mobile hotspot on your line, they can continue to do that through your phone when the home internet doesn't cut it for you. (Just be careful and make sure you know if there's a data cap on your home internet.)

So, to sum all of that up, without knowing more specifics, if it were me in your shoes, I'd keep my unlimited plan the way it is and add the unlimited tethering option. I'd then get the rest of the family on the new VZW plans with a shared pool of data. I'd then monitor their usage for a few month and adjust the amount of data they get each month as needed.

While monitoring that, be sure to set up alerts and/or set each phone to shut mobile data off once they've reached a cap. This can be done in the usage screen. You can set it to alert them when they reach a certain amount, then turn mobile data off when they reach another amount. You can also setup your VZW account so that you receive texts or emails when certain percentages of the allotted data have been used.

Hope that's not too confusing. Feel free to ask questions to clarify!

Yet another thing to keep in mind is also..the availability to get a good home WiFi connection. Like down here where I am..time warner sucks, Hughes sucks...at&t also is terrible..buy most people have more options than those few...

If I could get a good WiFi provider.. I'd drop my UDP in a heart beat..except for those times in road trips..

 

[Sajo]

Can you have one line on an old UDP and the others on the new My Verizon plans? They would not let me do that. Unless I spli into two different accounts.

 

[Jonny Kansas]

Can you have one line on an old UDP and the others on the new My Verizon plans? They would not let me do that. Unless I spli into two different accounts.

That's my understanding as well. Since they're separate plans, they'd technically be separate accounts, but you could get the same billing date if you wanted, or split them up so you've only got one a paycheck.

IDK if they'd send the bills in the same envelope, even if you have all the same info on the account and same billing date.

But, that's the only way to keep the unlimited and shuffle the others to the cheaper plan that I'm aware of. Otherwise, like you illustrated, they're going to be paying more, probably for less data.

 

[chakfu]

I have 2 grandfathered unlimited data plans but rarely use large amounts of data; with the price increase the difference between 2 unlimited lines and a shared 6 GB is $80/month so I don't think I can justify the luxury of unlimited data anymore.

Both of my phones are upgrade eligible but are new enough I don't want to replace for a few years - do I have any option to switched to a 6 GB shared data plan while retaining the ability to cheaply upgrade in the future (rather than using the device payment plan - deferring payments over a few years is still paying full price in the long run, minus some interest savings.) Or are there enough additional discounts/trade-ins with device payment plans that it won't make a difference?