[Updated] Verizon Plans To Eliminate 'Grandfathered' 3G Unlimited Data Plans

[dgstorm]

UPDATE: In response to the rather vocal outcries of many of its subscribers on the web, Verizon has clarified what will happen to 3G/4G data plans explicitly.

The takeaway is this: anyone purchasing a smartphone from this summer forward on subsidy pricing will be pushed into tiered/shared data. If you choose not to buy a smartphone on subsidy, you can keep your unlimited plan if you choose to.

This means if you renew your 2-year agreement, from this summer forward, on any line by buying a "discounted" phone, you lose unlimited.


Here are the exact statements:

• Customers will not be automatically moved to new shared data plans. If a 3G or 4G smartphone customer is on an unlimited plan now and they do not want to change their plan, they will not have to do so.
• When we introduce our new shared data plans, Unlimited Data will no longer be available to customers when purchasing handsets at discounted pricing.
• Customers who purchase phones at full retail price and are on an unlimited smartphone data plan will be able to keep that plan.
• The same pricing and policies will be applied to all 3G and 4GLTE smartphones.

Source: Android Police


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In a move that is sure to anger a massive swath of its customers, Verizon CFO Fran Shammo, at the Global Technology, Media and Telecom Conference in Boston, announced that Verizon plans to eliminate grandfathered unlimited data plans permanently.

Customers that were grandfathered in with pre-existing unlimited 3G data plans will have to purchase Verizon’s data-share plan that it plans to unveil this summer, when they transition to 4G LTE service. “Everyone will be on data share,” he said.

No specifics were give on this new plan that will launch in the summer, but consumers who opt for the family plans will likely benefit the most.

Here is a quote from the source of this article with more info:

When asked how Verizon will drive customers to this new data share plan, Shammo said that LTE will be the anchor for the new plan and that as customers upgrade from 3G to LTE, they will have to be on a data share plan, allowing the company to sunset its unlimited 3G data plan. "A lot of our 3G base is on unlimited," Shammo said. "When they migrate off 3G they will have to go to data share. That is beneficial to us."

It is not clear what they plan to do with folks who are on a 4G LTE grandfathered unlimited plan, but essentially those folks might be considered hold-overs from the unlimited 3G data era, and they might fall under this as well. We will dig deeper to see if it becomes more clear, but it is looking like the folks on 3G unlimited data plans are the only ones targeted right now.

Thanks to all our tipsters and especially ROLLTIDE1 for getting it posted first here at DF!

Source: FierceWireless and VZW

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[Mike8016]

It looks like most people will switch to sprint now

 

[Trusstopher]

I would think they would have to wait until our next upgrade rolled around before they could force us off unlimited.

This is a big enough change to what we agreed and signed in our contracts that I can't see them forcing the change mid-contract without giving the customers an opportunity to jump ship sans Early Termination Fee. In either case this plus Google's announcement about the Nexus family and direct selling of devices... I may be shopping for a new carrier when VZW comes knocking for my Unlimited plan.

 

[justin82]

if you stay on 4g device and just buy new phones off ebay and craigslist i dont see how they could force you to go to a different plan .

 

[Sydman]

And a big thank you goes out to those bragging about using upwards of 100GBs a month of data on unlimited plans.

 

[Trusstopher]

if you stay on 4g device and just buy new phones off ebay and craigslist i dont see how they could force you to go to a different plan .

Once your 2 year agreement is up, they can pretty much change what ever they want on a monthly basis... I think.

 

[crwys]

I don't really want to say goodbye to you Verizon.
But this may be it...

 

[striker85]

I'm getting pretty sick of Verizon (and other large corporations) thinking they can just dictate what we get for the exorbitant money we pay them. I think the consumer needs to be granted some sway in these types of decisions. If I can make my Bionic work on Sprint and they hold up their unlimited data claims, I might be jumping ship.

 

[Crankintopwater69]

WOW!!!!!!!!Anything else Big Red while we're on the floor being kicked by you?I remember when they where small and such a humbled company.BUT NOW.......

 

[Shadez]

Now if we could just get everyone in the US to cancel their VZW subscriptions, that might make them blink.. but just for a second, and then charge us for the time it took for them to blink.

 

[Trusstopher]

And a big thank you goes out to those bragging about using upwards of 100GBs a month of data on unlimited plans.

I think this was inevitable even without them. I bet that VZW is more interested in the huge subset of customers on unlimited data using between 2GB and 5GB a month that will be forced into paying an extra $20 or $30 a month or change their usage habits (the former being more likely for a most people) than the relatively small portion going over 10GB a month.

 

[Crankintopwater69]

I'm getting pretty sick of Verizon (and other large corporations) thinking they can just dictate what we get for the exorbitant money we pay them. I think the consumer needs to be granted some sway in these types of decisions. If I can make my Bionic work on Sprint and they hold up their unlimited data claims, I might be jumping ship.

Sorry,but having trouble finding the LIKE button.

 

[Crankintopwater69]

Now if we could just get everyone in the US to cancel their VZW subscriptions, that might make them blink.. but just for a second, and then charge us for the time it took for them to blink.

Sir as God as my witness,Im with you on this one.

 

[Chukee]

Lol. Well i guess this will stop people from using their 4g phone as a home modem.

 

[bluefire7002]

Blahhh not getting the high end phones on Verizon plus now this?? It might be time to breakup with VZW