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5GB Limit. Really?

Does anyone know if the 5GB cap has a legitimate purpose? Is there not enough bandwidth for everyone to share? If that's really the case then I can be OK (albeit unhappy) with the policy. But if it's just so Verizon can make a fortune on 5 cent per MB overage charges then that's another discussion. Just wanted to share my 410KB worth.

Cheers.

Comments

xOriginalNinjax

I know I've had friends that have the same cable internet provider that I do, and they've gotten warning notices that if they continue using their services at the rates they are, they risk disconnect (he would literally download movie after movie in HD) because he was using more than 5gb of data each month for 3 consecutive months...they're all getting stingy with their usage. :smileysad:

najach

Yeah, I hate it... can't stand it. It's waaaaay to expensive to have such a small cap. And the internet traffic is such a pain!!! I get disconnected all the time; it irritates me to see that I'm "connected" yet "dormant"... when really I wasn't dormant, there was just so much internet traffic I couldn't get online anymore. So dumb.

And yes, the overage charges are total bull... If they wanna nitpick mb usage, then why don't they charge per mb instead of charging us every month as if we used our entire 5 gig allowance? I want my money back!!!

Deamorei

Their really is no reason for them other then to make huge profits at our expense. It is in my opinion that we the rural user are being raked over the coals. We finally have HIGH speed broadband after suffering for years at 56k or less because of our countries inability to reach rural America.. Blackberry and other smart phone users are not the main consumers of high speed mobile broadband, we are. The future of the internet is not in wired but in the more cost effective wireless market and companies like Sprint, Verizon, or AT&T know this.

They didn't have to lay cable for us to become customers. Imagine if the wired companies ie cable, fiber imposed a 5GB cap. People would turn off there cable, fios in a second and simply do the DTV route which I currently do. 21 digital channels that I pay not a penny for. So no there really is no reason. If I'm mobile I just pull into about every place on the road that has free wifi and connect that way . I don't need email on a phone or the ability to surf over my phone whatsoever and neither do most other people. I can blow 25mb an hour just surfing and not downloading anything. Now most websites push flash movies on you that load without you even giving consent. or big flashy ads like on the Verizon main page.

Can you imagine a family of 4-6 where their children need to access the internet for school or people that take college courses at home trying to get buy on 5GB a month. Should they be penalized for wanting to use the internet or even worse have to go for 200 bucks a month for 10GB a month cap. I think not. These caps are not even close to a fair amount of data for the price we pay. I'm actually quite amazed that in today's crappy economy that wireless companies have done nothing to ease the burdens on our families. Lower costs etc, etc. In case you haven't figured it out I'm on a mission to get these caps removed one way or another by spreading the word. Contacting government officials agencies like FCC, FTC, BBB, Congressmen and Senators who do actually investigate consumer complaints. Regretfully we consumers can't do anything to change these big corporations from doing whatever they so choose.

I say get rid of early termination fee's. That in itself would change the mobile and wireless world as we know it now back to businesses competing for our business once again.

Zehan

Guys, if the limit is too small, cancel. It's that simple. If wireless internet is your only home option because you live in a rural area, whose fault is that? Verizon certainly didn't move you out there. You wanted to live "away from it all," and guess what? You do, including internet. Verizon never said their services were intended to be your primary internet connection, you made that assumption. Oh, and as for the cost of providing wireless internet being cheaper? Well, you're correct that Verizon didn't have to lay cable to get to you. They only had to build a few million-dollar towers to get to you. That's not cheap.

Doodle

Zehan: I guess all us rural area folks could move to the city. Then what would we do about the services some of those rural areas provide. LIKE FOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Zehan

No one is saying you shouldn't live in a rural area, but it's not fair to blame Verizon for not providing the type of internet service you require. Your complaint should be with the internet providers who do not cover your area.

irgordon

I don't think Verizon should limit it to 5GB, maybe 10GB. I found that in my first 3 days, I used almost 400MB, this was just visiting Gmail, Facebook and browsing some other websites, I didn't visit YouTube since, I knew that would eat up a lot of bandwidth. I don't know how they arrived at 5GB, since most websites now have a lot of images, streaming media and such, no all text sites of yesteryear.

I can understand Verizon's position though, they wish to maintain the integrity of their network for all their subscribers but, I still think that in this day and age of media, that having a viable mobile (i.e. not tied to any one area: home, work or school) broadband connection that you can still get an enjoyable browsing experience. I think a lot of people are using the internet more and more so spending 5-8 hours on the internet a day is not all that uncommon, through home surfing, doing things at work and even for students research projects for school and such.

Otherwise, I think they should be upfront in advertising the product that its is LIMITED and is not for browsing media heavy sites like YouTube, MySpace or downloading files like MP3s, which most people think that it is unlimited, when its not, based on the way Verizon has marketed it.

unknown

ALL of this is CLEARLY spelled out on the Verizon web site.

Zehan

Personally I would also like to see Verizon drop the price of their wireless internet services, but I don't think that's the point here. The fact is Verizon does spell out the terms and conditions of their service, so if you agreed to those terms you don't really have a leg to stand on when complaining about the limits Verizon sets.

I also realize that some users' costs for this service might have gone up recently, and that those users might feel that they're being taken advantage of by Verizon. Honestly, I find it very hard to believe that Verizon is just picking random customers and hiking up their usage so they can rake in the overage charges. My experience in customer service has taught me that, whether the customer realizes it or not, THEY are the ones who have changed something about how they use their service which resulted in the overage. How many people come in to a store screaming from the mountaintop that there's NO WAY they used enough minutes to cause an overage but, when the minute usage is added up, find that they did in fact use more minutes than they believed?

I guess the real point I'm trying to make is that if you feel the service you receive is not satisfying your needs, then the best way you can let Verizon know this is to cancel the service and tell them exactly why you're canceling.

Doodle

This is what I posted on "My reply from VZW to the BBB"

[J Shook, I called Verizon Monday to get my account credited for the overages. After 7 months of using Verizon suddenly my usage amounts doubled. Since then I have been keeping notes, making screen shots of their usage amounts, etc. I questioned them about the negative usage they told me that I must have written it down wrong. I told them I had screen shots of it. Then he said I'll credit your account now. They claimed I had used 5389MB according to my calculations I used 2715. My amount is more in line with what I was using before they started doubling it. When the amount first double after many calls to Verizon I was told it was a tower problem. Mulitple lighting strikes I was told. They now tell me the tower has been repaired. Last night my brother and I was coming home in a thunder storm, at the same time we said tower strike. I can see the tower from my window. One night I was standing in the kitchen saw it hit the tower and it shook my house. My advice to any one using Verizon is to keep good notes and call every month.]

Yesterday I went to the store with my notebook. I went over my notes with the person at the store. He couldn't believe what I was showing him. He called into Verizon. The person he talked to said she could see some mis calculations and was coming up with more what I was saying I had used. My account is now being reviewed.

And no I did not go into the store "screaming from the mountaintop." I showed them what I had, about 50 pages of notes for 2 months. I know that the person I'm talking to on the phone or in the store just works for a living.

Zehan the point I'm trying to make is, If you really think something is wrong, keep good records.

Synexis

Thank you to everyone who has replied to my original post. Despite many great points being brought up, I feel that my first question is still unanswered, which was essentially that I don't understand why Verizon sets a cap in the first place.

I agree that it is my responsibility to read and abide by the contract. Indeed, I knew before signing up that I would have a 5GB cap and what the charges would be if I went over. I still have the right to be upset about it, though. Like many who have posted on this and other threads, I live in a rural area. The cap is especially inconvenient for me because I work from home as a web developer, and it is virtually impossible for me to do my work without exceeding the cap. I do realize that this is also my responsibility. I could move or find a different job, and no one forced me to get Verizon's service.

What I'm trying to figure out, is whether Verizon has the cap because it is necessary for them to operate this service successfully, or if it is just so that they can make extra cash at the expense of people who have little other choice. If the purpose of the cap is to prevent the system from being overloaded, then I'm OK with the policy, so long as the overage rates reasonably represent the demand for usage. If, however, there is a significant amount of unused bandwidth but Verizon charges for overage anyway, then I feel it is important that we make an effort express our concerns. I think most of these types of situations would resolve themselves in the free market, but since Verizon is the only provider of this certain service in many areas, it is largely up to us as the consumer to demand from businesses directly that changes be made.

unknown

You don't have the right to demand anything. Either you buy the product or you don't. This is a free market society.

Synexis

Good point. I should say request, not demand.

Zehan

Well, Verizon says they put the cap in order to preserve bandwidth, though no one can really know if that's true or not. I'm sure people will feel both ways about whether the cap is necessary or not, so I won't bother arguing about it.

yeeheecom

I have only one thing to say Road Runner 4G Mobile broadband and it is only $34.95 a month for unlimited bandwidth. Why can't verizon do this? Its like most companies these days, GREED. It will eventually be there downfall.

Zehan

It's because Road Runner has more bandwidth than Verizon, and since it's home service, they allocate bandwidth regionally, not nationally. Verizon has only so much bandwidth for the entire country, and because it's mobile, it costs more to maintain. This why you can get home phone service for $30 unlimited, but wireless plans cost more for a limited plan.

unknown

You should switch to Road Runner then.

yeeheecom

"It's because Road Runner has more bandwidth than Verizon, and since it's home service, they allocate bandwidth regionally, not nationally. Verizon has only so much bandwidth for the entire country, and because it's mobile, it costs more to maintain. This why you can get home phone service for $30 unlimited, but wireless plans cost more for a limited plan."

{please keep your posts courteous} Road Runner has Mobile now and it is unlimited . You get a usb modem just like verizon offers and it is zooming fast. and it is only $34.95 a month. More bandwidth than verizon. lol what a joke. You don't have a clue what your talking about.

{edited}

yeeheecom

"You should switch to Road Runner then."

I did. and its great. {please keep your posts courteous}

Zehan

{No personal comments, please}

unknown

I don't work for Verizon. I'm just a very satisfied and loyal customer.

bbbert

Did you know that you can be grandfathered into the UNLIMITED service!!! If you had a card with the old unlimited service they can give you unlimited on the mifi.. BUT if they change your number you lose that optition. Like if the Verizion guy wants his little commision they will change your numbet and you lose....It happened to me that way and my neighbor was just grandfathered cause he knew my problem...Cost me $190.00 the first month...What a rip........

Zehan

Shady reps suck. They give every carrier a bad name.

supitsmike

I'm here to assist what Zehan has been repeating over and over. Lets start off with some napkin math, shall we?

1 GB = 1,024MB of space.

5 GB = 5,120MB of space.

Assuming that say, I don't know 250 people all have a Mifi/Wifi/whatever card, and reached their cap, that would mean that

250 People * 5 GB cap = 1,250GB of bandwidth. Based off this math, one could determine that 1,024 GB of space/bandwidth equals 1 Tetrabyte(Or is it Terabytes? I forget >.>) of space.

On average, Google's page goes through 50 Tetrabytes of traffic on a day-to-day basis. Lets, hypothtically double that 5GB cap to 10 and see where that takes us:

250 People * 10 GB cap= 2,500GB of bandwidth. Which is already clearly over 2 Tetrabytes of bandwidth.

With Verizon being the lead company in pretty much everything, and seeing as how anyone can assume that more than 250 people use Mifi/Wifi cards you can see how it becomes rather expensive and hard to maintain:

Over X amount of people constantly connecting to towers for internet.
Keeping the internet at satisfying speeds.
Keeping the internet connection well, and healthy at all times so you have no issues connecting.

What strikes me as appauling here no one has really complained of the quality of the service, and neither has anyone complained or put into aspect that per GB you aren't getting the service you need.

All I'm reading here is that people are getting tremendously greedy.

lolwhat?

unknown

Your post make absolutely no sense. You're trying to calculate how much bandwidth 250 people would use in a month if they used their 5 GB allocation twice. Then you're comparing that to Google's usage in one day. Those numbers are meaningless, but good try.

OneBitterOldMan

I just got my bill and went over the 5 gig by 111 mb. They told me it was from the last billing cycle but didn't come in soon enough to get billed. So I was dinged $27.75, that is being hit at 25 cents a mb. I told her that I was on the 5 cents a mb plan which would be billed at $5.55 and not $27.75. She looked it up and said yes ,I had switched to that plan in November. Now all of a sudden this rolled in from October and I'm not eligible for the that. If they can't keep track of my usage from month to month how am I suppose to ? That **bleep** usage thing is all but worthless ,it shows the usage from 3 to 5 days previous I"m surprised there isn't" more complaints about over usage. 5 gig a month is not enough but I could live with it if I had a fighting chance with my usage being more current, Getting hit now for something that happened in October is wrong., if they want to ding me 25cents a mb over They should have billed when it happened. I think getting hit now they should honor my .05 cents plan. If you are on the 25cent plan you can call them and request that you want to go to the 5cent a mb plan when you go over the usage

Sirreel

OneBitterOldMan said: " Getting hit now for something that happened in October is wrong." You got that right. How did they explain the lag between the alleged overuse and billing? I was surprised, too, when I got a bill for an unreported overuse in November that showed up on December's bill. It was for data used on the last two days of the billing cycle. Those two days then showed up on my usage for the next billing cycle, so I was adding that into December's usage. I didn't know what the heck was going on and, after I got my bill, I'm guessing that's what was intended. That's right about when I started crabbing about limits and overuse charges on this forum. Verizon has to be reading these posts. They'd be crazy not to. So tell 'em what you think. They've been good about not censoring complaints. I like that.

MidnightStar1

WOW!!!

I was thinking about getting a mini netbook but now I'm not so sure about it

A 5GB cap. Huh. Not for me. I'd use that in about a week or less.

VZW should not sell a device with such limited plans. They need to make it unlimited.

If they can't hang with the increased bandwidth then they should stick to phones

I have comcast & get unlimited usage for $56.00 a month. Who said wireless was cheaper???

As far as wireless mobile the broadband plans do not seem worth it to me

The netbooks were meant to be portable so you could use them where ever you go but with only 5GB how much could you really accomplish?

When I started reading this post I thought someone was just using the cheapest plan but I see thats not the case. Gotta say I am disappointed. Was ready to surf the web mobile email etc.... Hum :smileysad:

unknown

5 GB is plenty for the intended purpose. It is not meant to be your primary, at home, internet source for game playing and downloading music and videos, etc. It is intended to be a supplement to use when you are traveling away from home.

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