New unlimited plan effect on HomeFusion Broadband

I have Home Fusion broadband at home, 30gig plan, and I go over limit pretty much every month.

But I also have a smartphone with a grandfathered unlimited data plan, that I use an additional 20gig on every month.

It seems almost too good to be true to go to this new "Single smartphone plan" (says with up to 2 additional devices also) and to change my current base price from $260 a month, down to $110 a month. And get unlimited data?

I am seriously wondering what's the catch? What am I missing?

Kevin J

Accepted answers

rcschnoor

woodinthewoods wrote:
I just spoke to a Rep.that guaranteed the mifi will be unlimited and when I brought up that it's being also mentioned that it will only be 10 GB she said that was wrong.. got it in writing!

You are mistaking being "slowed" after 10 GB as being "capped" at 10 GB. 10 GB at 4G speeds followed by UNLIMITED GB at 3G speeds is still UNLIMITED.

All comments

Weth

The home fusion would be limited to 10GB before being slowed to an unlimited amount at 3G speed. Hotspot on phone would get another 10 GB before slowed to 3G

rcschnoor

While you may be right, I don't think it is so clear on this device as it IS NOT listed under "Mobile Hotspots" but instead listed under "Home & Office Solutions". With this distinction, Verizon does not necessarily consider it a "hotspot".

Regardless, dropping from $260/month(+ overages) to a much lower amount, even at 3G speeds, is quite the savings. I guess it depends on how important speed on that device is to you before you switch from your Home Fusion plan. It seems if Verizon wants to sell ANY of these devices they would treat it a bit differently if they expect to charge a premium for having one vs a mifi, or else they need to drop the price on these drastically.

Weth

Putting on the Verizon executive thinking cap, the thing Verizon hated with the old unlimited plan was people using unlimited data as replacement for home internet. There was never an unlimited home fusion plan, people just put unlimited phone SIMS in a home device and used it as unlimited internet.

They designed a plan to prevent that again. That is why any device that can allow other devices to connect to it (hotspot, jetpack, home fusion) will have the 10 GB high speed limit.

The limit is for any Internet device as Verizon defines it.

rcschnoor

Weth wrote:
The limit is for any Internet device as Verizon defines it.

Actually, the wording is for "Mobile Hotspot", not "Internet device", and Home Fusion is NOT mobile as the cantenna is mounted to your home, not to be moved except by a Verizon tech. You may say the term "tethered", but people don't normally use that term when connected to their home wifi router which is exactly what Home Fusion is. The distinguishing factor is that it is not a MOBILE hotspot which is what is indicated in Verizon's terminology AND what MiFi devices are categorized under. MiFi devices have always been handled differently than Home Fusion which actually had a completely different plan not available to MiFi devices. It is not inconceivable that Verizon would treat these differently unless they simply want this technology or portion of their business to fade away.

Verizon Unlimited faq:

"What happens once I've used the 10 GB limit for Mobile Hotspot?

With the new Verizon Plan Unlimited, you get a 10 GB allowance of high-speed 4G LTE data for Mobile Hotspot each billing cycle. Once you've used the 10 GB of 4G LTE data, your Mobile Hotspot data speed will be reduced to 3G speed for the rest of the billing cycle. Data will continue to be unlimited while your Mobile Hotspot is reduced to 3G speed."

nancyh128

I have LTE installed connected to a cantenna on my roof. My device is a 4G data only device. The Verizon website says it cannot be used on the 3G network. It is on my new unlimited plan. I have exceeded 10GB and expect that if I hit 22GB on this line, it will be subject to potential priortization. I experienced no change at 10GB and I presume it is because my LTE Installed device is 4G only, unlike mobile hotspots. I think people with different devices may be getting answers that appear contradictory but are really just specific to their type of device.

rcschnoor

nancyh128 wrote:
I have LTE installed connected to a cantenna on my roof. My device is a 4G data only device. The Verizon website says it cannot be used on the 3G network.

Except Verizon does not say that data use will be relegated to the "3G network", just that the speed of that data use will be reduced to "3G speeds". Data use on the 4G network CAN be slowed down to 3G speeds and STILL be carried over the 4G network.

However, when unlimited was introduced again I was stating the unlimited faq mentioned "mobile hotspots" being slowed to 3G speeds. I argued that LTE Installed could in no way be considered "mobile" and therefore did not fall into that category. Good to hear that your speeds have not been slowed down after exceeding 10 GB. That could be good news if it turns out to be the case.:smileyhappy:

cdtierce

is the installed LTE (home fusion) a $20 per line access fee or still the higher fee for the installed LTE pricing?

nancyh128

Mine is a $20 line access fee.

Sent from my iPad

AntonioC_VZW

Allow me to answer this question for you and clear any pricing concerns for the installed LTE. Please review number 2 at this link: LTE Internet (Installed) FAQs | Verizon Wireless

AntonioC_VZW

If my response answered your question please click the _Correct Answer_ button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!

JAMLOD58

I am in a similar situation, in that I have been for several years using a MiFi router for my home Internet since I am not able to get cable. In addition I have two iPhones On my plan. Most of my data usage goes through my MiFi router. I was on a 30 GB plan which cost me somewhere around $250/month when everything was tallied up. When the new unlimited data plan came out in February I explored it thoroughly. I had a long chat with the Verizon rep and specifically asked if there was any 4G speed data cap for the MiFi router. I did not want to sign up for a plan that reduced the speed at 10 GB. I felt I could probably live with a reduced speed of 22 GB as advertised. The rep reassured me in writing that the only 10 GB 4G speed cap would be applied to each iPhone. I have the printed transcript of that chat. So I signed up, realizing a very significant savings.

However, when I reached 10 GB on my MiFi router yesterday , I received a text message from Verizon that my speed would be slowed to 3G speeds. This directly contradicted what I was told by the Verizon rep in February. I was quite angry and felt this was a fraudulent bait and switch. I contacted Verizon again and chatted with a rep for an hour and a half and got nowhere. She was cordial, but was limited in what she could do by her system. It was quite disturbing that she stated she could not even give communicate with anybody other than her direction supervisor, and that her direct supervisor could not communicate higher up the chain of command. She offered me a one time $30 credit for my time and frustration, which I accepted, however I let her clearly know that I did not feel this resolved the issue and that I would file an FCC complaint regarding fraud, which I did.

I then did some research and found that Verizon has a webpagecall their leadership webpage. www.verizon.com/about/our-company/executive-bios which includes photos, bios, and contact information for most of their executives. I sent an email to Kenneth Dixon, Senior VP and Group President, Consumer Sales and Service twith a description of my experience. I received a call last night from one of his staff members, Sherene, who was very cordial and stated that she understood my concerns, but that I was given incorrect information by the representative in February. She stated that there is nothing that they could do to change the situation other than guide me to a different plan. She stated that the 4G 10 GB speed cap applies only to the MiFi router and not to the iPhones, and that the iPhone tethering is capped at 22 GB, which I think is also incorrect. She gave me her direct line so that I could call her back if I wanted to. Although I was satisfied with the way she dealt with me, I am still not satisfied with the outcome. I told her that I had filed a fraud complaint against Verizon with the FCC, and that I was going to explore other options available to me for high-speed Internet and cellular service.

Today I received an email from the FCC stating that they had forwarded my complaint on to Verizon.

Grumpy67

I am in the same boat.
Live where no cable is available, and signed up for HomeFusion, w/home phone and 2 cell phones in 2013. Was paying upward of 350 per month total and still using up the data.
Talked with Verizon rep when new plan became available, so February? Asked about caps on the plan or slowdowns and was assured there were none.

Now I get an e-mail stating that they will slow my speed to 3G after 10G combined for the 4 devices. We are dependent on our connection for work and will be severely hampered by this.

What they did is bait and switch! I hope Comcast and Google rolls out their networks soon. As of now, actively looking for a new carrier.

Complaining to the FCC was a great idea. I might just do that too.

JAMLOD58

Anyone who experienced this bait and switch should report it to FCC. It is easy to do online, and an FCC rep replied within 2-3 hours. They need to hear that this was not just a case of one untrained Verizon agent. Verizon must have some fear of the FCC because Verizon responded to me about my FCC complaint in less than 24 hours.

The Verizon representative for the VP I complained to is named Sherene and her direct number is [Removed] extension [Removed] . She needs to hear from more than one person about this because she expressed that she believes that this was an isolated incident.

J LoDolce

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Grumpy67

I should. As I have it officially and in writing from them.

Best Regards

Nina

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MuffyKatt

I have the exact same situation. For the first month of unlimited it worked fine. This month I got a message after only 5 days in my billing cycle stating that we've used up all of our 4G and now for the rest of the month it will be 3G. It is terrible. Why have unlimited if it doesn't work..can't get anything done in a efficient manner, pictures, etc., take forever pop up, forget about using Netflix or any other streaming service. Looking at other services.

DonJohns49

I've been a continuous Verizon 3-line smartphone customer for 20 years now and added LTE Home Fusion for the last 4+ years after retirement and moving to a rural community. I have no other alternatives to home internet except satellite. Actually satellite is looking better now after switching to Verizon Unlimited - until it's not - Plan. I switched my then max 30GB limited plan, which worked fine for 4 years except for the arcane 1GB per day limit, to the Unlimited - until it's not - Plan on the very first day it was offered. I even found the small print that exposed the prioritization gimmick at 22GB but NOWHERE did it say anything about a 10GB speed throttling limit. For the first 2 months, even being prioritized for the last 6-12 days of the cycle, worked for me and speeds would slow from 12-20 Mb/s to 3-5 Mb/s but everything worked and life was good. About 10 days into the 3rd cycle of my new Unlimited - until it's not - Plan, I get an email notice that I've reached my 10 GB limit and I will be limited....WHAT? I have a Verizon Unlimited Plan. Now, nothing from the browser is working, email is working slowly. My speed is .090 Mb/s. It took me the next 30 minutes to get to a second tier support person who discloses that this is a new 10 Mb/s throttle policy. He also discovers that my Home Fusion has the wrong severe throttle setting. After 24-hours I get a notice to reboot cantenna and retest speed. Now I get .4-.5 Mb/s (yes, 450-500 Kb/s) and is what I have been living with for the last 20 days. Critical bill paying DOES NOT work due to timeouts and most sites just continue to spin waiting for data. This is not a home internet service anymore and I have lost patience waiting for Verizon to do the right thing. 4+ years ago I bought Verizon LTE Home Fusion, touted to be the best and fastest wireless home internet service. What Verizon Unlimited - until it's not - Plan has done is to reduce it to a useless piece of junk!!! I[Removed]

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Verizon_Support

your longtime patronage is appreciated. We hope you'll be with us for many years to come. I welcome the opportunity to address your unlimited plan inquiry. I know it can be upsetting being restricted to 3G speeds after 10GBs of data is met on an internet only device. While these devices can be added to the New Verizon Plan Unlimited, they were never intended for it but a tiered or data only plan. This is because it's imperative for us to make sure we maintain the integrity of our network for all of our customers. Our customers rely on their phones in emergency situations and by ensuring our network isn't weighed down by heavy internet usage we'll know that they're covered when they need their devices most.

EbonyR_VZW

If my response answered your question please click the _Correct Answer_ button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!