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to family share plan or not to family share plan...

ok so im trying to figure out if i should go to a family share plan or not.we are grandfathered in right now so we have unlimited data package.. we have two iphones and a basic phone and our bill is about $215 a month.. we have WIFI at home so when we are home we all use WIFI ( which doesnt use verizon data).. i have looked at my last three bills and the most data we have used is 3.2 GB..i would really like to use the hotspot that the family share plan gives since i do have an ipad and we go camping alot.. so i was thinking maybe going to the 6GB or 8GB if we did switch to the share plan.. which would make our bill pretty much the same price as it is now.. im just trying to get some ideas or see how many people actually like the share plan..

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NuDroidUsrr

sarah_beavers wrote:
ok so im trying to figure out if i should go to a family share plan or not.we are grandfathered in right now so we have unlimited data package.. we have two iphones and a basic phone and our bill is about $215 a month.. we have WIFI at home so when we are home we all use WIFI ( which doesnt use verizon data).. i have looked at my last three bills and the most data we have used is 3.2 GB..i would really like to use the hotspot that the family share plan gives since i do have an ipad and we go camping alot.. so i was thinking maybe going to the 6GB or 8GB if we did switch to the share plan.. which would make our bill pretty much the same price as it is now.. im just trying to get some ideas or see how many people actually like the share plan..

I don't think anyone has complained about the plan being bad for any reason other than price. If you can switch and have your monthly costs be similar or less than what you have now, and you are ok with the data package, then it seems like something you should consider. Most if not all of the complaints you will hear on these forums is about people losing their unlimited data and costing them more per month.

tikibar1

Complaints aren't just about losing unlimited data. For a number of folks on tiered data, especially if they got in on the 'double your data' promotion, their cost would go up and the data allowance would go down under the Share Everything plan.

unknown

If you use the hotspot with your ipad just remember you still can't do a lot of video watching with 6-8 GB. 1 movie on Netflix can be 2 GB easy.

NuDroidUsrr

tikibar1 wrote:
Complaints aren't just about losing unlimited data. For a number of folks on tiered data, especially if they got in on the 'double your data' promotion, their cost would go up and the data allowance would go down under the Share Everything plan.

I haven't seen too many complaints about it, although it is valid. Most of the ones you see on these forums are in the unlimited group.

rcschnoor

Additionally, it's not those losing unlimited data which use a "lot" of data whose bill would go up. I can understand their bill going up if they switch to a pay as you go data system. I don't use a "lot" of data, though, usually less than 1GB/month. I have NEVER gone over 2GB in a single month. Yet with the share everything plan, my monthly charge would increase by over $20/month with the same data/minute usage that I am currently utilizing.

2 smartphones(with unlimited data, although total combined usage is less than 2GB/month), 2 basic phones, home phone connect, 1400 shared minutes, unlimited texting: current monthly bill = $220 including $31 in taxes or $189 before taxes.

Share Everything w/2 smartphones($80), 2 basic phones($60), home phone connect($20), 2GB shared data($60, $48 after employee discount): predicted monthly bill = $208 before taxes.

I have been thinking of porting my home phone connect to another service such as a 2nd line on Verizon Fios residential or Google Voice, in order to keep the monthly bill the same and still going on the share everything plan.

As a point of reference, losing unlimited data to receive a subsidized phone and going on a 2GB tiered plan would not bother me except that I will be losing my employee discount of $6.00/month on the data portion of my plan. I currently pay $23.99 for unlimited and would be switching to $30.00 for 2GB of data on a tiered plan with no discount since this plan does not reach the $50 threshold to be eligible for an employee discount on tiered data.

I was excited about shared data when it was first announced, as I was hoping to add 2 more smartphones to my plan for my daughters, but it doesn't look as if I will be doing this now.

tikibar1

Droid Usrr wrote:

I haven't seen too many complaints about it, although it is valid. Most of the ones you see on these forums are in the unlimited group.

While I agree that most of the complaints on the forum are related to the 'unlimited group', I think you've missed a lot of posts if you haven't seen too many complaints about the costs of the new plan from the 'non-unlimited group'.

Sorry, sarah_beavers ... we've basically hijacked your thread! I'd suggest what's been already mentioned ... run the numbers, see what's best for your situation, and go from there.

AZSALUKI

sarah_beavers wrote:
ok so im trying to figure out if i should go to a family share plan or not.we are grandfathered in right now so we have unlimited data package.. we have two iphones and a basic phone and our bill is about $215 a month.. we have WIFI at home so when we are home we all use WIFI ( which doesnt use verizon data).. i have looked at my last three bills and the most data we have used is 3.2 GB..i would really like to use the hotspot that the family share plan gives since i do have an ipad and we go camping alot.. so i was thinking maybe going to the 6GB or 8GB if we did switch to the share plan.. which would make our bill pretty much the same price as it is now.. im just trying to get some ideas or see how many people actually like the share plan..

i'm not sure how your bill breaks down now, but i suspect it would be more to switch. 2 smart phones ($80), one basic phone ($30), and 6 gigs ($80) is $190, before taxes and fees or any type of insurance. if you have any insurance or extended warranties ( not sure if you do), then add that, plus about $25 in taxes and fees. it would likely be close to what you pay now, but i'm guessing it would be $5-10 more (if you have no insurance or extended warranty then it will likely be nearly exactly the same as now). you mentioned you never went over 3 gigs. is that combined? if so, then 6 gigs should be plenty. even if you use the hotspot from time to time. as mentioned already, just watch out for streaming high quality movies. just my opinion, but if i were in your shoes, and had a tablet that i would use away from home, i probably would switch, just for the free hotspot. you're going to have to anyway (unless you drop to the 2 gig plan), the next time you want to upgrade.

thomasfrank

Looked hard at it, and decided heck no. We have 5 lines for parents and kids, 3 smart phones and 2 not so smart phones. With unlimited data on the 3 smart phones and a 2 GB hotspot on 1, and we provide 75 mb each for the 2 not so smart phones. Our bill, before taxes, is about $287. Actual usage all phones and hot spot combined is about 4 gigs. I was looking to add other hotspot connection to 1 of the phones, which costs an additional $20 for 2 GB. If I went with a family share plan, my pre tax bill would be $280 with 10 GB of data which can be shared among all phones. All the smartphones could have hot spots, they would not be constrained to 2 GB, and we could actually upgrade the two not so smart phones. We would have better services, more flexible allocation of data, and I would save $7 a month. (Or actually $27 if I add the second hot spot connection).Sounds like a no braine for the family share plan.

But after thinking about it, I decided this was the wrong path to go down and am going to fork out another $27 a month so we can keep our unlimited data plans. . Here is the problem: Six years ago, we were on satellite internet home service, and our entire monthly data allowance was 4 GIGs and most of the time the house used less than that. Today, that's just what our telephones use. Six years ago, we had one or two cell phones that had 1XRTT service that was little better than dialup. Now we have 3G on our phones. Six years ago, I had 3 or 4 computers running in the house. This year (with DSL finally here) I had to upgrade the router because it wasn't giving out enough IP addresses for all the computers, smartphones, netbooks, laptops, etc that connect. Six years ago I could not watch TV or movies on my phone - actually I could, anyone remember MobiTV? with the jerky picture flow and limited selection? Now I go away on business and I easily watch Netfflix. I can use Skype to make international calls, and video call my family right on the phone.

Lets not forget about all the surveillance data Verizon and Google are amassing on us. Our phones are doing things they did not used to, constantly reporting back to Big Sister at Google on our usage, our contacts, web sites we visit. and if you use Google maps or nav services, they are tracking where you are going and storing all the data for God knows what purpose. But privacy concerns aside, under the new plan, you are paying Verizon and Google to carry out real time surveillance on your phone usage because all the data that goes out to their systemis coming off your data plan. If you pay for 2 gigs, you have to anticipate that at least several hundred megs is going to be used just to keep tabs on you and your phone.(Times each phone). If you don't think this is so, take your phone over to the Bahamas, don't make a single call or look anything up on the internet, and look at the massive data charges roaming bill you will get just from the phone reporting on your movements and activity to God knows who and why.

Our next upgrade in a few months and we will be looking at 4G devices and probably adding a tablet or two.. So here is what I am looking at: Graph our data usage on phones six years ago to today and project it forward another 2-4 years. The increase in data to support "must have" services is going up exponentially. . I tell you, within 2 years, 10, 15, and maybe even 20 GIGs won't be enough. The smartphone makers and network developers are building us an 8 lane Autobahn straight into the brick wall the Verizon Bean Counters have erected.

I figure this is going to be so obvious in another year or two that some carriers will break the trend to limit data. So my plan is this. We are keeping our unlimited plan for as long as we can. When it comes time to upgrade to the latest slick 4G device, we won't be suckered into forking over $200 for a subsidized device and a 2 year contract with data caps, we will be shopping for our 4G devices on Amazon. Pay a little more and have no contract. Then as soon as one of the other carriers break, we are GONE.

AZSALUKI

other carriers already have unlimited (sprint, tmobile, virgin, cricket). and i wouldn't use the bahamas as an example. of course you'd get crushed for data roaming charges. your roaming over there. i also think 300mb's is way high to estimate the amount of "tracking" type of data you are talking about. maybe 100mb's, but i doubt it's even that much (of course, it depends on how many apps you download that access this info. i have 144 and there's no way 300mb's is transmitted just for that type of data). i do agree that buying a phone outright and keeping your unlimited data for as long as you can is a good idea. however, i don't expect verizon or many other to even allow this 2 years from now. eventually they will say no unlimited data at all, no matter what. i also suspect that they will be forcing you out of the unlimited option with just about ANY change to your plan (adding a line or a tablet, etc)

ayoungblood

We did not have unlimited data with verizon so, not sure it this will make a difference for you or not. We have two iPhones and went from shared 1400 minutes plus 5000 messages/2gb on one phone and 1000messages/2gb on another phone to the share everything with 4 gb data and saved $20 mo.

The unlimited minutes and text didn't mean anything to us because we never got close to our limits

If you consider we didn't have the hotspot before and now we do you could consider it $40/mo

Alan

Verizon_Support

I appreciate you wanting to make sure you have the best plan to meet your needs sarah_beavers! Our new Share Everything plans are designed to save money for families using multiple data devices like you. I have attached a helpful link below for your reference. The link includes an excellent tool for estimating your usage needs! bit.ly/L3WG2M

I trust this information was helpful.

Sincerely,

JonathanK_VZW

VZW Support

Follow Us on Twitter@VZWSupport

thomasfrank

HI ayoungblood, I agree with your calculatons and estimates, when we did the math, based on current usage patterns, the family share plan would appear to give us more services and save us a few dollars.

The flaw in the calculus though is basing a decision to go under a data cap based on current usage. Before you didn't have a hot spot, we only had one. After you go on the cap, you will be using that hotspot, as we will be too and a laptop uses alot more data that your phones. Not sure about your situation, but in 2013 we are up for upgrades, and what we are going to be getting? (3) new 4G phones that consume a whole lot more data faster. Our two not so smart phone kids will be older and will want full web capable phones, and they will be using theirs (at 4G speeds) to youtube the hours away Or using their hotspots so they can fire up their netbooks away from home. Then lets not forget that every year the internet itself is more feature and content richer. Go look at a few websites in webarchive from a few years ago and look at them today. All of todays sound, pictures, motion and eye candy takes bandwidth.

Right now if, I buy a 10 GIG cap and know we are only using 4 and I save a few dollars and gain some benefits, its sounds great. But next year I know in our case we will be checking the usage daily and will start to refrain from using our cool toys because we might exceed data caps. 2-4 years from now I feel confident in predicting we will be. And then I will be dropping lines and services. This is not the way to go.

Is there a solution? Sure, Verizon needs to build up there network capacity. Would you sign up for say TV service that rations your viewing to 1 or 2 hours a day? Whats the point of having the latest superfast mobile data device with a plan that discourages you from using it?

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