Data plans in the new wireless world

[jj123]

I see an impending collapse of many peoples internet service approaching soon and very little discussion on the topic, so I decided to write this to help inform Verizon of some of its customers needs.

       What originally attracted me to Verizon was its effort to push beyond the big markets and reach all of America. Create a country where everyone is "connected". Join Verizon and we will take care of you no matter where you live. These are the ideas Verizon has pushed onto people over the years and I commend them on doing a very good job at reaching these goals. The issue is, they have acquired such a large customer base it is now creating problems. An excellent marketing tactic of wireless service providers was always to offer up unlimited data plans to attract people to their service and this used to create very little risk for the service provider because wireless data was slower the telegraph!! Cellular providers used to sell phones, now they sell computers. Have they adjusted to this new market accordingly?

       When you had a 3G phone or even back when it was 2G or 1XX paying extra for unlimited data was pointless. As Verizon's CFO recently pointed out "Unlimited is just a word" "people don't use near the data they think they do" this is exactly why they could profit from unlimited data in the past, because this was true. Have you ever tried to stream a hi-def movie on 3G service? you were lucky if it wasn't pausing to buffer every 10 secs, what did you do every time this happened, you stopped trying to watch it!! Therefore you didn't use the data required to stream that content. Now just when wireless technology is finally becoming fast enough to be useful or enjoyable, it is being shut down.

       The new 4G LTE services have finally made it possible to reach 8-10 MB download speeds on regular basis. You can stream a full 1080 hi-def Blu-ray quality movie with 7.1 surround sound if your internet connection speed is over 5 MB. This sounds great doesn't it, finally I can watch SyFy, Hulu or Vudu with my aircard. This is the problem Verizon is facing, because that one 90 minute movie from Vudu at 1080 hi-def just sucked up 5 GB!!  No that was not a typo, full hi-def streaming video will push 4-5 GB in a couple hours. Verizon had to curtail this "excessive" data usage by reverting to tiered plans or "shared data"  so with the new data plans that was a $50 movie, at that price you would once again stop watching it and not use the data required to stream that content.

       Verizon broadband could not handle this volume of data being used when people started getting 4G internet service, so they had no choice but to end unlimited plans or be faced with the reality that they could not support there millions of customers data usage. For most people this will not create a big issue because they probably still live somewhere that they have access to other internet services such as DSL, Cable, or the best at Fiber Optic. DSL and cable will usually have a plan that creates fast enough internet speeds for streaming video but you will have to pay for a premium service.

       This however does create a step backwards, in what seemed like a step forward for the rural community. 3G unlimited aircard was a great option for rural community's, finally offering them an affordable internet service that often could still play Netflix, as well as all the normal uses such as e-mail and browsing, although it would not stream a 1080 hi-def movie it could at times stream a standard-def movie. Now with unlimited going out the window all those people that thought it was going to be so great to upgrade to a 4G aircard and finally watch movies, quickly realized that wasn't going to happen and worse Verizon is showing signs of completely eliminating all unlimited data as they course through their contracts looking for legal ways to stop honoring them, and for those that they can not stop honoring they have started to "throttle" usage when it exceeds a certain amount usually around 2 GB a month. This is perfectly legal to do, almost all ISP's will do this this when you exceed a certain amount of data, the difference is when your ISP offers 8 MB connection speeds and throttles you down to 5 MB speeds because you use a lot of data, you never really notice it unless you download media instead of streaming it and your downloads seem to take longer then normal but it doesn't effect you enough to complain. When your internet speeds are 1-2 MB as they are with 3G service, throttling brings you down to 300-600 KBPS!! They will throttle your speed down so much that you can't do much of anything except e-mail and browsing, Netflix will not work anymore, so thinking you can stay with a 3G device and just keep what you have isn't an option. They are forcing everyone into new plans. 

       In the past it was very hard to use 10 GB of data on a wireless carriers broadband because speeds were to slow to allow use of all the online media. Now it is very easy to use 60 GB a month if you like movies and online TV. (That is 60 GB without downloading any media just streaming it) Perhaps if we are lucky Verizon will once again return to the table and look for ways to help their rural customers without taking are internet away from us. If I could pay for DSL from my local phone company I would, but I do not even have a phone line tied to my house, and if I decided to get one it still would not have internet access. But due to Verizon's efforts in expanding there 4G service across the country as quickly as possible I do have excellent 4G wireless service available in my home. Just as I thought it was time to get a Verizon aircard and start watching movies again, they told me you will never be able to afford it. 

      If Verizon can create a rural community data plan for users that have no other means to access the internet and and it doesn't cost $600 a month then I will happily buy it, and also understand that it cannot cost $30 a month either, but if people could get, Phone, Internet (with say 50 GB limit), TV (by tv I don't mean Verizon TV that I agree should be an addition to the bill, i mean the free hulu, syfy and payed netflix accounts that are accessible with any internet connection fast enough to stream), Movie Store in their living room (Vudu) all in one package I think that $200 a month is a reasonable price.

     Now all I can do is wait and see who calls first. If Verizon creates a new data plan that allows media streaming at a reasonable price ill buy it. If my Local phone company offers me high speed internet and phone first, ill buy that instead and throw my current $140 month Verizon bill in the trash when I end the contract. I will not have 2 phones, I only have a Verizon phone because I have no Land line in my home. So I guess the race is on to see who can maintain the rural community's business.

[Weth]

What about Via Sat Exede satellite? 12 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up

25GB $130

Free data midnight to 5 am

Hook up VoIP phone and you got close to what you are asking, depending if you are a night owl or not.