Verizon, Want to not loose additional lines?

I have 4 lines on my plan. My personal line is a smartphone with unlimited data. My daughter has a basic phone. She also had an older ipod touch. She would like to get an iphone 4S or iphone5 and use it to do what she does today with the basic phone and ipod in one device. I do not want to add a data plan and risk loosing my unlimited data. New data plans for her start at $60. Why can't I activate an iphone on a basic plan and use the wifi for data. The phone was designed to do that. I do that exact thing when I travel out of the country by turning "cellular data" to "off". This prevents the expensive cell data charges in other countries. One option is to buy an unlocked iphone and use a pay as you go SIM from another company. Verizon should not want this to happen. It is an all or nothing mentality. Risk loosing a complete line of service to competition instead of just being happy to provide some things like voice and text.Once one line goes over, the chances of loosing the other lines becomes that much easier.

Does the customer's opinion matter? It must not. There is no email for support. Chat is never available when I am home. The website is difficult to navigate and you can spend hours linking yourself in loops. If you want to learn how to improve, there is plenty of feedback in this discussion.

Accepted answers

unknown

There is no basic plan. The plan is the plan. You can put a basic phone on a line of service or you can put a smartphone on a line of service. The cost is the same except a smartphone requires a data plan. This is how Verizon chooses to run their company. It's their decision to make. They are not a phone company, they are a network company. They make little or no money selling phones. They make their money selling their network capacity. If they allowed smartphones on their network without data plans, how many of their current 98,000,000 customers do you think you immediately drop their data plan? I have no idea, but I can guarantee Verizon has a good estimate. There is just no reason Verizon would allow that. It is not in their best interest. And, after all, they are a for-profit corporation whose only reason to exist is to maximize long term profits. Regarding basic phones...I wouldn't be surprised if Verizon just as soon all basic phone customers go elsewhere. They make their money selling data.

All comments

unknown

This question has been asked and answered 1000 times on this customer forum. A smartphone REQUIRES a data plan on the Verizon network. You CANNOT put a smartphone on the Verizon network without a data plan. Your daughter can switch from a basic phone to a smartphone and add a 2GB data plan for $30 per month and not have any affect on your unlimited data or the rest of your plan.

spitxfire

Exactly what Horses 547 said, why would they offer just to use Wi-Fi, Verizon would lose out on billions of dollars if they did that. Plus I'm sure people would just complain the times Wi-Fi isn't around and they have no way to access their apps and whatever junk.

chpke

Thanks, but you state you CANNOT. Why? Who made this rule? Should it be the rule? Thanks for the details about the plan not changing mine. Too bad the website is down that would let me she how it affects my plan. My other complaint is if they continue to have basic plans like they should, why wouldn't they have a better selection of basic phones? Some company is going to capitalize on this some day. There is money to be taken to make people happy. There will always be people that want constant connections to their apps regardless of wifi availablity. These people will be happy with Verizon's offerings. Not all will though.

unknown

By the way, when you try to add a data plan for your daughter, you may have to call *611 if the website does not give you the 2GB for $30 option. They may try to convince you to switch everything to the Share Everything plan which you DO NOT have to do.

rcschnoor

chpke wrote:
Thanks, but you state you CANNOT. Why? Because that is what Verizon has determined for their network.
Who made this rule? Verizon.
Should it be the rule? Verizon thinks so.
Thanks for the details about the plan not changing mine. Too bad the website is down that would let me she how it affects my plan. My other complaint is if they continue to have basic plans like they should, why wouldn't they have a better selection of basic phones? Some company is going to capitalize on this some day. There is money to be taken to make people happy. There will always be people that want constant connections to their apps regardless of wifi availablity. These people will be happy with Verizon's offerings. Not all will though.

rcschnoor

spitxfire wrote:
Exactly what Horses 547 said, why would they offer just to use Wi-Fi, Verizon would lose out on billions of dollars if they did that. Plus I'm sure people would just complain the times Wi-Fi isn't around and they have no way to access their apps and whatever junk.

It's not that Verizon would lose out on "billions of dollars", they would most likely be able to bill for MORE money as a good portion of the people dropping their data plans would then no doubt rack up thousands of dollars in data charges at the "pay as you go" rate of $1.99/MB. So instead of being billed $30 for 2 GB of data, they could actually be charged $4000 for 2 GB(2000 MB at $2/MB) of data. Just by inadvertanly using 20 MB/month on this plan, Verizon would make MORE money if they didn't require data plans, but it would look MUCH worse as a MONEY HUNGRY COMPANY if they did so. It is more an attempt to sidestep a public relations nightmare than losing out on the extra revenue. They most likely make LESS money by requiring data plans than if they didn't require them.

EpJayhawks12

Soo... Verizon discounts a phone from 650 to 230 and you want them to charge 10 a month??

unknown

I never cease to be amazed by some people.