Permanent end to Unlimited data.

[EmagehtmaI]

I've finally figured out how Verizon is going to end unlimited data. Forever.

(I had this epiphany when posting this as a reply to a post on VW's timeline. So if you see it there and here, you're not going crazy.)

Okay, about 15 months ago, Verizon announcing they were ending unlimited data plans for new customers. But not to worry, all current customers with unlimited data would be able to keep it as they would be "grandfathered" in. The reality is Verizon could not just up and take away their Unlimited data without voiding their contract and allowing the customers to walk away without having to pay expensive early termination fees. So under the false premise of graciously letting them keep their plans, it continued for a year, with everything going smoothly.

Then VW announced the end of Unlimited data plans. Again. How so? All users who were on unlimited plans would not be allowed to upgrade (IE sign a new 2 year agreement with VW) and get a discounted price on a new phone and keep their unlimited data. BUT, they say, you can keep your unlimited data as long as you want (*wink wink*) if you just pay full price for a new phone. You just can't "upgrade" and get a discount.

What they don't tell you is it's not about the phone's discount. It's about the contract. They don't want you locking in 2 more years of unlimited data. SO the cutoff this year to upgrade and keep unlimited data was June (or was it July?) 28th. If you upgraded after that, you HAD to move to a tiered plan or the new Share Everything plan.

And that leaves us where we are today. Many people with unlimited plans will look at their usage and say "Eh, I only use a gig or so a month anyway, might as well go to the tiered plan and get a new phone". That leaves everyone else. Everyone who wants to keep unlimited are now, slowly but surely, going to be edging toward the end of their contract date. After that, they can keep unlimited, BUT they'll be paying month-to-month, with no contract. (Do you see where I'm going with this?)

What do you think will happen next? I can guarantee that within the next year, VW is going to announce the end of unlimited data for everyone. Period. They'll give a date, and all people paying month-to-month will either have to switch to a tiered plan, or find service elsewhere. Everyone who upgraded this summer before the cutoff on June (July?) 28th will finish out the duration of their contract, and then have to move to a tiered plan, or their service will be terminated. It makes sense. With all the old unlimited users out of contract, VW will be free to change the terms of service at any time. You either agree to it, or go elsewhere, and there's nothing you can do.

Opinions?

[rcschnoor]

This is quite possibly true, and will bring about a pay as you go data system which will more accurately represent your cost with respect to how much data you use. As it should be.

[Jakeman1]

I think one of the issues they are going to see (and we are already seeing some of it on these forums) is how Verizon calculated data.  There are many posts in these forums about Verizon mimsrepresenting the data usage. My phone for example I have 2 different monitors on my phone plus the My Verizon Wireless app that monitors Data Usage. These 3 monitors will be within 100kb of usage at any given time of th emonth, yet the Verizon website shows almost 4 times the usage that these 3 monitors show, and the number posted in their website is what they use to calculate your usage and then the Overcharges.

Every month for the last 4 months I have called them about this and get 2 responses. the first is puzzling and is why does it matter, you have unlimited Data so it shouldn't matter what we reflect your usage as. and the other is, you are absolutely correct, there is a glitch in our measuring tool and it is not 100% accurate yet.

So for me, until I see that they are accurately reflecting the usage on their site etc... I will be sticking with my Unlimited plan as I do NOT plan on upgrading my phone anytime soon.

Now if they completely just say, Unlimited data is gone, then I will be forced to look at the Tiered plan, and keep accurate track of my usage with these monitors and escalate any differences to the correct people wither within Verizon or the PUC and or FTC.

[B33]

Some good points are being made here.!  And i have noticed a change in how much Data i use or what Verizon is Reporting i have used since they flipped the 4G like on my one Maxx the one with I.C.S it shows that i'v used 2.706GB witch isn't a real bunch but it's still Quite a bit more than when i was using the 3G.. Hay Jake could you share the Data apps you tried..b33

[Jakeman1]

Hey. I am using Onavo Count which seems to be the most accurate. One of the things I like about this app is it allows you to change the behavior of apps so that each individual app has a setting as to when or how it can use Data. Example. VZ Navigator (which I do NOT use) was using roughly 200 MB per month for whatever reason. Since I do not use it I changed the behavior to only allow VZ Navigator to use data when Wi -Fi is present. Now it uses ZERO data.  The other App I used just for a base line and to see if the Onavo and My Verizon Data were accurate is called My Data and all it does is count data usage.

One funny thing I am noticing on the Maxx is that about 10% of the Data usage is on Apps that have been removed or disabled on the phone so I am real curious about how that happens. First thought is it used the data before being removed, but on the Bionic, I have Not removed any apps in 3 months and I am still getting this.  When I questioned Onavo on it they knew right away I was on Verizon, and advised that some of the apps which Verizon lets you remove or disable, still have entries in the table to go search for updates so some of them can in fact use data.

[B33]

Hey Jake thanks for the Info b33

[Wildman]

Jakeman1 wrote:

Hey. I am using Onavo Count which seems to be the most accurate.

This is the only data management app I trust, it is almost on the money with My Verizon app and I love I can block high data use apps to only work with wifi...  I have switched to the tiered 6gig plan from the unlimited and so far I have been able to keep the use under control.

I also like that it automatically resets its data history at the start of a new billing cycle.

[scott21]

Why would you do that ? your only paying 29.99 lol? idol i swear some people.

[scott21]

P.S. there not gonna end unlimited stop these dumb post.

[budone]

scott21 wrote:

P.S. there not gonna end unlimited stop these dumb post.

I all but guarantee, the scenario above will occur. Although not too soon. Most will not pony up for a full priced phone.

[Wildman]

My TB stopped functioning and I use my device for business use and I found a number of the features on the S3 useful for my job so I decided to upgrade to get the device because I refuse to pay full price and this came with the new Family Share Plan.

Besides I have seen users dancing around the unlimited plan and run into all kind of issues attempting to keep the feature, I prefer to have a device that function.  If you change any features on your account you will loose unlimited data and also if users didn't turn into data hogs the 4G experience would be worth the headache, since I went to the tier plan I havent seen the data connection issues that unlimited users are experiencing

I thought out my decision and I am fine with my decision, what works for some isn't for everyone....  BESIDES I AM PAYING THE 20.00 LESS WITH THE FAMILY PLAN.

[B33]

I think i'll give that app a try Wildman  See how it Does..

[Wildman]

I think its worth a look..

[Jakeman1]

Of the apps I have tried and used, I think the Onavo Count app is by far the best and most useful. I put this on all of my phones now.

[commonsense101]

entirely too much thought and effort OP.. its a cell phone

i mean look at who still offers "unlimited", sprint... good luck getting any kind of speed..

tmobile, limited to dial up after 2 gigs

ghetto carriers that dont own any infrastructure offer unlimited too, but dont try to use your phone during peak times, cuz you're at the bottom of the priority list

Lets say you are right OP, now what? What can we do with this information..

[#16]

Took you this long to figure this out? It's obvious the last date a person with unlimited data and have a contract is June 27th 2014. After that there will be not be any unlimited customers under contract. So then Verizon can end unlimited totally. I'm sure someone will chime in and say they can do that now. I say they'd have a harder time doing that with people under contract no matter what. There be more backlash even if Verizon could legally do it. Much simpler just to wait until June 28th 2014 then cut it off. Maybe once all these people get off unlimited Verizon will increase caps since they don't have to worry about millions of people potentially sucking down hundreds of GB a month.

[jchad]

Certainly Brian, you don't believe that the company will be generous and just lift your caps to please.

[#18]

jchad wrote:

Certainly Brian, you don't believe that the company will be generous and just lift your caps to please.

Certainly you don't believe the caps will still be what they are 20 years for now either? You see things change.

Cost per GB

2012  $5 per GB( after 2 GB )

2010 $10 per GB

2008 $51.20 per GB

2006 $512 per GB

You seeing a trend? I am.

[smaruska]

2012-on - $30 for 2GB and the inability to make use of a network that allows you do download a 4 gig file over the air

2010-2012 - $29.99 - No data cap and speeds that allow you to download a 4 gig file in an hour over the air

I see a trend too and I also wonder, if VZW is really the "best" network, then why can't they offer unlimited EVERYTHING like T-Mobile does?  Or at least unlimited data and unlimited mobile minutes/texts like Sprint does?  And before you start screaming "DATA HOG!", I've had the pleasure to test drive friend's phones over HSPA+ T-Mobile and it pulls very fast speeds both down and up that are only going to get better.  Sprint's 3G is about on par with Verizon 3G even with all those "data hogs" and that isn't exactly saying much as CDMA 3G is not very great but their LTE is coming along already with a full rollout by the end of next year. 

[smaruska]

First off I know there were data hogs using 100gb a month or some crazy number.  You ONLY get to that number by torrenting/tethering and using the phone as your dedicated modem.  And no VZW can't block tethering as much as they'd try.  If they catch you they can terminate your contract but for someone who knows what they are doing they won't get caught.  IMO, these data hogs are the reason unlimted went bye bye as a few bad apples always ruin the bunch.  I've talked to reps and other "power users" who don't torrent online with their phones and the most I've seen from someone who doesn't use the phone for torrents or a dedicated connection is about 12-15GB per month.  That is not hogging data, that is using LTE to its potential.  Giving us LTE and then making us cap out at 2GB without paying a ridiculous bill is stupid, why even have it.  That's like giving you a Ferrari and a gallon of gas to operate it with.  Like I said in another post on here, I will NOT upgrade to a subsidized phone on VZW again and I'm jumping to Sprint in 2014.  If Sprint drops unlimited too I'll either stay with VZW unsubsidized or I'll go prepaid.  By this time next year boost/virgin will either have the iphone 5 or the S3 (you can flash a S3 to boost right now yourself if you know what you are doing but no LTE on boost and no wimax on the S3 so no 4G at all).  As it is you can get a S2 for $350 straight up on boost with unlimited EVERYTHING and wimax access which is, again, pretty fast if you live in a big city that has it. 

Really if you look at VZW/ATT and then T-MO/Sprint... it is a pretty big disparity in price and business practices.  T-Mobile is doing great things with their prepaid and they've had fast as all heck HSPA+ over their ENTIRE footprint and they give you 5GB right off the bat and then unlimited throttled data after that which is not bad.  Sprint does unlimited no throttling but their 3G is slow and their LTE is a good 14-18 months from being built out if they stay on schedule.  ATT/VZW both have terrible plans, terrible customer service and their advantage of having the best phones is gone.  The only thing you really get right now is the voice coverage over almost all of the country and if you are fortunate enough to still be on unlimited VZW LTE you get that but for how long who knows.

I really do have no clue why anyone would renew with VZW, I really don't.  I understand staying on and paying out of pocket to keep the unlimited becasue they do currently have the best network but not renewing... in almost every situation it costs more although I do know some ppl save money, generally ppl on 2 phone plans who don't use much data.  I've even encountered resistance among family/friends when I say "just switch to Sprint or Tmobile" when they are shopping for a new phone, like incredulous looks like I suggested they kill a relative or something...   I dunno, whatever, not my money.  You switch and you keep your number, you get a better plan in minutes/texts as well as unlimited data, its cheaper, they have all the same phones, (IMO, Sprint has always had the best phones minus the iphone which was ATT only forever anyway).  Sorry this turned into a Sprint fanboyish post and a VZW rant but I'm really fed up right now with VZW.  I still do have the option to jump ship to Sprint myself and make my wife's line the primary but that would pretty much negate the cost and if I can get a new Stratosphere from ebay for under $200 I'll be content for now I guess...

[#21]

smaruska wrote:

First off I know there were data hogs using 100gb a month or some crazy number.  You ONLY get to that number by torrenting/tethering and using the phone as your dedicated modem.  And no VZW can't block tethering as much as they'd try.  If they catch you they can terminate your contract but for someone who knows what they are doing they won't get caught.  IMO, these data hogs are the reason unlimted went bye bye as a few bad apples always ruin the bunch.  I've talked to reps and other "power users" who don't torrent online with their phones and the most I've seen from someone who doesn't use the phone for torrents or a dedicated connection is about 12-15GB per month.  That is not hogging data, that is using LTE to its potential.  Giving us LTE and then making us cap out at 2GB without paying a ridiculous bill is stupid, why even have it. 

Well until Verizon gets all these hogs off their network they are not going to raise the caps. They cant do that until they end unlimited data for everyone. I'm sure they are going to wait util everyone that has unlimited is out of contract which means June 29th 2014 at the earliest. Also once they start using that spectrum they bought from the cable companies and they have enough devices on their network that can use that spectrum I think they'll offer higher caps. Further down the road when they refarm 1X and 3G spectrum for 4G they can up the caps even more.