Family Share Data Plan 2012

[jco23]

Just curious to see if there has been any development on VZW offering a Family Share Data Plan for this year?  I read that they were likely to offer it this year, but nothing since.

thanks!

[SuzyQ]

Haven't heard anything either.  Heard on the news tonight that AT&T did some data plan price increases . . . for new customers only, current plans are not affected.  Maybe changes are in the works for Verizon too, but I have no solid facts.

Follow the tech blogs; they usually get the leaks and seem to be pretty accurate with what's coming down the pipeline.

[redillon68]

I did hear that T-Mobile and Wal-Mart have a Family Share plan with the first line for $45, each additional line for $35 (total for a family of 5 is $185, this level of service on VZW could run over $700/month).  There are some onerous throttling controls though.  If you sign up for the plan before mid March (I don't remember the date) you can get 5GB of the unlimited data at 3G speeds then you get throttled; if you sign up after the cutoff date then the limiter kicks in at 250MB of SHARED data.  This is also a no-contract plan which means you pay full price (or Craigslist) for the phones and any AT&T or T-Mobile unlocked phone can be activated on the plan.  Also included are free usage controls ($5/month/line on VZW)

There are also come convoluted things with "datapacks" that I'm not sure about and I know from having had T-Mobile that I don't like their service area but this is a warning shot across the bow for the other three carriers.

Verizon, it's time to step up to the plate.  Failure to deliver some sort of Family Data Share in 2012 would be met with likely severe backlash, especially as plans like this one pop up.

[Ann154]

Here is the latest rumor or a shared data option.

http://m.engadget.com/default/article.do?artUrl=http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/30/verizon-shared-data-plans-show-up-in-employee-training-materials/&category=classic&icid=eng_latest_art