OH NO VERIZON! New shared plans announced

[dangue]

Any Smart phone added to the Share Everything Plan gets a share of the data, text, and voice minutes. That's the whole idea. Only a simple phone that does only voice ( do they exist anymore?)would be added and not get data because those are physically incapable of using it.

As I see it, there are cases where single device owners using low data rates will get hosed on this plan if they make those people pay the full price to buy a phone. But you always have the option of buying your phone from somewhere else. There are plenty of options.

Finally, if you don't approve you can always go to AT&T, Sprint, or many other smaller carriers.

Come on Don, it was clearly meant to be read as there not being any [additional] shared data. The reality is that this is not a significant price decrease in exchange for sacrificing unlimited data. This plan would be much more easy to stomach (and not seem like such a blatant future money grab) if the data prices were more reasonable. $50 for one gig is insane. Even $100 for 10 or $110 for 12 is nuts.

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[TheForce]

Come on Don, it was clearly meant to be read as there not being any [additional] shared data. The reality is that this is not a significant price decrease in exchange for sacrificing unlimited data. This plan would be much more easy to stomach (and not seem like such a blatant future money grab) if the data prices were more reasonable. $50 for one gig is insane. Even $100 for 10 or $110 for 12 is nuts.

Look, I don't know your usage habits but the way I look at this, there is a new option for some to have a new choice. An option that Verizon has studied and designed for accounts with multiple devices, each having individual data plans to be combined into one. When I look at my account as it typically is billed each month, I get about a $45 reduction with no change in usage habits. I don't consider that insignificant. Therefore their charges per Gig are completely unrelated and unfair to make any kind of comparison using those data charges as a basis.
What Verizon is doing in this new plan is designing a package per account so it is irrelevant what the cost per Gig is because I compare the total package cost for mobile communications for my family with this new plan to what I now pay. That difference of ~ $45 per month is quite nice. What I may pay 3-20 years from now is unimportant as even 2 years from now my needs and the price for those needs will be different requiring evaluation at that time.
And, how do you come off stating that "$50 for one gig is insane. Even $100 for 10 or $110 for 12 is nuts." ? What are you comparing it to? What is it that will satisfy you? You need to stop with the emotional knee jerk and just do the math. If it saves you money comparing to what you have now, take advantage of it. If it doesn't, don't. Compare the entire service cost, not one segment of it because you cant work with one segment. But just because you have "unlimited" doesn't mean anything if your average consumption is within the plan's scale. But then maybe you are one of the few that are considered "data hogs" Maybe you use 60-100 Gigs a month. I don't know. If that is the case, you should not throw a tantrum but just continue with what your present plan offers now. This plan doesn't pertain to you, No more than if they offered a discount to those with a Thunderbolt but keep iphone users the same, or me vice versa.

 

[meStevo]

Look, I don't know your usage habits but the way I look at this, there is a new option for some to have a new choice. An option that Verizon has studied and designed for accounts with multiple devices, each having individual data plans to be combined into one. When I look at my account as it typically is billed each month, I get about a $45 reduction with no change in usage habits. I don't consider that insignificant. Therefore their charges per Gig are completely unrelated and unfair to make any kind of comparison using those data charges as a basis.
What Verizon is doing in this new plan is designing a package per account so it is irrelevant what the cost per Gig is because I compare the total package cost for mobile communications for my family with this new plan to what I now pay. That difference of ~ $45 per month is quite nice. What I may pay 3-20 years from now is unimportant as even 2 years from now my needs and the price for those needs will be different requiring evaluation at that time.
And, how do you come off stating that "$50 for one gig is insane. Even $100 for 10 or $110 for 12 is nuts." ? What are you comparing it to? What is it that will satisfy you? You need to stop with the emotional knee jerk and just do the math. If it saves you money comparing to what you have now, take advantage of it. If it doesn't, don't. Compare the entire service cost, not one segment of it because you cant work with one segment. But just because you have "unlimited" doesn't mean anything if your average consumption is within the plan's scale. But then maybe you are one of the few that are considered "data hogs" Maybe you use 60-100 Gigs a month. I don't know. If that is the case, you should not throw a tantrum but just continue with what your present plan offers now. This plan doesn't pertain to you, No more than if they offered a discount to those with a Thunderbolt but keep iphone users the same, or me vice versa.

Nice post.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[dangue]

Look, I don't know your usage habits but the way I look at this, there is a new option for some to have a new choice. An option that Verizon has studied and designed for accounts with multiple devices, each having individual data plans to be combined into one. When I look at my account as it typically is billed each month, I get about a $45 reduction with no change in usage habits. I don't consider that insignificant. Therefore their charges per Gig are completely unrelated and unfair to make any kind of comparison using those data charges as a basis.
What Verizon is doing in this new plan is designing a package per account so it is irrelevant what the cost per Gig is because I compare the total package cost for mobile communications for my family with this new plan to what I now pay. That difference of ~ $45 per month is quite nice. What I may pay 3-20 years from now is unimportant as even 2 years from now my needs and the price for those needs will be different requiring evaluation at that time.
And, how do you come off stating that "$50 for one gig is insane. Even $100 for 10 or $110 for 12 is nuts." ? What are you comparing it to? What is it that will satisfy you? You need to stop with the emotional knee jerk and just do the math. If it saves you money comparing to what you have now, take advantage of it. If it doesn't, don't. Compare the entire service cost, not one segment of it because you cant work with one segment. But just because you have "unlimited" doesn't mean anything if your average consumption is within the plan's scale. But then maybe you are one of the few that are considered "data hogs" Maybe you use 60-100 Gigs a month. I don't know. If that is the case, you should not throw a tantrum but just continue with what your present plan offers now. This plan doesn't pertain to you, No more than if they offered a discount to those with a Thunderbolt but keep iphone users the same, or me vice versa.

Calling it a choice or an option implies that they are leaving the old plans intact for others to choose from. They are not, new customers (with some small exception that hasn't been explained for those who get dumb phones) will have to take this new plan. This is regardless of the number of devices they have. As far as existing unlimited customers, being treated as second class citizens because Verizon decides its old plans were a mistake and wants to discourage people from staying in them, great show of respect to typically long term customers Verizon.

I would not call your projected monthly savings insignificant. Clearly the new plans will currently work in your favor. But, do you think you are the typical usage case? I imagine you have multiple connected devices and use very little data across all of them in a given month. Given data usage trends (which I'm sure Verizon has reviewed to no end in crafting these new plans), not thinking about your potential future usage needs strikes me as short sighted. I'm sure you're not going to argue that Verizon is offering these plans out of the goodness of their hearts to reduce everyone's costs and not increase their future revenue. Data is where the money will be going forward, tiering everyone is the long term goal and as such, the price of each data tier should be relevant to any discussion. Verizon is counting on the data consumption trend to continue its pattern of increase and using that to force people into costlier higher tiers and eventually steep overage charges. This is good for the company, but not good for the average consumer. So again I would caution those who think this plan is a great development because it will save them $10 or even $20 a month at this time.

And, how do you come off stating that "$50 for one gig is insane. Even $100 for 10 or $110 for 12 is nuts." ? What are you comparing it to? What is it that will satisfy you? You need to stop with the emotional knee jerk and just do the math.

Considering that I currently pay Verizon $50 for 5 gigs of LTE on my mifi device (which can be used to provide data to all my other devices if I so chose to go that route), I'd say $50 for one gig of data (on top of the mifi device charge of $20) is very much insane. You can disagree, but based on my math, this is a massive per gig increase in price. They're trying to mask this by emphasizing that now you can save by sharing data across all your devices, but make no mistake, it's to Verizon's advantage to push everyone to these plans. I'm the farthest thing from a data hog. I spend most of my time on Wifi, but it's good to have options when I'm out and about. It's even better not to worry if using some Netflix or Slingbox streaming will bump me over my monthly data limit. (Not so much an issue anymore, since I'm no longer traveling for a week at a time for work.) as far as throwing a tantrum, you're joking right? Last time I checked, a reasoned opinion that happens to disagree with yours does not meet the definition of tantrum. One thing you are correct about, this plan doesn't really pertain to me. My only Verizon device is the above mentioned mifi, everything else I have is AT&T. However, I am interested in this discussion because AT&T is likely to mirror what Verizon has chosen to do with this plan.

 

[Hall]

Calling it a choice or an option implies that they are leaving the old plans intact for others to choose from. They are not, new customers (with some small exception that hasn't been explained for those who get dumb phones) will have to take this new plan.

I guess one way to look at this is, only current/existing customers know any better. Someone who isn't a VZW customer currently will be oblivious to how things used to be and how they've changed. Not saying that's a good thing for consumers, mind you, but it is for VZW. I've repeated it already but it won't hurt to do so again: VZW isn't going to make changes that save customers money, only changes that increase their revenue. Will there be cases where the consumer saves ? Sure...

As for "a choice or an option", you are correct. New customers can only take the current "plan". I guess that's one thing you can give VZW credit for is allowing people to keep their old plans. They will try and get you to "upgrade from your obsolete plan" (<<< their words, not mine) every opportunity they get though.

As far as existing unlimited customers, being treated as second class citizens because Verizon decides its old plans were a mistake and wants to discourage people from staying in them, great show of respect to typically long term customers Verizon.

With this, VZW continues to claim that only a tiny percentage of users go over 3gb/month and if that's the case, what's the harm in keeping the unlimited/$30 plan ? Do they lose money with the $30 unlimited plan ? Doubtful... They sure don't like it though ! First, it was tiered data plans set at illogical rates (to the consumer), then it was "we're getting rid of unlimited" (from which they back-pedaled), then it was keep unlimited but you'll pay full retail for phones from now on if you keep it, to finally the just announced plans.

 

[mike123abc]

You notice VZ (and I am sure AT&T will do it too) are getting this in before the next iPhone release. If you want a shiny new iPhone and do not want to pay a fortune you will have to cough up your unlimited data plan for payment. I just hope AT&T does not come out with a worse plan.

 

[TheForce]

I would guess my usage for 4 devices is about average but what do I know about averages? All I know is my usage on two devices will be increasing. The third and fourth will remain about the same. I do plan to increase my usage on the iPAD and the mify. Currently I hit a limit before overage at about 3 weeks. (2Gb) Future use will be more on the T-bolt as I move off satellite radio and onto internet radio while driving in my van. So I estimate my average monthly needs will jump from 3Gb to 7Gb by end of summer. This plan certainly aids in my transition plans and hits at about the right time.

As far as Verizon's goal is, I doubt it they are that stupid to come up with something to just gouge the existing customers. Rather I understand that many have requested inclusion of data in the Family plans for quite some time. I know I suggested it formally a year ago. This is their answer to these requests. It will probably be a zero sum gain initially but just simplify the management of various devices in the family. Our mobile society is constantly changing and more and more families are using more mobile data with ipads and smart phones and laptops. This simplifies the management of it and, yes, makes it less painful for families to use more data which will indeed increase revenues per account. Again the idea is to make the management of devices easier. The choice to use more data is mine, not Verizon's. But its nice to see that Verizon is making using more data that I voluntarily pay for, easier. For those that hoped to get more for no extra cost all the time, well... what did I do with that violin? insa

 

[Neutron]

Anyone here with Verizon switching to this plan?

Any word on if existing employee discounts will still be applied?

 

[Ronnie-]

Anyone here with Verizon switching to this plan?

Unless there are some last minute changes announced, I will be swapping mine over.

 

[JamesJ]

HECK NO... not at all....at least not this year...and yes neutron Employee discounts still apply....one thing to think about with these plans is this...once they get you off unlimited data they can do whatever they want to toy with numbers and work it in their favor...I dont think this is the end game for these plans and in a year or two the price increase will start on not only the data side but also the plan side as well

 

[Neutron]

Fortunately (or unfortunately if you look at it that way) Our current plans are limited data. We swapped to Verizon in October and didn't have the option for unlimited data.

 

[JamesJ]

Fortunately (or unfortunately if you look at it that way) Our current plans are limited data. We swapped to Verizon in October and didn't have the option for unlimited data.

gotcha...for me I dont like being told what to do, or feeling like I dont have a choice, which is happening more and more these days!

 

[Ronnie-]

Yeah, like Neutron, my current plan is not unlimited, so I have nothing to lose by swapping, and some to gain. For me, for now, it is a no brainer.

 

[HIFI]

I'm still on an old alltel unlimited plan and confirmed yesterday that changing plans would increase monthly by $32. No thank you..

 

[meStevo]

HECK NO... not at all....at least not this year...and yes neutron Employee discounts still apply....one thing to think about with these plans is this...once they get you off unlimited data they can do whatever they want to toy with numbers and work it in their favor...I dont think this is the end game for these plans and in a year or two the price increase will start on not only the data side but also the plan side as well

How many times have carriers raised rates on you? Pretty sure that's never happened to me.

Probably won't pro actively switch, but as it makes sense or when we upgrade it certainly looks like a net positive thing.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[Hall]

I'm still on an old alltel unlimited plan and confirmed yesterday that changing plans would increase monthly by $32. No thank you..

It's amazing that that the carriers maintain these old plans, especially ones they inherit from other companies in buyouts. I know they do too. I had a neighbor who paid a reasonably low amount per month but had a phone everyone would laugh at, had no long-distance service, etc, etc.

 

[mike123abc]

It really just comes down to that data usage costs less than talking/text if you use VOIP and some other messaging service, you would be on the phone a lot to use 1GB of data. Even charging $10/GB does not make up for the lost talk/text revenue that the carriers are losing.

 

[JamesJ]

How many times have carriers raised rates on you? Pretty sure that's never happened to me.

Probably won't pro actively switch, but as it makes sense or when we upgrade it certainly looks like a net positive thing.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

We have been with Verizon now for 10 years...I dont know the exact number but rates have gone up, first it was minutes then text, now data...but they always group something else with it to make it seem like you are getting a deal when in turn your not.

 

[Ronnie-]

but they always group something else with it to make it seem like you are getting a deal when in turn your not.

Except in this case, some of us actually are. I will end up with more data across my three lines, more (unlimited) minutes of talk time, and the same on texts(unlimited), for less money. If you have a very recent plan, depending on how many phones you have, the type, and your usage, this can very well save you money.

 

[Hall]

...I dont know the exact number but rates have gone up

Depends how you look at. The rates, as best as I can remember, will not change for the plan you're on. What they do is create new plans (at higher rates). We've stuck with our plan for many years and it hasn't changed. We've added data plans, increased text plans, added phones, etc, etc, but our base rate is still the same.