I would say... do you believe them? I have statistics on how VZW breaks down on my phone somewhere.
The next thing to consider is just how long will Max Data hold out? Smartphone vendors and carriers have been moving us to dependence on these devices in small increments.
The best analogy I can think of is a drug dealer and a junkie. They got us hooked on data usage, but now they say there's a price if we want more. That price is tiered usage and per gigabyte charges when you go over.
Those that can't afford to pay full price for a phone or can't afford to raise the cost for their bill (by doing DPP) have to raise the white flag and surrender to whatever Verizon's terms are.
I agree. I was offered this plan too while I was browsing some of the newer phones - I've a Samsung Galaxy Nexus - and at first it seemed like a deal because I mostly don't exceed the 6GB limit.
However, I scoured the forums here and on various other mobile sites, seems there are many users who do like to watch a few movies online, and end up using upwards of 20-30GB on their grandfathered unlimited data plans.
It would be unfair and most likely a breach of contract for a hungry shyster law firm to pursue as a class action to rip the unlimited clause out of the hands of this user class.
What might lure unlimited users is offering them unlimited access after 8pm and the Verizon Max plan in prime time hours... or a very generous allocation of bandwidth, for instance the average bandwidth used of the top 1% of unlimited users rather than including the ones who barely use it. Those who have better things to do - i.e. full time jobs + families to take care of, plus those who pay the phone bills - are certainly not going to exceed their current usage anyway.
If they are relying on users' behavior, then the opposite holds true - that even if we're all given huge caps (20-40GB/month for instance) for a nominal fee, we're still not going to change our habits just because the extra bandwidth is available.
Why Verizon doesn't want to play it this way, is beyond me.
The unlimited data plan is not a part of the contract. It is a add-on feature.
I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.
Unlimited as add on? I thought it was not offered anymore - or is there an exception for users who are already on unlimited plans? Meaning, can I upgrade + get the subsidy and keep my unlimited plan still?
It is an add-on. One that is not offered anymore. Existing customers who still have it, can change it to a different tiered data plan without affecting their base plan or their contract.
I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.
Has anyone noticed that their online calculations as to which new plan is optimal is somewhat skewed? I checked my data usage for the last three months (all you can see online) and with my family 5 phone plan we averaged 435MB and maxed at 557MB (I know, most of you use a *lot* more). When I look at new plans (we all have 2+ year old Bionics and really, really need upgrades) they state this for my historical usage:
| Average Use for Data | ||
| Allowed: | 10 GB | |
| Last Month: | 2.81 GB | |
| 2-Months Prior: | 2.82 GB | |
| 3-Months Prior: | 2.92 GB | |
| Average Used: | 2.85 GB | |
| Heaviest Used: | 3.04 GB | |
Surprise! The 10GB plan is 'best' for our usage and costs almost exactly the same as our current unlimited plan. Where they get the numbers, I have no idea... They are look completely made up to me, though perhaps they're targeted at the price point they want to put me in?
If we go off unlimited data we'll likely switch to 2GB (saving $40/month) or 4GB (saving $30/month) and assume our usage will increase with the new phones.
No it isn't.
I did an "alternate upgrade" For those with unlimited
1) Get an additional basic line. $9.99. Make sure you get a flip phone/basic/feature/NON-SMARTPHONE with a CLEAN ESN so that you get the line on a month-to-month basis.
2) Upgrade the smartphone on your basic line to whatever. In my case, this was the Note 3. You will have garbage 2GB data, but only for like a minute.
3) Activate the smartphone on basic line.
4) Put flip-phone back on basic line. Data (e.g. 2GB data) will be removed from basic line, and phone has two year contract.
5) Do a device swap on smart phone to your line. For the cost of the phone, plus line (about $250 after taxes and such) , it is cheaper than buying the phone outright. You got hot new phone on your unlimited line, and you didn't become a victim in losing unlimited data.
I laugh at VZW CSRs when they ask me if I want to get Edge, upgrade my unlimited data lines. I tell them, "you know we're not doing that..."
When July 2014 comes and goes and I still have my unlimited, I will come back to this post and laugh at all apologists...I only wish I could say what I really want to say...lmao!
MartinN wrote:
What might lure unlimited users is offering them unlimited access after 8pm and the Verizon Max plan in prime time hours... or a very generous allocation of bandwidth, for instance the average bandwidth used of the top 1% of unlimited users rather than including the ones who barely use it. Those who have better things to do - i.e. full time jobs + families to take care of, plus those who pay the phone bills - are certainly not going to exceed their current usage anyway.
I have a full time job, make close to $100k (in the high $90k category) and I use a decent amount of unlimited. I'm just going to make this easy for all to understand: I can use 1MB a month (as in MegaByte) and I still want my unlimited. Yeah, I've used 20-40 GB a month streaming music (on high) or watching movies. I still want unlimited...don't want a cap. Otherwise, if I'm going to be forced to get tiered, I will do everything in my power to NOT use a data plan and get Verizon to let us not use it, so that I go to Wi-Fi only. Or, I just go to another carrier. (Quality of the others at that point won't matter and Verizon knows it.)
It isn't about saving money...it's about keeping unlimited. If it were about saving money, I would have switched a long time ago (and again, quality of other carriers would not matter...)
I love my unlimited data...I love that I can use more data in a day than some other guy has to in one month...I love that I'm not limited. Verizon knows it, otherwise if it was an "add-on" they'd just take it away...but Verizon wants my money...as long as they leave my "add-on" away, then I stay. Simple as that.
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