I have been a Verizon Wireless customer since 2003 and have had a smart phone since 2007. I currently have the unlimited data plan that I pay $109 a month for with taxes and additions and such. As I understand it, I can keep my unlimited phone if I buy the phone at full price. I have done the math and buying a DROID RAZR MAXX HD for full price is considerably cheaper than getting the subsidised phone and upgrading my contract over the next two years. My question is, if I don't sign a new contract, will Verizon be able to arbitrarily raise the rates on my current unlimited plan? If that is the case then it may actually be a wash and I should just bite the bullet and sign up for the new plan.
Once your contract is done you are month to month. So not only can Verizon raise the rate on unlimited they can end unlimited at any time. It's doubtful they will do this before July 2014. Only you can answer if it's worth the risk.
Actually, they could end unlimited any time they want because data is not part of the contract. However, I think that based on past practices, they probably would wait until customers' contracts end.
So, since I have learned about the changes VZW made to "Grandfathering", I have been quite disappointed. Sadly, VZW is actually starting to lose customers due to this, that otherwise they would have kept. All new customers were put into the tiered plan, as well as all new lines. VZW has had the ability to crack down on those customers who abused the unlimited data, so they had already had their bases covered. So far, of the friends and family that have had unlimited data and were ready to upgrade, about 1/6th have left Verizon and will be up to 1/4 by the end of the month. Currently Sprint is offering $149 for a 1500 minute shared family plan that has unlimited Data, messaging, and Mobile to any Mobile. Sprint also roams on Verizon's networks, so coverage is the same, although data rates will be slightly slower when roaming on non-Sprint towers. 7 of the families have been able to use their existing Verizon phones on it without contract. Sprint is using it as an opportunity to grow its customer base significantly and once again become one of the major carriers again, and in the end only Verizon is going to suffer.
Verizon has made a point to say that for most users, 2 GB is more than enough data. And this is true. The statistics say that my grandmother uses an average of 12 MB a month on her Samsung. Also, this means that Unlimited would be a moot point, right? So why take it away from those who actually use it. Those with unlimited data are a surprising few, now. You can no longer increase the number of unlimited data plans, and they were destined to decrease naturally due to attrition and other things.
Verizon always advertised the "New every Two", meaning that you were assured to be able to get a phone for free every two years with a renewed contract. This now means "New every Two, unless you have unlimited, in which case you must switch and pay more, but you will get a new phone that you could have bought with the money you saved in 10 months."
Once upon a time, special consideration was available to long time customers with perfect payment history. Customers that Verizon loved and wanted to keep. This power was given to customer service supervisors, who Verizon entrusted to make the right decision on behalf of Verizon in order to keep their customers happily giving them money for hundreds of more months. This is slowly going away, and I feel bad for those supervisors who are now getting yelled at on a daily basis for things they have no control over. In turn this leads to customers finding someone else who can do what they want. What the hell is Verizon thinking? Statistically, Verizon did not lose any money from those high usage customers, they just didn't make as much. Statistically if they lost those customers, they will lose money. They will lose more than those customers, as the majority of the unlimited customers DID NOT use more than 2 GB a month, but kept the unlimited because they felt the security of not having to worry about going over. In reality, when Verizon thinks they are cutting out just the high cost customers, they are losing so much more.
I just don't know mow many more ways to say how irrational this decision was to cut out grandfathered unlimited.
Note for potential arguments to this, is that the use of Verizon phones on Sprint does not enable you to take advantage of 4G, but only about 1/8th of the people I know currently live or work in a Verizon 4G area, so it is a moot point for many customers. Verizon 4G IS the fastest and best in my opinion, but due to data restrictions, I never use it.
Graymayre wrote:
So, since I have learned about the changes VZW made to "Grandfathering", I have been quite disappointed. Sadly, VZW is actually starting to lose customers due to this, that otherwise they would have kept. All new customers were put into the tiered plan, as well as all new lines.
No Verizon hasn't lost customers. Verizon gained more customers in the 4th quarter than at&t did ALL YEAR. I suggest checking your facts. Since Verizon started Share Everything and also ended unlimited data upgrades they lost about 1.7 million old customers but gained 5.3 million new ones. As of January 1st 23% of all Verizon customers are now on Share Everything. Of the 77% that are not most do not have unlimited data and I don't think most feel the least bit sorry about you losing yours.
Actually Verizon stopped letting new customers( and current customers that didn't have an unlimited data package ) have unlimited back in July 2011. Last June they stop letting unlimited data customers get discounted upgrades. You can keep unlimited as long as you don't renew your contract or take a subsidized upgrade. If you buy a phone at full price you can keep unlimited.
New customers are put into the Share Everything plan which is tiered but so is the old plan. Once again this has been in place for 19 months now.
So losing 1.7 million customers is NOT losing customers? I misunderstand your logic. Maybe overall they gained, however significantly, but they still lost a significant number of customers due to this change in policy that they otherwise would not have.
And of course 77% don't give a rat's rear about me and my family, or anyone else who has unlimited as it is not in human nature for one to desire that someone else have what one does not. But before the change last June, most didn't have it anyway. Those who were eligible for grandfathering and didn't likely didn't need it.
Verizon taking the stand of "We have the best coverage, so you will just take our prices or leave" doesn't observe the philosophy of good customer service like it used to.
Some of us needed unlimited and cannot have it, and it wouldn't hurt Verizon a bit to let us have it who aren't abusing it.
Graymayre wrote:
So losing 1.7 million customers is NOT losing customers? I misunderstand your logic. Maybe overall they gained, however significantly, but they still lost a significant number of customers due to this change in policy that they otherwise would not have.
Some of us needed unlimited and cannot have it, and it wouldn't hurt Verizon a bit to let us have it who aren't abusing it.
Actually that is not a lot of customers. That's less than 2% Verizon has the lowest churn in the industry. Under 1% per quarter. Think about it in 6 months 25% of Verizon customers would have come to the end of their contract and could leave without penalty and less than 2% did. So my math says that 92% of those that COULD have left DID NOT leave. If Verizon's service is that bad how come so many stay when they are free to leave?
Unlimited will be done away for good by mid 2014 anyway. Better get used to it.
No one needs unlimited. You do not have a need for an unlimited amount of data. Unlimited is infinite it would be impossible for you to use an infinite amount of data. So instead of saying you need unlimited data how about correcting stating how much data you think you actually need. And if you aren't abusing it then you certainly don't need unlimited data anyway.
If 8% who could leave did, I do not know how you don't see this as a significant number.
Also, of course I do not need "unlimited" per se, but I need more than 2 GB per month AND I also dont need an additional $50 charge. A tiered data plan that would fit my usage would cost me an exorbitant amount of money that I would have otherwise not been charged. I usually used it at non-prime times so that it hardly affected anyone, and the cost to Verizon was negligible.
If you cannot make a logical argument, I am done here.
Yes, it is a large number, but when Verizon gains AN EVEN LARGER NUMBER of customers than it loses each quarter, they don't see it as a problem.
It's simple. If a company is so terrible and so pricey and so money hungry and is doing nothing but trying to rip customers off you would think FAR LESS than 92% would stay. And that number is far more than any other carrier.
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