Verizon To Offer iPhone Users Unlimited Data

Hugh Pickens writes "The WSJ reports that Verizon Wireless, the country's largest wireless carrier, is confident enough in its network that it will offer unlimited data-use plans when it starts selling the iPhone around the end of this month, a person familiar with the matter says. Such plans would provide a key means of distinguishing its service from rival AT&T Inc., which limits how much Internet data its customers may use each month. Verizon has a lot at stake as it starts to carry the iPhone, which it is expected to announce Tuesday at an event in New York City. Verizon, more than any other US carrier, has built its reputation on its network quality, and any stumble in handling iPhone traffic will call into question Verizon's major selling point. On the other hand, if it does handle the iPhone well, then AT&T will have a harder time arguing it didn't mismanage its own network. Anthony J. Melone, Verizon's chief technology officer, says the company has invested heavily in its 3G network to handle surging smartphone traffic, including nine million Android subscribers, up from none a year earlier.'"

AT&T claims about calls and internet false!

[Taelron]

AT&T claims they are still better because on their network you can make calls and use the browser at the same time. AT&T claims that you can not do this with CDMA LTE technology like Sprint and Verizon use. This is a bold face lie. I have a Sprint carried Samsung Epic 4g phone and routinely use the web browser while on calls. Since Sprint and Verizon use mostly identical technology, I cannot believe AT&T's claims that Verizon's phone wont be able to do what Sprint phones already can do... AT&T's statements are merely FUD, I know a lot of people already lined up to leave AT&T once the IPhone is available on another carrier, and AT&T knows and is scared of this too.

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Re:Not Sure I'm Buying It

[afidel]

If you can live with Sprint's network their Virgin Mobile division offers unlimited data and text and 300 voice minutes a month for $25 including taxes and fees. Of course they only have one of the crappier Android phones and a low end Blackberry on offer and no BYOD =(

Re:AT&T claims about calls and internet false!

[Anonymous Coward]

The only true statement in your post was about the Epic doing voice and data at the same time, all other statements are false.
Verizon and Sprint both use CDMA for their 3G networks.
CDMA != LTE, totally different network architecture.
Sprint uses WiMax for it's "4G" network, again different from CDMA and LTE.
Sprint doesn't allow 3G + voice.
CDMA as currently implemented by Verizon cannot support voice and data at the same time.
Verizon will supposedly launch an updated CDMA2000 network 1st half 2011 that will support the new spec and allow voice and data.

Re:Competition again?

[interkin3tic]

Lucifer, Beelzebub, and Legion are competing for your business, and you think that you might win?

Lucifer and Beelzebub are usually used as two names for the same devil, and Legion is a demon who would probably be said to work for the devil, so that's not a great metaphor for AT&T and Verizon who do theoretically have an interest in bringing down the other guy.

A better metaphor would be Republicans and Democrats. There are real (though minor) differences, and they do really hate each other, but they'll each screw you over more than each other, and both really drag their heels to actually offer you something better than the other one.

Ideals are hard to achieve

[sjbe]

That is what government regulation is for. It is to ensure that the best product wins under its own merits and that all costs are taken into account.

Government regulations do not have that effect. Not even close. Quite the opposite, really.

They do when they are designed well. Granted it doesn't happen enough, partly because well designed regulations are actually really hard to pull off, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. It's not hard to find government regulations that do indeed increase competition and make commerce more competitive and consumer friendly. Unfortunately it's just as easy to find regulations that do exactly the opposite.

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Re:Competition again?

[rgviza]

Read the fine print. Like every other wireless TELCO, "unlimited" does not mean unlimited.

from : http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/footer/acceptableuse.jsp [verizonwireless.com]
Section L
l. .....This specifically but without limitation includes excessive consumption of network or system resources whether intentional or unintentional. ....

Then there's this little tidbit:
We further reserve the right to take measures to protect our network and other users from harm, compromised capacity or degradation in performance. These measures may impact your service, and we reserve the right to deny, modify or terminate service, with or without notice, to anyone we believe is using Data Plans or Features in a manner that adversely impacts our network.
-

I GUARANTEE, if you are actually sucking down as much data as you possibly can, Verizon will be in your grill with a cap. They have a cap for FIOS, DSL and every other internet service they provide. Their agreement basically says "We decide if you are using too much data, and we can arbitrarily decide how much is too much on a whim."

This means there is no actual unlimited plan, just "unlimited", which happens to be whatever Verizon says it is and can change without notice.

While I will never hit their cap, there are people that watch TV on their phones frequently (cbs.com, etc etc) and you'd better believe Verizon will be on them like stink on shit just as soon as the big surge of new iPhone customers is stuck in a 2 year contract.

Verizon=AT&T=T-Mobile=Virgin Mobile

They are ALL the same as far as legal, caps etc goes.