Verizon To Kill All Unlimited Data Plans

afabbro writes "Verizon mentioned in an investor conference that it will be eliminating unlimited data plans, even for those it grandfathered in. From the article: 'Speaking at the J.P Morgan Technology Media and Telecom conference today, Verizon Communications CFO Fran Shammo told investors that the company's 3G unlimited data plans that customers were allowed to hang onto last year when Verizon switched to a tiered offering will soon go away entirely. Instead, the company will migrate its existing and new 4G LTE customers to a new "data share plan." The company has yet to announce the details of this new plan, but it has said previously that the data share plan will be introduced in midsummer. The plan will allow people on the same family plan to share buckets of data each month, much like they share voice minutes and text messaging. It will also allow individuals to share data across different 4G LTE devices.'"

Re:Yikes

[Glendale2x]

You can't really "lock in" anything. The provider is free to change the terms at any time in the future, it's just that you get 30 days to cancel without penalty if you decide you don't like the new terms.

Re:Congratulations, Verizon

[Anonymous Coward]

T-Mobile has ersatz unlimited - you get full speed data up to your chosen caps (2, 5, or 10gb), and EDGE speeds after.

Re:Rise of the discount carriers

[Moheeheeko]

With the el-cheapo carriers heavily advertising their cut-rate plans, how long can AT&T and Verizon keep it up? Why would anyone pay $80/month when they can get the same service from another carrier for less than $50

Because that $50 plan from T-mobile or Sprint is next to useless with their shit coverage. I ran T-mobile for 2 years, I had above 2 bars maybe once.

Re:Congratulations, Verizon

[Anonymous Coward]

That's what they say, but my benchmarks say otherwise. I've hit the cap once or twice on my T-Mobile service, and it's about 60kbps after the cap, whereas EDGE can carry 300-600kbps easily (when you aren't past your cap)

Re:Congratulations, Verizon

[Anonymous Coward]

Why wait? The moment Verizon changes your plan from "unlimited" to "limited" the contract terms have changed, and you can reject those new terms (thus voiding the contract).

Be careful with that one... the fine print probably says if you reject the changes you are still bound to the contract with existing terms until the end of the
contract... which means they would still hit you with an early termination fee that you would have to go to arbitration to get back.

Re:Rise of the discount carriers

[Anonymous Coward]

Sprint coverage has served me well, even in urban areas, and their coverage is continuing to improve with Network Vision. Sites are already being rolled out. Atop that, they roam for free on Verizon.

Re:Slippery slope

[demonlapin]

Not if they offered to honor the original contract terms for the duration of the contract and terminate it immediately upon its completion. Just like credit cards: terms have changed, you either accept them or you live out your existing contract as specified with no further changes allowed.

Re:Rise of the discount carriers

[Nidi62]

When I first bought my latest phone from Verizon (back in March), it had with it a widget showing my data usage for the month. Then, several weeks later, it went away with a software update. Now I know why.

Re:Congratulations, Verizon

[idontgno]

Best case scenario, they drop this stupid idea and get to keep my business, and in exchange I plunk down some serious moolah on the latest root-and-rom-able Android powerhouse.

We are talking about Verizon, right?

"root-and-rom-able?"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!... hahaha... Whoa, that's a good one.

In case you hadn't heard, Verizon specializes in bootlocked fascism. They're proud of it. [androidcentral.com]. I haven't heard of anyone who's successfully unlocked a recent Verizon Android bootblock. Rootable, sure. For now. (Motofail on Droid devices, for instance.) And 2nd-stage loaders like Safestrap will allow you to load and boot an alternate ROM, but not touch the kernel, so I hope you enjoy ICS on a Gingerbread kernel.

Sorry. Verizon is pretty much bondage-and-domination as far as phone openness is concerned. I am functionally satisfied with my VZW Droid 4, but my needs are modest (root + freeze bloatware), but if I really wanted to load Cyanogenmod or Eclipse, I'd have to settle for half-measures.

Re:Congratulations, Verizon

[Garybaldy]

Contract law states otherwise.

Any change made to a contract by one party is grounds for the other parties to void the contract with zero penalties.
Regardless of what may be written in the contract concerning contract changes.