Verizon to Ditch Unlimited Data Plans With 4G LTE

[godwhomismike]

Pay for how much data you want to use each month? Yeah, that will work well, ask AOL.

 

[godwhomismike]

I sense that Sprint will be picking up a larger market share in the near future, say 3-6 months down the line.

 

[RogueKitsune]

Wow this sounds like they are taking after comcast's business plan. Offer good services in the beginning then slowly screw your entire customer base over. And why is it that everywhere else in the world companies are offering faster better services for cheaper and cheaper, but in the U.S. all of the companies do the opposite. It almost makes me want to move out of the U.S.

 

[drakefyre]

Data charges don't make much sense at all. It costs them pennies to send 5GB of data, so why should we be charged so much?

 

[Guest]

Hah, this whole statement by Melone is a load of bullshit. I love the buffet reference. I don't ever recall going to an all you can eat place, but they limit your calorie intake to something the 'majority' doesn't eat past, but every once in a while someone goes over.

Verizon had an unlimited data cap a while back, but they haven't had one in a while, so I'm not sure why they even announced this. I think they need to implement a one time fee for going over the mandated cap. A per byte pricing system is totally outrageous when it comes to overage. The proposed ability to see your real time usage should have been implemented years ago.

But that should be the customers responsibility, right? Probably, but this is a service related industry, and I want service. I want to know how much data I use on the average and you should be happy to tell me; not punish me so severely because I signed a contract.

 

[david714]

They should use the approach that European companies use. On their unlimited plans if you go over the "fair use limit" your data speed decreases. Everything works, data amount is unlimited, and you don't pay extra...

 

[_aurel_]

I am for it, as long as:
a.) your bandwidth usage is shown clearly, so you know exactly how much you've used
b.) consumers who use less right now, can go at a plan that costs less than what is offered currently (lower then $30 typical charged)
c.) overage charges are dropped, and you are simply billed for the tier you ended up in for that amount that you used. An example is:

1-500 MB - $15
500-5GB - $30
5GB-10GB - 45
10GB-20GB - 60
20GB-Above - $75

 

[ananke]

Guys, you are crazy! Why any of you dreams a DECREASE in data plan pricing? The basic data price will still be $30 for example, just some people in tiered plans will pay additionally. That's the entire idea. If you don't use data worth $30, it is just your problem, not the telco. Verizon just doesn't want to increase everybody's data price from $30 to $40, for example, because will alienate some of its customers. But for sure, there will be NO decrease in any basic pricing.

 

[drunkalien6]

I was going to extend my contract, and upgrade my phone from a BlackBerry Storm. I will no longer do that and as soon is the contract expires im switching to Sprint.

 

[drksilenc]

[citation][nom]Glorian[/nom]I could care less, I just use my phone for calls and text, hell I would cut my unlimited texting plan but people won't stop texting me. If I need to do anything worth doing on the internet I use my laptop or home pc. I've never seen my brothers who have iphones do anything important on them, what show me a new idiot test app, pictures of breasts, pics he took of the nights they got wasted?Now cap my home usage and I'll bring down a reign of fire that can only be rivaled by god![/citation]
been done alrdy cept for fios mainly

 

[drksilenc]

[citation][nom]godwhomismike[/nom]I was considering switching back to Verizon from AT&T, but upon reading this article, I will not be switching back. I will wait until AT&T gets a Palm Pre Plus device of its own. And if they decide to do the metered usage, I will switch to Sprint.[/citation]
or u could just go to sprint and avoid the hassle

 

[mayne92]

[citation][nom]freakangel911[/nom]such liars .... verizon hasnt had a a actual unlimted data plan in over 3 yrs ... they say unlimted but fine print says 5 gb. thats why i dropped ur sorry A$$e$$[/citation]
Yuppers! My step-dad has Internet with Verizon. $60 for 5GB cap...$12 a Gig. Almost reminds me of SSDs prices ~sarcasm~

 

[Camikazi]

[citation][nom]blbec[/nom]It depends what the caps are. If it high enough for surfing and email fine. They just obviously dont want everyone downloading video and music over an infrastructure that doesnt have the capacity to support it.[/citation]
If they don't want you downloading video and stuff cause their system can't handle it, then maybe they should not make TV, Video, Music a HUGE focus of their service. They are the ones showing the commercials saying you can watch TV, listen to music and watch Videos on their phones, so they should make sure they can back it up without putting up caps like this to limit customers.

 

[mayne92]

However when my Verizon contract is up...I'm ditching them since I have experienced so many dropped calls it is unreal. I love the fact also that they claim 3G coverage in my area on their 3G map...however, there is no Verizon 3G coverage ~100 miles in any direction...their map is misleading

 

[smleth]

I think this is the biggest pile of crap they can push. I am new to the smartphone side of things and was really pissed off that I couldn't get the phone I wanted without getting a $30 unlimited data plan. I didn't plan on using data on the phone unless I was WIFI, why do I need to pay $30 a month. When they forced me to pay it, I was going to make sure I got my moneys worth out of it. Now I am use to using large amounts of data, and now they want me to pay more because I use what they forced me to buy.

Very simply, if they didn't force me to get it unlimited data, I would be one less bandwidth hog to worry about. This is their own fault and now we are going to pay for it.

 

[mlopinto2k1]

[citation][nom]frozenlead[/nom]No - the point is, the engineers who work at the company should be predicting the traffic they will need to use and get equipment in place BEFORE to serve me, the paying customer. They shouldn't have to play catch-up in the first place. If it were any other industry, the game of catch-up would most likely be met with disastrous consequences. What if your utility company didn't upgrade their generators ahead of time to serve increasing demand during summer, and your power was metered to so many kilowatts per day? You wouldn't be too happy, would you?[/citation]Again, confusing needs with wants. The businesses that NEED the Internet to conduct business is different than Joe Blow who completely abuses and takes the Internet for granted. Electricity cannot be compared to this. What are you trying to convince me of again? That your pissed because your wireless 4G Internet is going to be capped so you don't overload the network because you want to watch YouTube all day?

 

[mlopinto2k1]

[citation][nom]drunkalien6[/nom]I was going to extend my contract, and upgrade my phone from a BlackBerry Storm. I will no longer do that and as soon is the contract expires im switching to Sprint.[/citation]
So will everyone else and you will eventually be capped. Face it, supply cannot meet demand. It is growing way too rapidly.

 

[lehighace06]

this is just a way for verizon to set $30/mo as the "standard" for a low-level limit, then add tiers above it over time, eventually adding BACK the unlimited but for a MUCH higher price. gg price gouging.

 

[Guest]

I can tell you one thing, that if Verizon or ATT do this I will not use their company anymore, I will be going old fashioned and just using text and phone with the cheaper pay as you go where it only costs around 40 bucks. Heck cheaper for me. These companies are just greedy retards and will loose market because of this.

 

[idiom]

While other nations continue to expand their data infrastructure, and even offer broadband as a state sanctioned right, the US is shifting into reverse, all in the name of profit.