Verizon to Ditch Unlimited Data Plans With 4G LTE

[brendano257]

[citation][nom]andboomer[/nom]I think it will work about as well as Time Warner's plan to cap monthly bandwidth at 40 gb. And unlike the regional monopolies enjoyed by many high speed ISPs, phone service is generally more competitive. If Verizon decides to cap, then it's goodbye Verizon, hello Sprint.Verizon has better coverage in my area, but I'll take less than perfect service over BS policies any day of the week.[/citation]

So true, Sprint has some 4G capability network wise, but no handset wise yet. Their unlimited data is 15$/m which isn't bad considering its 30$ per MB at 3c/Kb, it's incredible.

 

[totheshed]

"variable pricing" or having customers who consume a lot of data paying more than those who pay less.

Shouldn't it be

"variable pricing" or having customers who consume a lot of data paying more than those who consume less.

 

[totheshed]

[citation][nom]Drakefyre[/nom]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?[/citation]

It costs a huge amount to pay for the service towers. Also, when you buy a smart phone like the BlackBerry Storm, right now the two year contract price is $50. It costs Verizon around $450 to buy the smartphone from RIM. Where do they get the money to pay for it?

 

[Guest]

Hello Cricket

 

[icemunk]

Data caps are a step backwards, even ISP's seem to be doing this now and its like the dark ages all over again.. The internet is moving backwards in North America, while the rest of the world (especially Asia) flies ahead in every way...

 

[icemunk]

I worked for cell phone companies in Canada for 6 years, and the profit margin on their plans is absolutely insane.. on average, the cost per customer (with data, customer service, maintenance, upgrading all added in) is only around $15, the rest is pure profit to pay out to their richest shareholders and executives

 

[loomis86]

[citation][nom]blbec[/nom]I got a job that takes me out to peoples homes often. It is amazing to me to see how many have a big screen tv in the middle of squalor. There is garbage all over the yard and the place is a mess, but there is a tv, an xbox/playstation, and everyone inside has a good cell phone. Its all about priorities. (Many of these are also "undocumented" workers who don't have health insurance. Interesting eh?)[/citation]
Big screen TVs are practically free if you get an older outdated one. undocumented workers use cellphones instead of landlines. When you cram a bunch of people into one apartment, there's going to be arguments over long distance calls to mexico on a land line and who should pay for them. No long distance charges on a cell phone.

 

[Kami3k]

[citation][nom]kentlowt[/nom] That kind of communistic thinking got the US into the mess it's in now. [/citation]

Oh plz, you wouldn't even know what communism was even if it smacked in across the face multiple times.

Now on to the article itself. I'll wait for more details about this change to come out first. But so far, not so good news.

 

[Blessedman]

I think they are shooting themselves in the foot with a move like this. They think they are fine for now, but when it comes time for renewals of contracts they will see a mass fallout. Unless of course they do settle for a philosophy of stack it deep and sell it cheap. Say 10$ a GB per month that would seem reasonable... I mean they aren't selling me anything but glorified electricity. I think it would be interesting to see cost analysis of what it actually cost them per GB.

 

[frozenlead]

[citation][nom]mlopinto2k1[/nom]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?[/citation]

Perhaps there isn't broadband where I live, and I need an unlimited data plan? Or perhaps there is broadband, but there's only one company and their monopolistic prices are too large for me? I can overuse and abuse electricity just as much as I can overuse the Internet. Electricity isn't a necessity - you sure as hell can function and have a modern job without it, just as you can the Internet (though it's a little more inconvenient, in both cases). They provide a service, and they should be able to support it. How can they explain gaining a profit while imposing limits because their hardware can't handle the pressure? It's unacceptable. Maybe you like to nod your head and do what the big bad corporation tells you, but I sure won't take it.

 

[messerchmidt]

windmobile here in canada allows for unlimited usage, but throttles you after 5gb to keep bandwidth available to other users. The above by verizon is just a money grab.

 

[jkeelsnc]

I agree with the comments about people on food stamps and stuff and then having nice phones and things. This makes me wonder why we have welfare systems at all. If people really needed these services they wouldn't be worried about a fancy phone.

On the other hand, internet access is important for most people these days. Metered and capped services are backward. I certainly will not pay for any kind of internet service with such a billing structure UNLESS the per MB charge is ridiculously cheap like 1/4 penny per megabyte. Especially, this would be true for me if I already had to pay a monthly subscription fee just to access the network to begin with. Absolute silliness on the part of the carriers. Though the leechers are a real problem and create problems for the rest of us who use our internet connections responsibly. Not piggish and soaking all the bandwidth you can squeeze from your connection 24 hours a day which I HAVE seen before. Its going to cost us all dearly! Some people are idiots.

 

[nebun]

well this will cut down on the network usage and hopefully with speed up the net for the premium payers. lol, good stuff

 

[anamaniac]

[citation][nom]I8CookieMonster[/nom]If they meter the most user friendly way to do it would be the way the electric company or water company does it...in a very fine grained manner in usage tiers. That way, if you aren't a heavy user you don't pay excessively, but if you are you pay more, but less per MB. As long as they can accept charging acceptable rates per MB that is (fat chance...I guess there's the hole in my idea lol).[/citation]
Don't do it like the power companies.
My power company gave me an $800 bill, two months in a row, with absolutely no explanation, after falsely cutting my power in -20 to -30 weather...
But yes, semi tiered could work. Just an example, $5 for the first 100MB, $5.00 for the next 250MB, $5.00 for the next 500MB, $5.00 for every GB. The bill then caps at $50 unless the user used a ridiculous amount of bandwidth.
Then again, they like making money, so that wouldn't work. But for people like me, $5/GB at a reasonable bandwidth would be acceptable on a phone. (I already pay $50 a month for 3MB down, 100KB up and 100GB per month just for my home line)

 

[Guest]

It's total BS. People that use apps such as tether are now out the money they have spent. I guess the rich just want to get richer.

 

[climber]

[citation][nom]chomlee[/nom]What good is a faster service if they dont want you to be doing traffic intensive tasks. If all I wanted was texting and email, I would be waisting my money on a faster speed.[/citation]
Unlike governments that, depending what political philosophy is currently in power, want you to conserve a resource, say, electricity or fuel, a business has no interest in wanting you to conserve or limit how much of their product you use, simply to charge you for it, in some cases charge you through the nose for it. This is hardly unexpected. There era of unlimited was simply to get the population hooked on their narcotic of choice, i.e. the internet access, now that we're all hooked they make us pay dearly.

 

[Guest]

I love my smartphone! I consume a lot of data every month, and I like the flat rate that I pay each month. My data usage does vary month to month and I just want a bill that is the same where it keeps everything nice and neat. If I have to start paying different amounts each month it will have an effect on how I use my phone and that will make it less appealing to me.

 

[climber]

[citation][nom]Camikazi[/nom]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.[/citation]
It's in the companies own best interest to advertise the kinds of services it offers, yes you have to pay for it, but it's not like they said any of those services were free... that you could watch TV 24/7 for the whole month and would not pay a penny extra for the privilege. I'm not really defending a corporate telecom giant, but you can hardly be surprised by a corporation, who's primary responsibility is to it's shareholders, not it's customers. That responsibility is to make profits for their shareholders.

 

[hoof_hearted]

There would hae to be some give and take. The only way I would be for a cap, is if they made contracts illegal in the US.

 

[maddad]

Has anyone heard the cell phone companies are not making a healthy profit??? No I have haven't either. Send a few pictures on your cell phone without a data plan and you could easily rack up an extra $50-$60 a month or more on your phone bill, but an unlimited data plan costs $15-$30. Now they could just charge you the $30 for the month, but that corporate greed will jack up your phone bill to the max while they smile all the way to the bank. Same for home phone service, how many folks are they still charging $100-$200 a month for using long distance, when they know it costs them no more than a call next door. They are looking for a way to hike their profits. Why is it they can lease their network to some other phone company (cricket and others) and you pay half of what verizon and att charge and you are using the exact same network infrastructure and services?