My 4G campaign gripe

[tjreishus]

I'm trying to follow the progression of things here.

More and more people start buying smart phones
Companies see the potential (phone making companies and phone providers)
Faster phones are built to get attract your business
The phone companies also want your business so they build 4G networks
They start showing off all the things you can do with 4G and a fast phone. Face time or video chat (whatever you want to call it), Netflix, streaming music, email video, email large pictures from your 8mp phone camera. You can now do all this on 4G instead of having to be on wireless.

Now for the problem. WHO CAN AFFORD TO DO ALL THIS ON 4G WITH THE NEW PLANS!

This was all fine and dandy until they took away the unlimited plans. I am grandfathered in so I feel really lucky that I can video chat with my wife whenever I want. I can stream netflix when I'm sitting at the airport with a long delay. One of my coworkers just came to the bionic from ATT. He was not grandfathered in so he has a 2 gig max/month. As cool as it is, he said he won't touch the video chat or netflix, or send pictures, or video because he can't afford the higher data plans.

4G is awesome, but I'm finding that for people who don't have the unlimited plan, people can't afford to do the things it was designed to do.

 

[thetingster]

I agree completely.

 

[chrisv79]

Honestly, I would not have made the move to 4G if I was not grandfathered. The last think I want to do is worry about hitting a cap. As a lot of people start moving to 4G, it will be interesting to see how this all plays out. I see a lot of shocked customers opening their bills and finding huge overage charges and there will be an uproar in the media.

 

[gvillager]

I'm in agreement. 2 gigs is not enough for how I use my phone. The day I lose unlimited data and have to pay $30 for 2 gigs will be the day I go back to a dumbphone.

 

[kingnut]

i think verizon is play hard to get right now with tiered data plans. i think they will open up unlimited data packages for $30 again but do it when they can really hurt one of their competitors.

 

[dirkbonn]

Ok, here's my take on the tiered/unlimited data plans.

First, let me start out by saying I, as well as my wife and daughter have the unlimited data plans. I think we are average data users. I don't watch movies on my phone, (I have a 42" plasma tv, why do I want to watch movies on a 4.3" screen. I don't sit it airports for more than 45-60 minutes so I can't watch a full movie anyway) I don't play online games, or stream music, but I do use the web to answer the questions that come up during conversation like who was the actress in that movie, how old is so and so, and send texts, picture texts and some email, and my wife and daughter are similar. So, like I said, I think we're average data users.

Got my Verizon bill last week and here is our data usage for last month.

Me............ .5GB
Wife......... 1.1GB
Daughter....1.5GB

I think that the majority of smartphone users fall into my usage group. There are some that use considerably more data, many of which post here, but the group of users that use over 2GB's of data/mo is a small percentage when compared to Verizons 100 million user base. Verizon allowed myself and many to be grandfathered into these unlimited data plans. Now Verizon knows exactly how many unlimited plans are out there and that number will only get smaller as these customers drop them for whatever reason. i.e. change carrier, drop a phone off a family plan, death.... etc. Remember, once you drop it you can never get it back. All new customers and returning customers have to get the tiered data plan, which for the average customer like myself would not cost me any additional money. However, the HEAVY data users will eventually end up with a tiered data plan and will have to pay for all the data they use or change thier data usage habits. It may take 5 to 10 or more years, but eventually there will be no unlimited data plans on Verizon Wireless.

So the long and short of it is that eventually the heavy data users will end up paying for all the data they use and the normal/average data user will only have to pay the basic fee. This is where Verizon want to end up. The HEAVY data users pay for thier HEAVY data usage and all others pay the minimum monthly fee.

Just my thoughts on a lazy Sunday evening.....

 

[tjreishus]

I understand what you are saying, but my problem is where I see the ads on TV showing off the capabilities of 4G by showing things like video chat, HBO go, watching ESPN, streaming pandora, watching netfilx, etc. They aren't showing off 4G by showing what the AVERAGE user is doing. I don't have the numbers to back this up, but it would be interesting to see how much data does the average netflix movie use? How about an HBO go movie? What about a sporting event from espn? How much data does video chat use per minute? Im in hotels a lot, so I want to be able to use the netflix with the HDMI out to the hotel TV. I could easily be doing this 8 times a month. I video chat with my wife probably every other day. I stream pandora EVERY day. I feel I'm using my 4G the for what it was designed to be used for. At least that's what the commercials are telling me. My guess, and it's only a guess, is that if someone were to enjoy 4G the way it's portrayed in commercials, they would go over the 10 gig limit. And the 10 gig is $89/month. So my point is that if someone is planning on switching to verizons 4G to be able to do what is advertised, they are in for a big surprise.

 

[dirkbonn]

I understand what you are saying, but my problem is where I see the ads on TV showing off the capabilities of 4G by showing things like video chat, HBO go, watching ESPN, streaming pandora, watching netfilx, etc. They aren't showing off 4G by showing what the AVERAGE user is doing. I don't have the numbers to back this up, but it would be interesting to see how much data does the average netflix movie use? How about an HBO go movie? What about a sporting event from espn? How much data does video chat use per minute? Im in hotels a lot, so I want to be able to use the netflix with the HDMI out to the hotel TV. I could easily be doing this 8 times a month. I video chat with my wife probably every other day. I stream pandora EVERY day. I feel I'm using my 4G the for what it was designed to be used for. At least that's what the commercials are telling me. My guess, and it's only a guess, is that if someone were to enjoy 4G the way it's portrayed in commercials, they would go over the 10 gig limit. And the 10 gig is $89/month. So my point is that if someone is planning on switching to verizons 4G to be able to do what is advertised, they are in for a big surprise.

Well, Verizon is just showing in the ads what 4G phones are capable of. If a 4G phone purchaser has an unlimited data package, Verizon is just biting the bullet and supplying the data, however much it is. But, if they sell a 4G phone to a new user, he will have a tiered data package and will pay for the data he uses. If he is a netflix user, then he will have to pay for it. If he's an average user, like my self, he'll only pay the minimum fee, $29.99, like always.

My point was that since they no longer off unlimited data packages, they know how many users have unlimited packeges. (and it has to be in the millions currently) but every day that number gets smaller. Eventually, the users that use large amounts of data will have to carry thier own weight and pay for the priviledge. Previously a "one size fits all" plan of unlimited data for $29.99 worked for Verizon because the majority of thier customers didn't have smartphones and then only a small number of those were using large amounts of data. (and this was at 3G speeds which made it tougher to use massive amounts of data) But now that smartphone usage is rising and additionally the advent of LTE where massive amounts of data usage is more easily possible, Verizon is making the move towards making these massive data users pay thier own way. It may take 10+ years or more to get there, but they will get there.

Kinda what they're doing is stopping the average data user like my family from subsidising the massive data user and eventually making him pay for what he uses. Probably another option Verizon looked at was raising the unlimited data packages to, say $34.99 and letting the massive data users continue to get a free ride, but they decided to grandfather everyone who had unlimited data get to keep it for $29.99, (thereby not having to raise prices which is almost always unpalatable to customers) and making the move to tiered data for new customers only.

It really doesn't matter for the average user, but the new customers must be informed of the possible charges if they are a potential large data user, of which my guess is most won't be. I think the path Verizon has taken to divest itself of unlimited data packeges was the easiest available. Verizon may have looked at it this way, the only customer that may be upset with this new pay scale is a new customer that will be comsuming massive amounts data. This is a small percentage of customers and if this customer decides to go to Sprint, so be it. Let them deal with the massive data usage on their already strained network. Then when he gets tired of the "Sorry, network not available, please try again later" messages, and he comes back to Verizons network, at least he will pay the additional tiered data charges that Verizon can use to continue to upgrade their LTE network.

Heck, now it's a "not so lazy" Monday morning.... early too..... Haha.

 

[hunterwrot]

2gigs it nothing. On 4g i can blow through my first 2 gigs in no time. VZW needs to be a little more realistic here. At least i am on unlimited.

 

[dirkbonn]

2gigs it nothing. On 4g i can blow through my first 2 gigs in no time. VZW needs to be a little more realistic here. At least i am on unlimited.

I agree, 2GB is not much to a heavy user. That's why Verizon grandfathered all thier long time customers in. But it's the new users who will have to pay, but they will know going in that they will have to "pay to play" so to speak.

I think Verizon is being realistic with the 2GB limit because the average user (like my family) will see no increase in cost when going to 4G. But the heavy user of data (unless grandfathered in of course) will pay to use his larger amounts of data. Which is only fair in my estimation. Why should I subsidise his use of large amounts of data? He's using it, not me.

It's a "take all the data you want, but you pay for all the data you take".

You realize I don't work for Verizon and never have. I've never been associated with the wireless business. (Except to own and use a phone) But, I have a had my own business for 25+ years and can see why Verizon is doing some of the things they do.

In the business world they make the rules and you decide if you want to play by thier rules. You don't have to, there are other carriers. On the other side of the coin, if not enough people want to play by thier rules, they will change the rules, and it starts again, you decide if you want to play. It's a big circle and it continues to go around and around.

Ok, off to lunch.....

Hope everyone is enjoying this thread, I am. Heck, I haven't typed this much since I was in college. (and it was on a typewriter, not a computer, haha!)

 

[johnlgalt]

Want something new to gripe about? DL is reporting (via Twitter) that if you disconnect your 4G right about now, you may not get reconnected.

Start those timers, people, VZW owes you for that downtime....

Twitter

 

[surprise07]

I agree that the tiered plans suck! I was also grandfathered in. I listen to Pandora or other streaming radio stations at work because it's blocked on our computers. I really don't do much else and I hit almost 3 - 4 GB a month in usage. I watch the occasional netflix, and browse the web but nothing serious. I can't imagine being stuck at 2 GB

 

[tjreishus]

Dirkbonn,

Your thoughts are right on for most things, but it doesn't apply with computers. Moore's law has been around for a long time now. Computers continue to get faster, hold more data and cheaper as time goes on. Hard drives, memory, processors and internet services have all been getting cheaper but also getting faster. All but verizon, that is. They did get faster, but now they limit the amount you can download for the same price. I would now have to pay triple the price for what I have been doing in the past. Just doesn't jive with Moore's law at all.

 

[damewolf13]

i think verizon is play hard to get right now with tiered data plans. i think they will open up unlimited data packages for $30 again but do it when they can really hurt one of their competitors.

Never happen! If they ever have unlimited data plans again, you will be asked to give away your first born child in exchange.

 

[ISASoilder]

I know you all (and me) hate the new tired plans luckly like some of you im am grandfathered into UNLMITD 3G/4G, But Remember alot of ppl are near WiFi areas or have Wifi at home so it may not be as big of a hit to tech freedom as its being made out to be.

 

[welbinator]

the tiered plans are just too expensive. I don't care what the "average" user uses, because that's changing every day, especially with 4G spreading like wildfire, and Netflix now being available on iPhones and tons of android phones. The "average" user is going to be getting closer to the 4GB per month while the "heavy" user will be 6GB or more per month. I know we're all used to paying more with Verizon but this is just silly.

 

[dirkbonn]

the tiered plans are just too expensive. I don't care what the "average" user uses, because that's changing every day, especially with 4G spreading like wildfire, and Netflix now being available on iPhones and tons of android phones. The "average" user is going to be getting closer to the 4GB per month while the "heavy" user will be 6GB or more per month. I know we're all used to paying more with Verizon but this is just silly.

Like I said in an earlier post, Verizon makes the rules and you decide if you want to play by those rules. You don't have to. Vote with your feet and pocketbook. If enough customers decide not to play, maybe Verizon will change thier rules. I don't think that just complaining will cause them to change thier rules.

 

[matt576gt]

The plans are too expensive for what they offer. I don't believe there is an "average" user and a "heavy" user. Theres people that use their phones for what they're designed for and ones that don't.