I am a data hog I guess.... Should I be worried about the Verizon data police?

redwood66 · Oct 18, 2014

We have 2 UDP lines and this is our only internet at home. No available DSL or cable internet in our area and satellite is too expensive and slow. Up until September our data usage ran around 25-35 GB per month for the 2 lines. Occasional Netflix movie, basic surfing, Sirius/XM streaming, etc.

Now our son who has just left the Navy is home and Sept. usage was 110 GB. So far this month with 4 billing days left we are at 130 GB. To be fair I just had surgery and am at home for at least 2 weeks, so I decided to stream an entire season of Reign on netflix with 24 episodes. LOL.

Should I be worried about the data police? I am sure that we are in the top 0.5% of users in my area! :eek:

I did read that they are not throttling data as planned but should we keep it down under 100 GB? What is Verizon really doing about it?

I guess I should feel bad but then again we have been paying the full boat for at least 3 years which includes 2 $30 wifi hotspot feature charges plus the $30 data plan for each line. Our bill is $203 per month with the 2 lines. We did just upgrade my sons dumb phone to an S4 mini with the $60 2GB line. That will make the bill more like $270. Our bill would be so much more if we paid for overages.

Please discuss or rant or whatever....

Thanks!

dautley · Oct 18, 2014

I'm in the same boat as far as internet availability goes, I usually clock in 50 to 75GB a month. I haven't ever had a problem. I have unlimited and pay the $30.00 a month hotspot fee.

Bloomy6 · Oct 22, 2014

4 lines, 2.5 gig per line, 240 a month, I wouldn't worry about it.. You signed up for udp and should use it while u can. Good for you!

jhawkkw · Oct 22, 2014

Since you're paying for the unlimited hotspot feature in addition to the data plan, I don't think you have much to worry about currently. If you weren't paying for it, then things would be different.

redwood66 · Oct 30, 2014

Thanks a bunch.

Except now as of last night neither of the hotspot features works on either phone. Last night the error was "cannot connect no data connection available" This morning it says "fatal system error" Its on both phones so it can't be the phone. Right? Gonna go to the verizon store today.

redwood66 · Oct 30, 2014

Well I hate my verizon store so I called the *611 again today (called last night but they had to transfer me to Tier 2 support and I did not want to hang on). Magically just as I am on the phone with the tech it started working without even telling her my problem. Amazing.

But I did get a few tidbits of info from her. It seems she has a UDP also and makes sure she keeps it, so she understands that us having no other internet available it is important to keep the UDP. She also checked into how much a More Everything 100GB shared plan cost would be and its $375!!!! Holy crap! No thanks and I will keep my UD thank you. She also said that people who upgrade and lose their UDP can get a plan called Verizon Max that is 6GB for $30 but they have to do it within the first 30 days of losing the UDP. According to her - and I take this with a grain of salt - I will always and forever have my unlimited data plan as long as I do not do a subsidized upgrade. There is no plan to ever take away the UDPs from those of us who are left.

FWIW I guess.

Unforgiven · Oct 30, 2014

redwood, I'm glad your back up and running. To answer your original question, Verizons data management plan is fairly forgiving. Folks that are "heavy data users" are flagged for the following billing cycle, so they are only flagged if they were in the top 5% in the previous billing cycle. If you aren't, you are off the list. There are no repurcussions simply for being flagged, just a tick on your account. Here is where the confustion usually comes in. If you are a flagged customer, using a tower that is under heavy use, then your throughput will be limited enough to provide for reasonable throughput for other users of that tower. This is very different than arbitrary throttling of users as your data will only be slowed enough to let everyone on the tower have reasonable speeds, and that only happens if the tower is at capacity.

FWIW, I'm also holding onto my UDP as ling as I can on the two accounts I have it on.

redwood66 · Oct 30, 2014

Hey thanks for that info Unforgiven. That kinda makes sense because last billing cycle there were evenings that the speed was very slow (1.5mbps) on my phone because it is the one that has the most data use. But that sounds like throttling to me. I am not sure how much heavy use in northern Idaho can be though.... LOL

Unforgiven · Oct 30, 2014

I'm speculating here, but your broadband options are limited to Verizon Wireless, so I would guess many in your community are using it the way you are. Depending on what is on that particular evening (NFL free streaming on VZW) I can see bottlenecks.

redwood66 · Oct 30, 2014

Yes we are pretty limited but Sprint, AT&T and others are here and offer 4G. Problem with them is there are too many mountains around and everyone but Verizon sucks for actually getting cell service if you are not right in town.

Makes sense about the usage. Before our last two mega high usage billing periods I never saw a lag in speed even when we used 30-40 GBs. Thanks again!

redwood66 · Jan 15, 2015

Just trying to keep this info up to date. The other twin was home on leave at Christmas and we added another smart phone to our plan because he will now be stationed in the US. The ding dong at Verizon that added the one in Sept. for his brother said he needed his own $60 plan. Well that is not the case and we now have their 2 lines ($9.99+$30) with 2GB each added plus our 2 UL data that are all sharing our Loyalty Plan 550 mins. Total bill is about $260 per month. Data usage today with 7 days left is 196GB. Checked into how much a 100Gb plan is and its now $750 per month. Crazy....

AZgl1500 · Jan 15, 2015

I used to have the VZW UDP and at that time, I lived in metro Phoenix, AZ and my home had COX cable with 50 mBps service.

Understandably the home PCs used the cable connection, and the phone plan idled along at about 150 mB use per month.

Then we moved to rural Oklahoma. I had 5 lines of service, was getting ready to kill off two of them as the users had become leaches and were not taking care of me or the phones.

My daughter wanted to upgrade from a basic phone to a smartphone.
I agonized on how how to do that because I am retired on a small fixed income now.
Adding on a smartphone at $60 + $10/gB use was going to hurt...
so, I switched to the Family plan now called "Share Plan"
$60 service fee, plus $40/phone/per month for each additional phone.

My phone, wife, daughter and then along comes a niece who is abused by estranged husband... so we add a line for her and give her my old Galaxy S. At least that will be month to month until she can get a permanent job and pay her own way.

Even with 4 smart phones, we all share a 3 gB plan and have never exceeded that limit. All the phones switch to WiFi and that has been a life saver for me. The girls are careful to limit their MobileData usage to only necessary stuff when away from home or another WiFi connection. It works for us, and helps to keep the phone bill acceptable.

In today's technological environment, being w/o the internet is almost a crime.
____________________________________
Verizon Galaxy S5, KK 4.4.4, ART
MyPhoneExplorer saves your tailbone
Nova Prime, Textra, Blue Mail, Qi wireless equipped
MacroDroid senses Screen off, turns Wifi & Data OFF
MacroDroid senses Screen on, turns WiFi & Data ON

teddyearp · Jan 22, 2015

redwood66, it is because of you damn .5%'ers that the rest of us get kicked off UDP ASAP! You farking data hog you! Hahaha!

I kid. More power to ya actually. I lost my UDP when I went through BestBuy or something to upgrade to the Gnex from my Motorola Droid 1 (A855). I called right away to VZW CS, but they couldn't do anything about it. Once done, you cannot go back. I pray I never end up in a situation like you where I miss it.

I am a data hog I guess.... Should I be worried about the Verizon data police?

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