LTE Tiered Data To Begin July 7th

[sic0048]

You can't remove data. You can't active a smartphone on VZW without a data plan. That's why I think data is under contract. It cannot be removed.

As well, I cannot change phones either. My contract states I'm not eligible for equipment for two years.

VZW won't allow me to trade my Bolt for a feature phone. Not only that, all their phones now require a data plan. Even feature phones. They can't say that I must spent 200 dollars on a dumb phone at retail through VZW in order to drop my data plan.

You cannot buy another phone at less than retail price from Verizon during the two year contract, but you certainly can get a phone via another method (ie buy used, buy from Verizon at full retail, etc, etc) and switch the service to that phone. I've done it multiple times. How do you think these guys that try out a phone every couple of months do it?

If you break or loose your smart phone and have a dumb phone laying around the house, you may absolutely switch the service to that dumb phone and drop the data plan until you get another smart phone. Call Verizon, they will confirm. (However, now that unlimited data is going away you would never want to do this in the future because you would permanently loose the unlimited plan - I'm just saying it has been possible and will continue to be possible to do this).

 

[Lane]

With the introduction of tiered data packages rumored to come soon, I want to make sure that my TB is grandfathered to the unlimited package. I pushed my upgrade up for this very reason?

Is there any way to check? (Note: I tend to distrust VZN employees as I have found they often do not know what they are talking about)

I found this info 6/1/11 on DroidXforum.com. Dunno if it helps you, or any of us, but here it is:

5/20
I just called VZW. They said you would be grandfathered, but the woman with whom I spoke didn't inspire much confidence in her answers. She just kept repeating that they hadn't been trained in any new data plans. I point blank asked her if I can keep my unlimited data and she said yes, as long as you don't make plan changes.

This is congruent with how VZW has treated me for years. They have allowed me to renew my contract, get a new phone, and keep my old cheap promo plan that I was on when I had dumb phones. I suggest if you want a better answer, call VZW multiple times and ask multiple people. Then go to VZW store and ask them. At least you can average their answers together.

My gut tells me that we will be able to keep unlimited. I also asked the rep if I added a TB to my wife's line (she has a dumb phone) would that be a different data plan than the one I'm on since it's LTE. She said no, they would be the same data plans. So this idea of "locking in unlimited LTE" this week as P3 suggested doing, I'm not sure it's necessary. Still probing and asking questions though.
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5/20​

The question is when your two years are up and you sign a new contract to get a new phone, will they "extend" your unlimited data plan or force you to accept their new tiered plans. My experience with VZW has been they would let me extend plans.​

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5/20
I spoke to a verizon rep this morning who assured me that unlimited data plans would be grandfathered in and remain unchanged upon renewal of your contract, as long as you keep the same plan. This makes sense, as I'm sure Verizon is not looking to start hemorrhaging customers. Sprint is rapidly expanding, and significantly cheaper, so I'm sure Verizon is not planning to infuriate their customers in any way. A long time ago I had mobile web on a regular phone, and when Verizon raised their mobile web rates, I retained the original pricing for several years until purchasing a smartphone. Never fear!
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5/20/11 1:45 PM PDT I spoke to a Verizon employee about this and they said that for existing customers that have this plan, it will not be taken away. This will only go into effect for new customers.
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5/20/11 2:24 PM PDT If you already have the unlimited data pkg, you'll be grandfathered in
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5/23
I called Verizon concerning this & was told that if we already have unlimited we will be grandfathered into this new plan & our unlimited plans will not change.
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5/23
Considering that every $29.99 unlimited plan right now includes 3g/4g it would probably be safe to assume, that if u renew ur contract/not change to "new minutes" stuff that your plan would be locked in for LTE if u do get it in the future through a new phone, even if they restructure the data plans...Verizon is actually quite nice in they don't force plan changes upon existing customers that don't want to change plans, this has been my experience w/ verizon since 2004. u can upgrade phones freely w/ contract extensions, without change your plans.
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5/23
They would have to do the same thing AT&T did once they stopped giving unlimited data. The prior subscribed customers would get to keep the unlimited plan, and it would no longer be offered to new customers

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Current Devices: MB810, Droid X, Android 2.3.3 as of June 2 → Build GB 4.5.596
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[jikhead]

Hey guys, I just spoke with my brother who took his webinar training w/Verizon on the tiered data plan changes. He knew I was looking for wording about existing customers going from 3G to 4G. He confirmed with me that in his webinar, that it did specifically say that existing 3G customers that purchase a 4G phone AFTER July 7th, would still be grandfathered in on the unlimited data packages.

So no need to rush out on the 6th (like I was going to do) to purchase either the Thunderbolt, Revolution, or Charge. We can now wait on the Bionic.

I did ask him to send me a screenshot for proof to everyone on the boards, but he told me no because he's chicken S#%t and scared to do that kind of thing. So, we'll have to take my brother's street creds on this one.

He also wanted to tell me a data fact pointed out in his training: that said 96% of 3G customers use less than 2GB of data...and that 91% of 4G customers are using less than 2GB of data.

 

[mdram]

its all subject to change over time
be it july 8th, 2011, or feb 18 2099

sooner or later there will be no grandfathering

 

[Lars]

A voice signal needs 64kbps of bandwidth. A 3G data connection 1-2Mbps. A 4G 10-20Mbps. Can you see how expensive (for us) voice is over data? We would be better off with zero minutes and use voip.

 

[ekyle]

A voice signal needs 64kbps of bandwidth. A 3G data connection 1-2Mbps. A 4G 10-20Mbps. Can you see how expensive (for us) voice is over data? We would be better off with zero minutes and use voip.

If everyone did VoIP they'd find a different way to milk it.

 

[leerpsp]

Ok guys I just got off the phone with verizon and was told the 7th of next mouth that there unlimited data plans will be gone and it will be 30dallers for 30gig and 80dallers for 50gig yes they are doing it I know 1000% they are doing it and now we will not be tathering with are phones no more

 

[cr5315]

You won't be effected by this unless you change your data plan. Since you already have a data plan, you get to keep it.

 

[ekyle]

Ok guys I just got off the phone with verizon and was told the 7th of next mouth that there unlimited data plans will be gone and it will be 30dallers for 30gig and 80dallers for 50gig yes they are doing it I know 1000% they are doing it and now we will not be tathering with are phones no more

$30 for 30gb?

 

[jhcii]

Pardon me for a dumb question (and mods, feel free to move) but how do you know how much data you are using?

If I look at the My Verizon app on my Droid 2G it is telling me that, halfway through the billing cycle, I have used "118272.4 kb." That's 118 Gig! I don't stream anything. I hardly used maps. Some email and a few common apps that have ads, but I don't see how I could be using that much. Am I reading something wrong?

Nope that's 118 Megs or .118 gigs I thought the same as i'm at 835435 kb and was like boy am i screwed..... then figured it out that its only .8 gig can we say big sigh.....

 

[<<M>>]

Hey, so it seems pretty clear now that we can be on a 3G plan and then after the 7th we can still move freely to an unlimited 4G plan, HOWEVER, one thing that doesn't seem to have been touched on is: will the 4G phones' plan be at the same rate that we were grandfathered in while we had 3G, ($29.99/mo.)?

Nowhere have I seen anything that confirms the price will still be the same as the 3G plans now. And yes, I do know that right now the 3G and 4G plans are the same, and at the same rate, but after the 7th...

I'd like to hear confirmation that we can go to unlimited 4G and still be paying $29.99/mo.

 

[leerpsp]

i dont have the money to pay my bill this mouth and i have to some time and aug's and if i get it cut back on will i still have my unlimited play or will they make me go to that new data plan

let me know asap

 

[MissJennell]

Ok guys I just got off the phone with verizon and was told the 7th of next mouth that there unlimited data plans will be gone and it will be 30dallers for 30gig and 80dallers for 50gig yes they are doing it I know 1000% they are doing it and now we will not be tathering with are phones no more

It's 2GB for $30, 5GB for $50 and $10GB for $80.

 

[jikhead]

i dont have the money to pay my bill this mouth and i have to some time and aug's and if i get it cut back on will i still have my unlimited play or will they make me go to that new data plan

let me know asap

If I had to guess, you would probably have to get a tiered data plan...so I would advice against dropping your data plan. Actually, from what my brother told me (business rep), if you have a smartphone then you have to have a data plan. The billing system does not permit a smartphone without a data package and that if you were to remove it, the system would automatically stick it back on. So the only thing you'd be able to do is to lower your voice/text plan...and not touch your $30 unlimited data.

 

[leerpsp]

If I had to guess, you would probably have to get a tiered data plan...so I would advice against dropping your data plan. Actually, from what my brother told me (business rep), if you have a smartphone then you have to have a data plan. The billing system does not permit a smartphone without a data package and that if you were to remove it, the system would automatically stick it back on. So the only thing you'd be able to do is to lower your voice/text plan...and not touch your $30 unlimited data.

not what i was asking right now i have the unlimited data plan right now and i may not have the money to pay my phone tomarro if it gets cut off and i get it back on after the 7th will i still have my unlimited data plan or will they make me get the limited plan

(and one more thing if i have the 30 dallers a mouth data plan for 30gig if i go over do i pay over or do they slow me down.)

 

[jikhead]

Ah, I see. In that case, I would tend to think you're OK then. You're not changing or dropping any features...your services is just going to be suspended for non-payment. Once you pay your bill, it should be a matter of just changing a flag in the billing system from 'suspend' to 'active' and you should be good to go. Just make sure you don't go into collections and let it get cancelled. If you did, in that scenario you might could be forced to change your data package.

 

[leerpsp]

Ah, I see. In that case, I would tend to think you're OK then. You're not changing or dropping any features...your services is just going to be suspended for non-payment. Once you pay your bill, it should be a matter of just changing a flag in the billing system from 'suspend' to 'active' and you should be good to go. Just make sure you don't go into collections and let it get cancelled. If you did, in that scenario you might could be forced to change your data package.

how long does it take it to go into collections because i dont have the money to pay the full bill i can pay some of it till i can get the price of the bill down but how long can i go befor they do the collections

 

[jikhead]

When I used to work for Sprint, if your service was off for 3 straight months, you would go into collections. Should be similar if not the same. If you still made payments but your payments weren't enough to restore your services, it would still be that 3 straight month period. So, you need to get your services restored and account in good standing within a time period.