Verizon to End Grandfathered Unlimited Data Plans
androidcommunity.com
androidcommunity.com
Some years ago the ACCC clamped down on the use of the word "unlimited" in advertising ADSL services. They said it was misrepresentation to use the term unless you really could download all you want, there was no traffic shaping, no soft quota and no excess usage fees.
Basically, the "unlimited" moniker all but died overnight. But this is a Good Thing [tm]. It means you don't get shady practices where, for example, AT&T shapes traffic beyond 3GB/month for "unlimited" users.
Basically, in Australia you get what you pay for and you pay for what you get. I think this is an infinitely better system. With current bandwidth limits and technology in the US, mass availability of cheap (truly) unlimited cellular Internet access is simply not economically viable.
Data point: the UK IIRC defines "unlimited" as anything that covers 95% of the population. This led to, for example, a friend of mine getting his parents on Tiscali ADSL, downloading a couple of Ubuntu distros, getting classified as a "downloader" by the ISP and put on their shitty network. Those already on it had figured out the only way to download through BitTorrent and the like was to use port 80/443. So the Web had become unusable at peak times. And this qualified as "unlimited".
Unlimited plans are marketing tools in the US to retain customers. Both AT&T introduced them, removed them and grandfathered existing users. The whole point is to put up a barrier to customers leaving (as they'll lose their grandfathered plans). The sooner we end the charade the better.
Their response was that "as most people wont hit the limits, they can call it unlimited".
LTE is our anchor point for data share. So as you come through an upgrade cycle and you upgrade in the future, you will have to go onto a data share plan. And moving away from, if you will, the unlimited world and moving everyone into a tiered structure/data share type plan. [1]
I could see this not being such a bad thing if they let us pay for bandwidth to use however we want. As it is, there are different rates and minimum fees for different types of devices and how that data is used on each device (i.e. "hotspot" feature on phones). Allow me to connect the netbook that I rarely need to use on their network and subtract from my allowance.
1. http://www.droid-life.com/2012/05/16/verizon-cfo-unlimited-d...
Not in this universe. I'm pretty much convinced that cell phone companies are out to screw you as hard and as long as humanly possible.
Is there an option for a cheaper, low data tier? Last I checked, the cheapest option was the same price as the current unlimited data option, but with a cap.
It's a very solid regulated monopoly.
Name one thing you can do.
only answer is "exchange one $120/mo plan at company A to the same at company B"
Stop spreading lies
Stop being a dick.
so, no, changing operators is not an option. service and price is the very same.
Apple: profit margin 29%
Google: profit margin 27-28%
Who's screwing who?
Verizon Wireless FY 2011
http://www22.verizon.com/investor/app_resources/interactivea...
Segment operating income margin 26.4%
Segment EBITDA service margin 44.8%
Verizon Wireless 1Q 2012
http://www22.verizon.com/idc/groups/public/documents/adacct/...
Operating Income Margin 28.6%
Segment EBITDA Service Margin 46.3%
Interesting things I also learned from this report:
- Verizon wireless is 55% Verizon, 45% Vodafone
- $52 ARPU (average revenue per user per month)
http://ycharts.com/companies/VZ/profit_margin
According to Yahoo Finance it's profit margin is 2.6%
Still, I suppose Verizon is doing things adequately. Their throttling for heavy data users applies only when the tower is at capacity, and speeds return once the congestion is gone. (Compare this to AT&T, which artificially slows data speeds, even when capacity isn't an issue.) As for the plans, any way you slice it it's a worse deal to go from $30/mo for unlimited to $30/mo for 2GB. At least overages are billed at a sane rate ($10/GB seems appropriate to me, although I've only used 0.5GB this month with 4 days left in cycle).
I have one too, with unlimited data. It seems they are only killing the plans when people upgrade to new phones, which would give us some extra time before our next upgrade.
That said, I am interested in how much these shared plans will cost. I would be much more likely to buy a tablet with data capabilities if I could just include it in my regular plan (knowing verizon, probably with an extra 5-10 dollar per device fee). Otherwise, I would just get something with just wifi, which does limit the usefulness.
I know people who have signed up for these and been given heavily restricted handsets that won't allow tethering, won't allow web downloads or app store downloads over a certain size unless of wifi.
Plus they tend to be significantly slower than my 1GB/month account which costs less and I never use even 1/2 of.
Of course, there are many other variables involved, and obviously everyone has different usage patterns.
Especially as we get into next gen mobile speeds, where mobile could increasingly replace broadband, I can't see this changing. (And I'm not even convinced that pricing shouldn't push heavy usage towards wired infrastructure.)
Now... I guess Sprint?