Are you rethinking your bolt contract now?

[azdmelani]

What about switching to a new phone without an upgrade... bought at full price. Say if I wanted to switch the TB to a Bionic in a few months. Does that affect the contract?

Nope.

It might affect the contract after the 24 months are up if you try to activate a new phone you get for full price. Verizon may implement a stop measure that will force you to pick a tiered data plan

 

[muska180#AC]

What about switching to a new phone without an upgrade... bought at full price. Say if I wanted to switch the TB to a Bionic in a few months. Does that affect the contract?

Nope does not affect the data plan since that phone is compatible with the data plan you will have with the TB. Verizon is not really worried about tracking down every possible scenario of how people can get around the tiered plans for a few years, 90 percent of people will just go with the flow and get whatever plan is available when they upgrade so VZ does not need to put in extensive efforts to ensure people switch.

 

[Forgetful]

that is the one truly perplexing thing in this whole conversation, on one hand they say summer but on the other they say what you highlighted. hopefully it does not mean what I fear, which is tiered launched with bolt and other 4G devices while 3G is allowed to remain at $30 unlimited til summer, than after that all both 4G and 3G will be tiered, after all the article did mention they attribute this move to the iphone did they not? this is what leads to my thinking that it may be for 4G phones only to "get that taste of it"

*holds breath hoping that I'm wrong*

Not unlimited with 4G would be pointless.
I'm guessing if there are tiers we'll see an unlimited for 45$, 2-5G for 30$, etc...
But I'm not getting the Bolt unless it comes with unlimited (or a really high data cap like 10G) for not a penny over 30$.


Check, Verizon your move.

 

[delynnie]

But what the heck does this comment mean?? It seems that there will be changes in data plans starting with the release of the Bolt?

* “As we progress down the LTE range and bring more devices to the table—we will be launching the HTC Thunderbolt very shortly here—that will give you a flavor of what our tiered pricing structure will look like going forward.”
* “LTE also gives us the capability to price very differently than we priced before. Not just on consumption, but also possibly on speed differentiation. So we are still working through those models. Don’t know if we will do something there yet, but wireless is still working through those and that will come out with the HTC launch.”

So do I need to activate a smartphone that I already have before I get
the TB so I will already be on a $30 unlimited smartphone data plan and
be grandfathered in or will they try to charge me the tiered pricing?
I have been grandfathered in to the National Premium plan for forever!
What does anyone think I should do?

 

[dt]

that is the one truly perplexing thing in this whole conversation, on one hand they say summer but on the other they say what you highlighted. hopefully it does not mean what I fear, which is tiered launched with bolt and other 4G devices while 3G is allowed to remain at $30 unlimited til summer, than after that all both 4G and 3G will be tiered, after all the article did mention they attribute this move to the iphone did they not? this is what leads to my thinking that it may be for 4G phones only to "get that taste of it"

*holds breath hoping that I'm wrong*

thats how i read it as... doesnt seem like they'll be offering unlimited LTE for 30 bux -.-... which would very likely turn me towards another phone... possibly AT&T

 

[Forgetful]

So do I need to activate a smartphone that I already have before I get
the TB so I will already be on a $30 unlimited data plan and be grandfathered
in or will they try to charge me the tiered pricing? I have been
grandfathered in to the National Premium plan for forever!
What does anyone think I should do?

If you activate a phone now on the 30$ unlimited that'll get you unlimited 3G, not the 4G plan the Bolt needs...

 

[muska180#AC]

So do I need to activate a smartphone that I already have before I get
the TB so I will already be on a $30 unlimited data plan and be grandfathered
in or will they try to charge me the tiered pricing? I have been
grandfathered in to the National Premium plan for forever!
What does anyone think I should do?

Nope that unfortunately would not help you. If they really wanted to get everyone to switch right off the bat with the TB, all they have to do is make a different plan in the system for 4G phones and current data plans would not be compatible. Which would result in people who get these new phones to have to get the new plan.

 

[delynnie]

Nope that unfortunately would not help you. If they really wanted to get everyone to switch right off the bat with the TB, all they have to do is make a different plan in the system for 4G phones and current data plans would not be compatible. Which would result in people who get these new phones to have to get the new plan.

That's kinda what I thought! I really didn't want to use that
awful Samsung Omina, but I would have if it would have
helped LOL!

 

[TBolt2011]

As long as it doesn't effect the Thunderbolt, I'm still buying it.

 

[zero neck]

I was going to get a 2 year plan on the bolt anyway, if i got it. Would still do the same (and feel slightly better about it).

 

[withravenoushunger]

They better have some good data plans. I don't want to spend $50/month and get 5gb. This is a stupid idea to begin with. Why pay more and get less? What am I supposed to do if I'm downloading a lot of games? That will be used up in a day or 2.

 

[jdport]

I don't understand how so many could say it doesn't affect their plans when no details have been released. It should at least make you THINK about it.... because if the tiering plans come out and they are just ridiculously priced .. unless you're made of money you're going to be forced to re-think things.

Maybe the tiered plans will be reasonable... if I can still get 2GB or so for $30 then I'd continue as planned... but I have no idea what they are going to come out with so clearly yes it affects my decision.

 

[jdport]

They better have some good data plans. I don't want to spend $50/month and get 5gb. This is a stupid idea to begin with. Why pay more and get less? What am I supposed to do if I'm downloading a lot of games? That will be used up in a day or 2.

Do all your downloading over wi-fi.. then you won't use your data.

 

[azdmelani]

I don't understand how so many could say it doesn't affect their plans when no details have been released. It should at least make you THINK about it.... because if the tiering plans come out and they are just ridiculously priced .. unless you're made of money you're going to be forced to re-think things.

Maybe the tiered plans will be reasonable... if I can still get 2GB or so for $30 then I'd continue as planned... but I have no idea what they are going to come out with so clearly yes it affects my decision.

If we are grandfathered in to the unlimited data for this contract with the tbolt my plans are not changing. I was planning on the 2Y contract anyway.

 

[azdmelani]

They better have some good data plans. I don't want to spend $50/month and get 5gb. This is a stupid idea to begin with. Why pay more and get less? What am I supposed to do if I'm downloading a lot of games? That will be used up in a day or 2.

As of right now the $50 is only for the non-moblie devices.

 

[experiment 626]

When the one-year pricing started to creep up to the $400 mark I knew I'd have to settle on a 2yr contract,which didn't bother me at all.

 

[Sploinkin]

I'm not thinking about the Thunderbolt at all until I KNOW when it is being released. It will be then that Verizon lets us know how much it will cost (2 year, 1 year, retail). It will be then that Verizon releases details on the data plan. It will only be then that I start to care about this phone again.

 

[Bats]

I don't understand how so many could say it doesn't affect their plans when no details have been released. It should at least make you THINK about it.... because if the tiering plans come out and they are just ridiculously priced .. unless you're made of money you're going to be forced to re-think things.

Maybe the tiered plans will be reasonable... if I can still get 2GB or so for $30 then I'd continue as planned... but I have no idea what they are going to come out with so clearly yes it affects my decision.

Likewise, about $40 will sit well with me.

 

[jdport]

If we are grandfathered in to the unlimited data for this contract with the tbolt my plans are not changing. I was planning on the 2Y contract anyway.

True.. if we are grandfathered in to the unlimited plan then it wouldn't affect anything. However, I saw two articles.. one saying tiered pricing was coming this summer and one saying that it was coming starting with the Thunderbolt.

Not sure which report to believe.. guess we won't know until Verizon actually confirms that the phone is available for sale.

 

[azdmelani]

True.. if we are grandfathered in to the unlimited plan then it wouldn't affect anything. However, I saw two articles.. one saying tiered pricing was coming this summer and one saying that it was coming starting with the Thunderbolt.

Not sure which report to believe.. guess we won't know until Verizon actually confirms that the phone is available for sale.

based on all the rumors i would believe this summer. Plus, we dont know, the tiers could actually end up helping those of us who dont watch movies etc on our phones and hog the bandwith