Verizon 'significantly altering' unlimited data?

[Almeuit]

Oh wow so 100 GB is included according to that rep.

 

[Davidoo]

So here is a question. I went back and checked our bills to March and two of our lines were under 30GB each most months. My son's line was 155, 84, 149, 175 GB. Dammit. I have told him for months to keep it under 100. Would Verizon make us change all the lines? Just his? If we have to change all of them I am going to cancel his line and he can just deal with it. I hope that would be possible. Any thoughts?

According to this article posted today, VZW has already notified those affected. I guess you don't need to worry for now..... Verizon warns HUGE data users: Switch plans or else - Jul. 23, 2016

 

[redwood66]

Hey Almeuit can you post my chat email or does it have a problem?

 

[badkitties]

If it were multiple people on one tower sucking up that much bandwidth at the same time, you may have a valid point. With a group this small, only a small number of towers would be affected, and I doubt any of those would have more than one extreme user at a time. I'm willing to bet their network is robust enough that a tower can handle that kind of data use from one person without others noticing an impact.

Besides, what are you doing on a phone that would require massive speeds anyway? You can only do so much, and anything higher is just bragging rights. It's not like it'll make Facebook load any faster. Videos would, of course, but so what if the current bandwidth is letting you watch without pausing to buffer.

not to mention the fact that there are business accounts that are unlimited....

 

[badkitties]

for people who actually use 100gb per month,
what alternatives to they have? AT&T? T-Mobile?
Do those two actually offer unlimited data plan
that allow 100gb+ of usage?(at any speed)

 

[dpham00]

for people who actually use 100gb per month,
what alternatives to they have? AT&T? T-Mobile?
Do those two actually offer unlimited data plan
that allow 100gb+ of usage?(at any speed)

If speed isn't important then you can get the lowest tier Verizon plan with the safety net enabled... Unlimited data, albeit super slow, over your high speed allotment.

Att and tmobile may network optimize (de prioritize) you once you hit ~25gb on their unlimited data plans in high load situations, and you can not use non smartphone on those lines. Swapping sims won't work.

 

[Almeuit]

Hey Almeuit can you post my chat email or does it have a problem?

What's wrong? I see it. It isn't in a queue for approval so you should see it. Let me know.

 

[Almeuit]

for people who actually use 100gb per month,
what alternatives to they have? AT&T? T-Mobile?
Do those two actually offer unlimited data plan
that allow 100gb+ of usage?(at any speed)

For phone data? Yes. For tether? Not either of these.

 

[redwood66]

I see it now. Thanks!

 

[badkitties]

If speed isn't important then you can get the lowest tier Verizon plan with the safety net enabled... Unlimited data, albeit super slow, over your high speed allotment.

Att and tmobile may network optimize (de prioritize) you once you hit ~25gb on their unlimited data plans in high load situations, and you can not use non smartphone on those lines. Swapping sims won't work.

how slow is the "super slow" data supposed to be on Verizon? 256kbps, 128kbps... or dare I say, 56kbps?(dial-up modem speed? )

 

[UDPGuy]

I call BS on that. If this person is using my tower, or a couple like him using 100s of times more data than everyone else, you don't think that is going to bog down that tower???? I can't even fathom how you could use that data (3/4 of a TB) in a month.

Unlimited data holders are less than 1℅ of users. If it was 99℅ then yeah maybe. But no, you won't notice the 1%. It'd be like having 1000 people on one tower and kicking 10 people off. Yes it technically would 'ease congestion' but not enough you would notice. Not even enough you'd probably be able to measure without extremely expensive and specific tools.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[dpham00]

how slow is the "super slow" data supposed to be on Verizon? 256kbps, 128kbps... or dare I say, 56kbps?(dial-up modem speed? )

128kbps.

 

[Ry]

Has it been confirmed that's it's only out of contract lines that would trigger this?

Posted via the Android Central App on the Moto X Pure Edition

 

[Almeuit]

Has it been confirmed that's it's only out of contract lines that would trigger this?

Posted via the Android Central App on the Moto X Pure Edition

Yeah. The won't touch contract lines. They'll just wait till they expire.

 

[UDPGuy]

Yeah. The won't touch contract lines. They'll just wait till they expire.

So, keep those lines in contract!

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[badkitties]

So, keep those lines in contract!

Posted via the Android Central App

How?

 

[yeahizme]

How?

You can always upgrade using the 2year option and that'll keep you in contract

 

[Aquila]

This doesn't surprise me even though I have unlimited data yet. I've always looked at unlimited like an all you can eat buffet where they reserve the right to limit or cut you off if they feel you're consuming too much and possibly having an impact on what may be available for others or if they feel you're cutting into the profit margin too much (these are businesses after all, not charities). Overall, I think there's an expectation of reasonable use here whether it be a wireless carrier, wired (ex. cable, DSL, etc.) or a food buffet. So just because it says "all you can eat" (or unlimited) doesn't necessary mean you can or should consume as much as possible without consequence.

This^^

As impractical as it might be, what would stop someone from using an unlimited plan to power a jetpack that everyone in their neighborhood connects to, either directly or via extenders or even via proxy? How many people should be able to use one LTE connection at once? a 3 TB user is averaging 4GB per data per hour, 24 hours a day, for an entire month. Assuming they're actually only awake 18 hours per day, it's actually more like averaging 5.5GB per hour, every waking hour, all day long, all month long. So what are you doing that requires 100 GB per day of data? Do you consider that to be "normal" usage? Remember, you're using more in a day than the average consumer uses in 3 years. Still normal? Still think that should cost the same as the person who uses your daily amount of data over the course of 3 years? Verizon does make plans for people who have extremely abnormal data. I don't think 100 GB of data per month is unreasonable, I have friends that do more than that and it is what it is. But using a TB or more per month means you're doing something other than just using your phone like a normal user. You're paying $30 per month for service that Verizon would normally charge over $40,000 per month on. That seems normal?

Verizon charges $450 per month for the 100 GB plan. They're basically saying here, "hey, you have unlimited, it's $30 - that extra $420 we're not getting per month is cost of doing business; you have a great deal. Anything you want, up to that $450, have at it and well done". But it seems like they don't want to give away $40000 of data per month under the same principle. And I can't say I blame them much, because they're essentially gifting $5000 per year to the vast majority of unlimited users, who can use anything they want from 0 to 100 GB and it's all the same price. But giving away half a million a year? $480,000 worth of free data? I'd say that's a totally different conversation that needs to happen. Yes they said unlimited, good on you - you took advantage. But there's is no way in hell that it is possible to use $480,000 worth of data by just trolling around on your smartphone during your breaks at work and while relaxing. That just doesn't happen.

 

[dpham00]

Here's my problem - it is fine that they say unlimited up to xxx gb. But they didn't give a discrete cutoff.

Secondly these users have been doing it for years, and they cut them off of unlimited data without giving them a chance to change? That isn't right, imo. Now if they sent out a notice saying hey, you need to keep it below xxx gb, or we would cancel you on the next billing cycle then that would be fine.

 

[Aquila]

Here's my problem - it is fine that they say unlimited up to xxx gb. But they didn't give a discrete cutoff.

Secondly these users have been doing it for years, and they cut them off of unlimited data without giving them a chance to change? That isn't right, imo. Now if they sent out a notice saying hey, you need to keep it below xxx gb, or we would cancel you on the next billing cycle then that would be fine.

You're 100% right. They should be explicitly clear on what the limit is and give people time to get within compliance. 90 days would be sufficient to allow people to adjust.