Verizon Tiered Data Plan. Please Read This Post

[anon(2632)]

Relevant parts from the customer agreement

On top of the above, We are required to carry a data plan on this phone. The will not let you use it without it. Therefore if they increase the price of the service for data that they "force" you to have on a phone they just had you sign a 2 year agreement on... that materially affects your plan...

Otherwise, they would have to basically give you the option of a "new" phone that doesn't require the data plans they just increased or let you out of the contract.

 

[AndroidXTC]

Changing your plans mid contract would be a breech of contract. That would void everyones contracts.

 

[AndroidXTC]

On top of the above, We are required to carry a data plan on this phone. The will not let you use it without it. Therefore if they increase the price of the service for data that they "force" you to have on a phone they just had you sign a 2 year agreement on... that materially affects your plan...

Otherwise, they would have to basically give you the option of a "new" phone that doesn't require the data plans they just increased or let you out of the contract.

Yes indeed.

 

[PJnc284]

Depends on what they change it to. It most likely wouldn't be "materially adverse" for most people. The small percentage of high data users who aren't violating any other terms of the contract may have a case.

 

[AndroidXTC]

Oh I guarantee if they do try a bait and switch like this would be there will be a class action lawsuit. Im in!

 

[AndroidXTC]

If this is true then I'm a knife's edge away from canceling the contract, selling the bolt and moving to Sprint. And mailing vzw a bag of dog poop.


Of course you were probably talking to the same geniuses that assured us the Bolt would be here the 14th of Feb.

All I will do is institute the NO PAY Verizon clause then.

 

[Mike_is_Mike]

Just called to confirm this. Spoke to Woody. He said its all BS, not in those words. He said the contract does cover the plan, and that those of us who have unlimited data locked in, in the contract, will have it, and they can't legally change that on us. Cheers

Until 5G becomes the norm that is........

 

[jeslevine]

Your assessment is correct

4) is most certainly wrong. They will either have to grandfather people, or let them out sans ETF, unless there's some serious screwing around going on.

They change the terms, I can get out without ETF. That is in the contract

 

[LESSbuttonPRESSED]

On top of the above, We are required to carry a data plan on this phone. The will not let you use it without it. Therefore if they increase the price of the service for data that they "force" you to have on a phone they just had you sign a 2 year agreement on... that materially affects your plan...

Otherwise, they would have to basically give you the option of a "new" phone that doesn't require the data plans they just increased or let you out of the contract.

i believe this is true. when i bought my TB i was not given a choice for other data plan other than the unlimited data. they pretty much stipulated that if i want the TB then i would have to get this data plan; therefore, this would have satisfied the transaction.

just imo.

 

[thisiscrazy]

Today I called Verizon to check up on the tiered pricing plan and when it will start and how it will affect those who buy a 4g phone before the rates go into affect.
This is what I was told.
1)Tiered pricing is scheduled to come out sometime in May.
2)If you buy a 4g phone prior to the tiered pricing plan you will have to choose a new data plan from the tiered pricing they have when it comes out. You will not be able to keep the exact data plan you have now for the same price you are paying today. Apparently they were giving people some time with the Thunderbolt to see how much data they are using and when the tiered pricing comes out you will have a better idea as to what type of pricing plan you want. Obviously if you have unlimited data for $30 and want to keep unlimited you can but it will cost more.
3)No grandfather clause. I read somewhere that you would be grandfathered in but he said no.
4)I asked how can they just change the cost structure of your plan when you have a contract and he said because your 2 year contract is for the phone not the plan as you can change your plan anytime you want within those two years. Kind of makes sense but I call foul anyway.

I asked this because although I did not buy the Thunderbolt I was waiting to see how the Bionic was when it came out and was going to buy that if it proved better then the Thunderbolt. I read how others were waiting like me and hoping the Bionic would come out before the tiered pricing thinking you would be grandfathered in before the tiered pricing came out. Now I am not sure if I even want a 4g phone.

Does your mommy and daddy know you are playing on their computer?

 

[PWC Realtor]

I could actually see Verizon pulling this:

Send out notice that plans are changing and that unlimited data is now say $40 or $50 a month.

Everyone has their legal notice and right to leave but think about this: How many people do you think would actually leave? Many people have multiple lines through Verizon and don't want or can't go to another carrier for many reasons (loyalty to brand, local coverage, all of their friends/family being on the same carrier, etc.).

Remember many people are die hard Verizon users and would never switch. They are willing to pay for their service for a variety of reasons including those listed above.

 

[scottstatn]

I specifically asked them this question about the tiered data plan when i got my bolt and was told it would be locked in.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

 

[FrankXS]

I could actually see Verizon pulling this:

Send out notice that plans are changing and that unlimited data is now say $40 or $50 a month.

Everyone has their legal notice and right to leave but think about this: How many people do you think would actually leave? Many people have multiple lines through Verizon and don't want or can't go to another carrier for many reasons (loyalty to brand, local coverage, all of their friends/family being on the same carrier, etc.).

Remember many people are die hard Verizon users and would never switch. They are willing to pay for their service for a variety of reasons including those listed above.

Yeah, I think I fall into the category you mentioned.

However, I think we all need to take a deep breath. My personal belief is that the standard data package will not change much in function or price for most of the people (maybe 90 percent?). Granted, it may adversely affect more of us here than the general population. However, I also believe it will save some people money - depending on the plan. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

I've looked at my data usage since getting the ThunderBolt. From March 17th till today I've used 0.755GB. With about a week to go to make it a month, I'll probably hit about 1-1.5GB at most. So... interesting.

My personal worst fear is not the standard data plan prices, it is the mobile hotspot prices added on top of that. I'll be interested to see what they have up their sleeve. Maybe the mobile hotspot will be free. Maybe they won't even care how you access the data, it'll just be X amount of $ for a 2GB plan and X amount for a 10GB plan. Tether, phone or Mobile Hotspot, your choice.

Bottom line... we're gonna need to know the details before we know if we should be happy or sad

Right now we are just worried. Maybe even unjustified. We'll see.

-Frank

 

[Effenhimer]

If they mess with my unlimited data for $30 before the end of my contract... After almost a decade as a STRONG VZW supporter, I will leave with my ETF... And they know it, NO way they will do as you say and play with those GF'ed in.

 

[Eclipse2K]

I could actually see Verizon pulling this:

Send out notice that plans are changing and that unlimited data is now say $40 or $50 a month.

Everyone has their legal notice and right to leave but think about this: How many people do you think would actually leave? Many people have multiple lines through Verizon and don't want or can't go to another carrier for many reasons (loyalty to brand, local coverage, all of their friends/family being on the same carrier, etc.).

Remember many people are die hard Verizon users and would never switch. They are willing to pay for their service for a variety of reasons including those listed above.

I fall into that category. I signed my father up for Verizon but he uses a standard phone so this won't affect him. All of my friends have switched to Verizon except for a select few so between my mobile to mobile minutes, Friends and Family, and nights and weekends, I'm only using about 54 minutes a month out of my 450 allowance. I've had both AT&T and T-Mobile and I could never go back to either (especially considering that T-Mobile is about done). Sprint in my area loses signal for no reason and never gets signal within the walls of a grocery store or superstore.

Oh well, Verizon has me because of their service. I'm used to paying more so if this does affect us, than I'll have to take the hit. On day 29 out of 31, I've used 0.604GB of Unlimited so that's not too bad. However, I'm always connected to Wi-Fi and never use 4G at the moment. I can see how this would sky rocket with the use of 4G rather than my home network. I'm sure I'll be able to have a plan either way that fits my needs, but every time a company pushes a change like this, it's always pushed on us as if it's a benefit. AT&T did this and acted as if 2 GB (I could be wrong) for $25 which was only $5 less than an unlimited plan. That is not a good deal for us because a lot of people will exceed this. And it'll only get worse as soon as Netflix hits. As if streaming SiriusXM, Pandora, and TuneIn Radio wasn't bad enough.

 

[awtenterprise]

I am at 3Gb with like 10 or so days to go. That's like 30 to 40 hours of iheartradio and Pandora, only 4G at home. I have stayed off my wifi on purpose. I figure I should hit 5 to 7 Gb a month. That's with no tethering. Mainly downloading free apps to check them out and a bunch of roms. Keeping up to date with kernel and rom updates and fixes seems to be a daily affair.

If they make me switch plans, I will cancel my contract, turn around and buy a bionic on whatever plan they offer. That way I will have 2 4G phones to play with.

AdamT.

 

[VideoEngineerAJS]

I agree we should just chill for right now. Everyone was freaking out about the data plans before the phone even came out and it ended up being for no reason.

With what is going on with the T-Mobile/AT&T merger there is no way Verizon will want to waive a ton of ETFs and risk losing customers.

Sent from my Thunderbolt

 

[bstmstrxellos]

Before Verizon can even think about switching to tiered data, they need to be able to get the my Verizon app to work on the thunderbolt. I think the whole reason that they gave us unlimited mobile hotspot till may is because they can't accurately measure whether the 4G data is being used for tethering or not.

Verizon is not going to force the tiered data on the thunderbolt users that already bought the phone. The thunderbolt is one of the most heavily subsided phone, and with the large amount of people that bought the phone, they are not going to give us a way out of contract eft free within the first couple of months cause they would stand to lose, not only a lot of potential revenue but also a loss on the unrecoop subside on the already sold Thunderbolts.

Sent from my Thunderbolt using Tapatalk

 

[paulmike3]

Wait -- people are talking to CSRs, believing what they say, and daring to post it on the Android Central ThunderBolt forums?

HAVE YOU GONE MAD, SIR??!

 

[VideoEngineerAJS]

Wait -- people are talking to CSRs, believing what they say, and daring to post it on the Android Central ThunderBolt forums?

HAVE YOU GONE MAD, SIR??!

Apparently. There is no other reasonable explanation.


Sent from my Thunderbolt