What now?

[Hand_O_Death]

CloeHokie, Thank you very much for the update.

To confirm, please correct me if I am wrong. Grandfathering WILL work if you get a data plan (3G or 4G) BEFORE 7/7/11. If you update your contract (I.E. buy a new phone with a contract update) AFTER 7/6/11, You will be roped into a Tiered data plan. The plans start at $30 a month (what people are paying now) for 2 GB a month. So to save money, it would be smarter to buy a Charge now instead of waiting for something like the Bionic which will cost you more monthly.

As for the people buying the Charge at Costco with the hopes of trading it in before 90 days. That will work for the cost of the phone, but IF you buy the Charge at Costco and return it in like 60 days for a Bionic, you will still be getting stuck in the tiered data pricing then since Costco can not dictate Verizon's pay scale.

 

[ShiZero]

Do you need a Costco memebrship to shop at Costco Mobile?

In store, yes. You buy the phone at the Wireless kiosk and pay for it up from at the cashier, whom will check your card prior to ringing it. Online, not sure as I haven't tried.

To confirm, please correct me if I am wrong. Grandfathering WILL work if you get a data plan (3G or 4G) BEFORE 7/7/11. If you update your contract (I.E. buy a new phone with a contract update) AFTER 7/6/11, You will be roped into a Tiered data plan. The plans start at $30 a month (what people are paying now) for 2 GB a month. So to save money, it would be smarter to buy a Charge now instead of waiting for something like the Bionic which will cost you more monthly.

I think they leaked a picture where it said Existing customers would be able to keep their Unlimited data plan so long as they keep upgrading to a smartphone (read: if you have a smartphone on your line, upgrade/activate to a flip phone, you lose the data plan and if you decide to go with another smartphone your data plan will be tiered). Now if this policy is actually true and whether or not there are fine prints somewhere we don't know.

 

[CloeHokie]

CloeHokie, Thank you very much for the update.

To confirm, please correct me if I am wrong. Grandfathering WILL work if you get a data plan (3G or 4G) BEFORE 7/7/11. If you update your contract (I.E. buy a new phone with a contract update) AFTER 7/6/11, You will be roped into a Tiered data plan. The plans start at $30 a month (what people are paying now) for 2 GB a month. So to save money, it would be smarter to buy a Charge now instead of waiting for something like the Bionic which will cost you more monthly.

As for the people buying the Charge at Costco with the hopes of trading it in before 90 days. That will work for the cost of the phone, but IF you buy the Charge at Costco and return it in like 60 days for a Bionic, you will still be getting stuck in the tiered data pricing then since Costco can not dictate Verizon's pay scale.

You are correct. As long as you get it before 7/7 you will be grandfathered in. It would still be 30 a month but its nice to have unlimited instead of 2GBs. All smartphones will be able to keep as long as they stay on smartphones.

And as for Costco, that would only work if you buy the phone at full retail price IMO. VZW only gives you 14 days and Costco would have to go with them on upgrades or contract pricing.

 

[Oxn]

You are correct. As long as you get it before 7/7 you will be grandfathered in. It would still be 30 a month but its nice to have unlimited instead of 2GBs. All smartphones will be able to keep as long as they stay on smartphones.

And as for Costco, that would only work if you buy the phone at full retail price IMO. VZW only gives you 14 days and Costco would have to go with them on upgrades or contract pricing.

Hey CloeHokie, can you tell me how you are instructed to tell your customers that this new plan is for the better of the consumer?

 

[MagicMountainMan]

Why would you get stuck with the new pricing scale if you returned the phone to costco? You're still in the same contract, it doesn't change when you exchange phones. At least I don't think it does...

 

[Cvballa3g0]

I just need some REAL HARD LEGIT confirmation that if you have a 3G phone w/ unlim before 7/7, you'd be able to stay with unlim forever even if you upgrade to a 4G phone.

If it's true, my friend has a almost broken OG Droid that is still functionable and i might just buy that from him for like 20 bucks so I'd be locked into unlim data. And I'll be able to get the Droid Bionic after all =]

 

[CloeHokie]

Hey CloeHokie, can you tell me how you are instructed to tell your customers that this new plan is for the better of the consumer?

Ugh. Its a joke. It gives them more options and that most people use less than 2GBs. And with all the wifi options a lot of data is not needed. Its almost as funny as when they got rid of annual upgrades. We are simplifying the process for the customer. Lmao. A lot of customers will be in stores angry and the big wigs that made the change are not the ones that have to deal with it.

 

[Hosehead]

From Droid-Life

 

[Oxn]

I just need some REAL HARD LEGIT confirmation that if you have a 3G phone w/ unlim before 7/7, you'd be able to stay with unlim forever even if you upgrade to a 4G phone.

If it's true, my friend has a almost broken OG Droid that is still functionable and i might just buy that from him for like 20 bucks so I'd be locked into unlim data. And I'll be able to get the Droid Bionic after all =]

Well you better hope that almost broken Droid will last you 20months.

Or can you signup for data without renewing? i dunno

 

[Oxn]

Ugh. Its a joke. It gives them more options and that most people use less than 2GBs. And with all the wifi options a lot of data is not needed. Its almost as funny as when they got rid of annual upgrades. We are simplifying the process for the customer. Lmao. A lot of customers will be in stores angry and the big wigs that made the change are not the ones that have to deal with it.

haha first they REMOVE annual upgrades to simplify, then they ADD more data plans to give more options.

This is rich.

 

[CloeHokie]

I just need some REAL HARD LEGIT confirmation that if you have a 3G phone w/ unlim before 7/7, you'd be able to stay with unlim forever even if you upgrade to a 4G phone.

If it's true, my friend has a almost broken OG Droid that is still functionable and i might just buy that from him for like 20 bucks so I'd be locked into unlim data. And I'll be able to get the Droid Bionic after all =]

See below. As of now the 3g and 4g unlimited plans are the same code.

From Droid-Life

haha first they REMOVE annual upgrades to simplify, then they ADD more data plans to give more options.

This is rich.

Pretty much. Lmao

 

[ShiZero]

You just WAIT until they start locking you from using WiFi on your phone just as they're doing with tethering. You just wait.

 

[Cvballa3g0]

Well you better hope that almost broken Droid will last you 20months.

Or can you signup for data without renewing? i dunno

Well, im just getting the data plan, not getting a new phone from verizon. I'd still have my upgrade.

 

[XDCX]

I just need some REAL HARD LEGIT confirmation that if you have a 3G phone w/ unlim before 7/7, you'd be able to stay with unlim forever even if you upgrade to a 4G phone.

If it's true, my friend has a almost broken OG Droid that is still functionable and i might just buy that from him for like 20 bucks so I'd be locked into unlim data. And I'll be able to get the Droid Bionic after all =]

I've been thinking about doing the same thing - just buying a cheap Droid X off of Ebay to lock in Unlimited Data.

Well, im just getting the data plan, not getting a new phone from verizon. I'd still have my upgrade.

I agree - I'd just be doing a month to month contract and would be eligible for an immediate upgrade. If the Bionic turns out to be a dud and the Nexus 4G ends up at AT&T then I'd cancel my service and switch to AT&T.

 

[Issemann]

That's what made me change my mind and decide that there was no way Verizon would launch the Bionic right before tiered hit, which is why I went ahead and bought the Charge with no regrets or fear of the Bionic being announced right after.

Make sense to anyone else?

You make a good point, but aren't you contradicting yourself? If Verizon can change data plans without affecting your contract, then why buy a Charge before July 7th? Based on your comments above, Verizon can switch you (and your brand new Charge) to tiered data on the 7th, no? If so, then you just got locked into a 2 yr contract with a crappy data plan.

 

[mc21]

You make a good point, but aren't you contradicting yourself? If Verizon can change data plans without affecting your contract, then why buy a Charge before July 7th? Based on your comments above, Verizon can switch you (and your brand new Charge) to tiered data on the 7th, no? If so, then you just got locked into a 2 yr contract with a crappy data plan.

if verizon switches data plans on you you can walk out without any etf

 

[ShiZero]

if verizon switches data plans on you you can walk out without any etf

And they would probably go under due to the number of lawsuits it would incur. If they want to get you, it can't be in the middle of your term or they're in serious trouble.

I wouldn't call the Charge crappy by any means. We did what we had to do with the information we had at the time. I know I'll be returning the Charge, but it has little to do with the Tiered Data plans and more to do with it just not solving the one problem I wanted it to solve.

 

[Hand_O_Death]

You know IF they would just introduce a 1 GB model for $15 or $20 they would AT LEAST have a leg to stand on with this set up. Other than that it is just gouging

Personally, I think I will have my mother in law added to my account (She has a prepaid VZW flip phone) and since she will be paying $30 anyways, I will get the Charge on 7/5 and wait for the Bionic to come out and add her and then have her get the Bionic Annnnnnnd steal it.

Unless you guys think the Revolution or Thunderbolt is better.

 

[Issemann]

Unless you guys think the Revolution or Thunderbolt is better.

I spent about 10 mins with each of the LTE phones. Personally, I thought the TB was too big and the display was awful. The Charge looked the best, but it was soooo slow. The Revolution felt the best in my hand and was quite snappy, but the colors were washed out - especially compared to the Charge.

Bottom line, I didn't like any of them enough to use my upgrade on and decided to wait a bit longer for something better (I.e. the Bionic or Galaxy S2).

 

[Hand_O_Death]

I spent about 10 mins with each of the LTE phones. Personally, I thought the TB was too big and the display was awful. The Charge looked the best, but it was soooo slow. The Revolution felt the best in my hand and was quite snappy, but the colors were washed out - especially compared to the Charge.

Bottom line, I didn't like any of them enough to use my upgrade on and decided to wait a bit longer for something better (I.e. the Bionic or Galaxy S2).

Thank you for your input. That is something to consider. Rev is quicker Charge has a better screen.