wife's ex-wife wants to buy Note to at full retail price... does Verizon guarantee unlimited data?

[signaltwins]

wife's ex-wife wants to buy Note to at full retail price... does Verizon guarantee unlimited data forever?
(as long as she pays her monthly bills on time and doesn't make changes to the existing unlimited data
plan on the account?)

 

[tx_tuff]

wife's ex-wife wants to buy Note to at full retail price... does Verizon guarantee unlimited data forever?
(as long as she pays her monthly bills on time and doesn't make changes to the existing unlimited data
plan on the account?)

Little confused by wife's ex-wife thing but that doesn't matter LOL. Verizon doesn't guarantee unlimited data, but at the time yes you keep it as long as you don't renew the contract. So if she buys a phone out right without contract then it will not affect her unlimited data. Like I said at this time.

 

[phantomog]

does Verizon guarantee unlimited data forever?

as I understand it, No. I personally would not take the risk of paying full retail to keep unlimited data since there are no guarantees that you will keep unlimited (forever). Thankfully I have a 3 line plan where I only need data on 2 lines (3rd line is a dumbphone that is actually used as a dumbphone). Using the loophole I'm able to keep unlimited on my smartphone lines AND get subsidized pricing.

 

[signaltwins]

Little confused by wife's ex-wife thing but that doesn't matter LOL. Verizon doesn't guarantee unlimited data, but at the time yes you keep it as long as you don't renew the contract. So if she buys a phone out right without contract then it will not affect her unlimited data. Like I said at this time.

am I correct in assuming that there is no protection for the customers? for example, can Verizon decide to discontinue all unlimited data plans,
several months after you buy a Note 2 at full retail price?

 

[tx_tuff]

am I correct in assuming that there is no protection for the customers? for example, can Verizon decide to discontinue all unlimited data plans,
several months after you buy a Note 2 at full retail price?

Yes you are correct, as far as I know anyway.

 

[ToddL]

Little confused by wife's ex-wife thing but that doesn't matter LOL.

Anyone else open this thread only because of the intriguing nature of the subject line? Or is it just me?

 

[nestafaria]

Anyone else open this thread only because of the intriguing nature of the subject line? Or is it just me?

Not just you

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Android Central Forums

 

[Laineyc]

Anyone else open this thread only because of the intriguing nature of the subject line? Or is it just me?

Definitely not just you

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Xparent Pink Tapatalk 2

 

[RoyEP3]

I bought a Note 2 at retail price and have kept my unlimited data. I have no worries of it going away anytime soon.

 

[zhelf]

there are no guarantees for unlimited data once your contract is up the obligation is gone verizon's obligation to provide you with the predetermined service at the set price is now null as of now people have been able to keep it but there is no guarantee by verizon or are they legally obligated to do so. So realistically they could take away all unlimited data for those out of contract if they see fit but you would be hard pressed to do anything of consequence about it sure you can leave the carrier but if you have good coverage with sprint or tmobile in your area id suggest leave anyway and save some money. unfortunately in my area if you want strong dependable service att or vzw are your choices you can get service with the other two but it can be spotty at times and leave you aggrivated. So you can say it sucks that you just bought an off contract device and lose your data but there are no guarantees thats why it is off contract.

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

Long story short, once your two-year contract is up, you're essentially going month-to-month. In theory, Verizon *could* at any time, drop your service as just easily as you could drop them, since their is no long-term contract on either side. They have not publicly announced any plans to do so, but you should know going in that it is a possibility.

Up until now, I've never know them to do this, and frankly, I think what will eventually happen is rather than actually force existing grandfathered unlimited customers to change plans or cancel their accounts, they'll instead "freeze" the accounts and stop allowing customers to activate new phones on older unlimited plans, which will force many to eventually upgrade or switch.

Back before the smart phone days, they used to do this all time...you'd go to buy a new phone with new features (i.e. a camera) and they'd say, "well, that phone isn't compatible with your current plan...so you'll either have to upgrade to our new America's Choice plan or keep using that old piece of junk you already have"

 

[TabGuy]

This is a pretty simple decision to make. It's all in the numbers.

Go look at how much data your wife used per month in the past. Unfortunately, Verizon only lets you see the last 3 months. But if you've kept your bills it can be easy.

Then find out what it costs to get a plan that covers the maximum amount of data she uses. Find out what the difference in cost per month from your existing plan to this new plan. Divide that number into the difference in cost between the full priced phone and the subsidized phone. Then you'll know how long it would take to break even. If it's 6 months or less then I'd go for the full priced phone as there's not much risk there. But if it's 12-24 months then just renew the contract at the new plan price.

My wife got a 4 gig plan a year ago. She was worried that it wouldn't be enough, it was her first smart phone. However, as it turns out, she uses less than 1 gig per month.

Aside: Did you know that Verizon offers many free wifi hotspots around the country? That's another way to mitigate the data issue.

 

[anon(394005)]

I posted this in the Verizon area of the forum back in January (in particular see the bolded text at the end):

I recently came across this Cnet article discussing the issue. They make some interesting/good points: Could Verizon nix unlimited data for everyone? | Mobile - CNET News

Excerpt:

I reached out to consumer rights attorney Michael Aschenbrener, of Aschenbrener Law regarding your question to get a legal perspective. Aschenbrener explained that Verizon Wireless is under no obligation to continue offering you an unlimited data plan. Verizon and all other carriers can refuse to continue providing service of any kind to any customer once that customer is paying his bill on a month-to-month basis, he said. You have to remember that when you forgo the subsidy, you are no longer in a contract for service with Verizon.

This means Verizon can change the terms at any time. Of course, this also means that you can cancel your service at any time and not pay an early termination fee.

But what I didn't realize and what you likely don't realize yourself is that even if you have a contract with Verizon, the terms could still be modified. Aschenbrener explained that according to the terms of carrier wireless contracts, operators include a clause that allows them to modify the terms whenever they want. The only upside for the consumer is that if the carrier changes the contract, you can get out of the contract without paying an early termination fee. The catch is that you have to pay close attention to these changes.

What this means is that Verizon could change its policy at any time and simply get rid of its unlimited data plan. So whether you buy your new phone or even if you were still within the two-year contract period, Verizon could get rid of this pricing plan and force all customers into a tiered offering.

The question is whether Verizon will actually do this. That is a tough question to answer. It's clear that Verizon's executives don't want customers on the unlimited plan any longer. In fact, the company's Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo has said on multiple occasions that the company is better off if all customers are on tiered offerings.

So far it looks like the policies that Verizon has in place to encourage (well, more like strong-arm) subscribers to abandon their unlimited data plans is working. Shammo said at an investor conference in September that Verizon has seen people coming off the unlimited data plan to subscribe to the Share plans. And on the company's third-quarter earnings call, he said that more customers than expected have been shifting to the Share Everything plans. And he also noted that the company has not seen a surge of unlimited subscribers paying full price to keep their data plans.

"Most devices sold during the quarter had a subsidy," he said. "But we saw some smartphone customers buying phones at full price."

This is good news for customers who really want to keep their unlimited data plans. Why? The way I see it, Verizon may feel like it can afford to appease a small minority of customers willing to pay full price for a smartphone to keep the unlimited data plan. Even though Verizon can change its pricing policy at any time, it may not want to risk the bad publicity from doing so. And why should they bother if most people are switching to the tiered offerings anyway?

 

[Raptor]

Definitely not just you

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Xparent Pink Tapatalk 2

Hey, at least he didn't say "my brothers ex gerbil" ...

Brian

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

 

[jweimn]

I don't think Verizon will fully take away unlimited until att makes a move to move all of their unlimited data customers off as of right now art let's you keep it on an upgrade.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Casey Cheung]

What's what the outcome of the wife's ex wife? Inquiring minds want to know, haha!

Yes, I too paid $699.99 full smacks plus tax for my Verizon Samsung Note 2 in order to keep my (grandfathered) unlimited data plan.

Last month I blew through 23 GB of data. If I had to pay overage fees on a shared plan, what would that come out to? Hmmm, don't want to know, haha!

Casey

 

[signaltwins]

What's what the outcome of the wife's ex wife? Inquiring minds want to know, haha!

Yes, I too paid $699.99 full smacks plus tax for my Verizon Samsung Note 2 in order to keep my (grandfathered) unlimited data plan.

Last month I blew through 23 GB of data. If I had to pay overage fees on a shared plan, what would that come out to? Hmmm, don't want to know, haha!

Casey

She bought it full retail at the Verizon corporate store. Probably a wise decision, since her monthly data usage hovers around 100GB.(more or less)
Without the unlimited data plane, it will probably cost $1000 a month! Much cheaper to just pay $699 for the Note 2.

For those who were wondering... it's not really my wife's ex-wife, not legally speaking. They were only in a civil union.
I converted her and married her three years ago. (but they are still best friends, so I don't really care)

 

[Casey Cheung]

She bought it full retail at the Verizon corporate store. Probably a wise decision, since her monthly data usage hovers around 100GB.(more or less)
Without the unlimited data plane, it will probably cost $1000 a month! Much cheaper to just pay $699 for the Note 2.

For those who were wondering... it's not really my wife's ex-wife, not legally speaking. They were only in a civil union.
I converted her and married her three years ago. (but they are still best friends, so I don't really care)

She blows through 100GB per month?!? Wow!! I'm impressed. She must be wirelessly tethering to 10 different devices simultaneously 24 hours a day, hyuck hyuck.

As for relationship status, I thought I had complicated relationships, haha!

Casey

 

[1812dave]

She blows through 100GB per month?!? Wow!! I'm impressed. She must be wirelessly tethering to 10 different devices simultaneously 24 hours a day, hyuck hyuck.

As for relationship status, I thought I had complicated relationships, haha!

Casey

Yeah, that's quite a bit of data. I haven't yet broken 12GB /month.

 

[signaltwins]

She blows through 100GB per month?!? Wow!! I'm impressed. She must be wirelessly tethering to 10 different devices simultaneously 24 hours a day, hyuck hyuck.

she doesn't have access to "real" broadband at her house....
DSL is less than 1mbps... cable internet is even slower.
(both cost $79/month in that county)

compared to the 20mbps speed that she gets on her Verizon smartphone hotspot.

guess which one she uses 24/7?