This is a heads up to S3 users and anyone on VZW who may have purchased a new handset that drove them from an unlimited plan to either shared everything or a tiered data plan... first this...
For three months, I fought with VZW because I took offense with their $30 Upgrade Fee for moving from a 3G service that I had for years to a 4G service. As I would be upgrading from two smartphones to four, I thought that the guaranteed revenue of over $6600 for two years should be enough and they didn't need an extra $120. It was a non-starter. I spent a couple of weeks negotiating and Loyalty was able to find a combination of credits and promos that would get me to a $110 credit over two billing cycles. It was good enough... I converted my Fascinate and DroidX to two S3s and changed two messaging phones to two iPhone 4s'.
First month billing included moving from two unlimited plans to two 2GB data plans and the addition of two 2GB plans. Of course, they screwed that up and charged me for a handset that I purchased directly via a credit card because they double my warranty on devices, etc. They applied 2/3 of the expected credits and then needed adjust another $200 and change the following month. The next month, they applied the expected credits then prorated the new data plans. This month, I am on the first full 2GB across the board and this is where things go south quickly.
First off, VZW never completely documented the Promos and credits and they fell short by $8 and tell me that there is no record of a total of $110 in credits although they see three $30 credits for three data months and owed me two months of line access ($9.99) credits. They got one (less taxes) and refused one due to no record of the exact value of each promo or credit. Strike One VZW. Next, on the current bill, I see an extra $20 plus taxes and find that VZW has billed me for a Data Overage on two lines. Next, I notice that the Data Usage indicated is over 1 GB per line. And this is where I see red. As all you ex-Unlimited data users know, you didn't manage when you used WiFi and when you used Wireless. You may have controlled that for a better experience via WiFi but you didn't do that for billing reasons. Next, you may now use WiFi to control potential data overages and you may use the built in Data Usage feature on your S3. I find that useful and it's pretty accurate +- a few percentage points. And this is where it gets ugly.....
Verizon is reporting on the My Mobile App an accurate representation of data usage compared to the S3 Data Usage feature. But on the bill, they are more than tripling my data usage for my entire phone, not taking into account that over 90% of my data usage is via WiFi. Again, tripling my entire months worth of data usage of my device irrespective of whether this is via Wifi or Wireless. Not only that, it's nearly four times my average usage since January 2012 even when I had an unlimited plan. They are now on month two of this nonsense.
So, I would warn you to watch your Data Usage function on your phone and align the measurement dates with your billing cycle, watch your usage and compare to My Verizon app, and then watch your past and present bills. Finally, make sure you use the USAGE UTILITY on the My Verizon web page and compare all four to eventual reality. I am going to be watching this like a hawk...
AGE
For three months, I fought with VZW because I took offense with their $30 Upgrade Fee for moving from a 3G service that I had for years to a 4G service. As I would be upgrading from two smartphones to four, I thought that the guaranteed revenue of over $6600 for two years should be enough and they didn't need an extra $120. It was a non-starter. I spent a couple of weeks negotiating and Loyalty was able to find a combination of credits and promos that would get me to a $110 credit over two billing cycles. It was good enough... I converted my Fascinate and DroidX to two S3s and changed two messaging phones to two iPhone 4s'.
First month billing included moving from two unlimited plans to two 2GB data plans and the addition of two 2GB plans. Of course, they screwed that up and charged me for a handset that I purchased directly via a credit card because they double my warranty on devices, etc. They applied 2/3 of the expected credits and then needed adjust another $200 and change the following month. The next month, they applied the expected credits then prorated the new data plans. This month, I am on the first full 2GB across the board and this is where things go south quickly.
First off, VZW never completely documented the Promos and credits and they fell short by $8 and tell me that there is no record of a total of $110 in credits although they see three $30 credits for three data months and owed me two months of line access ($9.99) credits. They got one (less taxes) and refused one due to no record of the exact value of each promo or credit. Strike One VZW. Next, on the current bill, I see an extra $20 plus taxes and find that VZW has billed me for a Data Overage on two lines. Next, I notice that the Data Usage indicated is over 1 GB per line. And this is where I see red. As all you ex-Unlimited data users know, you didn't manage when you used WiFi and when you used Wireless. You may have controlled that for a better experience via WiFi but you didn't do that for billing reasons. Next, you may now use WiFi to control potential data overages and you may use the built in Data Usage feature on your S3. I find that useful and it's pretty accurate +- a few percentage points. And this is where it gets ugly.....
Verizon is reporting on the My Mobile App an accurate representation of data usage compared to the S3 Data Usage feature. But on the bill, they are more than tripling my data usage for my entire phone, not taking into account that over 90% of my data usage is via WiFi. Again, tripling my entire months worth of data usage of my device irrespective of whether this is via Wifi or Wireless. Not only that, it's nearly four times my average usage since January 2012 even when I had an unlimited plan. They are now on month two of this nonsense.
So, I would warn you to watch your Data Usage function on your phone and align the measurement dates with your billing cycle, watch your usage and compare to My Verizon app, and then watch your past and present bills. Finally, make sure you use the USAGE UTILITY on the My Verizon web page and compare all four to eventual reality. I am going to be watching this like a hawk...
AGE