A month ago I had two VZW Unlimited Data plans. My wife and I were both using Galaxy Nexus handsets and have been enjoying these plans for years. We didn't have unlimited minutes, but shared a family plan of 2000 minutes with a couple of other basic phone users. Our bill was around $220/month and we had been paying for this so long and had it built into our budget that we just never thought twice about it. We got about $30/month from each of the basic phone users so we were paying about $80/month for each of us to have more minutes than we needed and unlimited data.
Our GNexes were quickly reaching the end of their lives.
I had been waiting for the Moto X to be announced and had planned on purchasing two at full retail to keep our unlimited data. But then they were announced and my taste soured for MANY reasons. The Moto Maker exclusivity, the late launch on VZW, the lack of a developer edition (I know it was released today), and all the VZW bloat. All of a sudden, I was able to open my eyes and start thinking about other options.
We were both due for upgrades, but didn't want to use them because we were so afraid to lose unlimited data. After researching our accounts, it was obvious my wife would rarely if ever use 2GB. She had only gone over 1.5GB one time and didn't quite get to two. I had used over 2GB half a dozen or so times, and only eclipsed 3GB one time (watched a lot of Plex on 4G that month).
It also became clear that the other basic phone users on our account were ready to upgrade to smartphones. After some talking to other family members (parents, parents-in-law) that were paying way to much for their own VZW family accounts, it became clear that no one really wanted to manage their own accounts and would be thrilled to team up on a Share Everything plan and let me do all the management.
So we've given up our Unlimited Data plans. I now manage a Share Everything plan with 8 users, all with smartphones. We pay $320/month for the device access, and share 16GB of data at $130/month ($104/month after 20% employer discount on data). I haven't received our first bill yet with this setup, but I imagine taxes and surcharges will come in somewhere around the $8/month per device mark. So add on another $70 or so for a total of $494/month. That's $61.75/person. For unlimited talk, text, and as much data as we'll ever need. Four of our users are aging parents who would be lucky to ever use 1GB of data.
Best part is, these aging parents don't really care or need the newest of devices, so they were happy to start out with our previous Android handsets (a Bionic, a DInc2, and a couple GNexii) considering they didn't have to buy phones to upgrade. This gives the rest of us plenty of upgrades to play around with over the next couple of years.
So are we on contracts? Yep. Do we technically have a data cap? Yep. Will we ever reach it? Very unlikely. What if we do? I add on another 2GB of data. $112/month for 18GB would increase our total per person to $62.75/person.
I would like to point out, this is LOWER per person than an individual T Mobile plan for 2.5GB of "unlimited" data ($60/month before taxes and surcharges), plus we get to stay on the best network in the country and continue to get our devices subsidized.
I realize these circumstances worked out for us very well, and not everyone knows enough trustworthy people to pull something like this off. But if you can, a Big Red Share Everything plan is just as affordable as the budget carrier and as we all know, twice the network coverage and reliability.
Next step - return my HTC One I've been playing with for the past week, and try to live off an N7 LTE instead. $10/month access instead of $40. My bill just got even lower.
Sorry for the long post. I really wanted to share this experience with the community and see if anyone sees any flaws/potential dangers in my plan.
Our GNexes were quickly reaching the end of their lives.
I had been waiting for the Moto X to be announced and had planned on purchasing two at full retail to keep our unlimited data. But then they were announced and my taste soured for MANY reasons. The Moto Maker exclusivity, the late launch on VZW, the lack of a developer edition (I know it was released today), and all the VZW bloat. All of a sudden, I was able to open my eyes and start thinking about other options.
We were both due for upgrades, but didn't want to use them because we were so afraid to lose unlimited data. After researching our accounts, it was obvious my wife would rarely if ever use 2GB. She had only gone over 1.5GB one time and didn't quite get to two. I had used over 2GB half a dozen or so times, and only eclipsed 3GB one time (watched a lot of Plex on 4G that month).
It also became clear that the other basic phone users on our account were ready to upgrade to smartphones. After some talking to other family members (parents, parents-in-law) that were paying way to much for their own VZW family accounts, it became clear that no one really wanted to manage their own accounts and would be thrilled to team up on a Share Everything plan and let me do all the management.
So we've given up our Unlimited Data plans. I now manage a Share Everything plan with 8 users, all with smartphones. We pay $320/month for the device access, and share 16GB of data at $130/month ($104/month after 20% employer discount on data). I haven't received our first bill yet with this setup, but I imagine taxes and surcharges will come in somewhere around the $8/month per device mark. So add on another $70 or so for a total of $494/month. That's $61.75/person. For unlimited talk, text, and as much data as we'll ever need. Four of our users are aging parents who would be lucky to ever use 1GB of data.
Best part is, these aging parents don't really care or need the newest of devices, so they were happy to start out with our previous Android handsets (a Bionic, a DInc2, and a couple GNexii) considering they didn't have to buy phones to upgrade. This gives the rest of us plenty of upgrades to play around with over the next couple of years.
So are we on contracts? Yep. Do we technically have a data cap? Yep. Will we ever reach it? Very unlikely. What if we do? I add on another 2GB of data. $112/month for 18GB would increase our total per person to $62.75/person.
I would like to point out, this is LOWER per person than an individual T Mobile plan for 2.5GB of "unlimited" data ($60/month before taxes and surcharges), plus we get to stay on the best network in the country and continue to get our devices subsidized.
I realize these circumstances worked out for us very well, and not everyone knows enough trustworthy people to pull something like this off. But if you can, a Big Red Share Everything plan is just as affordable as the budget carrier and as we all know, twice the network coverage and reliability.
Next step - return my HTC One I've been playing with for the past week, and try to live off an N7 LTE instead. $10/month access instead of $40. My bill just got even lower.
Sorry for the long post. I really wanted to share this experience with the community and see if anyone sees any flaws/potential dangers in my plan.
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