Verizon Hints At Scrapping Unlimited Data Plans 319
BusinessWeek reports that Verizon may be preparing to follow AT&T's example by eliminating unlimited data plans later this year. Quoting:
"'We will probably need to change the design of our pricing where it will not be totally unlimited, flat rate,' John Killian, chief financial officer of Verizon Communications Inc., the wireless unit’s parent, said in an interview at Bloomberg’s headquarters in New York today. The company anticipates 'explosions in data traffic' over wireless networks as new phones on 4G networks incorporate data-heavy applications, such as video downloads, he said. Verizon is working to keep its network running smoothly as more of its customers switch to smartphones that connect to the Internet. ... 'The more bandwidth that you make available, the faster it will be consumed,' said Craig Moffett, analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York. 'From Verizon’s perspective, the last thing you want is for another generation of consumers to be conditioned to the idea that data is always going to be uncapped.'"
SMS != data (Score:5, Informative)
What they need to do is uncouple phone from the network -- to the point that the subsidized phone contract is seperate from the phone plan (allowing a customer to switch from month to month) and to stop distinguishing between different types of data -- like texts vs emails and the like. It's all just data.
Verizon's network has been CDMA, which I'm not terribly familiar with (I closed my Verizon account back in 2002 and haven't looked back), but at least for GSM, text and data are not the same thing. I don't know how it works in CDMA, so it could be different for Verizon, but over GSM, SMS messages are squeezed into unused space in control packets that the phones and towers exchange normally even if there's no call happening. So on GSM networks, SMS isn't data and incurs no cost at all to the operator. SMS should be completely free on GSM providers.
Data, on the other hand, takes up packets/bandwidth that would otherwise be available for voice service, so there is a cost.
Re:Unlimited already means 5G (Score:5, Informative)
Anything over 5GB gets rate limited to 56k speeds, though.
They're giving you unlimited data, and past 5GB, you still have unlimited data. It just isn't fast, and nothing in their terms of use prohibits this. You can't really drop a class-action lawsuit against them doing that either.
You're not fined for going over 5GB, just throttled.
Re:The Lowest Common Denominator (Score:4, Informative)
I have found this is incorrect. If your provider changes the terms of your service agreement, you have the option of discontinuing service instead. To change the terms, they are basically terminating your current agreement and starting a new one. If you chose to leave, you should not have to pay an early termination charge because the provider chose to terminate the agreement.
Re:Why not raise the price instead? (Score:3, Informative)
How about if I'm a "voting customer", who will happily take my money elsewhere if someone tries to screw me?
And if there are so few choices and they all (in reality or in fact) collude, by making changes in lockstep, that's exactly what regulation is for. So no, it is not only shareholders who have a vote-ultimately, the public can veto anything the shareholders decide, through exactly that mechanism, and that's much more likely to happen if the company makes people unhappy on a regular basis and does not respond to negative feedback by scrapping or changing what it planned to do. The ability of those shareholders to be shareholders with highly limited liability is the result of a corporate charter granted by the government, and thus also the people. If the company starts to abuse that charter by utilizing a large market share to charge more and offer less, the people have every right to modify, limit, or revoke that license to operate with limited liability, and to define boundaries outside of which the company may not step.
It absolutely sickens me to see "No, just shareholders! Shareholders! Screw the customers, the employees, and the public!" Giving customers something they'll want to keep even when their contract is up, keeping employees happy so they will stay long-term, and maintaining a good reputation with the public are all part of the long-term viability of a company. You're ultimately hurting even the shareholders when you piss them all off for a short-term quarterly boost.
Re:This is a load of crap (Score:3, Informative)
Verizon Corporate has consistently lost money over the last decade, the only reason they're profitable is because of the money they bleed off Verizon Wireless. If Verizon Wireless had been a separate company it would of been a gem on the NASDAQ. Same goes for AT&T wireless, AT&T bleeds the wireless division to maintain it's failing business models.
The original story is misleading (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Jjust admit you found another way to fuck us. (Score:3, Informative)
News flash - use Boost CDMA and you are using Sprint (IDEN on Boost is the old Nextel which, while still Sprint, does not have the coverage).
Re:Consumers are getting mixed messages (Score:1, Informative)
The problem is that phones are actually getting to the point where people *want* to use the data services. It used to just be a half-assed "check off the feature box" exercise, so it wasn't a problem.
piffle (Score:3, Informative)
so the 2 or 3% of users exercising their right to unlimited data (their right because they paid for that) are bringing down your network.
Then your network is sub standard, try putting some money back into your network so you can grow your user base, because other countries (such as Finland) don't seem to have the problems that ATT and Verizon have with bandwidth.
I'm at the point in my life that if *any* corporation is making a change, it's to screw me and make them more money while offering fewer services.
Re:Unlimited already means 5G (Score:3, Informative)
Me: Do you sell air cards?
Rep: Yes!
Me: Great! Can you tell me about it?
Rep: Sure. You get unlimited data for $39.99 a month.
Me: Unlimited? Really?
Rep: Yes!
Me: Is that 3G or 4G?
Rep: It's 3G but it's actually faster than Sprint's 4G.
Me: Great! Sign me up.
(I know what you're thinking: that should have set off warning bells in my head)
Signed up, took the air card home, and did some speed tests online. Expected: 2-3 Mbps. Actual: 730 Kbps. Two weeks later, after updating the firmware on the air card and trying two computers (Mac OS X and Win7), I placed a call to T-Mobile to cancel my service due to false advertising. After two customer service reps and a tech support rep, I finally got through to a "manager." Oh, and it turns out "unlimited" means 5 GBs and then they throttle your connection speed down to below half. And, it turns out, their new, faster 3G service isn't actually available in my area yet.
Me: I want to cancel my service without incurring the early termination fee because I was lied to by a sales rep in your store.
Mgr: It's not our store. They're an authorized reseller.
Me: (Rather irritated at this point) But they bear your logo. Regardless, T-Mobile ultimately sets the prices and dictates the terms of the contract. I want to cancel my service because what I was sold in the store and what I'm experiencing at home are two entirely different things.
(After lot of back and forth about network speeds, technical issues, pricing, contract terms and etc.)
Mgr: I can offer you half off of your termination fee or if you can get the store to take your equipment back we won't charge you any fees.
I got the T-Mobile/not-T-Mobile store to take the equipment back and canceled my service. T-Mobile is all kinds of FAIL, and I can only imagine what other wireless carriers dream up to sell to their customers.
Re:Jjust admit you found another way to fuck us. (Score:3, Informative)
I hereby retract "Sprint" from my statement above (not using Sprint, I didn't realize how poor their coverage actually was) but what I said still applies to AT&T and VZW.
Re:Why is that "collusion"? (Score:2, Informative)
Entities like youtube can adapt too. If people feel constrained by their data limits, they will demand that content providers be cognizant of this. Many content providers already are, simply because it's too fucking slow to watch hi-quality videos on a cell phone (because of people like you who use 10 GB a month!!).
AT&T is planning on putting a cap at 2GB a month. According to AT&T, 98% of their customers use less than that (and 65% use only 200 MB!). http://www.wirelessweek.com/News/2010/06/Business-ATT-Data-Use-New-Plans-Data-Services/ [wirelessweek.com]