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Verizon Businesses Communications Handhelds The Almighty Buck Your Rights Online

Verizon Dropping Data Rates, But Current Customers Have To Call 136

Posted by timothy from the oh-you-mean-you-didn't-like-getting-slammed? dept.
New submitter executioner writes with this news from Consumerist: In spite of Verizon Wireless' recent boasts that it's 'a leader, not a follower,' a new announcement from the nation's biggest wireless company shows that Big V is indeed following the competition down the path of charging customers less for their data plans. However, current Verizon subscribers will need to let the company know they want to save money (or get more data). It's a little confusing, so stick with us for a moment. Verizon MORE Everything customers who currently have monthly data allotments of 1GB, 2GB, 3GB, or 4GB will have an option on how they want to save.They can either get more data for their money by getting 1GB of additional data per month for no extra charge OR they can have their bill reduced by $10/month.So someone with a 2GB plan is currently paying $50/month. If they take the free data option, that goes to 3GB for the same price. Or they can elect to stick with the 2GB and their data bill drops to $40/month.
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Verizon Dropping Data Rates, But Current Customers Have To Call More

Verizon Dropping Data Rates, But Current Customers Have To Call

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  • Still sucks (Score:3)

    by monkeyzoo ( 3985097 ) on Thursday February 05, 2015 @07:00PM (#48993781)

    And in France they have €20/month for unlimited calling, unlimited text, and 3GB of 4G data. We are getting RIPPED OFF here in the USA.

    • And we're getting even more ripped off, up north.

      • It could have to do with the expense of putting towers up all over the place. France doesn't exactly have the wide open spaces we have in the US, or the high population density of US cities.

    • That is REALLY REALLY cheap! I am on unlimited calls, texts, and 4 Gig of data for $100 / month with Telstra in Australia. I could go a cheaper plan with optus or virgin but their coverage is no where near as good outside of the main cities.

      • Cheap?

        Check this offer and then tell me that's cheap.
        (page in Romanian, use Google Translate, works well enough)
        http://www.rcs-rds.ro/telefoni... [rcs-rds.ro]

        Those who for some reason don't want to click the link can read the translation below:

        Best Mobile Digi Unlimited

        Benefits:

        Unlimited calls to any national network, fixed or mobile
        UNLIMITED international calls to fixed networks in major EU, US, Canada and China and international calls 3000 minutes to the main mobile networks in the US, Canada, China and the EU *
        unlimited mobile internet (speeds up to 21.6 Mbps up to 5 GB traffic) FINAL PRICE MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION (VAT included), after discounts: - 5 euro, if you are subscribed to TV + net fixed; 4 euros, if you opt for more subscription * - 7 euros, if you are subscribed to TV or fixed net; 5 euros if you opt for multiple subscriptions * - 10 euros if you are not a subscriber Digi, 7 euros if you opt for multiple subscriptions *; if you port your mobile number to Digi: 8 euro for a subscription, 6 euro for two subscriptions * Up to a maximum of four subscriptions. The subscription will be added to your shopping cart at list price, the discount will apply to the contract signing, based on criteria above.

        • Yes but Romania's PPP is only 40% of the Euro average. And France sits well above the Euro average. This means that every single hour of labour is significantly cheaper.

          On top of that the Romanian Government is currently subsidising telecoms in order to get closer to universal access. Not really an apple to apple comparison.

          • On top of that the Romanian Government is currently subsidising telecoms in order to get closer to universal access. Not really an apple to apple comparison.

            No, it's not. These are private operators and those are real costs.

          • Unlike all the Billions and Billions of dollars US tax payers have subsidized telecoms....you're right the US tax payer has given more in subsidies....
        • And that matters, how, to someone in Australia?

      • Re:Still sucks (Score:5, Interesting)

        by monkeyzoo ( 3985097 ) on Thursday February 05, 2015 @07:49PM (#48994133)

        Oh shit, I forgot the best part. That €20 UNLIMITED CALLING includes calls to landlines in OVER 100 COUNTRIES in the world (basically everywhere you would ever call, and then ten times that moreover), and to landlines/mobiles in the USA and Canada.

        Oh, and it's MONTH-TO-MONTH!!!

        Oh, and it includes roaming in 35 countries.

        I've got to give it to the French in this race.

        Then again, large parts of downtown Paris are on 1MB ADSL, sooooo, there's that. Hello 1999 all over again.

      • That is the penalty for many of the less expensive plans: less coverage, fewer roaming agreements, and often, fewer phone upgrade options. Whether or not a bargain plan is right for you depends largely on how and where you will be using your cellular phone/pocket computer.

        The plan discount or upgrade offered with this Verizon program referenced in TFS is unusual in that it offers customers who are already members a discount, too.

        Whether we're talking about my cable provider, phone service company, or eve

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Wow, that's $10 less than I pay in the US. (Sprint network via their Boost Mobile brand).

      If you're paying twice as much for the same service under the Sprint brand, it may be because you effectively choose to get a 30% interest loan to buy an $800 phone, rather the $129 quad-core you could afford without borrowing from Sprint at ridiculous interest rates.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Uhm what? It's because you get ZERO roaming of any kind on Boost Mobile, whereas with Sprint you benefit from the various roaming agreements.

        • And I should mention that the €20 plan from Free Mobile in France includes 35 days a year of travel in 15 or so countries. That means unlimited calls/texts within those countries or to France plus the same data quota.

        • You seem to be misinformed. I haven't had any trouble in the 10 years or so I've had Boost, and their web page confirms it:

          http://www.boostmobile.com/sho... [boostmobile.com]

          So now that you know the salesman lied to you and you're paying extra for nothing, are you done wasting your money? Perhaps it's worth it to you to keep paying the extra $40 / month so you can pretend you were right. No skin off my nose either way.

    • Well with T-Mobile I get this:

      8 lines, fully unlimited with 2.5gb of 4G data (after that it's just 2.5g data, unlimited.)

      My total bill never varies from $130 a month, after taxes and my 15% veteran discount, which comes out to about $16.25 per line. We all split the bill.

      Converting that to Euro's, I pay exactly €14.17 per month. Plus I get to roam anywhere on the continent for free, and if I roam overseas I get free data as well. And unlimited music streaming.

      I don't feel very ripped off.

      • Agreed, but T-Mobile is the exception and not the rule among American carriers, and if they manage to keep hanging onto existence by the skin of their teeth, then you'll still have a good deal. If not, well, I'll be sad too. T-Mobile has the best offering, but their network is too crap (at least the last time I tried it a few years ago). I would guess that's why no one else has felt compelled to match their plans.

        • if they manage to keep hanging onto existence by the skin of their teeth

          I don't think that is a fair assessment. As of the last few quarters, T-Mobile is now the fastest growing carrier, and in spite of VERY heavy investment into their infrastructure, they're only operating at a small loss. A company with as much growth as them can continue operating that way for a very long time. Just to put things into perspective, Amazon operates at an even bigger loss. (Amazon lost 126 million last quarter, T-Mobile lost 92 million)

          I tend to agree with John Legere's assessment over Deutch T

          • Remember T-Mobile spans across most of the US. Meanwhile France is 25% smaller than Texas.

            Totally irrelevant! Area shouldn't matter to profitability; population density should. Anyway, it's not just France. Others have followed my post with their rates from UK, Finland, Romania, etc that are also way cheaper than in the USA.

            Anyhow, you've misconstrued my meaning. I LIKE T-MOBILE!, as I said. I've just never been able to get good network coverage at home or while traveling. I'm glad to hear they're growing strongly, because the death knells a while back and when AT&T was going to swallow them

            • Area shouldn't matter to profitability; population density should.

              I'm not sure what point you're trying to reach then. T-Mobile has to serve a much wider area at a much lower population density. If anything it should be considerably easier for a European carrier to drive a larger profit off of a smaller price, especially considering that they don't have to bother negotiating with other carriers for roaming agreements.

        • That's partly because T-Mobile is basically a European phone company - they're the international arm of Deutsche Telekom...

      • I pay like $10 for 2GB of bandwidth (I think they increased it), and I get rollover data.

      • 2.5gb of 4G data

        FYI, that's a promotion and it will reset to 1GB of 4G data in January 2016.

    • In the UK I pay €50/month for unlimited text, unlimited calling and 10GB of 4G data. For two lines. Total.

    • Land area of France: 640,679 sq km
      Land area of U.S.A.: 9,826,675 sq km ---- even removing Alaska (1,717,854 sq km) one still has a much larger area to cover

      Population density of France: 119.37
      Population density of U.S.A.: 34.06

      It's not surprising that a service which requires one to build infrastructure is more expensive in the U.S. than in less densely populated countries --- and that's w/ a significant portion of the country still not having service.

      • Perhaps also showing population density differences for some major US cities vs Paris might help illustrate more of the point.

        My guess is that most US cities have much higher population densities, which also makes deploying cellular networks more expensive (more towers are needed as each tower can only support a maximum number of people).

        Each cell tower can cover 50km (at 3G, I believe 4G has a shorter range), but in cities, they turn the signal strength all the way down and overload the number of cells to

    • In the US, you could always use Cricket...it runs on Verizon's network, so not much different if you want budget.

      https://www.cricketwireless.co... [cricketwireless.com]

      it looks like $60 for 20GB, I don't know what other plans they have though to compare directly with your plan.

    • And in France they have €20/month for unlimited calling, unlimited text, and 3GB of 4G data. We are getting RIPPED OFF here in the USA.

      For $30/mo I have nation wide calling and 6 gigs of data per month. And I feel we are getting ripped off. (I had to already own the phone or purchase one of the provider's new phones)

      • And in France they have €20/month for unlimited calling, unlimited text, and 3GB of 4G data. We are getting RIPPED OFF here in the USA.

        For $30/mo I have nation wide calling and 6 gigs of data per month. And I feel we are getting ripped off. (I had to already own the phone or purchase one of the provider's new phones)

        Forgot, roaming was extra. But for $10.00, I get North America wide monthly roaming, and for double that amount, Outside North America to some other countries (Europe, etc.) Mostly though, I use wifi and a wifi based phone application when roaming.

  • Isn't that normal practice? (Score:3)

    by Harlequin80 ( 1671040 ) on Thursday February 05, 2015 @07:03PM (#48993807)

    My ISP and Telco have increased my data allowance multiple times over the years. I just get a letter / email / sms saying congrats your plan now has 33% more data!

    If I wanted to go to a cheaper plan I would call them.

    I know it is cool to hate on the major telcos but isn't being given more for exactly the same cost a good thing? Or am I totally missing something?

  • Data by the GIG still? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Lodlaiden ( 2767969 ) on Thursday February 05, 2015 @07:04PM (#48993815)
    I know y'all knock T-Mobile for the pink, but for 5+ years, I've been happy with "unlimited everything".

    • Re:Data by the GIG still? (Score:5, Informative)

      by monkeyzoo ( 3985097 ) on Thursday February 05, 2015 @07:06PM (#48993829)

      And the only major US carrier that will sell you a SIM card so you can B.Y.O.D.!!!

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward

        I bought my own device to AT&T.

      • Most carriers the cost of a phone is rolled in to your plan. So you keep a phone longer than the 2 year contract, well then that does you no good. Tmobile charges you only if you have a phone payment plan (interest free) if you BYOD or pay off the phone, your cost goes down.

        Or, on the flipside if you want a new toy all the time they have a plan that adds $10/month, but lets you trade in your phone every 6 months for a new one. You end up paying a lot monthly (cost of the phone payment + $10) but you can get

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Shados ( 741919 )

          And now with the rollover data, if you're just an average user, you effectively have unlimited without needing an unlimited plan.

          I have a 3gb plan, I don't use it much, but when i go in vacation then I can go through several times that.

          Now I'll basically never run out.

      • To the BYOD repliers... did Verizon and AT&T give you a SIM card, or did they let you bring another CDMA phone?

      • I appreciate the entusiasm, but http://www.att.com/shop/wirele... [att.com]

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      And 2G speeds after the first 2Gigs. It's fantastic!

    • I have to say that T-Mobile seemed the fairest provider to me because I travel overseas. Their European roaming coverage is better in a way than their US coverage. (Also I had a Galaxy I liked with a European version of Android Kit Kat and they were very cool to let me BMOD) Four lines at $100 (all in the family) Each gets 1 GB high speed, which is enough for me since my pattern puts me onto wifi a lot and I don't use the 3G that much just moving around. And there is free music streaming. (That data does n

    • T-Mobile super-awesome, especially international (Score:5, Informative)

      by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Thursday February 05, 2015 @09:11PM (#48994839)

      I moved to T-Mobile (from Verizon) late last year, it has been fantastic. A little worse coverage outside cities but I finally have a bill that is the same month to month, even when traveling internationally... ANYONE who travels internationally should without question use T-Mobile just because of the free international data aspect (it's a lower speed, you can opt to may more for a faster data rate but even the lower speed is pretty good).

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by antdude ( 79039 )

      My parents had to dump T-Mobile for Verizon Wireless from the move because the rural area is crappy to most carriers (Sprint, T-Mobile, etc.).

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Krojack ( 575051 )

      And still spotty coverage. T-Mobile coverage is pretty bad where I am. My verizon works everywhere I go in my state.

      • This is exactly why Verizon hangs on despite costing more, and FWIW why I use them. Their coverage is pretty much everywhere; the only places I've ever had any issue with signal are pretty fringe (i.e. various passes in the Rockies, in the basement at work surrounded by lots of metal, etc.). I suppose it all depends on what you want from your service, but if I'm going to have a mobile phone, I want it to work when I'm mobile.

  • Of course, they are not lowering the price of my grandfathered in Unlimited Data plan, so I guess I will just have to be happy with paying $40 a month for Unlimited Data.
    /s

    • The killer is the not having unlimited voice and texting that goes with the unlimited data. My old MO was "...from my cold dead hands..." however, given that I bought my device outright, I'm month to month, I'm getting ripped off. Its fantastic not having to think about if I should stream some video, or should I download this podcast from wifi instead of in my car... but I also can't use my phone as a phone, or text like I want... do I have enough texts? Do I have enough minutes? its a tradeoff... Mayb

  • My plan went up for new subscribers... (Score:5, Informative)

    by SSonnentag ( 203358 ) on Thursday February 05, 2015 @07:21PM (#48993933) Homepage

    My 10GB shared plan currently costs $80/month. The new rate jumps up to $100 for the same 10GB. In order to get any cheaper than my current $80 I would need to drop down to 6GB for $70. Not a bargain of an idea in my opinion.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Rosyna ( 80334 )

      Oddly, the 10GB plan is the only one that went up in price (and by $20, no less). There's a chart [twitter.com] of all the new prices.

  • Verizon isn't waiting for you to call ... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward

    When I logged into my account on their website, I was prompted with an option to save money:

    http://imgshare.in/Nwm9GI

    • I'm betting that this would be 1GB and up? I have kept my data cap to the minumum - 250MB, since I normally don't use my phone's internet capabilities in the absence of Wi-Fi

  • Required (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward

    You have to opt-in to any plan changes, that's a LEGAL requirement. They can't change plans on you unless the change was a mistake.

    • There was a case early last year when More Everything customers on a 1Gb plan were bumped up to a 2Gb plan at the same cost when another round of price cutting came through. No consent needed.

      Source: I work for Verizon Wireless.

    • So they will make it so your bill is lowered only if you call in. Isn't that nice? lol.

  • Metering data is something of a 90's era holdback that needs to DIAF.

    Then again, Verizon's the same carrier that had to be dragged out of the BREW phone era.

  • Not sure what's confusing (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    You log into your account and go to change your plan. It will tell you that your current plan doesn't exist anymore. Then you scroll down and either pick the same data allotment for $10 less or the next one for the same old price. There is nothing confusing about this. What kinda stinks, though, is that the discount isn't applied automatically and you have to make the effort and contacting VZW.

    • Nope. It shows my plan "UNLIMITED TALK & TEXT 1GB $60 SMARTPHONE" and the only option is "See how The MORE Everything Plan can meet your wireless needs. Please note that if you change to The MORE Everything plan, you will be unable to return to your current plan." which is actually $10 MORE than the current plan for the same minutes/texts/data.

  • This company is notorious for changing terms on customers. Not that they are the only one. If you have ever left Verizon for a reason don't let this "ambiguous bone" make you forget why.

  • I had a call from them about three weeks ago, out of the blue. They offered to change my plan to add two more GB for $10 less/month. My big concern was that it would reset my contract date, and I'd be on the hook for another two years, but nope, nothing else changes. I'm not super-happy with their pricing, I'm paying through the nose for phones, tablets, and mobile hotspot, but at least it all works.

  • Late last year, my daughters ran our 6GB family plan to very near the limit. Just as it was about to exceed the allotment, Verizon sent me a text message offering to increase it to 10GB for no charge, which I accepted. The only problem now is that my daughters are using all of the 10GB.
  • 45 a month for prepaid everything except data. Put it on autopay and get 1 GB a month and unlimited everything else. 4G speeds. for $20 you get a 3 GB bridge plan that lasts up to 3 months. Do the math and you end up with something like 2 GB a month, unlim everything else for around $53 a month. That is what I do.

  • ... sure enough, the guy at Verizon, via chat, said the discounts just came out today.

    Thanks, /.

  • Tracfone uses Verizon's CDMA network where I live. TF used to have pretty crappy phones but the "bring yer own fone" program works for some phones and they just started selling a Moto-e phone which isn't that bad. Yes, it's third world cellphone but for the price, it does it for me.
  • I won't hold my breath for this to be extended to us prepaid folks on Verizon, who are still treated with the same suspicion and distain as drug dealers and the homeless.

    Citation: when I make a call, I first have to listen to "The time remaining for this call is... unlimited." If it's unlimited, why bother saying anything? Oh, that's right; how else to express their derision and lack of respect for someone that deigned to opt-out of an overly-expensive multi-year contract than to make them feel like lo

  • I was surprised when they called me last week offering to double my data plan from 2GB to 4GB at the same price. I asked the lady why they didn't just upgrade me automatically, but she didn't have a good answer - something nonsensical like "because that's the way we have to do it". This is the second time they have doubled my data plan, but I'm certain they didn't ask me last time - it just showed up with a notification message.

    I almost told her "No" because I was concerned it was a phishing scam - I didn'

  • I have 4GB of shared data on a shared everything plan. I got a call from Verizon months ago informing me that the price was going down. They asked if I wanted to pay the same price and go to a bigger data plan (6GB, I think), or if I wanted to save money and keep the 4GB plan. I opted to keep the 4GB plan.

    Thus, my PERSONAL experience is that Verizon contacted me about the change.

    Disclaimer: I work for Verizon, but at the time did not get the Verizon Wireless discount. I doubt this affected my treatmen

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