Verizon to end unlimited data option | Hacker News Reader

Verizon to end unlimited data option

money.cnn.com

18 pointsjerhinesmith20 comments

With costs of maintaining their networks flying through the roof, the nation's largest wireless carriers are attempting to limit the mobile Internet usage of their most download-happy customers. Mobile Internet usage is growing rapidly, and carriers are spending $50 billion a year to build new 4G networks that can keep up with customers' demands.

That quote is disingenuous. The costs of maintaining their networks are not flying through the roof. The amount of people paying them a substantial monthly fee to use their data networks is what is flying through the roof.

The amount of extra money being spent on network upgrades is not keeping pace with the rise in revenue from smartphone data plans.

Yes, there is plenty of competition in the US wireless market. Which is why the remaining carriers are becoming more and more the same. This situation will only get worse when the FCC / DoJ inevitably approves the ATT/T-Mobile buyout.

Nice of CNN to dutifully report that "the problem with carriers' price tiers is customers' download demands are quickly encroaching on wireless providers' limits as mobile video usage explodes."

What nonsense.

I also love the alarmist linked graphic at:

http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/08/technology/smartphone_data_u...

...which, if you believe their arbitrarily-guessed-at trendline, delivers the shocking news that by 2015, users might, on average...uh, still be downloading less than 2gig a month.

Label me entirely unconcerned with the carriers' ability to deal with this data "explosion". They just want to charge more. That's the only story here.

That is a truly ridiculous chart. Another sign that it's complete BS is they describe the growth as "exponential" yet the trendline appears linear and the axis is not logarithmic.

I think the author is conflating "exponential" with "really fast".

The article is wrong about t-mobile. Quoting directly from their site (shop->plans->mobile broadband) (and note how all of them are described as "overage free")

"No overages! (After 10 GB, data speeds are slowed until the next billing cycle)"

e.g. http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/cell-phone-plans-detail.a...

So there is not unlimited access at the highest network speeds, but the plan is nevertheless unlimited data -- as in you don't have to watch your consumption to avoid getting dinged with $$$/GB charges.

I just found out about Virgin Mobile USA this month and can't believe that it's so relatively unknown, given how much better of a deal it is compared to the major carriers for most people.

$25/month, unlimited data/text, no contract. Downsides are that you only get 300 voice minutes (can upgrade to 1200 for $40/mo), that it only uses the Sprint network (no roaming), and that they have a limited phone selection (although the LG Optimus V that I got seems pretty awesome so far). For me, and I would guess many others, the downsides pale in comparison to the benefits.

I've been recommending it to all my friends, and a few of them have started making the switch. Although one girl was opposed because she thought no-contract phones were for poor people.

Yeah I have made couple people switch to VM as well this month. Not sure if you are aware but you can enable wifi hotstop by downloading Quick Settings app. VM seems to have just hide the option for now and Quick Settings makes it available. VM is amazing for the price.

There's also My Simple Mobile which uses GSM (using T-Mobile's prepaid network). The prices aren't as good as Virgin, but they're still better than the big 4 and being GSM you can bring over any phone that works on T-Mobile 3G.

I just wish they had other options, other than the LG Optimus phone. I'd even pay full price for it (given the savings). Maybe in 2 years when my contract with AT&T is up...

Streaming services to phones and tablets are becoming more popular. Wireless companies are trying to make this switch before the average user starts consuming large amounts of data so no one notices a difference at the time of the switch. Fast forward a year or 2 when streaming netflix or sports to your phone is commonplace and people will hit that 2gig mark without breaking a sweat.

I love my virgin mobile 25$ for unlimited data/text and 300 minutes with no contract.

Same here! Though "unlimited" here is constrained by their no-tethering policy. And their phones are not very well suited for eating lots of data. (I know that I tend to be hesitant to use data on my phone because I know it's just kinda sluggish, from the UI to the network. Kinda reminds me of early keyboards which mechanically limited the keystroke rate in order to prevent errors.)

<plug> And, if you are using one of their Android phones, you absolutely need my app for keeping track of remaining minutes and due dates. :)

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.jaygoel.virginminu... </plug>

I personally haven't felt any sluggishness. But then I am always in the wifi zone and dont really use phone for videos and stuff. Also, you can download Quick Settings app to make your phone as wifi hotspot. Turns out VM has just hide the option and not actually disable it. I will take a look at your app. Thanks!

I love tiered data plans, even though I never thought I would. Here's why.

I've been on T-Mobile for years, which has always just had a single data plan - $30-$35 a month for unlimited data and text messages. I thought this was a good deal, but once they started offering tiered data plans I immediately switched. I now get unlimited txts / 2GB of data for only $20 - almost half the original cost. My phone does Wifi - and almost everywhere I go has wifi - so I constantly use my phone on wifi and rarely consume data using my plan. The tiered plan saves me money.

That only works when the tiered plans are cheaper than the unlimited plans. In Verizon's case, at least, they are not. If I wasn't being grandfathered in, I'd be going from Unlimited to 2GB and paying exactly the same price.

I'd be perfectly fine with tiered if the prices were reasonable and, as you suggest, cheaper if you use less data. That doesn't seem to be the case in reality.

This was inevitable. The only reason I haven't paid to end my AT&T contract early is because I am grandfathered in to the unlimited data plan.

Isn't this a breach of contract with their current customers?

It only applies for new and rewnewing customers.

Of course I missed that part, thanks!

Further reports / speculation indicate that it may only be for new phone lines, allowing existing customers to upgrade their phone and keep their current plan.

http://www.droid-life.com/2011/06/21/current-verizon-custome...

The article did mention this:

Customers currently under contract won't be affected by the changes, but new and renewing customers will likely have to accept the new, tiered plans.

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