Verizon warns high data users

[Hannah.Taylor]

http://m.koco.com/money/verizon-war...m=facebook&utm_source=trueAnthem:+New+Content

Honestly don't see how this is legal at all. A customer pays for unlimited data, they are entitled to use as much data as they want.

They shouldn't be required to switch plans and they shouldn't be subjected to having their service disconnected.

I am still grandfathered in under the unlimited data plan and my usage had been well over 100 GB a month consistently. I am surprised I never got a letter and haven't seen any comments on my statements.

But it looks like this is how Verizon is going to bully the rest of the grandfathered users out of their plans.

You can't sit here and tell me that a small percentage of the 1% of grandfathered unlimited data plans are using that much data so as to disrupt other people's service. total bs.

 

[Mark Blue]

Maybe you could curb your usage while the heat is on and escape their wrath so to speak? There's a guy on Reddit who works at VZW and he claims it's around 1,000 folks who are being targeted. That would give you some serious bragging rights to be terminated with so few others, but I am definitely not wishing that on you. I have my paltry 6 GB per month bucket I have to live with which I think is a joke. Every month I pay and every month they flush what I don't use down the crapper and that new rollover plan they cooked up is a joke!

 

[Dan Robinson]

Be thankful you get what you do, while you still have it. There's nothing that forces them to grandfather old plans. Every time your contract renews, they could do whatever they want. Like Mark, I'm on the 6GB plan. I don't stream, so it's been sufficient so far. I have to be careful with watching too many Youtube videos though. I wish I had 100GB a month, I could probably drop my cable internet at home with that.

 

[Mark Blue]

LTE gets blazingly faster all the time. I get 50 Mbps download all the time where we live. Its basically 50% as fast as my cable landline and I'm in a higher speed tier.

Build it and they will come seems to apply here!

 

[Dan Robinson]

Yep, my 4g has always been faster than my cable at home. In fact, I always go out to my car to upload new Youtube videos on my jetpack rather than doing it on my desktop.

 

[Hannah.Taylor]

Maybe you could curb your usage while the heat is on and escape their wrath so to speak? There's a guy on Reddit who works at VZW and he claims it's around 1,000 folks who are being targeted. That would give you some serious bragging rights to be terminated with so few others, but I am definitely not wishing that on you. I have my paltry 6 GB per month bucket I have to live with which I think is a joke. Every month I pay and every month they flush what I don't use down the crapper and that new rollover plan they cooked up is a joke!

my usage is down below the 100 GB threshold the past couple of months due to increased outdoors activities (hiking and climbing), but I am pretty sure before that I had at least at 24 months of +100 GB usage months, so how my account hasn't been targeted is beyond me.

Be thankful you get what you do, while you still have it. There's nothing that forces them to grandfather old plans. Every time your contract renews, they could do whatever they want. Like Mark, I'm on the 6GB plan. I don't stream, so it's been sufficient so far. I have to be careful with watching too many Youtube videos though. I wish I had 100GB a month, I could probably drop my cable internet at home with that.

One of the Verizon reps I talked to about 2 years ago said there is a legality issue with chucking the plan. I cant recall what exactly he said, but it's something to do with the FCC and the current laws. Otherwise Verizon would have quit offering it long ago, forced everyone into a new plan and closed it off.

This is why I don't have home internet, because I just tether to the laptop or desktop when I am home.

I also haven't been under contract since March of 2014. March 2012 was the last time I did a phone upgrade and shortly after that they killed all phone upgrades under the unlimited plan. If you upgraded to an new phone after that, you were automatically kicked into the next highest plan.

I can see a big lawsuit coming from this though. There's gonna be some pissed off people and rightfully so.

LTE gets blazingly faster all the time. I get 50 Mbps download all the time where we live. Its basically 50% as fast as my cable landline and I'm in a higher speed tier.

Build it and they will come seems to apply here!

I wish it did here in Denver. 2 bars of service in my apartment in downtown Denver without my new Maximum Signal amp plugged in and turned on, 3 bars with it on.

Up/Download speeds are a joke without it.

Somewhat improved with the amp on but not a whole lot.

2 pm - 11 pm is peak usage and its slow as hell trying to do anything on it even facebook takes forever.

 

[Warren Faidley]

Most of the data suppliers have something in the small print that includes a data limit, even with "unlimited data." ATT did this years ago and got away with it. Be careful what you wish for. There have been rumors that carriers might go back to charging by the MB or by blocks of usage like ATT does for iPads.

 

[John Moore]

Of course Verizon is doing this. Compared to cable, the bandwidth available through mobile services is dramatically more expensive to build and maintain, and there is a lot less of it.

I don't know about the legalities, but I'd bet that there is fine print on the "unlimited" data plans that lets them do what they are doing.

Unlimited data was never going to last forever - it makes no economic sense at all.

 

[Ethan Schisler]

Yeah consider yourself lucky to still have unlimited data. I have 12GB on my plan with Verizon and with chasing/uploading photos and videos, its about enough for me. During the winter months when I'm not chasing, I don't usually go through nearly as much as the only data intensive activity I use is streaming music in my vehicle. The speed on 4G LTE is quite amazing though, if I'm selling video, even at home, I'm uploading with my phone because its so much faster than my home internet (DSL ugh).

I do wish my unused data rolled over though, because during the winter, I could really save up quite a bit of data for spring chasing lol. May even consider downgrading my plan when the snow flies, because no point in having 12GB if I'm only using 2 a month. Waste of money when the other 10 is getting flushed away.

 

[Mark Blue]

I would like to see the rollover plans actually have some substance and usability for paying customers. Instead of rolling to the next month only to expire, how about rolling over up to a maximum of 75 GB or 6 months whichever occurs first. Chasers could really benefit from a system like that and I'm sure others could too.

Here is a copy of the out of contract high usage letter VZW is sending out for anyone interested:

 

[Dan Robinson]

Not a good thing for Rauxa, the company printing the letter, to have the InDesign template for that leaked.

 

[Mark Blue]

The person spilling the beans is on Reddit and supposedly a Verizon employee. You wouldn't find me doing that, but there are all types out there nowadays who will share just about anything. If you want to crop it out feel free Dan, you're better at that stuff than me!

 

[Dan Robinson]

Yeah it's probably a Verizon employee, that makes more sense. A design company would be horrified at the thought!

 

[nmoore125]

have you heard of a deadline to receive these letters? I have 2 unlimited plans myself but no letters as of yet and nothing in the account pages on the verizon website.. Been doing alot of praying though

 

[Mark Blue]

It should be in the very near future Nathan as you only get until August 31st to switch plans before termination. Now 500 GB is being thrown around as the target number for using too much. That would clear @Hannah.Taylor of any wrongdoing and limit the population affected by this even further. From what I understand, you must be out of contract to even be targeted, so any account change that puts you back on contract kind of takes the heat off of yourself.