By It’s been a little over a year since the big guns in American wireless — also known as Verizon and AT&T — decided to drop unlimited data in favor of a tiered approach. Users fought and fought and made their voices heard, but the carriers weren’t budging. Only one carrier decided to stay the truly unlimited track, and that carrier is Sprint.
Even with the Now Network using the promise of unlimited data as a now-unique angle to attract more customers, many had doubts that Sprint would keep the act up for much longer. The carrier never really promised they’d never pry unlimited data plans away from us, but now they are — Sprint’s recent wave of advertising is guaranteeing unlimited data for life.
It’s a bold stand in a market where pressure to make money is on, with Sprint being no stranger to shaky futures (Japanese wireless player Softbank put up major bucks to buy up a majority of the company). Verizon believes that, too, with CEO Lowell McAdam restating his company’s stance on unlimited data — it’s not sustainable for long-term success.
What does he mean by that? Well, his thoughts are “if you allow unlimited usage, you’ll run out of gas.” He’s referring to Verizon’s reputation of being America’s largest and most reliable network, a claim that definitely has merit.
He believes offering unlimited data would negatively affect Verizon’s positioning as a premier carrier for those who value a large voice and data footprint with little to no downtime. McAdam cites the growing popularity of streaming video, bigger game and app downloads, and increased web browsing.
All of this mobile multimedia wasn’t nearly as popular 5 years ago as it is now, so there’s reason to consider his angle. It’s that reputation that has had Verizon sitting as America’s top carrier for a long time despite being one of the highest priced.
“We never have and never will lead on price,” says McAdam, declaring that Sprint’s great value alone isn’t enough to put much competitive pressure on Verizon. Does McAdam speak truth? Is unlimited data worth more than a reliable network? Is it impossible to have both, or can you only achieve one without the other?
With Sprint’s slim 4G footprint and abhorrently slow 3G network, it certainly feels that way right now. Let’s hope their plans to improve things with “Network Vision” can yield the type of performance carriers like AT&T and Verizon have been able to deliver over the years.
It’s been a while since we asked you guys, so we want to hear it: do you still care about having unlimited data or are you all about network speed, availability and reliability? With most of the world dealing with tiered data now it certainly doesn’t sound like Verizon’s death knell to unlimited data will hurt them anytime soon.
[via CNet]
I would gladly choose Sprint if their coverage were better in my area. It’s not. So I deal with high prices. :/
Honestly I want Verizon to drop unlimited from the people that still have it on their network. Hopefully the mass exodus from the fall out of that might wake them up but I doubt it.
But they are getting ppl by the Balls…alot of those folks who have unlimited data have to number in the millions and when those ppl trash their phones and need replacements under the upgrade they strong arm them hard…ive heard of ppl just not being told their unlimited data would change to tiered data if they use their upgrade…VZW wants that tiered data and the extra windfall it gives em in overages
That’s true, we experienced it first hand. VERIZON IF FULL SHITE.
I will never go to Verizon or att for this reason alone. Hell would freeze over before I leave my unlimited data for them.
Are an idiot? Why would you want such a thing? Is the fact that less than 5% of current Verizon users being on an unlimited data plan affecting YOU in any way/shape/form??
If Sprint didn’t have unlimited data, there would be no reason to have them. They barely got coverage anyways.
For Verizon, they do have the coverage, speeds, and reliability, but then it would mean getting to the 2 gb cap faster.
It’s a trade off I guess, but I’d never go to Verizon.. Their plans are expensive compared to the other carriers, and they hold on to their firmware updates like they hold on to their precious Droid line….
I hope when Sprint lights up 800MHz things will get better. I’m trying to play the long game with them. In the mean time, having unlimited data is vital for me. I’ve just hit 6GB after a period of just 2 1/2 weeks.
I’ve kidnapped my data plan and keep it inside a deep hole and quietly whisper to it, “It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again…”
Also, seeing how aggressive folks like Google and Amazon like to push cloud services on consumers you realize that unlimited data becomes even more vital. Your not always going to be connected to your home’s WiFi. Unless your a hermit.
Unlimited was great a few years back when I traveled more and needed tethering. Now, 6GB is plenty (saving 40 in the process) as long as I keep Netflix and Watch ESPN streaming in check. :) Almost everyone and every place has WIFI now.
How did you save 40? The best I could manage is negating the cost of the Edge payment plan.
I negotiated out of my VZW ETF (with 8 months remaining) and signed ATT Shared Plan with my wife (she uses <200MB / month).
Ah-ha. That’s the only way to save money with Verizon :-P
Please explain: “negotiated out of my VZW ETF (with 8 months remaining)” Did you threaten to use a very particular set of skills on them, or what?
Seriously, spill!
It takes about 6 weeks of hard work where you call twice a week complaining that you have sh!tty service in the places you use the phone the most (home and work). After about the 3rd or 4th call they will send out the trucks to your location. But keep calling.
Here’s the long part of the story (long story short, persistent complaining on the phone and in person wins the battle)….
The final kicker was that the best they could offer me (besides 2 free months) was a femtocell at my house which only boosts ‘3G’ signal and I told them I’m paying for ‘4G’ so either discount my bill or figure out the antenna situation in my neighborhood (neither of which they would do). Then they wanted to boost the signal inside my office building. OK, well (not to be named here) I work for a one of the Fortune 25 companies (this would work just as well for anyone that can find a spot in the building with cruddy reception)….how the hell do you think I’m going to help you get in touch with the building manager to implement boosters of a multi-billion dollar company? LOL.They still refused to discount my bill or help, so I started calling everyday for a few days and didn’t mind them bouncing me around to different managers for an hour or 2 those few days.
Finally, a lady manager cracked and was like OK I’ve called 32 times this month and wasted x hours y dollars (I work in call centers, so a little back knowledge on staffing helped)….can I get off verizon with no etf…..then I got it.
On top of that, I demanded to keep my GNEX (which I sold later for 200) and that i would be porting my number to ATT (in a lot of ETF situations you can lose your number).
Just switched to unlimited data on tmobile yesterday. As soon as there is lte in my area, I’ll probably forget what Verizon is
Is the HSPA+ pretty quick? I am contemplating moving to T-Mobile from VZW for the next Nexus.
I get about 2-3 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up. But my phone only supports HSPA+ up to 14.4 Mbps while the newer ones support up to 42 Mbps(depends on location) so it should be much higher
Sprint is like having an unlimited amount of water to drink for life, but you can only drink it with a tiny little teaspoon. I can’t wait for my contract to run out.
Then for that matter, Verizon is like having a fire hose that runs for 5 seconds. I will not deal with a limited, other than roaming, provider. If the N5 works for Tmo and Sprint, all the better for future options.
That’s only partly true… just because you get fast speeds doesn’t mean you have to choose to use up your allotment all at once… but I get where you’re coming from.
I’m holding on to a verizon gnex with a half shattered screen and intermittent 4g (because my radios are messed up) but at least I still have unlimited data and good coverage I’ve also had an upgrade for 6 month it sucks I just travel way to much for 2gs for work
Same. Buying off contract just to blast around 10GB average a month. That’s long since my tethering days of 60GB a month.
I can definitely understand that. I’d definitely say you should hit up craigslist, as I see Galaxy Nexuses on there all the time in my area for fairly cheap in stated great condition.
I am in the same spot. I’ve been out of contract with VZW since January and am still hanging on to my GNEX with unlimited data. The phone has seen better days for sure but I travel for work and in rural Kentucky Verizon is the only way to fly. AT&T is nowhere near as good. And Sprint or T-Mobile are not an option in the sticks.
Just kill my unlimited data so I can hop on to T-Mobile without a second thought and enjoy the Nexus 5.
Enjoy it while you got it, and then come enjoy the cheaper side with easily swappable phones.
I try to, though I feel like I’ll enjoy the Nexus 5 and T-Mobile a bit more (and save like $100/month) but I just can’t get dump unlimited… just drop the axe VZW!
You couldn’t pay me to go with Sprint, their service really is that bad here in NYC. That said, my VZW contract expires in a couple of months and I will be dumping them in favor of T-Mobile. I plan on buying my devices out-right and getting an unlimited everything plan that will still be cheaper than what I pay for my current unlimited plan on VZW.
I can’t speak for every city but here in Metro Atlanta Sprints 4G coverage is pretty solid and huge, and with me using Netflix for my kids to and from school daily unlimited helps. I don’t have to worry about any overage charges.
I dropped VZW early last year since their service is less than poor where I work. I need reliable service. So I went over to TMO paying less and have unlimited everything on a family plan. I moved my wife over to TMO (from VZW can’t wait until Decemeber to cancel her line with VZW).
Grandfathered in on ATT Unlimited. We just got LTE. They are supposed to throttle and sometimes they do, but unless they just completely take unlimited away I will stay. I can’t go to worrying about overages. I left Sprint because when they got 3g it didn’t change data speeds from 1x in my area which is ridiculous. I just got lucky and the iPhone 1 hack worked to give me unlimited data after they killed it.
Anyone who is living with Sprint is always hoping that they will update their network. I remember those days, not hoping for the next phone as much as the next tower. I’m glad I’m done with that.
Left Verizon because they dropped my unlimited data, Sprint has unlimited but man their 3g really sucks, I’ll stay with them for 2 then see what comes up
Go to tmobile.
If you buy this “unlimited data is bad” bs for one second, congratulations steeple #971, you have successfully experienced the joys of corporate brainwashing.
How does the Kool-aid taste?
The only legitimate argument for non-unlimited data is corporate greed
non-unlimited? What kool-aid are you drinking.
Non unlimited. Aka, anything but unlimited. It’s not that difficult of a concept.
It’s not a difficult concept but it’s limited or unlimited while “non-unlimited” isn’t even proper English. Maybe folks can’t understand you when you type nonsense. True story.
Are we here to attack each others grammar or discuss phones?
Why can’t we do both? If a person can’t be clear/concise in their writing about phones/mobile OS’s, how are we to understand them, let alone discuss the topics?
“NON-UNLIMITED” is not difficult to understand. Unless you lack comprehension skills of course.
While it is true that “non-unlimited” is not that hard to understand, why not make it easier on yourself and others? There’s limited, and unlimited. End of story. Non-unlimited is the exact same as limited, so you’re just creating/using a word that is completely unnecessary, redundant, and somewhat convoluted.
Or is it now totally ok to say things like “I wish I could non-like this status”? (where the proper term would be “dislike”)
First, I’m not the one that started using this word, go look back at the conversation, it was someone else. The reason so many people say non-unlimited is because the carriers don’t use the word “limited” to label the rest of their data plans. It’s all about context young padawan. Sure the word is not proper, but up until 2 weeks ago, “twerking” was not proper either…..
This is the first instance I’ve ever seen of someone saying “non-unlimited”, for the reason I stated above.
And that reason you gave about the carriers not using the term is absolute BS. Just because they don’t use the term doesn’t mean that’s not what it is. And of course they would never use the term “limited”. It’s “too negative sounding”.
Absolutely, it would be unwise to show flaws in data plans by calling it limited LOL. I’ve seen others use that word elsewhere.
ahhh okay i didn’t know that you lead operations for a cell tower company before… i didn’t know that bandwidth doesn’t actually cost any physical money since its ‘only radio waves’… i had no clue that providing better coverage and a more reliable network means putting more money into more expensive towers and back-haul… i didn’t know that more customers meant more wear and tear on resources resulting in more money needing to be spent… i’m very glad you cleared all that up for me! now that i know that data is free for carriers and they just charge us because they can im going to call my CEO and make sure he knows too!
sprint.. the little engine that.. BOOOORING! Sprint has horrible service and people have left them for ATT and Verizon. THey’re just trying to hold on.
Unlimited data would mean something if my Sprint connect speeds were anything more than embarrassing. If o had Verizon connection/speed, unlimited would be a bigger deal. Sprint is like getting free gas riding a moped.
And with T-Mobile I get both. Unlimited data at a reasonable price and fast Internet.
By the way, Verizon sucks. I had them and they are the worst company at dealing with issue. The salesperson lied to me at the store (their web site perpetuated the false information) and when I found out I tried to return the device and they wanted me to pay the restocking fee. The manager made snide remarks. I did get resolution after I complained about them to the Attorney General’s Office. They refunded half of the fee, but still refused to admit they did anything wrong. I never met a company that cared less about their customers.
The issue I had was with a Motorola device. To be fair, Motorola’s web site was completely accurate and when I called them about the issue they refunded the remainder without any question.
Doesn’t T-mobile carry the Moto X? O_O
The Moto X is the first Motorola phone T-Mobile has had since the CLIQ.
i’m on t-mobiles true unlimited wooot~
I agree. Unlimited data is unsustainable. Keep doing it and you’ll run out of gas, and break the air that the data travels through. And we don’t want to break the air.
you’re missing the point. unlimited data is costly to upkeep towers, so if you want unlimited data then you have to accept shotty service and downed towers … a la sprint, this is something verizon is not willing to do since their claim is the best coverage and most reliable network…
if you want unlimited data go to sprint, that is all i have to say, the speed of their network shows what happens when they give customers unlimited data and can’t pay for it…
Good point. I forgot that if you don’t offer unlimited data then you never ever have to perform any maintenance on your towers. Either that or you’re quite naive in believing what verizon is telling you. There is zero additional cost in offering unlimited data. The decreased profits from offering it come 100% in lost revenue from costlier plans and overage charges.
unlimited data brings people who abuse it, causing more strain on the network equipment, which will need MORE FREQUENT maintenance/replacement than a network that doesn’t offer unlimited, thereby costing more money to maintain or more network downtime…Data is not some invisible thing that doesn’t wear out equipment…
In theory, yes. In actuality, not even close. Unless Every single person that uses your towers logs a couple hundred GB of data a month, the maintenance requirements will not increase at all unless your maintenance crew is incompetent or you’re purposely using inferior equipment. Of course using data wears down equipment, but the capacity on today’s equipment is actually quite mind-boggling as far as what it would take to deteriorate functionality. Simultaneous usage by a large amount of people will cause congestion and slow down traffic, but it will absolutely not cause maintenance needs to increase.
if everyone used twice the data they use because they had unlimited ( im talking someone on a 2gb plan using 4gb because they now no longer care to hook up to wifi) then yes that is ONE HELL of a strain on a network that WILL require more maintenance.
I work at Verizon i DO know what im talking about, I have a degree in mechanical engineering, i would LOVE to see your credentials that makes you an expert on the matter.
look at sprints network.. they offer unlimited so problem 1 there is no higher income bracket for heavy data users so their profit is already minimal, problem 2 people abuse the network because they don’t monitor their usage… this results in a hideously slow network and an even slower rollout because what little money they make has to go back into the same towers that already exist and not new ones. i would much rather have a fast reliable network and stick to wifi for heavy data when available then be on sprint again.
I am one of many loyal customers sticking it out for these network upgrades. Tri-state area and north eastern NJ has been hit with slow speeds for about 2 1/2 yrs straight and its been excruciating seeing the network degrade after the release of the Evo 4G. Steadily the 4G LTE is coming to fruition…Noticed it in North Bergen, Irvington, Secaucus area and that signaled to me its worth it to stay…I was holding out for another 6 months to see if the network upgrades would come and steadily they are. Unlimited Data is needed for me in my opinion. McAdam claims its not sustainable, but i think it is…I thought its was most definately sustainable…Verizon PRL 3G hacks were accomplished on my phone and i will tell you their 3G network has not suffered ever since the increase of smartphones. They did what was needed to make sure the network was running optimally everywhere. I think sprint didnt do their due diligence and make sure the 3G network ran the way it needed to, instead of doing the “First 4G” campaign. They needed to do what VZW did, and focus on ensuring a 3G experience. Plus make sure they roll out 4G LTE networks….VZW was in a strong financial position before and after 4G LTE and tiered data. Sprint destroyed themselves with wimax. because of that i cant see a long lasting unlimited data guarantee for those OFF the my-way plans…..
The reason i say it is because of these new my-way plans. So as long as you stick to their new plans-Data guaranteed for life, the plan says it all and also gives a common sense clue. I could see them stating the unlimited guarantee is disappearing in about anothe 6-18 monts…then drumrollll…..those who where on their everything data shares and old plans before this are most likely gonna be notified that service will change and be brought to a tiered data level and not be grandfathered. they effectively dont show this but i can see it…The prices are raised effectively for accounts with 1-3 lines on a my-way plans, and im willing to bet that is the most common number of lines they have on plans….lines of 4 or more see the savings. i calculated for my own situation of 3 lines that i would be paying 20-30 more…not even that one-up plan is anygood because they tack the 15 dollar discount right back on after you have paid ur new shiny handset. business continues as normal and they keep charging you as if your on a 2yr. Im sticking to my everythig data, then im out if they pull a douchey move
This has nothing to do with running out of data capacity and everything to do with corporate greed. They posted double digit earnings growth last quarter. That should be plenty to support whatever infrastructure upgrades are necessary to support their customers. They don’t need to take more of my money. Unlimited is the only think keeping me with Verizon. The day they take it away is the day I switch to TMo.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Tmo just does not have the coverage of Verizon.
perhaps that’s true fit done places but not my town. And probably not yours either. the big 4 all have solid coverage in major cities. if you live in a smaller city perhaps you are right. time crushes every other carrier here in El Paso, Tx. check sensorly and similar apps that are driven by consumers and not by corporate coverage maps and propaganda.
Verizon is dead to me. They charge too much. They don’t care about their customers. And the employees at the store near me are rude. Their only saving grace is they do have a good service.
Dear Mr. Verizon. —F—U—
ha, guys just check sensorly and rootmetrics to see where the real coverages are. Keep in mind that T-Mobile only has about 40-60 percent of their planned lte locations up and running in all major and many non major cities across the country. they started that they will have their lte closer to 100 percent by year end. with that being said my hspa+ aka 3g on T-Mobile is faster than Verizon’s lte in many locations here in El Paso, Tx. Lte is blazing fast here and every place I’ve been that has it from Philadelphia, Dallas, Phoenix, Vegas, etc. I’ve been to those places recently and they all average about 20 download and 15 upload, very low latency and although I have unlimited data (truly, not capped) I prefer using Google voice over grooveip or sparephone (apps) because they work great over tmobile lte and allows you to keep your lte connection while still talking.
go ahead and check out sensorly, go to tmobile 4g (which is lte only on the app) to see where they really have lte coverage as told by the customers. at 40 percent El Paso had coverage just about everywhere and I love it. I’m up to 96gb of data this cycle alone because I stream a lot music and video plus voip calls. they even give me 4.5gb to tether. both lines on our account are the same plan wise and after taxes, fees, and discount the final monthly bill is $130 so beat that other carriers.
2.5GB allowed tethering on unlimited data, but there are the UA spoofers.
vpn works great as well. using a vpn keeps them from knowing which type of device is using the data.
True story.
My Uncle Cooper just got an awesome yellow Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class Sedan by working part time at home online… browse around this website >>> MAX52.com
Verizon has no future if they didn’t reduce their charges or now they should consider to sell it like Nokia and Black Berry…
Would love to switch to someone else but the wife won’t let me. So for now I use my extra lines to be able to keep my unlimited data and get newer phones. I do hate Verizon for the stunts they pull like killing unlimited data but I have to agree that their footprint is the best in my area. The others pale in comparison.
Unlimited Data > Verizon Coverage
I would rather have unlimited data any day over Verizon coverage. I used the Big V for years and the coverage wasn’t all that great anyway. Switch to AT&T and have the grandfathered in unlimited Data Plan and have never looked back. I get faster speeds, less dropped calls and no restrictions for almost half the price of Verizon.
The sad thing with AT&T is the unlimited is now throttled, but it’s much better than the alternative of worrying about overages. I’ve considered that jump from Tmo, but can’t bite the bullet when I’m using 15+GB on 2 of my lines(believe it or not, my home internet options lost to tethering).
Throttled at 5GB of 4G Lte, and 2GB of HPSA+. If you use your APN setting on your phone correctly you can get 7GB of data that is not throttled every month. Use the standard AT&T APN to get your 5GB of Lte, then if you get throttled switch to the old wap.cingular APN to get another 2GB of HSPA+ data that is not throttled.
the truth is if tmobile had or is getting lte in your area you might want to jump on it asap. get fast lte, unlimited data, & tethering all at a budget friendly price. I can’t stress enough to people that checking sensorly and similar apps for real coverage areas is in the best interest of everyone.
OF COURSE I care!!!!!! That’s why I’m with T-Mobile!!! Let Vzn rot in hell!!! Them and their useless 2-3gb’s. How am I suppose to watch videos???
I watch entire nfl and college football games every weekend because I work weekends, great picture quality. I use a vulkano which is similar to slingbox plus I find sites that stream them also. I use a lot of data and even if the speeds were decreased to 33 percent of what I currently have it would still be fast enough for everything.
Weeelll, i have Sprint LTE where i work and live so i don’t have to choose… i can have it all. SERO too!
Sprint? Why would I want to guarantee myself subpar speeds for life?
Hopefully Softbank will make a difference.
Sprint = A BMW on freeway till you travel to a offramp, then you gotta pull over and jump in a datsun.
T-Mobile = A ducatti. Free to go as fast as you want till you hit traffic.
AT&T = A circus swing. Up and down we go, where we stop, we’ll never know.
Verizon = A nascar. 20 laps till you’re done buddy but don’t worry, We’re always trying to find ways to get you there faster.
Blasted BMW quality.. I’d compare Verizon to a Tesla. Very fast but only for a short time before you have to recharge.
If Verizon said it was a sunny day, I’d look out the window because I wouldn’t believe them.
T Mobile it is for me for now. S4 gets great speeds and coverage in Norcal especially places I go. Maybe i will consider Sprint once they have fully launched LTE in Norcal just maybe
I’ve been on Sprint for about 12 years now, and it went from great when 3G EVDO first came out, to painful the 3-4 years ago. But I stuck with them due to the great value I get, the unlimited data, and the tight integration they have with Google. (Google Voice, Google Wallet, upcoming Nexus 5).
With that said, I am VERY impressed with the “Network Vision” progress in the RDU area over the last 8-12 months. LTE on 1900mhz is virtually everywhere, and LTE on 800mhz and 2500mhz are right around the corner, but my current phone only supports 1900mhz LTE.
I cannot WAIT for my shiny new tri-band LTE Nexus 5!
What id the RDU area? All I can think of is Raleigh-Durham?
Yes, Raleigh-Durham
If sprint gets their coverage up I’ll gladly choose them and lose my big red unlimited data. Until Verizons reps can kick rocks. I’m never letting go of unlimited.
shrug… lte is rolling out in mobile al and Pensacola fl and neither has been listed on their upcoming lte areas.. and yet I get it. no it’s not fully reliable but, it’s cheaper, unlimited etc. I drive around with streaming mlb network all day via dish sling with no worries.
With Sprint? I’m also in Mobile and I’ve been curious about jumping off of vzw for a while now.
There are lots of areas where Sprint LTE is available, though the market isn’t officially announced. It’s not always widespread or reliable while they are rebuilding the network, but it is out there. Check out sensorly.com for more info.
If I could actually get decent coverage from Sprint I would jump on them but I live and work in areas that aren’t right on a major highway so I’ve got to stay with one of the “big 2”. I’m thankfully still grandfathered into Verizon’s unlimited but I’m sure they will find some way to steal it from me soon.
How come even after you fulfill your 2 years contract and paid all the subsidizes on your subsidized phone you still pay the same price? Shouldn’t you get a break and have a lower phone bill if you don’t subsidize again? Consumer gets shafted again.
yup yup. You’re only not paying extra if you upgrade the month you’re eligible for an upgrade. It’s the same reason why with Verizon Edge, your basically paying twice for the phone because you are doing phone payments on top of the subsidized monthly price, yet so many people don’t get it
Sounds like you want to go to T-Mobile.
I will stick with my 10 GB on TMobile for 17 bucks :-)
10GB’s? I have unlimited on T-Mobile!
i have the unlimted 5gb 4G plan for $15 same plan for the last 3 1/2 years…
for $17? I’d gladly pay $17 and be “limited” to 10gb.
It’s been way over a year… More like 4 years since you could get it.
Verizon can’t hear it’s customers over the $2.25 billion in profit from the 2nd quarter up from last years same quarter profit of $1.83 billion.
They are barely scraping by people, they can’t afford to give their customers unlimited data.
To misquote a famous misquotation, “Reports of unlimited data’s death have been greatly exaggerated”.
How can a company that’s so clueless be so profitable?
How else can they nickle and dime you to pay $130 billion for Vodafone?
65% margin is how!
Heck yeah I care! I average 35gb a month. Thankfully I’m grandfathered in, but when I pick up my new Galaxy S5 next year, I’ll be paying for the phone outright in order to keep it.
I have been with Verizon since 2004-05, and was Grandfathered for Unlimited Data. When I went to upgrade to my SIII I was told I’d loose it, I did not. I inquired and was told that I “fell through the cracks” and would be able to keep it until my next upgrade. After starting using my phone as a whole-home internet source through fox-fi (approximately 100 GB per month on average) I am never going to get rid of it. There are so many ways to keep it if you do a little research, or know how to manipulate their online registration systems.
Anyway, I digress, I believe those whom would use Unlimited Data to the extent where it bocomes “unsustainable” are those like me who will do anything to keep being power-users. The vast majority of regular users or those who are always connected to Wi-Fi would no more affect the system that the do presently (and would be bragging about their Unlimited Data the entire time.)
to me, power user means having a great service (perhaps “unlimited” data) as well as having power user level equipment. having limited options in obtaining high end equipment (phone selection and/or having to buy at full retail price) so you can keep a certain data plan makes it hard to stay a power user (meaning one might end up settling for a lesser handset which is not power userish to me). just my opinion.
100GB cell data to support a fixed location does seem a bit out of the intended service the carrier sells. no surprise they’d apply friction there.
Vz offers unlimited to government accounts still. Idk about business class
I have VZW, and I know they stopped offering new unlimited contracts in late June/early July 2011. They stopped grandfathering people who had it already for upgrades around the same time in 2012. I use the installment plan for my Galaxy S4, and will do that again or use the ghost line for future upgrades. They will have to take away my unlimited before I give it up. I sold my RAZR HD to a friend who uses over 50GB per month since her Droid Charge was dying. I will take reliability (even tiered if necessary) over spotty unlimited. I have friends with Sprint and they aren’t proud of their days coverage much of the time.
on smartphones, i use roughly no more than 4gb of data, so Tmobile’s unlimited (5gb of 4G, then tether) plan is perfect and pretty reliable where i live. so i have the best of both worlds at this moment.
I find having unlimited makes me feel better about just using data when i want to, not just need too. i get to 10 – 15 gig each month because if i want to youtube, i dont think about it… netflix, piratebay… what ever. so i definatly dont care about slow speeds after 5 gig.
Sticking to unlimited on Verizon, only paying $40 a month on a family plan. If it came down to losing that deal I’d move to Tmobile or a Sprint MVNO, anything over $40 a month is too much.
Sprint won’t compete with AT&T and Verizon though, their native footprint is vastly too small, even if they finish upgrading every tower to LTE, more than half of their land area coverage will be roaming on 1x on Verizon. Tmobile has a bit more substantial of a native coverage area, but it isn’t as good as AT&T, and they have tons of native 2g with no real plans to upgrade it at this point, though hopefully they will sometime in the next few years.
I love the unlimited data. I stream my music all day while at work using about 7 gigs a month. Their service is pretty reliable for me where I’m at
Same here. Their network has improved dramatically. A year ago, I couldn’t stream music reliably at work. Now I’m able to listen all day over Sprint’s 3G network. Really the only time I have issues with data is when I roam to Verizon’s network.
Once Sprint has better coverage, I’m switching over from Verizon. I have unlimited data but now I can’t a get new phone at the subsidized price unless I forfeit my unlimited data. No way I’m paying full price for a phone. Looks like my GS3 will have to last me another couple of years.
If you have multiple lines and a family plan, then go online and switch your upgrade to another line and upgrade that line. Leave the phone active on there for a minimum of 24 hours and then you activate it on your line. It requires coordinating with a family member, but should be worth it in the end. My upgrade just got used by a family member, but sadly i don’t get the phone lol. I need to rock my SIII for a while more…
i still have unlimited verizon, and i’ll admit there were moments of weakness where i considered making changes, now they are even offering discounted more than 2gb plans to try to lure me off… but i’m going to ride this unlimited train as long as possible… when voip lte comes out u are all going to be begging for unlimited. I figure the incentives to drop unlimited will continue to rise
I was in the same situation, and I just left verizon.
Never regretted that decision, their are much better deals to be found with T-mobile or prepaid AT&T.
Plus device selection is soooooo much better on GSM :)
To be honest, I get a pretty good deal on verizon. It’s all about the family plan. We pay about $250w/tax for 4 lines. 3 smart/1 dumbphone. 1 unlimited data line, (2) 2gb lines, 3 insurance plans, unlimited texting, and 1400 minutes, the key to the minutes is I still use google voice for unlimited free calling on my line, and use the other 8 friends and family numbers to drastically lower our minute usage, when you had in free nights and weekends and free verizon m2m, we are using roughly 10,000 minutes on our 1400 minute plan. LOL when i’m back in florida i get 18mbps consistently so i use about 6GBs of data on the unlimited line, in NYC i only use 1-2GBs because the LTE if it exists here is at best 4mbps consistently below that, its atrocious service in the city.
I’m grandfathered unlimited vzw but I’m getting really sick of the way they handle their business. For instance they extended my contract by a year without my knowledge and when I called to find out why, they informed me that it was part of the discount program I had from a previous employer. That’s bullshit. I’m hoping Tmo gets better coverage here in south Alabama soon.
They should be REQUIRED to inform you of any contract changes, you should call and raise hell!!!
Switched to Sprint because of cost. The network isn’t as reliable but it’s gotten so much better this past year. If we all switch over to Sprint the other big guys will be forced to deliver what we demand, that is unlimited data. It is us who should be telling these carriers what we want, not the other way around. Let’s speak to them in the only language these companies understand, money. Sprint has my business.
Sprint has my business too, but I’m starting to regret it. In most buildings I’m either roaming or have 1 bar. Sprint sent me an Airave for free, but it’s quite frustrating when I’m not at home.
Imho, if you want to save money switch to T-mobile or prepaid AT&T, you’ll get a much faster data network with either.
T-mobile is not so great with coverage, but AIOwireless has some great data deals and you get much superior coverage compared to Sprint and a faster network.
good point. Plus if data isn’t that much of a deal you can get an unlocked gsm phone and now get the lte sim card from straight talk and use att lte which is faster than verizon lte.
So, my only question with Verizon’s statement is, what happens with the random situations where customers download an app that’s constantly pulling data, but have no clue how to troubleshoot that and pushes them over their data limit? Is Verizon good about making exceptions in those cases? There are numerous times where new people will join the forums, simply to ask how to troubleshoot situations like that, where an app or system process is causing their data to be used up without their even knowing. Ultimately, the underlying message that’s being sent by Verizon’s CEO is, “we’re going to make money and it doesn’t really matter how the making of that money is justified…even if that means charging innocent folks that don’t know what app might be pulling them over their data limits.”
Sprint’s 4G LTE works great here in Chicago. I was ready to ditch them because the 3G was so bad but figured I would try 1 more phone once they rolled out LTE. It’s a difference of day and night. So far no regrets. I never use over 2GB or so but it’s nice not having to worry about it.
I might point at that Chicago was a place where they were pretty bad before the Network Vision upgrade there. So the improvements they’re doing are legit.
Switched from Verizon to Sprint this year. No question that Verizon’s network is clearly superior, but I get very good speeds “4G” speeds on Sprint in my area. I average out at 9-13 Mbps, not Verizon but I can certainly live with that considering I get Unlimited data. I don’t regret leaving Verizon one bit. But I would makes 100% sure what your coverage is like in your area with Sprint before joining….some cities speeds are atrocious.
Truer words have never been spoken, mustache-man!
You get what you pay for. Verizon is by far the best. I get the best service, the best technology, best customer service, best user experience in all metrics. There’s a lot less difference in cost but a huge difference in the experience. Not worth it to me to get a far worse experience just to save a couple of bucks. My service work Verizon is about add perfect as can be and I don’t mind paying more to get that.
I was with Vzn for 3yrs, there signal kept going from LTE to crappy EVDO 3G, I don’t pay Vzn for crappy EVDO, I pay for LTE, at least with T-Mobile, if I don’t currently get an LTE signal, HSPA 42/21 is still fast enough to load webpages and watch YouTube vids.
And the worst phones this side of AT&T. As in locked down and filled with bloat.
You sound like a fanboy, Verizon has it’s positive attributes no doubt, for overall coverage they can’t be beat, customer service is debatable, I was a verizon customer for years and their customer service was never any better than other carrier’s and I’ve used them all.
They don’t have the best technology, GSM/HSPA/LTE naturally work together much better than their cobbled together CDMA/LTE network, and are better for device battery life.
Their phone selection is also usually out of date, they are often the last to get new phones
AT&T LTE beats them in pure network speed and you can get many plans for a fraction of what Verizon charges, with more data included.
That extra GB of data plus the fact that you don’t have to use a shared data plan on AT&T mean quite a bit to some users, a single user can save $15 a month by using AT&T if you don’t need unlimited minutes and that’s just comparing their plan to the least competitive competitor, I can get prepaid with more data for half the price of verizon. There is more than a few bucks to be saved.
Maybe not the best technology. Verizon is the last to get a good or decent phone. It took them several months to get the note 2 and the htc one. Plus lately my friends verizon lte phone has been the same speed of my sprint lte and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. So it depends on where you live. oh, i forgot, verizon also locks down all their phones and makes it near impossible for developers unless they pay hundreds more for a developer phone.
I used 18 gigs last month on my note 2 for tmobile $30 plan plus 500 mb of tethering included!
T-mobile now includes 2.5GB free tethering FYI. Also, I noticed when I have my Android tablet tethered it says I have used 0mb of tethering while using the hotspot app.
I usually try not to nitpick but this sentence cracked me up: “Is it impossible to have both, or can you only have one without the other?”
Only one carrier decided to have truly unlimited data? I think you forgot about T-Mobile. Unlimited LTE/4G is 20 bucks a month on T-Mobile, AND you now get 2.5GB of tethering with it.
Verizon is a greedy, P.O.S. company. They do anything they can to charge you more and more for less and less. AT&T is the same way. I left Verizon for T-Mobile on principle. I hate the twin Bell’s business practices.
They went to tethered data to take advantage of the fact that companies like Google are pushing cloud services/streaming.
Lol i still have unlimited data and foxfi for free tethering.
But yea they are dicks.
Isn’t Tmo’s Unlimited data limited by speed past a certain data threshold? I know it used to be. Still it’s unlimited, so while youtube may not stream in high def forever at least it’ll still run.
Nope, T-mobile is unlimited high speed. My son used 14GB last month with no slow down. I used about 8GB with no slow down. I pay $20 per month with 2.5GB free tethering with speeds usually over 25 down and 12 up.
Me too, I used 14gb’s last billing cycle. No slow down, I get good signal here in New Haven County, Connecticut.
No, it’s not. They have plans like that as an option, but they have a true unlimited plan also.
NO! They don’t throttle unless you ask for a cheaper plan that throttles you.
Prepaid is throttled after 5GB, yes, but that’s so cheap I certainly don’t mind lol.
If Sprint had a better network, I would be so over unlimited and bye bye greedy Verizon. I am sick of having to turn data off, and making sure I am on wifi to download podcast, update my apps, or anything else that takes up data. About the only thing I do over data is check FB but not on a regular basis, or might catch up on one or two of my “Scramble/Words/etc” with friends games. I might also use chrome a small amount but I don’t even know why I have a smart phone that I am so limited by my carrier to be able to use. Come on Sprint, improve your network AND A TON of people will jump ship. And then the greedy money CEO’s at Verizon and AT&T would get the message when swarms of people drop them like a bad cold. Most people only have a cell phone now days so without a reliable network we aren’t going to switch, like when we have an expecting wife and she needs to get a hold of her wonderful husband at work but can’t, but no signal. They would get the message two fold because Sprint also offers their phones for a lower sign up price or even upgrade price then the grubby greedy CEO’s at big red. SPRINT please please please get your network up updated/upgraded with better service. Many are waiting!
I mean they want us to go over our data limit. They give you “hot spot” wi-fi access free for a reason. Big Red is moving away from the good customer commitment and only seeing the dollar bills. On wifi, I use about 20-25g of data downloading podcast to listen to, or adding songs to my google play music so I don’t have to stream it and use my data. Some of the company’s like Pandora should put some pressure on Big Red to give us more for less on these silly data tiered plans. Why? Because I have not once used my Pandora or other streaming apps once since being forced to go from Verizon’s unlimited to tiered plan. I am on a 4 Gig plan for an extra 30 a month shared by 4 people. And this is supposed to be “cheaper option” then the 29.95 for the previously unlimited plan because we are sharing the cost of the data. Well guess what, it isn’t! I am spending about 10 more a month and now can’t really use my phone for to its full capabilities. Hell, why isn’t Google, itself not sticking for us with all the data their Google Now uses to keep us informed etc. Thanks Google for all the great features that eat up what little data I am allowed to use on my limited budget.
Anyway, I will stop with this rant because this is the way of America now with greedy CEO’s paying themselves huge bonuses and robbing their company in doing so. The CEO’s at United airlines are prime examples who are robbing the company blind… lets declare bankruptcy, cut everyone’s salary (but Mine) and then when the company shows a profit, pay myself a huge 10 million a year bonus and take all the profits away. Oh and don’t give any money back to the workers but cut their jobs in the process. Anyway, enough is enough…
And while discussing with my wonderful wife and our budget, we were about 1 click away from switching to Sprint but didn’t pull the trigger because like I said Verizon unfortunately has better network and with her expecting our second, We didn’t want to miss anything, but with the first being at home and if there is an emergency, I want to be able to get a hold of the wife or vise verse. We will switch to sprint in a heart beat given better network service in our area. Like a previous commentator, they only understand money. So Sprint up your network and you can have my money instead of VZW. THANK YOU!
Um… I’ll let you in on a little secret… You can roam off of Verizon’s towers… For free… As in no cost… So… Take that extra money you save by leaving Verizon and save it for your “second”…
Only in areas where Sprint doesn’t have coverage at all, you can’t switch to a Verizon tower in an area where Sprint’s coverage sucks, but technically exists. For example inside a big building that is in Sprint’s coverage area you could be without a signal while Verizon users have signal. Their networks aren’t equal just because you can roam on some Verizon towers.
Also their 3G data network is horrible, what use is unlimited at 100 – 400kbps max which is the speeds you’ll see on Sprint in my area.
You absolutely can “switch to a Verizon tower” when you want… Google how to change your .prl file ;-)
hacking and managing your own .prl file isn’t something most consumers would want to do, and also could get you dropped from Sprint if you used Verizon towers exclusively which is the only way you’d get service that was equal to Verizon.
Very good point. Only reason I am still with sprint is because my note 2 is rooted and when I need to I force roam to verizon prl and then switch back after. Plus now my wife’s line is with tmobile. On her htc one s she gets 5mbps on average with most other times hitting 8 to 10mbps on hspa+. I tether to her phone and get around 6mbps on my sprint phone. So for now that’s what’s keeping me on my sprint account. But as soon as tmobile blankets the areas that need work I will switch completely. But maybe just maybe sprint will hold true to having lte on their entire 3g footprint by end of year.
Entire 3G footprint covered by Sprint LTE? I think your confusing Verizon’s statements with Sprint’s. Sprint will never accomplish that this year,
FYI, at least in Dallas, I get pretty damn good voice & data on Sprint.
I feel these guys made a secret pact – one promised to never go unlimited, another swore to always keep data connections slow and sluggish…
which is another reason for me to look at T-Mobile.
I told Verizon how I felt about their view on unlimited data with my wallet when I fired them!
I know unlimited data is a plus to us users, but also important is being free to use the data however we want: no blocks on telephony, torrents, etc. But if we want the freedom to use our data however we want, then the carriers/ISP’s have to move closer to being the dumb data pipes that they should be.
This means, though, that they have to charge by the data — period. If they are doing anything else, then market forces are going to penalize them.
And data is not so expensive that we should care. Imagine wholesale data over 4G being $5 per GB, with that cost constantly falling. Who would want to pay any other way? What we have now is a distorted market, and many of us whine when unlimited data disappears. But we are simply paying too much. The carriers charge what the market will bear, not what it costs them to deliver plus a competitive surcharge. The latter is where we want to be, in my opinion.
The “free” market bears a heck of a lot more than an actual free market. Theoretically having big 4 carriers should create competition but it doesn’t. If we aren’t going to have competition we should make cell networks the utility they have become. Just like electric company (in most states) you should have one company that maintains the entire infrastructure.
Think about how much better our reception and bandwidth would be, if we only had 1 cell network. We instead built 4 completely separate network 2 gsm/2cdma. We are one of the only countries that offers both. Radio frequencies are an extremely rare resource to divide them up by 4 in completely arbitrarily chunks in different areas is completely ridiculous. .
Nice analogy with utilities, but in that case too we buy the commodity metered. With water and electricity, we pay set amounts for volumes and amounts.
Trying to do differently with data is just going to needlessly push an inefficiency in the system. As consumers, we don’t need anything different from our ISP’s, and the data part of our mobile carriers. They are best dumb data pipes and we choose who we connect to and for what. The ISP cannot really help us in this.
I completely agree that net neutrality has to be the #1 concern. Even though isps have theoretically caps, they basically don’t have any caps and thus the cost per GB is incredibly low, so we are perfectly fine with this. The issue with paying per GB with wireless is the insane cost that has no bearing on reality. Wireless companies are built around an unsustainable high profit margin. I think its ridiculous to be able to arbitrarily price things, and then magically all the carriers price it the same way. The classic example being the lowly text message, something that essentially costs providers a rounding error to zero to operate, and yet is used to pay for network infrastructure.
Why don’t we just pay for what it costs to provide the service we are using+ a small profit margin? you know like every other competitive free-market product. I would gladly pay $1GB for data, maybe even 2GB.
So I’ll sum up the “sustainable” “problem” real quick. The problem is the stock market and shareholders. The structure of the market is perceived value and quick returns. If a company isn’t making MORE profit than they did last year the perceived value goes down. And this has a domino effect where the greediest/stupidest shareholders immediately sell. Driving down perceived value even further hitting the next teir of greed/stupidity. Shareholders aren’t satisfied with dividends. The fact that a company is profitable isn’t good enough. So Verizon has to keep finding ways to make more profit than they did the year before or risk losing perceived value. What isn’t “sustainable” is the stock market. Verizon is another company which is “too big to fail”. If Verizon suddenly had to shut it’s doors think of how many people would be out of jobs and out of communication.
Now Sprint is suddenly owned 80% by a Japanese company. While they have shareholders of their own in the Japanese market they have very little reason to be concerned about the 20% of US Market shareholders. So the drive for increased profit every year is significantly diminished. If Sprint only needs to be profitable so it can focus on growth at whatever speed that may be.
I fired Verizon for their stance on unlimited data. Switched to TMobile and couldn’t be happier. My family is saving roughly $100 a month and we now have unlimited data with 2.5GB of hotspot…
Those tubes, can’t clog those tubes!
actually tubes is a way better analogy than the baloney ‘gas’ one that he used. I can’t believe people fall for this corporate crap.
If I had a personal smartphone I’d care and I’d be on T-mobile, T-mobile’s unlimited I care about because it’s useful, unlimited on Sprint is just posturing unless you’re in a place with LTE, the 3G network where I live is a joke, almost no one uses Sprint for smartphones in central NJ, everyone knows how horrid their data network is around here.
Do I care as much as I used to? no not really. I have a work smartphone that’s limited to 3GB and I get along just fine just by turning wifi on at home and work.
I don’t think it matters, really, because I doubt ‘unlimited’ is really unlimited on any of them. For example, Verizon LTE is faster in my house than my cable internet. Even if I had one of their unlimited accounts, how long you reckon I could stream HD videos with it before I got throttled?
A lot longer than the base 2GB cap at Verizon will hold out.
I used to be on unlimited and I used 6 – 12 GB a month and used my smartphone a lot more freely for things it’s designed to do, like play video and streaming music on the go.
I’ve learned to conserve and use less, because of money concerns I couldn’t afford a separate personal smartphone plan anymore. But I don’t enjoy my smartphone as much as I used to.
I depends on the user if unlimited data is important. But their is a definate difference between using a smartphone on tiered and unlimited data.
Even a plan with throttling is easier to live with than caps when you can’t afford a surprising phone bill
I’ve always wondered if your middle initial, if you have one, is ‘G’. =.3
lol, unfortunately no it’s not :)
If it was I don’t think I’d care about a few data overage charges :)
6-12gb a month… that’s like, what… one or two streamed HD movies? I go through more than that in a few days on my cable internet :) I’m not saying there’s no difference… just that it ain’t anywhere close to unlimited.
Unlimited means it goes on forever. It doesn’t matter how it goes on. It just does.
Why do people bring up throttling and saying they don’t have unlimited?
Now if they throttle you to insanely slow speeds, then I understand that. That’s just finding loopholes and being trifling.
Tmo throttles you to their 2G. So you can still do some things.
Tmobile has an unlimited plan where they don’t throttle
Yep. That is exactly what I just did. Sprint in S. Fl is like dial-up.T-Mo I’m getting 18 down at best 4 down at worst. With sprint what is the point of unlimited? It’s like having a Ferrari but being told you can’t go more than 30 mph.
That’s kinda the case already. I don’t know why people buy sports cars and drive around on the streets. Like WTF you showing off for? Shouldn’t you be on the highway trying to geta speeding ticket? LoL!!
I’m sorry.
Unless you live in Germany…
That Autobahn, though.
VZW uses the the fact that other (except ATT) can’t compete on reliable network. If it was even close I’d dump VZW and my unlimited plan in a second. VZW uses their network to bully, cheat, and “steal” from their customers… True on its face “Unlimited” may be unsustainable, but VZW is merely using that as an excuse much like they insanely overcharged for txt messages for years. A reasonable “tiered” plan would start at 50 gigs for 30 bucks a month…
Something isn’t adding up. If they can’t afford unlimited data, why do they have insanely high prices? If they’re not using that data, wouldn’t that mean they have extra money to have lower prices?
First of all Sprint isn’t the only carrier with unlimited data. Tmobile brought back unlimited data without any throttle. This article should be corrected.
Secondly based on how many customers Verizon and att have been adding it seems like most people don’t care about unlimited data
How come an ISP such as Cox Communications can provide quality internet for around $54.99/month with over 200 GB to spare, and Verizon charges $100 for 10 GB (granted they have unlimited call/txt, but still it’s expensive for the data), or what used to be 2GB for $30? either I’m not understanding any differences or something isn’t right. Is providing wireless 4G LTE a lot more expensive than providing wired home service?
To be fair, it is significantly more expensive. Especially since at cox you provide the wireless wifi ap/router. Is it really $0.275 per GB for cox and $10-15 per GB for cell providers? my gut says no based on the technology behind it.
I apologize for the length of the following post, i got on a roll.
There are essential 2 separate parts to the internet.
Part 1) The massive fiber network (and some copper left) that connects everything. The cell providers will refer to this as backhaul. It’s the wire that connects the cell tower with the rest of the internet. Home ISP’s provide most of this “cloud” large wires that connect everything. The difference between the 2 is in part 2)
Part 2) The last mile. The problem we have been trying to find the best solution for decades.
2a)Home isps, use a couple of different solutions 1)phone lines which had dial-up and later isdn 2) those phone lines were upgraded outside your home to provide adsl service 3) existing cable lines were reinforced to provide internet as well as analog and then digital cable 4a) Fiber enters to the market in verizon fios (and others) which is fiber to the home (FTTH), this means a fiber line physically enters your house and then is converted to copper right before entering your router which then provides the wifi. 4b) U-verse (and others) provide fiber to the node(FTTN) which means a fiber line runs to a box within a block or 2 of your home, and copper usually in the form of a cat6 cable runs from the node to your home, this may seem like a small difference, but that last bit of fiber verizon provides, costs an enormous amount since it must have individual fiber to copper converters for each house.
2b) Cell providers use things like 1) 1g less than dialup speeds running over cdma/tdma networks 2) 2g provides isdn like “double/quadruple dialup speeds” over cdma/gsm 3) 3g provided .5-3mbps speed over cdma/gsm/hspa/early wimax 4)4g 1-25mbps provided over LTE and later lte-advanced which could proivded as high as 100mbps
Providing that final mile, represents the vast majority of network infrastructure costs. and changing the technology more often means having to reinvest in the infrastructure more often. You will notice cdma spanned a long time, thus verizon/sprint had to invest less in upgrades over time.
Another interesting thing is the concept of 4g. as many of you know, 4g isn’t really what 4g was intended to be. Wimax (created by one of the inventors of usb, so it wasn’t like it was some nutjob proposing this) was supposed to solve the last mile problem, its original specifications called for 4g mobile (cellphone)/4g intermediate (trains/planes)and 4g/stationary (home internet)specs. the stationary one would’ve provided 100-1000mbps to your house and replace your home wifi and home isp current solution. Instead of your neighborhood having 100’s of individual lines of fiber and copper and wifi routers interfering with each other, we’d have giant all powerful tower beaming down to your neighborhood. And when 4g came out, a simple swap of equipment on that 1 tower would instantly provide your neighborhood with new faster speeds, rather a 1-10year rollout of new technology like we have now.
too bad wimax kind of fizzled out
LTE is really 3.5g and HSPA+ is 3.25g
I appreciate your response. I don’t understand all the costs to all of these, I was just proposing questions that make it seem as if Verizon and others are overcharging us or something.
Do you know how much more does 4G LTE really costs over cable wired internet at home? Will prices ever go down for LTE and perhaps providing unlimited or higher data plans for low cost?
I want speed, reliability, availability, AND I don’t want to have to watch a meter. Verizon can shove it. I’ll keep my grandfathered unlimited AT&T connection first obtained when I got an iPhone, which I now maintain with my LTE Android phone. If AT&T ever forces me out of it, then AT&T can bugger off too, and I will find another option.
We are in a unique position – we live in a rural area that is about 5 minutes from another state’s borders. This means 3 things. First, signal strength for voice lousy. Second, we are lucky if we get Edge data speeds. Third, all carriers we have tried (4 including the late Nextel) WILL drop our calls as we approach the border from our state to the one next to us.
We do, however, have great internet. So for us the best choice is T-Mobile since they have WiFi calling. No micro-cells, no external antennas. We get great call quality off the access points in our house. For us, it’s the only way to go.
Even Verizon has poor signal quality around us, so the 4G quality/quantity data wars and premium price for premium service speeches mean very little to us.
forget verizon. att and verizon are competing to see who can screw over the customer more. i thought competition would lower prices?
Not when you have an oligopoly. Plus whoever rules the spectrum rules the customer. So it’s not a competitive market. The “fighting” for customers is all a show amongst the providers. Look we have competition, look at as fight, rawr pay us more money
Love my job, since I’ve been bringing in $82h…ℯxit35.cℴℳ
Most people that bash Sprint, never had them. My service works great everywhere I travel and I’m paying alot less than greedy Verizon and AT&T. The best part is, I used 21GB of data last month without a care in the world. I travel alot and absolutely love the Sprint network.