Verizon to start tiered data plan pricing, as well?

Verizon, the biggest wireless carrier in the U.S., has said today that it may follow AT&T's recent move into tiered data plan pricing, while at the same time eliminating unlimited plans.

Says Verizon CFO John Killian: "We will probably need to change the design of our pricing where it will not be totally unlimited, flat rate."

The plan will likely not take effect until Verizon rolls out its 4G networks. When 4G goes live, the carrier expects an "explosion in data traffic," due to video downloads, video conferencing, and other bandwidth-intensive applications.

Verizon says smartphone owners currently use about 700MB of data per month, and the company says eventually smartphone users will be 80 percent of all Verizon consumers, up from just 17 percent today.

AT&T's cheapest new plan is $15 per month, but will only include 200MB of data. If customers go over the limit, they will be charged $15 extra for every 200MB of data, a very expensive proposition.

A more reasonable plan is $25 per month and will give smartphone, tablet, netbook users 2GB of data for the month. For every 1GB over the cap they go, they will be charged $10, another expensive proposition.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 19 Jun 2010 1:16

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9 comments

deluxe247

Screw this, it only makes sense to pay for speed, not actual amounts of data.

19.6.2010 03:15 #1

KillerBug

That is rather crummy of them...as soon as they are able to deliver speed, they will stop delivering it? If they don't grandfather me, I will get my contract voided on the basis that they are no longer honoring their end of the contract.

BTW...the fact that they average 700MB without the iPhone while AT&T averages 200MB with the iPhone seems to indicate that slower speeds really do result in lower use; and it is not a direct relation, as verizon 3G is only about twice as fast as AT&T 3G.

19.6.2010 03:15 #2

ProtocolX

Originally posted by KillerBug: That is rather crummy of them...as soon as they are able to deliver speed, they will stop delivering it? If they don't grandfather me, I will get my contract voided on the basis that they are no longer honoring their end of the contract.

BTW...the fact that they average 700MB without the iPhone while AT&T averages 200MB with the iPhone seems to indicate that slower speeds really do result in lower use; and it is not a direct relation, as verizon 3G is only about twice as fast as AT&T 3G. FYI - not to be nit-picky, but at&t is actually faster than Verizon. (http://www.pcworld.com/printable/article/id,189592/printable.html). And very few of phones on Verizon (except for recent Android based phones) had built in WiFi... where as iPhone always have had WiFi and people use that for quite a bit of their data use...

19.6.2010 04:29 #3

ukhn99 (unverified)

Originally posted by ProtocolX: Originally posted by KillerBug: That is rather crummy of them...as soon as they are able to deliver speed, they will stop delivering it? If they don't grandfather me, I will get my contract voided on the basis that they are no longer honoring their end of the contract.

BTW...the fact that they average 700MB without the iPhone while AT&T averages 200MB with the iPhone seems to indicate that slower speeds really do result in lower use; and it is not a direct relation, as verizon 3G is only about twice as fast as AT&T 3G. FYI - not to be nit-picky, but at&t is actually faster than Verizon. (http://www.pcworld.com/printable/article/id,189592/printable.html). And very few of phones on Verizon (except for recent Android based phones) had built in WiFi... where as iPhone always have had WiFi and people use that for quite a bit of their data use... Fanboy alert, watch out now......

19.6.2010 05:11 #4

KillerBug

That PC world article is the most bias piece of crap I have ever read...and I read Mein Kampf. Strange how ever other survey ever done showed verizon being twice as fast (at least) as AT&T...even stranger how PC World traveled across the country to do a test at a prototype tower at the apple store...and even stranger still that they dropped all the results from the cities where AT&T was completely unable to connect, but everyone else had no issues. Then there were the devices; rather than using similar 3G cards, they used the worst cards from each company...with the exception of AT&T...they used the best card AT&T offers. They can't even claim ignorance there...as they reviewed the cards used with verizon, and their reviews showed that they were slower, less reliable, and more expensive than the alternatives from Verizon.

Oh wait...none of that is strange. We are talking about PC World...a magazine that has been full of crap since day one. These are the people who recommended Norton and McAfee for years, and now claim that Microsoft's "Security Essentials" is the best available. It is no surprise when they are fraudulent. Next week they will test what OS has the most software titles available...and HP webos will win because it runs Java apps (everyone does, but no one else will get to count Java apps). After that, they will test what video game system has the best 3D...and the prize will go to the Nintendo wII, simply because there is no 3D and therefor there is nothing to complain about. Then they will test the water in the gulf of mexico, and come to the conclusion that all water on earth is full of oil...and must always have been, therefor it is safe to drink crude oil.

19.6.2010 05:40 #5

Venom5880

Originally posted by ukhn99: Originally posted by ProtocolX: Originally posted by KillerBug: That is rather crummy of them...as soon as they are able to deliver speed, they will stop delivering it? If they don't grandfather me, I will get my contract voided on the basis that they are no longer honoring their end of the contract.

BTW...the fact that they average 700MB without the iPhone while AT&T averages 200MB with the iPhone seems to indicate that slower speeds really do result in lower use; and it is not a direct relation, as verizon 3G is only about twice as fast as AT&T 3G. FYI - not to be nit-picky, but at&t is actually faster than Verizon. (http://www.pcworld.com/printable/article/id,189592/printable.html). And very few of phones on Verizon (except for recent Android based phones) had built in WiFi... where as iPhone always have had WiFi and people use that for quite a bit of their data use... Fanboy alert, watch out now...... Even if AT&T was faster, their 3G coverage is so poor in some areas that it's practically unavailable. I even get complaints from my peers that they lose reception completely fairly often as well. Coverage should never be an issue, especially in areas like Atlanta, GA and Mobile, AL.

AT&T's 200MB claim seems bogus anyway. They must be averaging out for all their users since the average iPhone owner burns through that in a week or two just from playing with the phones various features (game downloads, music streaming, etc).

I currently have an unlimited plan with Verizon and I average about 1.5GB of data a month. A tiered plan would not be a welcomed change. The current unlimited plan itself isn't truly unlimited as it caps at 5GB a month.

19.6.2010 08:27 #6

NeoandGeo

Wonder how they get their statistics, I do light browsing through news articles and update apps as my only data usage, and can easily eat through 4-5GB a month.

19.6.2010 09:43 #7

ZippyDSM

Assholes should have 2 plans

2GB a month for 15$, 2more GB for 15$ more and so on.

Or 5GB month at 25$, every 5 GB @ 10$ there after.

Until lobbying is a hanging offense I choose anarchy!
Ah modern gaming its like modern film only the watering down of fiction and characters is replaced with shallow and watered down mechanics, gimmicks and shiny-er "people".
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/

19.6.2010 10:15 #8

Macgyver_1 (unverified)

What happens if you own a Verizon network extender under the tiered program?
How does Verizon tell weather you are using the network extender that is using your internet connection for access to the internet?
It is like going to the supermarket and buying a gallon of milk and every time you go to your refrigerator and pour a glass of that milk you have to pay the dairy for every glass you pour!

20.6.2011 09:07 #9

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