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Verizon to users: Everyone needs a data plan, right?
ArcSyn
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So yeah, in case you haven't heard, as of Jan 18, 2010, Verizon will be requiring a data plan on phones that they are putting into a new class called "Multimedia Phones". What's a multimedia phone?
So now, if you want a nice featurephone from Verizon, you'll be forking out $10/mo more for a 25MB data plan at minimum.
They've also revamped a bunch of other plans and add-ons, some of which may be old or new, I can't really tell since I don't keep up on it, but one nice thing I saw was a $30 unlimited text family plan, where for $30 it covers unlimited text for all lines on the family plan. Not so hot for my wife and I, as that works out to $15 per phone (still better than the $20 single-line version though), but if you have 3, 4, or more lines, that's pretty cheap.
Otherwise, it's the same old story, less features or minutes for more money..
Source BGR
Anyway, I'm pretty ticked. My wife is up for a plan, and now I need to rush out tomorrow or Sunday and pick up a phone for her, as she will probably want either the Env3 or VX8360 phone and both of them are going to be considered multimedia phones and require the $10 data plan. I DON'T WANT A DATA PLAN. Oi. I text, I text a LOT, but I have no need right now for mobile web or e-mail on my Env2, and I don't forsee needing it on a future Env3 or Env4 either. If I want mobile web or e-mail, I'll go all out and get a smartphone.
I've already started price shopping around the other carriers to see if I should just switch to Sprint or TMobile. That's how bad this is. It's $120 a year I shouldn't be forced to spend. It's absolutely ridiculous to start requiring data on phones that don't necessarily need it. I just want a qwerty keyboard, not a data plan. It's why I originally wanted to pick up a blackberry without the data plan a few years ago, just for the nice keyboard for texting.
So now, if you want a nice featurephone from Verizon, you'll be forking out $10/mo more for a 25MB data plan at minimum.
They've also revamped a bunch of other plans and add-ons, some of which may be old or new, I can't really tell since I don't keep up on it, but one nice thing I saw was a $30 unlimited text family plan, where for $30 it covers unlimited text for all lines on the family plan. Not so hot for my wife and I, as that works out to $15 per phone (still better than the $20 single-line version though), but if you have 3, 4, or more lines, that's pretty cheap.
Otherwise, it's the same old story, less features or minutes for more money..
Source BGR
Anyway, I'm pretty ticked. My wife is up for a plan, and now I need to rush out tomorrow or Sunday and pick up a phone for her, as she will probably want either the Env3 or VX8360 phone and both of them are going to be considered multimedia phones and require the $10 data plan. I DON'T WANT A DATA PLAN. Oi. I text, I text a LOT, but I have no need right now for mobile web or e-mail on my Env2, and I don't forsee needing it on a future Env3 or Env4 either. If I want mobile web or e-mail, I'll go all out and get a smartphone.
I've already started price shopping around the other carriers to see if I should just switch to Sprint or TMobile. That's how bad this is. It's $120 a year I shouldn't be forced to spend. It's absolutely ridiculous to start requiring data on phones that don't necessarily need it. I just want a qwerty keyboard, not a data plan. It's why I originally wanted to pick up a blackberry without the data plan a few years ago, just for the nice keyboard for texting.
ArcSyn on
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But this is ridiculous. Why would they not let the data package be optional??
I really wanted a droid or Eris but my dad won't let me add that kind of data plan to the family plan and verizon won't sell them to you without.
Yeah T-Mobile is awesome if you get reliable reception where you're at.
My 3G coverage never drops, and I pay less than one hundred bucks for unlimited everything.
As for Verizon, now I know the company just sucks overall. They slashed their tech department on the telecommunications side by approximately 2/3. Try staying on hold for 1 hour when a T3 is down. Add that to the milking of their FiOS customers plus their phone plan shenanigans. /facepalm
twitch.tv/tehsloth
No ToS change, not in old plans anyway; just a new ToS and new plans, so it doesn't give anyone an out to the contract.
I have no problems with Verizon's service or support, and I've been using them for almost 8 years now. But this alone is enough to make me start to price out the other options. Forcing data plans on people is a definite deal-breaker and I'm not going to pay $10 more a month just to get a nice phone. If I have to use a POS phone just to get Verizon's cell signal, then I'll start looking elsewhere.
The downside is, I need to price out and make a decision by Sunday, since if I'm not going to move now I need to get a new phone for my wife and the two she would like are either the Env3 or vx8360..
Just ticks me off. I've been happy with the same plan for the past 8 years, and NOW they decide to pull this crap? To get the lowest plan with text would cost me $30 more now than it currently does, and that's if I don't get nice phones. If I want a decent phone I'm looking at $50 more than my current bill.
I switched from verizon to Tmobile and never looked back. Verizon fucked my over a few times with some crazy charges, so forget them.
I pay 20 dollars a month less for a g1 than I did for a crappy flip phone, with the same number of minutes.
Long Story:
We went to BJ's to go to the Verizon store there, and my wife was looking at the Env3 (we know a lot of people who have one) and she decided that she liked how it looked, how it texted, and it wasn't too complicated for her. So we wait for the only employee who was working to finish with the previous customer, and in the meantime she goes with the kids to get some hot dogs and do some shopping, because it was taking a while.
A few minutes later, while the lady is still finishing up with the other couple, my father-in-law shows up at the store to pick up a few things. We stop and chat for a bit and I let him know what we're doing and he tells me why he's here and small talk. He then goes to find my wife and say hi to the kids.
Verizon employee finishes up with the couple and begins to help me. We go through all the prerequisite stuff and she starts entering the phone to do the swap onto my account when she tells me that this phone in incompatible with my calling plan. I had a 450 minute el-cheapo family America's choice plan from like 7 years ago, and they don't let newer model phones stay with the same plan to force you to upgrade. Great. Well, I ask her what the difference in cost is going to be: $10. No biggie, $10 difference and I go from 450-700 minutes. I can live with that, and I'm sure it would need to be changed either now for my wife's upgrade or in July for mine.
She starts to input the data. A couple minutes go by and I can tell something is wrong. She asks what text messaging plan I had on the phone was. Again, another now-discontinued plan where for $5 a month I got unlimited texts to Verizon and 50 texts for anyone else. She says that when she swaps the calling plan to the 700 minute plan it will remove both text plans for myself and my wife. Great. How much would it cost to add texts? $5 for 250 texts. Or $20 for unlimited - PER PHONE. Yeah, I already used over 1,000 texts this month and I had half a month to go. There's no way I need anything less than unlimited. She then tells me that if I want texting on both phones, I can get the 700 Plus plan that gives both phones unlimited texting for only $30 more. So now I'm looking at $40 more per month than my current bill. Not cool.
I ask if there are any phones that wouldn't require a plan change, she points out three. I go find my wife who is talking to her dad and bear the bad news. Then my father-in-law has this idea. Move our numbers to his plan. It would add $20 a month to his plan, we pay him whatever we use, and my wife gets her new phone.
Awesome idea. We go back to the Verizon kiosk and the lady is now helping another customer, but there is a second employee who has shown up. We go over the idea to him and he says that would work, but emphasizes that my father-in-law knows that he would be responsible for the terms of the contract. No biggie, we're a tight-knit family.
So while setting things up, he mentions that since he is "creating a new line" on the account, my number would qualify for an early upgrade and we could take advantage of the Env3 buy-one-get-one sale so we would both get new phones. BINGO.
So tl:dr; My wife and I got new phones, we're going to pay her dad the same as we have been paying per month to cover our minutes and texts and lines on his account, and his monthly will actually end up being cheaper since we are going to pay over the $20 increase that he incurred from adding our lines. We all win.
I'm happy again. And I'm currently loading up my new phone in Bitpim to get some ringtones on it because there is no way I'm paying Verizon for ringtones.
Severed all ties with them years ago and never thought about looking back. They're miserable to customers and employees alike.
With my Nexus I can edit the mp3 right on the goddamn phone.
edit: But Verizon charges for whatever they can get away with. They'll charge extra for you to use the GPS on your phone. I mean, seriously? The hardware's in the phone I bought, and the GPS satellites I'm already paying for with my tax dollars.
But hey, they've got the widest coverage and they're going to milk every last dime out of that fact. I'm glad I'm not in Center Bumfuck, Upstate NY anymore.