Verizon plans to kill "grandfathered" unlimited data plans:

Verizon customers, say goodbye to grandfathered unlimited data plans if you want to upgrade: :thumbsdow


By Chris Welch | The Verge, Thursday, May 17, 9:38 AM

Verizon Wireless will no longer be allowing customers on a grandfathered unlimited data plan to upgrade to a 4G LTE smartphone when the carrier launches its tiered data share plans in mid-summer. Executive Vice President and CFO Fran Shammo announced the news during an investors conference Wednesday morning. "LTE is our anchor point for data share, so as you come through an upgrade cycle and you upgrade in the future, you will have to go onto the data share plan, moving away from the unlimited world," he said. "So when you think about our 3G base — a lot of our 3G base is unlimited — as they start to migrate into 4G, they will have to come off of unlimited and go into the data share plan, and that's beneficial for us for many reasons, obviously."

Unlimited data is a concept that has been heading towards extinction for some time now, and Verizon's decision to no longer honor the plans with LTE-capable devices will only expedite the process. AT&T continues to honor grandfathered unlimited plans for 4G upgrades, and Sprint remains the lone major carrier that still allows new customers to sign up for the privilege. Verizon had already been making a clear distinction between LTE and its legacy 3G network, offering data-doubling promotions exclusively to those shopping for an 4G-capable handset.

Story found here: Verizon customers, say goodbye to grandfathered unlimited data plans if you want to upgrade - The Washington Post

 

We'll see, Mike. However, from everything that I've read including the statement that was made by Verizon's CEO, this does in fact appear to be true. I am not bashing Verizon, as ALL wireless carriers do things like this, but based on Verizon's past history I can definitely see them going ahead with something like this.... Although, I remember not too long ago, when Verizon was going to do something negative and after everyone complained, Verizon pulled the plug on that plan. Maybe the same will hold true with this as well?

 

Quint, you bring up a very interesting point here. What is going to happen to the previously grandfathered LTE unlimited data customers?

 

From Verizon's own "clarification" and link that you posted here, it looks like they are still doing away with their grandfathered unlimited data plans when a customer upgrades their handset at the discounted pricing and signs a new contract. This would also explain how Verizon could get existing unlimited LTE data customers off of that plan as I was wondering about earlier. The only way a customer can keep the unlimited data plan (if I'm reading this quote correctly), will be if the customer pays "full retail" for the handset thereby choosing not to extend their contract. This might not sit well with some considering some of Verizon's top LTE handsets are at least $600 full retail.

 

True, AT&T "could" follow Verizon, or they "could" just use this to their advantage and keep their existing grandfathered unlimited data customers like myself, which I'm sure there are are still a lot of. I still think Verizon could change their mind about this as they've been known to do in the past if customers complain enough.

 

No point in keeping Verizon's unlimited data?

After reading this article from Gizmodo, there doesn't seem to be a point to paying full retail for Verizon's smartphones just to keep the unlimited data plan. Gizmodo mentions here that Verizon has a 5GB/$50 data plan, when in fact it would actually be 10GB/$50 with Verizon's LTE double data special that they are currently running. Since most people won't even come close to this amount of data I think this might be a better option for most instead of paying full retail for a device..... Verizon Unlimited Data Not Quite Dead, But There's No Point In Keeping It