VZW Admits that their Unlimited Data Plan is Limited to 5GB Per Month

This doesn't surprise me in the least. Verizon also advertises their network as the "most reliable" even though they clearly are not!

 

Verizon DEFINATELY enforces this 5 GB monthly limit. I was a counsil member, $200 a month customer with Verizon, Merits customer, and had three lines with them. Yet when I signed up for EVDO just one month into the so called "Unlimited" Broadband access I received a letter from Verizon saying they was canceling me cause I used it too much.

I had a terrible time with Verizon over this and I won't get into what all happened to me but I couldn't believe how they treated me. Especially since I was a high paying customer with not as much as a late payment on my account. Verizon refused to admit any fault with me and I can't believe they can get away with this false advertising so easily and on top of that to treat customers like myself the way they did. I really hope Verizon faces a class auction lawsuit over the false advertising and the way they are treating Broadband access customers.

 

That's just sad that Verizon treats high paying, good customers like this. I hate to hear you had to jump through hoops with them. How's Sprint working out for you in the Tri-Cities? That's an iPCS market isn't it? I'm thinking that the Tri-Cities was mentioned as one of IPCS's key markets on yahoo finance but I could be wrong. Do they have EVDO?
Sorry for the barrage of questions. When I was in the Alltel store asking about EVDO on the Q I'm thinking about picking up, I asked about Alltel EVDO in the Tri-Cities (I'll probably be staying there for about a month this summer) and why they didn't have it while many far more rural places were covered. The rep checked something on the computer and said that the Tri-Cities should be upgraded by this summer. So it would seem like the pressure would be on Sprint/iPCS to upgrade to EVDO if they're not already. And if they are, hopefully I'll be able to use the Sprint EVDO this summer if Alltel's not upgraded their system yet when I'm there! :browani:

 

I download music from iTunes on my Cingular Data Plan. Never had a problem with Cingular.

 

VZW data sucks big time
with 5GB cap on EV-DO is WAY TOO STINGY (20GB is more acceptable)

 

Yes, the Tri-Cities area is ran by iPCS. I've had Sprint PCS service for roughly a month now and I've been pretty impressed overall in how well their service works in the Tri-Cities area. My only real complaint is Sprint gets a weak signal at my house but it's useable and I really haven't had any problems using my phone in my house yet. Overall I'd have to say in this area Sprint's coverage is pretty close to Verizon and in a couple of spots is actually better than Verizon.

Sprint (iPCS) does have some EVDO in the Tri-Cities but it's pretty limited according to the coverage maps. Verizon on the other hand has a solid EVDO network in the area and they are now Rev A here on top of it! It's sad that Verizon limits their EVDO network so much because in the Tri-Cities they have a very fast and rock solid broadband access network in place now.

 

Another reason for me to dislike Verizon? I didn't know I needed another...

-Jay

 

Wow, I didn't know they did this to you Dan, and your right being a high paying customer you would think they would give some slack on this.

I really am not liking the lower national provider's & how they are getting tighter & tighter on the customer & raising their rates.
I wish those of us here in the NYC/NJ area had another carrier choice.

As long as Sprint is working for you, that is what's important & this way you stuck it to Verizon since they aren't getting your money anymore.
(I was suprised today, I was at Chubb Insurance for school & in their cafeteria I had no coverage with my Cingular phone & had 1 bar with Sprint. I didn't try calling or get a chance to check out the db but it was interesting).

 

Verizon Wireless is just a bunch of snotty that are out to get every dime they can from you. I think as of lately Verizon just rapes you in the and tries to see how much you will take before you get fed up and leave.

I'll never give another dime of money to Verizon Wireless under my name.

 

You know, this is just like the all you can eat buffet saying you can't go up take more than 5 trips to the buffet.

 

More like Verizon is just allowing you to take one trip to the buffet and with a small plate at that. Not only is Verizon's TOS way too restrictive but 5 GB of usage in a month with a high speed connection is nothing. It's very easy to go over 5 GB a month and for Verizon to consider such a low amount of use as "Unlimited" is ridicolous. Not to meantion the fact that Verizon after only ONE month of over usage will just cut you off with a letter informing you that your service will be terminated soon with no previous warning, is just unacceptable!

Verizon is being very dirty and deceptive on their so called "Unlimited" EVDO plan.

 

Aside from the 5 gb cap listed in the TOS, who is Verizon's different from any of what the other carriers have in their TOS? Give it time, they will all start enforcing it. I have the Sprint EVDO card and their TOS prohibits a lot of stuff but they seem to tolerate it for now. Perhaps it is because they are not in a position where they can alienate customers? Once people start using AT&T to tether large amounts, they will be right there doing the same thing.

 

They may start enforcing it, but it's how it's done that I believe was the problem. They didn't take into account a high paying no problem customer & didn't even give a warning, they just sent a letter saying "you cut off" & that is where I believe the biggest problem is & would have caused me to do the same thing Dan did.

I also wouldn't put it past AT&T to start doing the same thing, especially since Verizon is & people aren't happy with it. They like doing the wrong things that other carriers do.

I don't think Sprint will start enforcing it unless they are bleeding money from it & at this time they have the higher ARPU of the carriers and part of it may be as you said they aren't in a position to do it right now & loose any more customers.

 

Cingular has a limit as well. They just won't admit it. I've heard some people that have been cut off. The truth is cellular networks were never designed to provide unlimited voice and data service to everyone. Capacity just runs out too quickly. The problem is carriers advertise it as unlimited but 3G wireless was never meant (or designed) to be your primary source for internet access. If you are home, you can have WiFi (connected to your DSL or Cable) so there's no need to use 3G wireless there. If you are at work and you need to use the Internet, your job will offer a broadband connection as well which means you won't need your 3G wireless there either. Plus your home/work Wifi connection can always be faster and more reliable than 3G. So that only leaves those times when you are mobile in a car or when you are at someone else's house and they don't have WiFi, then you can use your 3G. If you use it this way, 5GB is a very generous limit, unless you spend all your time on Bittorrent or Limewire downloading movies and MP3s. If that's the case, then just wait until you get home.

 

I agree with you on all points here except the one about using 3G while in a car, IF you are the driver. Why put others at risk?...... But then again I suppose some people would think that is better than reading the newspaper while you're driving.

 

You know, uneducated blank statements like these can be said about any carrier's advertising, whether it be Verizon's most reliable or Cingular's fewest dropped calls. Marketers always play with words and terms and no one carrier holds this term everywhere, its overall by "independent" companies, which happen to be on their payroll.

 

That is a great point and I have to agree. My only question is why Verizon has to limit customer's data usage so severely, when Sprint and maybe even Cingular doesn't care or run out of capacity when I use 100 GB per month. Verizon does nickle and dime to death, Cingular is no better, and neither will the smaller carriers once they get as big.

 

I can maybe shed a little light on this. EV-DO requires a seperate T-1(Phoneline ) to run the Data Only Module (DOM) in thier site. This allows up to 93 users at a time depending on the configuration. A T-1 lease costs approx, $400 to $600 a month so if they limit usage they can provide to more people service, otherwise some people would just stay connected and in a metro area 93 people is not alot.

 

Has anyone that has actually been kicked off an EVDO data plan post a copy of the actual letter (sans sensitive personal info) their respective company sent them? I'm curious to see the actual wording.

 

In the future Andy if you have a problem with one of my posts report it to a moderator OR take it to PM. Thank You.

 

Woah, woah, woah. Let's not get all crazy here.

 

That is what I was thinking as I was reading this post.

 

No, I wasn't backing you up.

 

And if you'll re-read my post to you, you might notice that I wasn't exactly thanking you! :evillaugh

 

Ok, let's leave the personal for PM and get back on topic.

 

Maybe you using 100GB per month won't cause them to run out of capacity, but if everyone did that, it would not take many users to bring the network down to its knees, and then everyone will start complaining about why are calls dropping or the voice quality so poor, or why is the data so slow. Sprint doesn't have as many users as Verizon and Cingular. In fact, I read somewhere that the ratio of towers per customer at Sprint was greater than any other carrier, meaning they have more towers per customer. So it stands to reason that overall Sprint's network is probably less susceptible to overload than Verizon and Cingular under stressing conditions. That is an expected conclusion anyway since Sprint's growth has been slower than the other three giants.

hehe... that's why I said "when you are mobile in a car" which is how car passengers are.

 

You are right and it makes perfect sense that the carriers with a lot more subscribers need to put a limit somewhere in order to maintain their high quality networks and reliability. I guess this is a good and a bad thing at the same time. You pointed out the good thing about this- that the networks will not get overloaded as easily, but the bad side is that carriers have grown this big and gained so many customers, but now customers are restricted further because carriers could not handle the load.