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5 Things You Should Know About Verizon’s New Tiered Data Plans

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As you might have heard, Verizon has a big change coming tomorrow in the form of new tiered data plans that will kill off unlimited data, introduce a new data structure and more than likely, confuse the heck out of consumers.

Verizon

And while we already ran down most of the details here, we wanted to touch on five of the most important things to keep in mind for today and also tomorrow when these plans finally arrive.

New Customers Get It The Worst

Tomorrow, July 7th, is when these plans go into action. That means, that if you sign up for an unlimited plan today – July 6th – you’ll be locked into unlimited data. If you sign up tomorrow, you’re going into the tiered boat. Let’s make this clear. New customers signing a NEW contract with Verizon on or after July 7th will be subject to the new data plans. That means, no unlimited data.

Droid Bionic

So who’s getting the raw deal here? People who are not in an unlimited plan with Verizon right now who want to get the Motorola Droid Bionic when it comes out sometime in the next few weeks. Huge bummer for quite a few people out there because if the Droid Bionic is the beast that’s being advertised, people are going to chew through data especially if it supports Netflix HD.

3G And 4G Plans Cost The Same

4G LTE

I can’t stress this enough. 3G and 4G tiered data plans are going to cost the same amount. For 2GB of data, you pay $30. For 5GB of data, you pay $50. For 10GB of data, you pay $80. For every 1GB you go over, you pay an extra $10. That goes for both 3G and 4G and for devices that are bought by new customers after July 7th.

3G Customers Can Upgrade to 4G And Keep Unlimited Data

As far as we know, if you currently own a 3G smartphone, you’ll be able to upgrade to a 4G smartphone when your upgrade arrives (if it coincides with the Droid Bionic, lucky you!) and still be grandfathered into your unlimited data plan. If this applies to you, make sure you read my reasons why you should wait for the Droid Bionic instead of jumping for something like the HTC ThunderBolt which is dealing with a multitude of issues.

There Are Two Tiers of 4G Smartphone Tethering

Mobile Hotspot

Yes, there are tiered pricing plans for 4G tethering. The first is for users who are grandfathered into unlimited plans. If that’s you, you’ll pay $30 a month for unlimited tethering usage. If you sign up with Verizon after July 6th, you’ll be able to add tethering for $20 for 2 GB of additional data. Just another reason why you should think about locking in if you can.

2GB Is A Lot of Data

And lastly, some food for thought. A lot of you are probably freaking out about these plans. If you’re a casual smartphone user, there is no reason to. 2GB is a ton of data. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever consumed 2GB of data in a single month. Ever. And I am constantly on my phone. So, if you can’t sign up today or you are waiting for the Droid Bionic, don’t flip out.

A better thing to do would be to check your bills or go use Verizon’s handy data calculator to see how much data you use and purchase the correct tiered data plan for your habits.

30 Comments

30 Comments

  1. Concerened user

    07/06/2011 at 8:07 pm

    What is the point of having a smartphone capable of streaming videos and full HD movies(as their own commercials claim) with a 2GB data limit. What is the point of getting videochats? Or Netflix apps? if you end up paying 10bucks for the movie. I think the carriers, smartphone makers, and app developers need to start talking to one another so that we can get phones with viable functionality.
    It is absolutely retarded to go out and get a 4inch screen smartphone when we cant even use it to its potential.
    2GB is good if you want to stream audio(which comes to around 500 songs if you assume a 4mb size) 500 songs is 30 hrs of music assuming 3.5 minutes/song. This comes around to 1hr/perday. Most of us probably listen a lot more than that and we still have to include stuff like email, facebook, photo uploads, videos etc…
    Tiered planning is basically going to lobotomise the smart phone. I used to get email on my motorzr 3 years back. After this, when my contract comes up, I will have a phone with the same capabilities but only a larger screen.

    • Jmitchelliii

      09/25/2011 at 11:34 pm

      You are absolutely correct on this….

  2. Verizon is Awesome

    07/06/2011 at 8:23 pm

    This is the evil of capitalism right here.  It certainly does not cost Verizon $20 extra per month to transmit an extra 3GB of data to my phone, yet I still have to pay the extra 20 bucks if I want to upgrade frmo 2GB to 5GB/month.  

    I agree with the Concerned user in that these tiered data plans make streaming video/video chat completely useless, now.  What the heck is the point of having those capabilities on a phone if you can’t use them without busting your bandwidth limit?  It’s absolutely rediculous.  

    It doesn’t really even matter though.  Verizon’s LTE network is so lame right now, anyways.  No awesome phones out, they are all battery hogs.  No variety in phones, no good tablets on LTE.  What a bust, the CEO of Verizon should be fired, but I guess he’ll probably be getting a multi-million bonus this year. LOL.

    • KingNagChampa

      07/06/2011 at 9:00 pm

      What an asinine comment.  This is exactly how capitalism works.  If you don’t like it you can go to Sprint which is still unlimited.  If enough people do that then Verizon will be forced to go back to unlimited data to compete.  If the entire market charges outrageous prices then new entrants will come in and obtain new users by offering lower rates.  You sound like a European transplant cry baby.  Go back to your 70% income tax home and enjoy socialism.

      • Mmerri007

        07/06/2011 at 10:17 pm

        Bionic or not, any smart phone needs unlimited data. I promise you increased sprint sales. I’m grannied in to unlimited but I feel sorry for the others.

      • QweenNagCampa

        07/15/2011 at 10:32 pm

        Sure, if European style socialism (oh the horror) means consumers have greater control in consumer issues and have more liberty in complaining, and changing, shitty services (and get decent healthcare). Ya. sure. sign me up. 

      • Diverman

        07/27/2011 at 7:31 pm

        I agree with you.  This exactly capitalism at work.  Nothing is perfect, and power and greed do play a role.  But free competition should hopefully in the long run force prices down and service up.

        I do also agree that this tiered plan does virtually negate all the capabilities of a smartphone, therefore, it is fairly stupid.  Hey you can stream videos and music, and upload photos, just not in any reasonable plans we offer. 

        I actually have like the cell phone that was the oldest out there two years ago.  I recently decided, awesomely 10 days too late, to get a smartphone for work… mostly for e-mails and whatnot as I’m not a facebooker, or music affionado.  So for those purposes, I only need a basic plan.  But it does make it crappy that I’ve finally splurged on something and you have a phone with all these features spending already over $100 a month with a basic plan, and I can’t even enjoy it to the fullest.  And $30 for the opportunity to do more off hours with work e-mails seems like a waste.  But whatever.  If this is one of the small negatives that comes with capitalism, that when a company gets big enough to do largely what it likes, it’s a pitful I’ll take over socialism.  And to the person who responded about socialism = consumers have greater control, not to knock you, but that’s actually the complete opposite of socialism.  Socialism is basically a polite form of tyranny spread amongst a group of people instead of one person, telling everyone what they are allowed to do, getting them to swallow it by saying its for the common good, which is hardly the case.  And everyone who doesn’t like the new tiered system has the option of just not getting it.  There is no mandate that we need cellphones to listen to music, play videos or waste countless hours of life updating our “friends” every 5 seconds with such thrilling statuses as “Jessica is bored” or “Joey likes blowpops”.  I’m glad you stopped everything you were doing to let everyone know Joey.  Now go run into a wall… but then don’t forget to update us. 

      • Phillip Buster

        11/14/2011 at 3:39 pm

        You are a complete idiot.  This isn’t capitalism, this is price fixing–which the United States government considers a serious crime–for which the three biggest providers have already been taken to court before.  Do you think its coincidence that suddenly all the providers have all decided to use teired data plans?

        You can’t just “jump in” as a startup in the cell-phone market.  You do realize there is something called infrastructure right?  Sprint paid something to the tune of 2 billion dollars to buy the radio spectrum rights just for its 4G service alone, and we aren’t even talking about hardware yet.  New entrants are barred from competing in most utilities markets because the cost to get started and compete is enormous.

    • nick

      11/09/2011 at 9:02 pm

      capitalism made the western world so if you don’t like it go live in Antarctica, the only place its reaches don’t spread

      • BigCross

        03/27/2012 at 7:43 am

         Capitalism is also the reason the western world is so screwed right now.

        • Outcastbruno

          12/16/2013 at 7:37 pm

          No……liberalism is the reason the western world is so screwed up.

  3. Anonymous

    07/07/2011 at 3:40 am

    What I find stupid is that it’s $30 bucks for your initial 2 GBs on the lowest plan, making it $15 a GB.  But if you go over your limit, it’s only $10 a GB.  You’d think it would be the other way around to encourage you to upgrade to the more expensive plans.  Luckily for me, I’ve got my unlimited data already, and get to keep it for now, otherwise I’d be considering going to Sprint.

  4. scott braunworth

    07/07/2011 at 5:20 am

    Data Packages(You must select an option below)Why do I need data?How much do I need?12GB Data Bundle with Personal Email & Mobile Hotspot$100.00/month10GB Data Bundle with Personal Email$80.00/month7GB Data Bundle with Personal Email & Mobile Hotspot$70.00/month4GB Data Bundle with Personal Email & Mobile Hotspot$50.00/month5GB Data Bundle with Personal Email$50.00/month2GB Data Bundle with Personal Email$30.00/monthOPTIONs on Verizons Website as of 130 am july 7th. At first under options it was still showing umlimited

  5. Austin

    07/07/2011 at 5:12 pm

    Every month I am well over 5GB of data. (Its all we teenagers ever do)

  6. Supermsv5

    07/10/2011 at 10:35 am

    I use my Moto Droid for streaming movies and videos and I hit 10Gb a month so thank god Ill be granfathered into an unlimited 4g plan

    • J_bierce

      09/09/2011 at 1:02 am

      You will not. If you upgrade to 4g they make you switch to tiered.

      • Exurius

        09/13/2011 at 5:13 am

        No they dont. I Now have unlimited 4G after my upgrade to the Bionic.

    • Timothyliao

      09/18/2011 at 3:40 am

      Its not unlimited. Even with unlimited you get capped at 5GB

  7. Radoracer

    07/28/2011 at 11:35 am

    Luckily I’m grandfathered into unlimited data. I think anything over $30/month for a cell phone data plan is too much. $80 for 10gb? That’s a lot of data but, more importantly, too much to pay as an add on service to your cell phone bill.

  8. Here

    10/19/2011 at 2:38 pm

    I love the evil capatilism comment. Do you want Obama to step in and force verizon wireless to offer you unlimited data on your phone? The last I checked most companies in this world are started to make a profit, not so they can give all of their services away at a loss because some people can’t afford it. I’m tired of people feeling they are entitled to everything. Try going out and working a little harder so you can afford to buy the nicer things in life. Don’t just sit back and expect those that make more money to cover your end of the deal. I digress…………

    • Gimiesome

      02/27/2012 at 8:50 am

      So you see no difference between a profit and a killing.

  9. T A M

    11/22/2011 at 11:58 pm

    I have the Droid Bionic && I have the unlimited data plan, 450 minss, && unlimited txt. I wanted to get a mobile hotspot for tons of reasons but I am a cheap girl though when it comes to prices. I was thinking about the 2x the data $50–mobile hotspot, personal email, web to start off with.
    I need help!! Any info would do, so here’s my story:
    1.) First off, I go to school full time (1 class I have online) and I live on the reservation; but there are some spots I can get service and still can submit my homework online but its a hassle having to stand outside now that it’s winter, ergo I wanted to get wifi not only for me to do my work, facebook, email but for my family also. My lil brother got his Xbox going on, my mother sometimes needs the internet (instead she has this cheap dial up connection which I’m now using haha*)
    2.) FYI: If the mobile hotspot can connect up to 5 wifi enabled devices, is the data used also?  I’m always on the web so basically I’ll be using half the GBs that I can get and the others will have to live with the other half I give em to use.
    3.) If I get the mobile hotspot, do I cancel the unlimited data plan and switch off to get the mobile hotspot?

    I need all the info I can get before I head into town tonight, I have no patient on asking a rep till then, in case your wondering, any feedback from the questions above would be much appreciated because this mobile hotspot seems bitchin’ :)

  10. Chinitajohana

    02/19/2012 at 12:53 am

    so i have verizon and my limit of data usage is 2GB.. so i check my verizon data
    and it says i have used 0.193GB did i go over my data usage???

  11. Mark Ramirez

    03/14/2012 at 10:01 pm

    If you guys are interested in getting Verizon unlimited data well feel free to call me at 310-569-0728 or email me at [email protected]. I work for a private ompany that has Verizon unlimited data in Los Angeles. If you live near the Los Angeles area then I will email or give you the addres over the phone but if your out of state we can help too. Please no transaction deals from africa I will ignore you. We also have unlimited data for MIFI but only 3g

    • mike

      10/21/2013 at 12:12 pm

      I have tried to get ahold of you please call me

  12. x_type

    03/26/2012 at 3:07 pm

    Right now I get unlimited data and free mobile hotspot for 29.99. when you use the mobile hotspot it’s pretty damn easy to go over 4gb. Switching from a palm pre plus to a pre2 they think I need to “upgrade” my data plan from unlimited to tiered. That’s a pretty huge price hike for the same service.

  13. JawsThemeSong

    06/16/2012 at 6:55 am

    “2GB Is A Lot of Data”

    Well this article is full of shit, it’s easy as hell to go over 2GB of data.

    • jeremy

      07/05/2012 at 3:36 pm

      very easy to go over i agree, ive used over 4GB plus already this billing period
      that 2GB is alot of BS

  14. jeremy

    07/05/2012 at 3:35 pm

    2 gb is alot of data however when your using it over a 4g LTE netowrk its really not that much i myself am on my phone alot, and this month so far ive used 4GB plus.

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