Is the Unlimited Verizon Data Plan worth keeping?

[Steveanderson13]

It's not a guarantee though especially if there's no other carrier to go too.

Right, no guarantees, but Verizon is not one to do what others don't. So by that, AT&T will be the first to eliminate grandfathering. That will be the bellweather.

[Steveanderson13]

I am out of contract as of last month and mulling whether to renew to keep my plan. I am afraid that by going month to month, its more likely for them to pry it from me. But I feel even if I get into a contract, they'll do their best to take it away anyways, or at least throttle it to hell like ATT does with their grandfathered customers.

I wouldn't worry about it anytime soon. If you start a contract with certain terms, you will finish with those terms. All the carriers still have customers on ancient plans.

So if you don't need to upgrade, don't, and vice versa. Won't affect the future either way.

[Steveanderson13]

LTE iPhone coming in the next 4-6 months will be a different ball game. iPhones outsold over 3:1 all smartphones (3G/LTE) in Q4 2011 and outsold all LTE pones 2:1 in Q1 2012.

I'm having a hard time finding or squaring these numbers. Help?

[Steveanderson13]

The 2GB throttling point will come to LTE by the end of the year when 20 million iPeople jump on the network.

Is this contingent on everyone upgrading at the same time? Abnormal.

[aneftp]

I'm having a hard time finding or squaring these numbers. Help?

http://www.slashgear.com/verizon-we-...ones-19223627/

In a nutshell. CDMA iPhones have outsold all LTE android Phones combined.

Verizon LTE network is still wide open. Once LTE iPhone hits the network. Expect at least a 50% increase in traffic on the LTE network.

That will have an affect on the LTE network data speeds with that kind of increase user base from the LTE iPhone.

[sectime]

http://www.slashgear.com/verizon-we-...ones-19223627/

In a nutshell. CDMA iPhones have outsold all LTE android Phones combined.

Verizon LTE network is still wide open. Once LTE iPhone hits the network. Expect at least a 50% increase in traffic on the LTE network.

That will have an affect on the LTE network data speeds with that kind of increase user base from the LTE iPhone.

More doom and gloom, How did the iPhone affect the CDMA network? I didn't see many complaints here about a big drop in speeds as was predicted, vs AT&T. Time will tell

[zowwie85]

Meh. The Verizon iPad 3 is on there x 1000's. No perceptible difference. All the Android devices they sell aren't exactly 'light' consumers of data either: I did 9GB last month on the unlimited plan.

Sent from my ADR6400L using HowardForums

[ben7337]

More doom and gloom, How did the iPhone affect the CDMA network? I didn't see many complaints here about a big drop in speeds as was predicted, vs AT&T. Time will tell

I haven't seen major complaint threads all over, not sure if those happened on AT&T or not, but verizon's cdma definitely took a major hit, It's been over a year since I saw 1mbps speeds, and the iphone definitely played some part in that. Luckily on 4g now things are peachy, but if the iphone were to double or triple the internet traffic on that network where I am now, speeds would definitely be below or just barely at 5mbps down. Upload would be fine though.

[GSMinCT]

The LTE adoption is too slow to make it come anytime soon. And remember, all new subscriptions are tiered anyway. So unlimited will die naturally with their owners unless probated, lol.

Unlimited is not going away anytime soon, but it will get throttled when the iPeople come. The older unlimited users are the early adopters who are also often heavy data users.

[aneftp]

More doom and gloom, How did the iPhone affect the CDMA network? I didn't see many complaints here about a big drop in speeds as was predicted, vs AT&T. Time will tell

4 months after the Verizon iPhone was introduce Verizon got rid of unlimited data. And another 3 months later Verizon started throttling 3G users (targeted throttling of top 5%).

So it's pretty safe to say the iPhone has affected Verizon's network or at the very least their network management of 3G data.

Like I stated. Verizon's got about 8-10 different versions of their LTE android devices on sale. And the CDMA iPhone has outsold them all combined by a 2 to 1 margin.

Wait until LTE iPhone hits. I think we will still see 5-12mpbs speeds even with the iPhone LTE. LTE towers can handle more traffic than 3G networks.

But I do not think we will see 20-40mpbs speeds consistently after LTE iPhone.

AT&T at least sends u a text that you are close to being throttled. I believe Verizon throttles 3G users. It's just that they won't know when or at what towers.

[TC_Mits]

Verizon's unlimited data plan is worth its weight in gold as it is not throttled nor limited in any way unlike with ATT as of recently. If you had wanted to sell your number to someone, you would easily get a few hundred dollars for the line alone, just for the unlimited data. You can look on Ebay and other places if you don't believe me.

I will hold onto my plan for dear life. I am out of contract as of last month and mulling whether to renew to keep my plan. I am afraid that by going month to month, its more likely for them to pry it from me. But I feel even if I get into a contract, they'll do their best to take it away anyways, or at least throttle it to hell like ATT does with their grandfathered customers.

I have not been under contract for probably about 5 years. Except for the end of March last year when I re-upped for a T-bolt & added unlimited data. When I returned the TB for battery life issues, I had everything put back exactly as if I had never had it -- except that I kept the unlimited data which is now grandfathered.

My contract/plan -- now m2m -- is, idk, like 10 years old. I ain't changing it. And with PLAN chips in every new US cellphone, I'm unlikely ever to renew it either. Every month my paper statement says 'unliimited data grandfathered'. I'm not expecting that to change.

Anybody got a Xoom LTE to sell? (PM me)


Perspective instantiates reality.
[From DX by HoFo app.]

[ROLLTIDE]

I average around 6 megs down on LTE here in Mobile,AL so I find it hard to believe that people are seeing 20 meg speeds

[Wireless Junkie]

I average around 6 megs down on LTE here in Mobile,AL so I find it hard to believe that people are seeing 20 meg speeds

The backhaul isn't ramped up fully in Mobile. This is one of my lowest speeds.

[ROLLTIDE]

The backhaul isn't ramped up fully in Mobile. This is one of my lowest speeds.

Any idea on when they are going to increase the backhaul ?

[ben7337]

Any idea on when they are going to increase the backhaul ?

It depends on the area if they are at max capacity or not in general, but to put it simply, Verizon pays for backhaul the same way consumers pay for different speeds from their isp. If verizon only needs 100mbps to a tower to give everyone the advertised 5-12mbps down and 2-5 up, then that is what they will pay for. If capacity begins to become too little and they need more, they buy more. They have no incentive to provide more bandwidth than needed.

Also it's possible some new markets not official with verizon yet (not on the 4g coverage map) may not have as much backhaul as they will have in the end yet due to testing, but as long as you get 5-12mbps I wouldn't expect it to change soon. The average on verizon for 4g now is something like 9mbps down iirc.