New Verizon Unlimited Ultimate Plan Coming August 31st

[frail]

Original press release.

Update:

Beginning August 31, all Verizon customers will have a new unlimited option to choose from within myPlan. Unlimited Ultimate will join the current Unlimited Plus and Unlimited Welcome plans. Unlimited Ultimate offers Verizon’s most advanced connectivity experience with 5G Ultra Wideband, our fastest 5G, no matter how much you use, a whopping 60GB of mobile hotspot data, the most offered in the industry, and international connectivity with 10GB per month of international premium data, Global Choice, and unlimited text while abroad and calls within 210+ countries and back to the USA. Plus, it comes with our best device promotions for new and existing customers and 50% off not one but two connected device lines. To learn more visit verizon.com/plans/unlimited/.

[VVivian]

50% off two connected device lines might actually make this plan a net savings for quite a few people.

[DRC72]

it will be interesting to see how AT&T is going to respond to this.

[zapjb]

50% off two connected device lines might actually make this plan a net savings for quite a few people.

Does this mean 50% off lines 2 & 3? Or 50% off lines 1 & 2?

[blkballoon925]

It means 50% off a tablet and a smartwatch line, or two tablet lines.

Personally, I don’t see it as a major benefit since most multiline accounts probably have people on Unlimited Plus, Get More, or Do More who aren’t using the benefit anyway.

I’d rather see them waive the archaic activation fees instead. Almost 20 years with AT&T and I never paid an activation fee because of my FAN. Verizon, on the other hand, has no qualms about charging you $36 for the privilege of adding a $10/mo watch line. I refuse to do it on principle.

[Jack T. Chance]

Original press release.

Update:

Beginning August 31, all Verizon customers will have a new unlimited option to choose from within myPlan. Unlimited Ultimate will join the current Unlimited Plus and Unlimited Welcome plans. Unlimited Ultimate offers Verizon’s most advanced connectivity experience with 5G Ultra Wideband, our fastest 5G, no matter how much you use, a whopping 60GB of mobile hotspot data, the most offered in the industry, and international connectivity with 10GB per month of international premium data, Global Choice, and unlimited text while abroad and calls within 210+ countries and back to the USA. Plus, it comes with our best device promotions for new and existing customers and 50% off not one but two connected device lines. To learn more visit verizon.com/plans/unlimited/.

Sorry, I'm just thinking about how my Grandfathered VZW Unlimited Data Plan gives me UNLIMITED Mobile Hotspot Usage as long as my SIM is in a "tablet", or if I put the SIM in a Mobile Hotspot Device. Seems to me Verizon has forgotten what some of their older plans offer the customer!

[DRC72]

It means 50% off a tablet and a smartwatch line, or two tablet lines.

Personally, I don’t see it as a major benefit since most multiline accounts probably have people on Unlimited Plus, Get More, or Do More who aren’t using the benefit anyway.

I’d rather see them waive the archaic activation fees instead. Almost 20 years with AT&T and I never paid an activation fee because of my FAN. Verizon, on the other hand, has no qualms about charging you $36 for the privilege of adding a $10/mo watch line. I refuse to do it on principle.

Yeah, I never understood the logic that you have to pay a fee just so you have the privilege of paying a company money to use their services.

[Skuzz]

It’s just an accounting practice that defies normal logic. Some bean counting weenie went, “hey, everyone upgrades once every year or two. One million customers times $36/customer = $36,000,000! Call the investors!”

Pretty sure they just adjust these fees whenever they want our wallets to cover their losses in a potentially bad quarter. Since the fees never go away, it then becomes a new standard level of revenue they can adjust up whenever they want.

100% pointless and anti-consumer, like Ticketmaster fees.

[blkballoon925]

I agree. Though, I feel like activation fees have been intrinsic to the cellular industry since the beginning. I mean, I recall seeing them ubiquitously in 2002 across all the carriers. And I think they were still $36 back then!

The thing about activation fees is that they probably offered a real value to carriers at that time when AMPS phones had to be manually programmed with the MDN and carriers' HLRs had to be manually updated with a new ESN every time somebody added a line or upgraded. That fee may very well have helped offset the time spent by employees in corporate stores and on the phone doing that work, which often generated no added revenue for carriers at a time when plans were sold with minute buckets and new phone hardware was sold at cost or near cost to the consumer (because phones were already expensive enough, there was no room for markup).

But with all of that largely being self-service through automated, online portals now, it's hard to accept that activation fees (nor upgrade fees) are anything but a cash grab.

[DRC72]

I’m assuming the ultimate plan will have a higher QCI level compared to the plus plan?

[blkballoon925]

I’m assuming the ultimate plan will have a higher QCI level compared to the plus plan?

You'd think. From what I've read, albeit rumors, it will still be QCI8 like Unlimited Plus and other plans with "premium data."

Personally, I think an "Unlimited Ultimate" plan with unlimited higher priority data than the numerous MVNOs and Visible+ would be the one selling point that would make the high price of this plan worth it.

I've noticed, year-over-year from fall 2022 to now, that the deployment of UW has helped in a lot of areas that previously struggled with congestion in my area. I was quite eager to eat my device promo credits a couple months ago to get back to an AT&T Unlimited Premium plan, but I can probably ride out the next 5-6 months. I still don't envy giving up my Verizon Visa and its cash back, but I just don't feel like I can trust Verizon to have service in a lot of places because it's just not consistent or reliable. It might work...but I have firsthand experience to know that it also might not. And when I need a phone that works when I'm on call, that's a real problem for me.

The only places left that I frequent where Verizon is truly unusable are downtown and at a couple stadiums and concert venues -- ironically, nearly all of these areas have C-band, ubiquitous small cells and mmWave, including mmWave inside the stadium. With fall and winter on the way, I figure I'll just wait until March or April and reevaluate the situation then.

Verizon also seems to have either downtilted and/or reduced the power on n77 significantly a couple months ago in this market, and there are lot of holes that opened up that previously had n77 coverage, but now do not. When I was out of state recently, I noticed that n77 coverage was much better than it is at home. Some of these holes are in areas where every nearby Verizon macro has C-band now. With that said, I fear that some areas will never see relief or further improvement.

[DRC72]

You'd think. From what I've read, albeit rumors, it will still be QCI8 like Unlimited Plus and other plans with "premium data."

Personally, I think an "Unlimited Ultimate" plan with unlimited higher priority data than the numerous MVNOs and Visible+ would be the one selling point that would make the high price of this plan worth it.

I've noticed, year-over-year from fall 2022 to now, that the deployment of UW has helped in a lot of areas that previously struggled with congestion in my area. I was quite eager to eat my device promo credits a couple months ago to get back to an AT&T Unlimited Premium plan, but I can probably ride out the next 5-6 months. I still don't envy giving up my Verizon Visa and its cash back, but I just don't feel like I can trust Verizon to have service in a lot of places because it's just not consistent or reliable. It might work...but I have firsthand experience to know that it also might not. And when I need a phone that works when I'm on call, that's a real problem for me.

The only places left that I frequent where Verizon is truly unusable are downtown and at a couple stadiums and concert venues -- ironically, nearly all of these areas have C-band, ubiquitous small cells and mmWave, including mmWave inside the stadium. With fall and winter on the way, I figure I'll just wait until March or April and reevaluate the situation then.

Verizon also seems to have either downtilted and/or reduced the power on n77 significantly a couple months ago in this market, and there are lot of holes that opened up that previously had n77 coverage, but now do not. When I was out of state recently, I noticed that n77 coverage was much better than it is at home. Some of these holes are in areas where every nearby Verizon macro has C-band now. With that said, I fear that some areas will never see relief or further improvement.

That’s crazy that they would keep the plan at QCI 8 at that price point. You would think they would give this plan higher priority over all the other plans?

[CellularCowboy]

I agree. Though, I feel like activation fees have been intrinsic to the cellular industry since the beginning. I mean, I recall seeing them ubiquitously in 2002 across all the carriers. And I think they were still $36 back then!

The thing about activation fees is that they probably offered a real value to carriers at that time when AMPS phones had to be manually programmed with the MDN and carriers' HLRs had to be manually updated with a new ESN every time somebody added a line or upgraded. That fee may very well have helped offset the time spent by employees in corporate stores and on the phone doing that work, which often generated no added revenue for carriers at a time when plans were sold with minute buckets and new phone hardware was sold at cost or near cost to the consumer (because phones were already expensive enough, there was no room for markup).

But with all of that largely being self-service through automated, online portals now, it's hard to accept that activation fees (nor upgrade fees) are anything but a cash grab.

That's exactly what it is. Authorized Retailers usually charge an additional "Setup Fee Charge", tell them to call Verizon, ATT, T-Mobile, and act like they don't control it. Its a hack job with these fees

[Skuzz]

I agree. Though, I feel like activation fees have been intrinsic to the cellular industry since the beginning. I mean, I recall seeing them ubiquitously in 2002 across all the carriers. And I think they were still $36 back then!

The thing about activation fees is that they probably offered a real value to carriers at that time when AMPS phones had to be manually programmed with the MDN and carriers' HLRs had to be manually updated with a new ESN every time somebody added a line or upgraded. That fee may very well have helped offset the time spent by employees in corporate stores and on the phone doing that work, which often generated no added revenue for carriers at a time when plans were sold with minute buckets and new phone hardware was sold at cost or near cost to the consumer (because phones were already expensive enough, there was no room for markup).

But with all of that largely being self-service through automated, online portals now, it's hard to accept that activation fees (nor upgrade fees) are anything but a cash grab.

Agree 100%. I remember doing manual NAM programming way back, and the magic of *22800 being part of the process to make the phone become a phone for the customer. And some pranks along the way as well, like Verizon CDMA security was pretty terrible basically from beginning to end. I manual NAM programmed a wall of demo phones with a coworker's MIN and MDN, so his entire ride into work one day, all his incoming calls and texts lit up the entire display case. My boss was...not pleased, but funny nonetheless.

There was that tiny halcyon window when carriers didn't do that activation fee nonsense in the twentyteens, I now want to have nostalgia of fair pricing from that slim window of time.

[curiouscustomer]

Anyone know if the “Premium Streaming” addon is still available for the Unlimited Ultimate plan? Or would I be stuck with video capped at 8mbps?