Verizon CFO Says Tiered Data is on the Way
Verizon CFO Says Tiered Data is on the Way
Posted 06/18/2010 at 2:55pm
| by Ryan Whitwam
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The US wireless industry is divided into two main groups. There are the "we try harder" folks, that's T-Mobile and Sprint. Then you have the market leaders, Verizon and AT&T. It seems that whenever one of the larger carriers makes a move, the other follow suit. We saw this when Verizon jacked up their ETF fee, only to see AT&T do the same a few months later. Now Verizon is making noises about joining AT&T in offering tiered, or limited, data packages.
Verizon's CFO, John KIllian wasn't mincing words when he made a statement today. “We will probably need to change the design of our pricing where it will not be totally unlimited, flat rate,” said Killian. The inflection point was pegged as the coming 4G changeover. Despite the fact that LTE is expected to have better bandwidth management, Verizon believes they will see excessive usage. AT&T's Pro data package has a 2GB cap. It's unclear where Verizon would draw the line.
We feel most consumers won't be negatively affected by data caps in the near term, but future streaming services could be held back by the restrictions. How much mobile data do you use a month? Would you agree to a capped plan if you could get substantially faster data?
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Xigz
June 21, 2011 at 2:45pm
I used about 11GB this cycle, and without trying. I was in London for three weeks too with only Wi-fi to use with my phone (no CDMA towers there). Upon getting back, and prior to leaving, I used my phone to tether for free with a special ROM until we got internet in the new house, and before that to get around the crappy internet connection at college. Since I graduated now, and with a fancy FiOS connection in the new house, the usage should now go down, but I have no idea where I'll be or what I'll need out of a plan a year from now. Probably more than 2GB for the price of what unlimited is now though!
I want to use Pandora for long car rides in my car and I rely on my phone for GPS! Also, there go all the online gaming apps on my phone (like Pocket Legends)! Way to asphixiate a bunch of phone app devs, Verizon. And how bout all the chat program data usage... Trillian comes to mind. If my brother didn't work for Verizon Wireless corporate with his discount and all, I'd switch to Sprint immediately. Well, when my contract runs out anyway.
sotoa
June 21, 2010 at 7:31am
So they gave us unlimited, then they pull it. I see how unlimited might not be feasable sometimes, but in the long run, don't they make money off the advertisements that they push on us throught the phones?
There's streaming video, pictures, internet, music, podcasts, and ADVERTISEMENTS. I'm going over 2GB/mo with all these. Will they not count advertisements towards the cap?
Am I the only one that finds it too convenient that they all come out with these drastic changes at the same time? It's like they sit in a room and try to come out with their "plans" together. Where has capitalism gone?
Xigz
June 21, 2011 at 7:54pm
It's called an oligopoly. And it should be completely illegal for the same reasons that monopolies are. It's just a little harder to prove the existence of an oligopoly due to the nature of proviing that it is a concerted effort or conspiracy.
See Oligopoly (from dictionary.com):
ol·i·gop·o·ly [ol-i-gop-uh-lee]
–noun the market condition that exists when there are few sellers, as a result of which they can greatly influence price and other market factors.
In this case, we have a limited number of choices in phone companies, namely AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile (hopefully the merger will be blocked), and Sprint. Since they haven't ALL gone tiered yet (at least not at the same time), it is unlikely that it can be considered one, although it may feel like one for some. Not until they all go the way of tiered. Then hopefully capitalism will foster some entreprenuer who starts a company with unlimited data to take in all the alienated customers from the tyranny of the big companies controlling the market!
wolfmanaz
June 19, 2010 at 9:37pm
There is an online petition for all of us to let Verizon know we are against this tiered data plan that may be coming.
ushim6
June 19, 2010 at 6:58am
that you are ALL saying you are switching to Sprint. If all of you high-bandwidth techies do it, Sprint will be FORCED to tier or go out of business. It's simple economics.
The days of free bandwidth rides are over. Now we just have to settle for tiers with ridiculous speed(5-12Mbps drool)
TechJunkie
June 19, 2010 at 2:41pm
I'm not going to switch to sprint....I'm already there and have been for 9 years. So when you say "ALL" please don't include me. But if you actually read my post, I only use 1GB a month if that and how would I be considered a high bandwidth techi? Especially when I have 4 phones, 3 of them are smartphones and all use data?
I have to PooP!
ushim6
June 19, 2010 at 6:56am
And I bet you all the money I have every single major carrier will follow suit. If we techies want to be free of carrier wims about what we can and cannot run on our phones, we need honest data plans. Pay by the GB. Then the carriers can not tell us if we can tether or not, if we can use bt or not, etc. This will pave the way for family data plans, which make so much more sense, just as family voice plans make sense!
Embrace the future people!
WarlordComputers
June 18, 2010 at 8:46pm
I just recently dumped Verizon after having the same cell number for nearly 10 years. As the phones get smarter, I noticed my Verizon bill getting bigger. As I went from a Traveling Installer needing a Blackberry while I was on the road to a Small Business owner, my usage with my Blackberry through Verizon was begining to get out of hand. My previous company would not pay for my smart phone, so I 1099 it only to find out that still I was below the minimum limit for my taxes. So I ended up paying out of pocket for a device I needed to do my job. My new carrier, and I can not mention because it has not been released to the general population in my area at the moment, is giving me a discount at the moment because we are the Beta Testers as they are still working out the bugs. I am getting a discount on the service and it is still cheaper then Verizon Wireless by nearly $100 without the discount, and my data usage is unlimited. While I was under Verizon Wireless, I was maxed at a 5GB per month, plus an additional charge if I turned my Blackberry into a modem if I needed it due to being put in a hotel that did not have Internet Access. Verizon has not really done a great job Grandfathering all their Altell customers. One of my friends, whose Altell contract ended 3 months after the Verizon take over tried to go and shut his phone off, Verizon was trying to stick him with a $200 early disconnect fee because they automatically gave him a new 2 year contract without his knowledge begining the day of the Verizon take over of Altell. Talking about getting the Love from them. Since leaving Verizon and looking at other carriers, I have found that Verizon has great marketing, but lousy service and expensive plans. From here on out, with each new smart phone that comes out, I will be looking at who has the better Data packages over all versus the best top of the line phones. Oh and one final note, Since my new phone is the HTC Hero, Android Technology Rocks. Blackberry $UCKS! Never going back to Blackberry cause with them, I was paying for the name and not getting as good of service as I am with Google now.
tekknyne
June 18, 2010 at 5:21pm
I have Verizon's mobile network card for my computer because we live out in the country. It's really the only solution for us and it works great. We were grandfathered in through Alltel, so we still have unlimited data. I checked my usage on the last bill which summed up to over 140 gigabytes!
God I hope that never changes. I might have to move.
FrancesTheMute
June 18, 2010 at 4:35pm
I'm not too bothered by Tiered Data plans, as long as they are reasonable and offer enough choices so people can get the amount of data they need. In reality you need a low end (up to 200 MB), a mid range (200 to about 2 or 3GB) and then an unlimited plan. As long as the pricing is fair, this is not a bad thing. I'm actually considering dropping my iPhone plan down to the 200MB one, since I checked my data usage history and I've got 1 month out out of the last 8 or so (I could only check back to Oct 09) that I went above 100MB. My iPhone is on WiFi about 90% of the time, so I figured i could save 15 bucks a month since I'm not using the data anyway.
compro01
June 19, 2010 at 9:21pm
as long as they are reasonable
they won't be.
In reality you need a low end (up to 200 MB), a mid range (200 to about 2
or 3GB) and then an unlimited planIn reality, you will get a low end plan (which costs the same as today's 2GB plan), a 2GB plan (which costs the same as today's unlimited) and no unlimited plan, with all carriers following the same structure.
Danthrax66
June 18, 2010 at 3:13pm
I love how they are justifying this by saying it's because of 4g, but in reality 4g cost less per mb. God I love Sprint.
TechJunkie
June 18, 2010 at 3:10pm
I feel sorry for you verizon folk. I really do. Right now, Sprint is the only real choice in a wireless carrier. Now, when sprint decides to do this, if ever, I better be able to keep the plan I have, if not, then they have to let you out of your contract and that's when I will switch to a prepaid service and be damned with data. It's nice to have but it's not a life and death situation. I only use 1GB if that a month but I'm sure when 4G hits here in the Orlando area, my usage will go up.
I have to PooP!
FrancesTheMute
June 18, 2010 at 4:32pm
Too bad Sprint will be the next to jump on the Tiered Data plan bandwagon. Guaranteed. If AT&T and VZW are doing it, Sprint and T-Mob will be not too far behind.
someone87
June 18, 2010 at 3:03pm
This I am unhappy about, I have been in love in my Moto Droid ever since I got it, but this might be a good enough reason to switch to Sprint once my contract is up.
Or give my phone to my wife, and switch to sprint myself, as I would use more data than her.
It's a bummer all around.
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