Verizon announces shared Data plans

[master7045]

Will definetaly remove your unlimited plan, but doesn't seem like a bad idea. It's a step in the right direction at least.

Here's the source article from Computer World

And here is Verizon's page.

At a first glance, this doesn't seem like a great deal to a small household, but putting your entire family on it might be a decent deal.

 

[Red Storm]

Extra $40/month for every smartphone? lol Verizon...

This goes live June 28... is this the day when unlimited users can no longer upgrade?

 

[trmiv]

We Recommend

8GB
Shared Data

Unlimited Talk & Text

Monthly Access*
$230

Verizon Wireless data devices average between 1 and 2 GBs of data a month.

*Does not include taxes and surcharges



HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good one Verizon!!

Only a scant $90 month a more than I'm already paying for two smartphones (one with unlimited data, one with the overpriced corporate data plan) and a dumb phone, and one line with 1000 text messages. What a friggin rip off.

Completely misses the mark. What people want is shared DATA not all the other crap bundled into it.

 

[bassoprofundo]

I looked at these prices and about fell off my chair at first... had the same "$40 per smartphone? WTH?" reaction... Then I actually did some number crunching. I can't compare it to current Verizon prices as I'm not a Verizon customer, but comparing to AT&T, the prices actually come pretty dang close to my current setup with minimal tradeoff.

Taking away my 50% discount on my core package and primary data plan, I have the following (before fees and taxes):

2100 min Familytalk w/Rollover -$100
Unlimited Family Text - $30
My "Unlimited" LTE data -$30
Wife's phone add-on to FT plan -$10
Wife's 2gb Iphone data - $25.00
Friend's phone add-on to FT plan -$10
Son's phone add-on to FT plan -$10

Total before fees = $215

With the Verizon plan, I'd have:

My smartphone - $40
Wife's smartphone - $40
Friend's basic phone - $30
Son's basic phone - $30 (would probably upgrade his to smartphone)
6gb Shared data -$80 (based on mine and wife's current monthly average, me = 3-4gb/m, her = 1-1.5gb/m)

Verizon price = $210 ($220 if I upgraded son to smartphone)

With the Verizon plan, I'd lose my own unlimited data but gain unlimited voice minutes and data for the 2 phones on my account that don't have it. I hate to say it, but that's actually a pretty fair deal assuming, of course, that you think the carrier prices are a fair deal in the first place.

Did I miss anything in my calculations?

 

[master7045]

I am in no way affiliated w/ Verizon other than my wife has a contract with them, but like I had said originally, I think that for a small household, 2 or less people, this isn't the best option. But once you start getting a full family of 4+ people each with a cell phone and sprinkle in a tablet or 2, I think this is a good option to consider. But like everyone else, I want unlimited share data for less than $100/mo

 

[basslover1]

I looked at these prices and about fell off my chair at first... had the same "$40 per smartphone? WTH?" reaction... Then I actually did some number crunching. I can't compare it to current Verizon prices as I'm not a Verizon customer, but comparing to AT&T, the prices actually come pretty dang close to my current setup with minimal tradeoff.

Taking away my 50% discount on my core package and primary data plan, I have the following (before fees and taxes):

2100 min Familytalk w/Rollover -$100
Unlimited Family Text - $30
My "Unlimited" LTE data -$30
Wife's phone add-on to FT plan -$10
Wife's 2gb Iphone data - $25.00
Friend's phone add-on to FT plan -$10
Son's phone add-on to FT plan -$10

Total before fees = $215

With the Verizon plan, I'd have:

My smartphone - $40
Wife's smartphone - $40
Friend's basic phone - $30
Son's basic phone - $30 (would probably upgrade his to smartphone)
6gb Shared data -$80 (based on mine and wife's current monthly average, me = 3-4gb/m, her = 1-1.5gb/m)

Verizon price = $210 ($220 if I upgraded son to smartphone)

With the Verizon plan, I'd lose my own unlimited data but gain unlimited voice minutes and data for the 2 phones on my account that don't have it. I hate to say it, but that's actually a pretty fair deal assuming, of course, that you think the carrier prices are a fair deal in the first place.

Did I miss anything in my calculations?

Just looking over your numbers, you might have missed something. If you do decide to upgrade your son to a smartphone, and you're already assuming the 6gb data cap will put you at your limit based on past usage of you and your wife, adding another smartphone would probably mean you'd have to go up to the 8gb tier, so add another 10 on top of that which would put you at 230+ tax.

 

[Deeko]

For two smartphones and a tablet it recommended a $170 plan...I currently pay $90 for a smartphone + tethering and then $60 for the other phone, so under this I'd be getting less data for $20 more per month...sweet.

edit: To be fair, one of those smartphones is AT&T and the other is T-Mobile.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Hmm, so this is basically going for the Sprint model of "give people unlimited talk and text, and charge them for it, and don't give them the option to remove it even if they don't need it."

Sprint's lowest-tier family plan with two lines offers 1500 shared minutes, unlimited texting, and unlimited data. For that it's $150 a month. An equivalent plan through Verizon would cost more, BUT they also let you drop down to just 700 shared minutes (still way more than enough for the two of us) and no texting plan (we'd use Google Voice instead) and the cost drops to $130 a month. So less than Sprint and we wouldn't even notice the difference in the plan!

Smart move by Verizon, I guess. Carriers have been upselling everyone on worthless extra voice minutes and texting plans but this is taking it to another level. Before long, every carrier will require expensive unlimited talk + text plans on every phone and use it to justify ever-higher prices. Maybe I should get in before these new plans are implemented.

EDIT: I'm assuming that on June 28, this will become the only option on Verizon, no more traditional family plans? I wonder if I could open a line now and then add another line later with their old plans or if I'd have to open both lines before June 28 to get in on the old plan.

 

[Aikouka]

I feel like a fool for thinking this would be a decent deal for all. Maybe I can keep up my foolish ways, and hope that AT&T actually provides a decent plan!

 

[basslover1]

Hmm, so this is basically going for the Sprint model of "give people unlimited talk and text, and charge them for it, and don't give them the option to remove it even if they don't need it."

Sprint's lowest-tier family plan with two lines offers 1500 shared minutes, unlimited texting, and unlimited data. For that it's $150 a month. An equivalent plan through Verizon would cost more, BUT they also let you drop down to just 700 shared minutes (still way more than enough for the two of us) and no texting plan (we'd use Google Voice instead) and the cost drops to $130 a month. So less than Sprint and we wouldn't even notice the difference in the plan!

Smart move by Verizon, I guess. Carriers have been upselling everyone on worthless extra voice minutes and texting plans but this is taking it to another level. Before long, every carrier will require expensive unlimited talk + text plans on every phone and use it to justify ever-higher prices. Maybe I should get in before these new plans are implemented.

My sentiments exactly. Sure you get unlimited voice and text which is great if you use a lot of that but you get screwed on data. My current usage for two lines is maybe 400 minutes and 250 text COMBINED for two lines. If we went with the new setup we're paying for crap we don't use, and get screwed on the ridiculously low data caps.

Price works out the same for me if I were to switch, except I'd lose unlimited data on one line, and the 2gb data on the other to gain unlimited talk + text, something I never use. No thank you.

 

[MrChad]

I don't use a ton of data, so it works out ok for me.

Current plan:
700 Shared Min - $50
My phone - line access $10
My phone - 250 texts $5
My phone - Unlimited data $30
Wife's phone - line access $10
Wife's phone - 250 texts $5
Wife's phone - Unlimited data $30

Total $140 monthly

New plan
My phone $40
Wife's phone $40
2 GB shared data $60

Total $140 monthly

We lose unlimited data and gain unlimited text and minutes. Our monthly data usage now is only about 0.5 - 1 GB per line, so 2 GB shared should be adequate.

 

[Red Storm]

We lose unlimited data and gain unlimited text and minutes. Our monthly data usage now is only about 0.5 - 1 GB per line, so 2 GB shared should be adequate.

That's a terrible trade.

Are you hitting your voice/text cap? If not then it would be a really bad move to switch. Verizon is basically making you trade in unlimited data for unlimited voice and texts, and data is much more valuable to hold on to in the long run IMHO.

I have 450 voice minutes and I never even break 200 in a month. With all the in network calling, nights and weekends, I just don't need that many minutes.

 

[lupi]

My tmo plan cost $90 a month after taxes/fees and corp discount for 2 lines, unlimited text, 1 unlimited data, and a home voip line. Could raise that by around $16 for data on the 2nd phone that I don't have at the moment. Will be real hard to ever switch carriers as they are doing everything they can to jack up subscription prices for new accounts.

 

[MrChad]

That's a terrible trade.

Are you hitting your voice/text cap? If not then it would be a really bad move to switch. Verizon is basically making you trade in unlimited data for unlimited voice and texts, and data is much more valuable to hold on to in the long run IMHO.

I have 450 voice minutes and I never even break 200 in a month. With all the in network calling, nights and weekends, I just don't need that many minutes.

I agree. We don't hit our voice / text caps currently. I am tempted to pre-order the SGS3 now before the new plans take effect so I can keep my unlimited data. My wife has an iPhone 4 that she's happy with, so that will let us keep our current plan until well into next year.

 

[podspi]

Yay for having an unlimited plan, that's all I can say.

That being said, I can see how this could be useful if you don't use a lot of data, but you want lots of devices. As it is now, if I got another VZW LTE device, I'd just swap SIM cards when necessary. With this, it isn't too bad just adding it to the plan. They want everybody's 2 ipad's + dog on the network. Unfortunately, that begs the question, how do you limit usage? With txt messages, you just got unlimited and stopped worrying. With background sync, etc, it is going to be difficult to people to manage their own data usage, let alone their children's data usage via their own phones and the family tablet, etc.

 

[alkemyst]

does this include tethering?

 

[master7045]

does this include tethering?

I believe so, mobile hotspot is included according to the Verizon landing page

 

[bearxor]

I did some number crunching and it's not a terrible deal. We pay about $140 on AT&T right now after a corp discount. Thats two lines, 550 minutes, unlimited messaging and "unlimited" data on each line.

If I were to do this, I could get two lines, 6GB of data (more than enough for us in just about every month) for $160 - my 22% discount $35, would put me at about $125 so after taxes it should be a wash, plus I get tethering including. That means I can get the WiFi iPad, save $130 in the process ($5/mo over two years) and not have to add the iPad since I can just use WiFi hotspot and so I'd not have to pay that extra $10/mo.

So, not bad. A step in the right direction. Wasn't expecting pricing to be quite THIS high, wasn't expecting unlimited minutes but it's nice that they're including tethering in this price.

 

[AstroManLuca]

I did some number crunching and it's not a terrible deal. We pay about $140 on AT&T right now after a corp discount. Thats two lines, 550 minutes, unlimited messaging and "unlimited" data on each line.

If I were to do this, I could get two lines, 6GB of data (more than enough for us in just about every month) for $160 - my 22% discount $35, would put me at about $125 so after taxes it should be a wash, plus I get tethering including. That means I can get the WiFi iPad, save $130 in the process ($5/mo over two years) and not have to add the iPad since I can just use WiFi hotspot and so I'd not have to pay that extra $10/mo.

So, not bad. A step in the right direction. Wasn't expecting pricing to be quite THIS high, wasn't expecting unlimited minutes but it's nice that they're including tethering in this price.

Port your number(s) into Google Voice and use that for texting and drop your AT&T texting plan. Boom, $20 savings every month.

 

[Headcase_Fargone]

Port your number(s) into Google Voice and use that for texting and drop your AT&T texting plan. Boom, $20 savings every month.

Hope you don't use MMS much. Or use Airdroid or any number of applications that only work with your cellular SMS.

 

[MrChad]

I wonder if they'll eventually start offering promotions for unlimited night and weekend data.

 

[Axon]

I wonder if they'll eventually start offering promotions for unlimited night and weekend data.

Hah. It won't be long, I think.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Hope you don't use MMS much. Or use Airdroid or any number of applications that only work with your cellular SMS.

I've sent/received maybe 10 MMSs since I first got a smartphone over 2 years ago, and I could easily replace that with email. Don't use any other apps that require cell SMS; Google Voice works fine for me.

But it's true it's not for everyone. I personally would rather save a bit of money every month than keep a texting plan that I never actually need to use.

 

[bearxor]

Hope you don't use MMS much. Or use Airdroid or any number of applications that only work with your cellular SMS.

Yeah, it really wouldn't work out for me either. I've explored this and that on top of the Google Voice iOS app just sucking makes this a no-go, especially for the WAF factor.

 

[Compddd]

These new plans will work great for my family, if they allow corporate discounts on the new plans.

Has Verizon stated anywhere if they would be allowing/not allowing discounts on the new family share plans?