Verizon Revisits Unlimited Data Plans

[bjl584]

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/verizon-revives-its-unlimited-wireless-data-plan-2017-02-12

Verizon revives its unlimited wireless data plan

Published: Feb 12, 2017 7:27 p.m. ET

Telecom responds to tough competition with $80/month plan

By

Ryan
Knutson


Verizon Communications Inc. will start selling unlimited data plans on Monday, the first time it has offered such a service since 2011 and a sign that intense competition is forcing the nation’s largest carrier to respond.

Sprint Corp. S, -1.79% and T-Mobile US Inc. TMUS, +0.22% have been chipping away at Verizon’s customer growth, thanks in part to those carriers’ aggressive pricing for unlimited data. Last year, AT&T Inc. T, +0.17% started offering unlimited data plans to customers who also sign up for its DirecTV satellite service.

Verizon VZ, -1.31% added 2.3 million of the most lucrative type of monthly customers in 2016 — only about half the 4.5 million it added in 2015. The company recently cautioned that profit and sales growth this year will be flat from 2016.


The new plan is a stark change in strategy for Verizon, which has spent years trying to get customers to pay for data based on usage and recently raised prices on certain fees. Last month, Verizon’s finance chief, Matthew Ellis, said on a conference call with analysts that unlimited data plans were “not something we feel the need to do.” At $80 a month for a single smartphone, Verizon’s new unlimited plan is only $10 more than a current Verizon plan that includes just 4 gigabytes of monthly data.

[disneysteve]

I had unlimited data with AT&T for years. Last year, when my wife went to get a new phone, the rep looked at our account and explained that it would be cheaper for me to give up the unlimited data and switch to a new plan where we all share data. Based on our usage, we weren't coming anywhere close to what the new plan would give us. We now have 15GB and we rarely go over 4 or 5GB/month. Plus, there is a one-month rollover, so most months we actually have 25GB available.

I was really hesitant to give up the unlimited plan until I actually looked at the usage numbers and then I realized it made no sense to be paying for it. And I'm on my phone a lot.

[StormRichards]

I will definitely take a look at this to see how much it would impact our bill if we switched. Our plan is only 4GB and have only gone over once, but it would be nice not having to worry about data usage.

[disneysteve]

Our plan is only 4GB and have only gone over once.

I think most people don't use nearly as much data as they think they do.

I'm on my phone a lot, but the vast majority of the time, I'm either in my office with WiFi or in my house with WiFi. If I'm out and about, there's also a good chance I have WiFi. About the only time when I definitely use data is in the car, but since I'm almost always the one driving, that's not an issue unless I stop to look up directions or something like that.

[kork13]

I was really hesitant to give up the unlimited plan until I actually looked at the usage numbers and then I realized it made no sense to be paying for it. And I'm on my phone a lot.

My wife was on a Sprint family plan with unlimited data for a long time, and only recently was I able to convince her it's not worth the cost... She was EXTREMELY hesitant to give up the unlimited data, even though she only averages 1.5GB/mo, perhaps 3GB on a heavy usage month. I only managed it because we moved to Alaska, where Sprint has literally zero coverage. So we're now in a shared 8GB data plan with my brothers on Verizon, though we're actually getting 16-24GB/mo (due to a recurring data bonus & rollover), which is still way more than we need. The most we have collectively used thus far is around 7GB between the 4 of us. I'm almost always bottom of the pile with <1GB/mo usage. lol

But hooray for those who somehow manage to use oodles and oodles of data. I seriously couldn't use my phone enough to make an unlimited plan worthwhile, even if I tried.