Verizon unveils new shared phone/data plans - likely no one will be happy

[Razgon]

Man Datatranfer is expensive for you guys?

I pay 21 dollars for 5 GB data a month, and 5 hours of talking , including free texting and MMS.

I've noticed this when you guys talk about regular data traffic as well, on computers - You have limits on those as well, right?

[Calavera]

Man Datatranfer is expensive for you guys?

I pay 21 dollars for 5 GB data a month, and 5 hours of talking , including free texting and MMS.

I've noticed this when you guys talk about regular data traffic as well, on computers - You have limits on those as well, right?

For cell phones, you don't have subsidized phones. Virgin Mobile in the US operates a lot more like a European carrier. $35/month for 5 hours talk, free text/MMS and unlimited* data. *After 2.5GB of data in a month, they throttle the connection. The difference in size of landmass coverage is the difference in price.

Data limits on a regular household line depends on your ISP. I think Comcast is really the only one that has both implemented and enforces caps. The only other nationwide ISP that announced caps was AT&T. I believe they implemented them on their DSL connections, but not on their U-Verse connections. Just changing from DSL to U-Verse, if it's available to you, eliminates the cap.

[Punisher]

I currently pay $177 on Verizon for 2 smart phones with unlimited text and data... unlimited phone isn't a big deal since we never go over...
Current data usage average over 6months is:
Me about 1.56GB
My son is 9.73GB with a few months going over 10GB...
So on the new plan I would be paying $200 ($23 more)AND now have overages...
No Deal... (assuming they let me keep my contract...

[Bullwinkle]

I currently pay $177 on Verizon for 2 smart phones with unlimited text and data... unlimited phone isn't a big deal since we never go over...
Current data usage average over 6months is:
Me about 1.56GB
My son is 9.73GB with a few months going over 10GB...
So on the new plan I would be paying $200 ($23 more)AND now have overages...
No Deal... (assuming they let me keep my contract...

)

[Destructor]

Frankly, in the US right now, the best way to go for phone deals is a 'bring your own phone' along with 'pay as you go' via T-Mobile:

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans

$30 a month gets you unlimited* (5GB) data, unlimited texting, and 100 minutes of phone. Yeah, you'll end up spend a few hundred on a phone, but you'll pay it off with the savings (a good $40-50 a month over most smartphone plans on any carrier) in a matter of months. Oh, and no contract at all.

New subscribers only, of course, but I'm seriously tempted switching from Sprint (Evo 3D 4G, $85ish a month after corporate discounts, which is unlimited text, unlimited data, 400 minutes a month, 4G 'tax' (which is crap as Phoenix will apparently never get 4G despite our size)) over to it just because of the insane savings. Get an iPhone or something and call it good.

[Isgrimnur]

Extra Credits did an episode on OTA bandwidth.

[Xmann]

We are currently paying $170 with the everything family plan from sprint and while we love the freedom, the price every month is starting to get hard to swallow. I'll have to look closer at my minutes and data usage, but somehow we need to lower our monthly bill. On our plan is myself and wife with smartphones and a cheap phone for our son for emergencies he never uses.

From everyone I have mentioned this with, we have a pretty good deal, but after a year with this price, its getting hard to pay every month. I love my Evo and use it like mad, but we are beginning to question why we are spending almost $200 monthly on phones.

No idea what to do.

Sent from me phone

[Canuck]

I got tired of paying $60-70 per month for a cell phone so I ended up buying an unlocked Galaxy Note and going with one of these independent companies that piggyback off the big networks. Voice is crazy expensive in Japan (but you don't pay when receiving a call!) so my plan only includes about 15 minutes of talk time but that's enough for emergencies and I never talk on the phone anyways. For about $25 a month I get the voice plan plus unlimited, bandwidth-capped at 100k/s data. I don't think I can stream youtube or Internet radio but it's more than enough to use Google maps, check email, webpages and Tapatalk. After about one year I will have made the money back on my phone and then I'll start saving about $40/month compared to the normal Japanese service providers' prices. It's still too early to know for sure but I think I may have been able to have my smartphone cake eat it too!

[Soulchilde]

AT&T unveils its new shared plan and you are still screwed