The new plan is designed to capture intensive data users.

(disclaimer - I work for Verizon).

for a phone call and leave a message in seconds, or actually talk in real time?

I've seen people furiously texting to communicate with someone and it is so much faster and easier to just make a call.

why is texting better? let me count the ways!

you call me voice, and i have to talk to you, and you have just taken control of my time, and you know what? i don't have to tolerate that shit any more from anyone except my mom!

if you text, it's the best of both worlds combo of email plus phone, if i WISH to respond immediately and talk to you i can but if i don't wish, i can text you back at the time of my chooseing

furthermore, when i text, every body on the fucking plane doesn't have to listen to my whole life story, texting is much more private

it is not faster and easier to just make a call, i type faster than most people talk, so it is faster to text and it is QUIETER and more private because those around me don't have to listen to my chitchat

What most people don't realize is that if you're not a good typist, you're functionally illiterate in today's world.

and the "hang on a sec while I talk to someone else" moments.

It's at the point where I nearly refuse to use voice calling outside of work.

I watched my nephew try to arrange a meeting with a friend via text. 20 texts each way and about 20 minutes later, they were no closer to an answer...2 minute phone call: the where, when and how were hammered out and they were out the door...

and if I don't recognize the no. and it's not convenient, I don't pick up.

I do agree with you about the talking on the plane/train. VERY annoying to hear others' conversations.

most of New Orleans discovered 1 great thing about texts -- they are comparatively immune to network saturation.

If I sent a text, it might take 4 hours to go through -- but it would go eventually. A phone call was impossible.

A text message takes less than 200 bytes of data. In contrast, a typical 12 kilobit-per-second phone call codec eats that much bandwidth every eighth of a second. So for every one minute phone call, the same network bandwidth could handle almost 500 text messages.

And since it's on the control channel, texts are basically guaranteed to run as long as the network itself isn't crippled.

I didn't grow up with it, but I'm a big kid exception. Texting is done because with a phone call the other person has to pick up and be there. With texting he can be on the toilet and answer you 10 minutes better. No need to call someone to say "Can you work for me tomorrow?"

since I have a only one device (a smart phone), my monthly 'unlimited usage' rate will drop from around $120 / month to around $90 / month. Does that sound correct? Thanks in advance.

"The monthly data allowances start at one gigabyte for $50 a month and range up to eight gigabytes for $90 a month.
There will be no fee or contract extension for current subscribers to move to the new plans.

Oh, there is a $10/line cost too.

For one gigabyte it may not be all that bad, but at $10/gig for each additional gigabyte it adds up fast.
Under certain circumstances (such as a family with a bunch of devices) it may make sense,
but for a single person it almost-certainly does not.

-- all the ads that every Android and iPhone app likes to spam you with? You pay for them since they count against your data allowance.
Isn't that special? You're being charged to be sent advertising -- with no "opt out."

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=207191

monthly rates I'll be pissed off.

Don't use apps which are ad-supported. It's that simple. None of the standard apps use ads. You'll only see them if you've installed something else which does use ads.

You have the option to continue with your current plan.

Now theoretically, yes, your rate would be around $90 a month with one smartphone, but that's with just 1 GB of data usage allowed per month, not unlimited.

wireline traffic continues to decrease, as it should since new technologies continue to "thankfully" replace tip&ring As shown, VoIP traffic and wireless traffic continue to increase year after year. There's another report they have somewhere showing the billions of MOU a month but not finding that easily right now and people keep wanting to IM me today LOL

(disclaimer, I work for a competitor to Verizon )

http://transition.fcc.gov/wcb/
3/21/11
FCC Releases New Data on Internet Access Services, Local Telephone Competition.
News Release: Word | Acrobat
Internet Access Services Report: Acrobat
Local Telephone Competition Report: Acrobat



One snippet from one doc from the FCC

Highlights from the Internet Access Services report include the following:
• 60% of connections were slower than the benchmark 4 megabits per second (Mbps) download speed identified by the FCC as the minimum bandwidth generally required to accommodate today’s uses: high-quality voice, data, graphics, and video.
• Growth of fixed broadband service appears to have flattened at 1% in the first half of 2010, to 82 million connections.

Highlights from the Local Telephone Competition report including the following:
• Interconnected VoIP grew by 21% between June 2009 and June 2010.
• Conventional switched access lines (i.e., traditional wireline telephone lines) decreased by 8% between June 2009 and June 2010.
• 28% of all residential wireline connections were interconnected VoIP as of June 2010.
• An estimated 77% of interconnected VoIP subscribers received service through a cable provider.
• The number of subscriptions to wireless phone service grew by 5% in the year.

For example: Under the previous pricing scheme you'd have paid $200 a month for a shared plan with unlimited texting, three smartphones each of which got 4 GB of data, and 700 peak minutes.

Under the new plan, you'd pay the same $200 for three smartphones, but only get half as much data capacity.

Then reality set in. They are just screwing us doggy style instead of missionary.

All communications providers suck. Period.

the lube

As in "pricing schemes"?

nt

I'm Canadian and didn't think there was anything even potentially off about the wording until I saw your post and thought that maybe the term isn't as standardized as I thought it was.

I'm thinking about switching until either my Verizon contract runs out or I have enough money to switch carriers.

In addition, this is why I prefer having cable internet with a wireless network router.

We've been very happy with them. The customer service is miles ahead of Verizon's.

They are a progressive company...another good reason to make the switch!

but they use Sprint's infrastructure, and Sprint has less coverage in rural areas like mine. Otherwise, I would have already switched. I'm looking at a TracFone GSM and just buying an unlocked phone I like and a mobile hotspot device. I figure I can use only one device at a time.

as this is another way of controlling your freedom. Grouping all your devices gives total control to the phone companies and
will restrict users from being independent, if anyone thinks this is a good idea they must have their head in the sand.

I hope FCC nuke this sh*t.

pay as you go plan, and I rarely even use that much.

consumer how? Look for being screwed in the small print.

I've been with verizon for about 5 years and still use my original phone, I don't text or use it alot but I do have the 4g hotspot w 10 gigs on data both together run me about 120 a month. Where I go with my computer I haven't any problems w ith reception.
a 10 gigs let me surf all month with plenty left over. The videos eat up alot .

are not on FIOS get screwed some more. FIOS ends two houses away. For 9 years, Verizon has been saying that they would extend it further down the road. OR, for ONLY $2400 plus 24 houses within 1/4 mile. Yeah, there aren't that many houses in 4 miles!! I've tried over and over to get a unified plan for my internet, phone and tv to no avail. In order to use wifi, I have to travel elsewhere. This is nothing more than another scheme to screw us even more.

Last edited Wed Jun 13, 2012, 06:46 PM - Edit history (1)

I use a BB on the verizon network, the phone automatically selects my wifi network (or any wireless network) over the verizon cell network which essentially moves the bandwidth to my cox cable internet account. Why would verizon want to move all this traffic back to their network? I have basically the "unlimited everything" plan which costs me a lot, trying to charge me more would be stupid considering I barely use their network as it is and cable is super fast and relatively affordable. Maybe the cable companies are planning something about all the additional traffic coming from smartphones?

I pay around $110 after everything with one phone. Would the the prices rise or fall if I took their $50 1 gig plan?

Your rated fee would be $90 per month, but that's before fees. I'm not sure if you're assessing your current plan with or without fees. If you're describing your current plan's final bill, you probably would not save anything.

$30/month for 100 minutes, 5 gigs of 4G data transfer, unlimited texts and emails. I have a Samsung Exhibit II 4G andriod phone and I'm loving it! Certainly their plan is not for everyone. Their 4G coverage is very spotty, but I get 4G at home and at work, which is 90% of my time. And at home, I have Verizon FIOS, so I Wi-Fi into that to save my 5G bandwidth.

I don't talk much on the phone, so 100 minutes is more than enough, and if I do go over, it's only 10c/minute.