I found that Verizon was forced to play nice...

[BradKW]

I just got a new phone from my boss...a Google Pixel that is a very nice phone indeed. It was a Verizon exclusive phone, and as much as I've despised Verizon's business practices, I decided to switch over...figuring the nearly $1,000 phone was worth spending more on monthly service.

Turns out I was able to get exactly the same plan as I've had with Tmobile for years... $50/mo + 5GB and no possible data overage charges. 

I do feel a bit guilty leaving Tmobile...their business model has totally reconfigured the cellular landscape here, finally forcing even the 800lb Verizon Gorilla to play fair. I felt good about supporting them...but a free flagship level phone was enough to put principles aside  

 

[LeeRevell]

I just "upgraded" to the Verizon "Unlimited" plan, and will save five bucks compared to the 8Gig plan I have been using. As I have been away from home more often, thus using my laptop a lot less. I don't really believe in the hype of "unlimited data", but I will give them a try. If they throttle me after 4Gig or so, I will go back my prior plan. I find dropping from 4GLTE to 3G pretty much stops me cold. My new S7 phone isn't "top of the line", but it was unGodly expensive by my standards.

 

[Sabatical]

We've been on vz's unlimited plan for two months now and it allowed us to get rid of dsl service at the house. Tv connects to the phone via hotspot. No buffering on netflix or amazon prime video.

I hope all you vet's are getting your discount from vz. When we switched to the unlimited plan i lost a discount for being a state employee. They will give you a veterans discount however that brings the data cost down to $84.50 a month.

It was nice of your boss to give you the new phone! Those things sure are expensive. We added two of our adult kids to our plan and they each were able to get a free phone which was super handy for thier tight budgets. It's so nice to share a plan with them and not have to monitor data usage.

Sent from my SCH-I435 using Tapatalk

 

[Queen]

Guess I'm channeling my inner Luddite. I've got Consumer Cellular, $37 a month for two lines and 500mb of data. I never use all my data or minutes and never come within viewing distance of my 2000 text limit. When my wife's phone dies she's switching back to a flip, I'll keep my old Moto G so we can check the internet now and then.

 

[DannyB1954]

Where I live, (in a sticks and bricks), whenever a storm passes through T-Mobile goes down. I think it is well established that Verizon has the best coverage in the Western States. So if another carrier has a better plan, if you can't get a signal, it is worthless.

 

[Vagabound]

Guess I'm channeling my inner Luddite.  I've got Consumer Cellular, $37 a month for two lines and 500mb of data.  I never use all my data or minutes and never come within viewing distance of my 2000 text limit.  When my wife's phone dies she's switching back to a flip, I'll keep my old Moto G so we can check the internet now and then.

I understand the attraction of the flip phone. Had several over the years; all fantastic.

As far as your 500mb of data goes, I have no earthly idea how you can stay under that limit. I am barely using the internet -- mostly for email, Google news, and this forum. I watch absolutely no videos, no streaming, no downloading or updates, and I'm using 2GB a month if I'm lucky, 3 GB if I'm not.

You can't possibly be doing all of your internet stuff on that phone, are you?

Tom

 

[Vagabound]

Hey Brad,

Where's the part in here about Verizon being forced to behave better? And in what way? I think I missed it.

Tom

 

[BradKW]

Hey Brad,

Where's the part in here about Verizon being forced to behave better? And in what way? I think I missed it.

Tom

Tmobile has forced the others to be competitive in plan pricing, no-contract options, and no more surprise data overage charges. Sprint was the first to fall in line, followed by AT&T in resistant baby steps. Verizon has always been the 800lb gorilla, charging 50%-100% more, screwing people with $100-$300 surprise data fees, and smiling sweetly at irate customers as they suggest they "up the plan" to prevent recurrence. And no, sorry, nothing we can do about the charges...try not to let your 8 yr old play on the phone anymore.

Seems times have caught up to them now...I was very surprised to find the identical plan to my old Tmobile one. Hope Apple has to eat some humble pie next  

 

[Queen]

I understand the attraction of the flip phone. Had several over the years; all fantastic.

As far as your 500mb of data goes, I have no earthly idea how you can stay under that limit. I am barely using the internet -- mostly for email, Google news, and this forum. I watch absolutely no videos, no streaming, no downloading or updates, and I'm using 2GB a month if I'm lucky, 3 GB if I'm not.

You can't possibly be doing all of your internet stuff on that phone, are you?

Tom

No, I glom on to wifi whenever I can.  I've had months when I can't and then I do go over and hit the 1.5GB and occasionally the 3GB plans, but that's rare.

I used to be super active on a half dozen forums, spent hours shopping online, and was always attached to my phone/computer/tablet.  But times change and so did I, I spend less and less time online, frequently leave my phone at home or in the glovebox of the truck, ditched the tablet and laptop.  Down to a phone and a three year old chromebook now, when the chromebook dies I'll just have the phone.  Heading into retirement/poverty helps with these transitions.