If the new Shared Data plan will save you money or is better for you, please post here

[OfTheDamned]

OfTheDamned
Great idea pay for data and use wi-fi that's exactly what they want you to do.

LOL I do that now anyway. I pay for unlimited data and use wifi majority of the time. I use data when I am out and about though. I used to be one of those people that used 20 something GB a month of 3G on a regular basis and I wasn't even tethering. Those days are over now though. Now, I am fine with paying for a smaller portion of data and using wifi when I can.

 

[pool_shark]

It will save me $20 per month to use a 4GB plan.
I don't use that much since I'm usually on wifi, but I don't want to limit myself to a smaller plan.

Currently with unlimited minutes and text, with data, employee discount, insurance and tax I'm at $133 per month.

Using the share plan it will be $113 with 4GB, including discount, insurance, and tax.

 

[trophynuts]

i crunched the numbers last week. It looks as though it will save me and the wife money as well. We can easily get by on sharing 4gb of data a month. She is constantly on her phone. I checked and the last 3 months she never went over 70mb of data. As long as you don't do a lot of streaming (pandora , youtube) you're good. Everyone should use wifi when possible if anything to just save on battery life.

 

[AntimonyER]

Yeah my wife uses very little data, although she is on the 150MB plan, so only paying half price for her data... If she were on a 2GB plan, the difference between the two plans is exactly $0 for me. So if she starts using more, it would be something to consider. Actually I just checked, and she went over her allowance by freaking .16MB (not GB, MB) this month, but I am being charged double for her data as a result. That is the problem with tiers...

 

[OutOfPhase]

You can also factor in with unlimited talk that you don't need a land line anymore.

 

[AntimonyER]

You can also factor in with unlimited talk that you don't need a land line anymore.

Yeah, I already don't have a land line. Even my alarm system is cellular now. Land lines don't have long for the world methinks.

 

[trophynuts]

You can also factor in with unlimited talk that you don't need a land line anymore.

land lines still exist?

 

[OfTheDamned]

You can also factor in with unlimited talk that you don't need a land line anymore.

land lines still exist?

Yep, dropped mine years ago.

 

[Cares]

Yep, dropped mine years ago.

Unfortunately for me, I cannot drop my land line since it ties in with my home security system as well as the front gate for my community.

 

[OfTheDamned]

Unfortunately for me, I cannot drop my land line since it ties in with my home security system as well as the front gate for my community.

Security smedurity.

A lot of the systems are going to voip with cellular back-up though. I remember they switched us for free at our last house.

 

[AntimonyER]

Unfortunately for me, I cannot drop my land line since it ties in with my home security system as well as the front gate for my community.

Yeah, that was the only reason we had a land line, but switched to a cellular system. Which is nice cause they can't cut the phone line to disable it. Not that we have anything to worry about where I live, I bought it more for the home automation than the alarm system.

 

[polysaturate]

I end up saving about $15 after corp. discount, with the 4GB tier. Saving, is a subjective term, seeing as just one GB over makes that difference.

I have an even better discount on Sprint, but I wouldn't even fathom switching to them until they have significant 4G in Phoenix area.

Since, my wife and I'd contracts are up in Feb/Mar of next year, we'll just wait and see what the cellular world is like in the fall/winter.

 

[OutOfPhase]

Unfortunately for me, I cannot drop my land line since it ties in with my home security system as well as the front gate for my community.

my gate is set to call my cell and it works great. I can let people in without being home.

 

[xmr405o]

I added a simple yes or no poll for the OP (with his permission). Then we can post details on why these new plans will benefit or not benefit our situations.

I voted no because my wife and I are on an unlimited data plan plus I have a dumb phone. Combined we average about 10gbs so about 5gb each. We love media-centric apps like netflix, slingbox, maxgo, hbogo, pandora, youtube etc so going on a tiered plan would not be beneficial. We'll end up paying over $60 more than what we currently pay now. We do not need unlimited talk because the 700 minute plan is plenty for us since we do not call any non VZW wireless phone numbers that often.

Even the cheapest plan (1gb shared) would still cost a few more dollars than what we are paying now. I am dreading the day when my wife and I are in need of a new phone but I'll worry about that when it comes.

 

[trophynuts]

^^^You guys use that much data on the mobile side? Holy Moly that is a lot. None of that is on WiFi?

 

[xmr405o]

^^^You guys use that much data on the mobile side? Holy Moly that is a lot. None of that is on WiFi?

Nope, we use wifi at home but we don't use those apps on our phones when at home either. We're not home a lot. We're at work or on the road. Our work doesn't allow streaming media at all on their network. It sucks but understandable. I think I'm overpaying for my internet connection and TV at home than I am with my phone.

 

[zeroibis]

Yeah, that was the only reason we had a land line, but switched to a cellular system. Which is nice cause they can't cut the phone line to disable it. Not that we have anything to worry about where I live, I bought it more for the home automation than the alarm system.

Yea they can just jam the signal which may sound harder but is physically easier to do and leaves less evidence to trace...

 

[AntimonyER]

Yea they can just jam the signal which may sound harder but is physically easier to do and leaves less evidence to trace...

Well, thanks for the info that all my assumptions were incorrect

 

[OfTheDamned]

Well, thanks for the info that all my assumptions were incorrect

You just need to install the cell jammer jammer to jam the jammer that is trying to jam your cell. It works off the same principle as the trace buster buster.

 

[AntimonyER]

But what do I do about the cell jammer jammer jammer? :rofl:

 

[OfTheDamned]

But what do I do about the cell jammer jammer jammer? :rofl:

Obviously you get the cell jammer jammer jammer hammer that stops everything. Really though, if someone has a cell jammer jammer jammer then they are going to get in your house no matter what. Just owning a cell jammer jammer jammer is serious determination.

 

[dlcpa]

After comparing other carrier's plans and coverage I think we are actually going to switch over to the Share everything plan. Since I'm spending so much time on Wifi these days the unlimited data isn't that necessary for me anymore. Only used 2.8GB of 4G this month.

We currently have one smartphone and one dumbphone on our family plan. 700 minutes with no text and one unlimited plan. So we have $70 + $30 = $100 right now.

Since we are at 662 minutes used of our 700 minute plan this month (pretty normal for us) we have been looking at unlimited talk and text plans on other carriers so that we don't have to keep monitoring our minutes anymore. My girl also really wants to have a smartphone again.

Sprint has bad service in our area and I have personal issues with At&t so that really left us looking at staying with Verizon and changing plans or moving to T-Mobile.

With T-Mobile we would have had Unlimited talk/text and 2GB data for her with 2 or 5 GB for me. This would of had us paying $140 to $155 a month and having questionable service in some areas we have to travel to along with no real 4G to speak of.

With Verizon's old plans we would have been switching to 1400 minutes plus unlimited text and adding in another data plan for 2GB along with my data plan. So $90 + $30 + $30 + $30 = $180 It didn't really seem worth it compared to other plans out there.

With the new Shared plans we are looking at $40 for each smartphone and either 4 or 6GB of data. So $150 or $160 for everything we want. I honestly think we could get by with the 4GB of data as I don't see her using more than 1GB each month, but I figure for $10 more we will probably go with the 6GB and never worry about overages for anyone.

So in the end, Verizon will be about $5 to $10 more depending on data compared to T-mobile with what most of us will agree is better coverage and $20 to $30 cheaper than changing to the 1400 minute plan with text and an additional smartphone.

Couple of questions, if you get 4G LTE phones and keep your unlimited plan, can you switch later? I wonder if LTE will call for greater data flow? I cannot believe how little data I use on my blackberry. I never ever get close to a GB and neither does my wife. I don't see us ever being permanently linked to Pandora or watching movies on the phone, Unless I use Netflix and cable it to a TV where there is no laptop and no WiFi. A few days ago my 2 1/2 yr old granddaughter was here watching Disney YouTubes for at least an hour on my BlackBerry Storm2. In 14 days I have used 43 megabytes.

Now there is WiFi in the House/Office and perhaps WiFi takes over and receives all the data but I use the phone a lot for Twitter and links to the Web from Twitter. Maybe WiFi is grabbing it all away from 3G. So, now were are talking about using Data only when you are not near WiFi and maybe that's not so much for me. That's one of the reasons I haven't jumped to the S3 to keep my unlimited data plan.

Someone said that Blackberries are more efficient with data than Androids. Does that mean Androids will not yield to Wifi as well as Blackberries?

I was going to run out today to order two S3s, knowing that I can return them within 15 days from the time I get them and then I can either buy a newly introduced phone, that's as big as the Note, or go back to my BB Storms and just wait, knowing the new plan might not kill me. If I had to do a lot of tethering for research while not near my home/office or connectible WiFi, that's the only way I can see missing out on unlimited data.

 

[Nick The Great]

Little late to be reading up on this, but by my calcs, The new plan will cost me about $5 more. That is assuming the tax and fees are figured the same way, and the employee discount comes off the shared data portion. If it comes off one of the lines as well, I'll be ahead. I'm using 2GB as the starting point for the calcs, which we're usually under.

I'm angry about the principle but the actual cost is a wash. And if I can legally tether (data costs aside) that is worth something to me

 

[dirkbonn]

Little late to be reading up on this, but by my calcs, The new plan will cost me about $5 more. That is assuming the tax and fees are figured the same way, and the employee discount comes off the shared data portion. If it comes off one of the lines as well, I'll be ahead. I'm using 2GB as the starting point for the calcs, which we're usually under.

I'm angry about the principle but the actual cost is a wash. And if I can legally tether (data costs aside) that is worth something to me

Corp and I would assume employee discounts are only applied to data. No discounts on the lines.

One of the pluses with the discount on the data bucket is that the discount is applied to the whole data cost where before it was only applied to the primary line data cost.

 

[Nick The Great]

Corp and I would assume employee discounts are only applied to data. No discounts on the lines.

One of the pluses with the discount on the data bucket is that the discount is applied to the whole data cost where before it was only applied to the primary line data cost.

OK. That makes sense.

I guess I'm not updating today, so I'll probably find out anyway!