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VZW Family data needs to have allocation option

rushmore

rushmore

Extreme Android User
If we consider 4G, hidef data streaming and clouds being pushed by the carriers, the current family plan totals by VZW are an absolute sham and should at the very least have a data allocation option.

With Youtube alone, a kid can quickly go through a large chunk of the data watching stuff like Ray William Johnson and so forth. Not to mention any "cool" cloud data stuff. Added: And Facetime, Skype, etc.

I think we are going to see an eventual uproar worse than the texting disasters, since at least the fix there was unlimited data plans were provided. In this case in a growing market, carriers are getting rid of unlimited, which is a tad counter intuitive.

The reality is all the carriers had to do was throttle heavy users, rather than screw the other 98% or whatever. This change is purely to pull in more revenue and NOT due to , sniff-wimper-tear an overloaded network.

If it were, they could simply THROTTLE the abusers.

Rant over.
 
Or they raise the amount of data per tier by a extra 1 gig or so. I'm just happy I don't have to worry about this till sometime next year, hell, I barely use the internet on my phone outside of wifi, but still, if they raise the data amount available, I'll feel happier having a "safety net" of sorts.
 
One nice thing about ICS is you are able to restrict individual apps data usage, so by monitoring usage and cutting it off when whatever self set limit is reached, you can be guaranteed to avoid those nasty overages. I know it was nice not having to worry, but most of the major data usage is not a necessity... if you stream music, just have a back-up of some local albums for when you can't stream, etc. Yes it does require you to change your behavoir a little bit, but in reality it shouldn't be too difficult to adapt.
 
In regards to kids, that same discipline premise did not work too well with texts and will not with data either. Only real way is just get kids dumb phones and skrew the data plans. Not worth the risk unless money to burn, or a person has kids with maturity and discipline far above the statistical norm (ie, outliers).

Carriers are not providing allocation options since that would hurt their revenue estimates. The reasons are more nefarious than giving the onus of "freedom" to the customer ;)

Added:

Instead of an iPhone, my kids are getting an even dumber phone :)

I would go back to Tmo if their coverage did not suck in many areas I travel- Ditto for Sprint.
 
The overages for the new plans aren't actually that bad. I believe $15/GB (compared to $10 for 2 GBs for the data in your plan). It really doesn't seem to unreasonable to come up with a data amount for each kid, put verizon's data widget on there homescreen, set up data warnings, and make it clear that if they go over their paying for it.

Agreed they should let you have more built in active controls on this, but i don't think this is the worst part of their shared data plans. And I'm certain a developer will come out with 3rd party apps to do this (if they don't exist already).
 
If everyone in your family had a phone with ICS, I would say set the data usage limit to a certain fraction of your family plan's use. Granted, it would be on the honor system, since they could adjust it at any time. But as soon as the phone hit the set data amount, it would cut off all mobile data.
 
I agree you need to be able to set the amount of data each line can use per month directly from the Verizon site for family plans!!!
 
The bottom line is that the new shared plans are not about convenience or ease of use, but about revenue. Big Red wants people to go over their monthly data allotment. That's why devices like tablets and mobile hotspots have a lower monthly access fee than phones (smart or dumb). They're basically giving away unlimited minutes and texts because they know they will make up the difference in data. It seems to me to be based on pure greed. Verizon claims that this is the future of cell plans, but I think they are setting themselves up for disaster. I know when my contract is up next year, and they try to take away my unlimited data, I'll be shopping for another carrier.

I really hate to say it, but AT&T is looking pretty good right now.
 
thedrizl said:
The bottom line is that the new shared plans are not about convenience or ease of use, but about revenue. Big Red wants people to go over their monthly data allotment. That's why devices like tablets and mobile hotspots have a lower monthly access fee than phones (smart or dumb). They're basically giving away unlimited minutes and texts because they know they will make up the difference in data. It seems to me to be based on pure greed. Verizon claims that this is the future of cell plans, but I think they are setting themselves up for disaster. I know when my contract is up next year, and they try to take away my unlimited data, I'll be shopping for another carrier.

I really hate to say it, but AT&T is looking pretty good right now.
Click to expand...

How long will that last though, as AT&T has already admitted they are drooling over Verizon's new plans...
 
AntimonyER said:
How long will that last though, as AT&T has already admitted they are drooling over Verizon's new plans...
Click to expand...


Maybe so, but they stand to reap the reward of disgruntled VZW customers looking for an alternative. Sprint and T-MO are too far behind technology-wise to be able to pose much of a threat to Big Red.
 
thedrizl said:
Maybe so, but they stand to reap the reward of disgruntled VZW customers looking for an alternative.
Click to expand...
If AT&T ends up with the same, or almost the same, pricing/tier structure it is not an alternative at all.
I know what you are saying, and am sure people will switch, but really...it isn't going to be viable alternative in the long run. Maybe if you switch now and ride AT&T out for 2 years you can save a few dollars but in the end I don't see it as a 'win'.
Who knows what the cellular playground is going to look like down the road but I am sure betting the big carriers will be pretty dang identical and the consumer will pay way more for way less.
 
thedrizl said:
The bottom line is that the new shared plans are not about convenience or ease of use, but about revenue. Big Red wants people to go over their monthly data allotment. That's why devices like tablets and mobile hotspots have a lower monthly access fee than phones (smart or dumb). They're basically giving away unlimited minutes and texts because they know they will make up the difference in data. It seems to me to be based on pure greed. Verizon claims that this is the future of cell plans, but I think they are setting themselves up for disaster. I know when my contract is up next year, and they try to take away my unlimited data, I'll be shopping for another carrier.

I really hate to say it, but AT&T is looking pretty good right now.
Click to expand...

No, they have a lower access fee because they only use data, and not voice, and because lowering the price gets more people using tablets/hot spots on Verizon. The overage fees are not outrageous with this new plan, especially since you would only have one overage per account and not several on different lines.
 
Again, we will probably not see an allocation option, since VZW is literally banking on apathy and overrages'.

BTW, for kids and even some adults, Facetime and YouTube have no honor system. Only heavy usage ;)
 
rushmore said:
Again, we will probably not see an allocation option, since VZW is literally banking on apathy and overrages'.

BTW, for kids and even some adults, Facetime and YouTube have no honor system. Only heavy usage ;)
Click to expand...

I would think that Verizon is not banking on overages' because overages mean disgruntled customers and no company wants angry customers. What Verizon wants is for each customer to sign up for as big of a data package as he/she requires. That way the customer doesn't get a surprise when the bill arrives.

No company actively tries to generate revenue by aggrivating their customers. They would rather they signed up for a larger data package, and therefore paid for a larger data package when the bill arrives with no suprises. Then they pay the bill without complaning. If the bill is higher than they expect, they call and attemp to get the overage removed. They will be successful sometimes and then Verizon looses twice. Once when the unhappy customer calls to complain and twice when they remove the overage from the bill.

No, if the customer signs up for the larger data package to start with Verizon wins twice. Once, no unhappy customer because no larger than expected bill arrives and twice when they get more revenue up front from the customer because he signed up for the bigger data bucket.

When I had my business, I never intentionally quoted a lower price to get the job and then raised the price when it was time to pay. This invaribly created an unhappy customer who most times would not give me any repeat business..... and repeat business and happy customers is where the real money is.

That being said, Motorola/Verizon..... how 'bout some quality info on the Maxx HD? I'm patiently/impatiently waiting..... :)
 
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