Verizon Has Changed its Unlimited Data Plan and People are Unhappy

[Maura]

The Verge reports that Verizon Wireless has announced that its current unlimited data plan is no more, and will be replaced by three new options: Go Unlimited (from $75 for a single line); Beyond Unlimited ($85 for first line); and Business Unlimited. Apparently, these new plans are all much more complicated than the previous plan, which was introduced back in February.

Also, and possibly the main cause of the complaints about the new schemes, the Go Unlimited plan throttles all smartphone video streaming to 480p DVD quality. “Moving forward, HD video on all legacy plans will also match Beyond Unlimited’s HD quality,” said Verizon in its press release about the changes. This means that eventually, the maximum video quality that Verizon users will be able to achieve is 720p streaming on iPhones and 1080p on iPads, and nothing higher than that whatsoever, even if you’re using a laptop connected to your mobile hotspot.

“We’re doing this to ensure all customers have a great experience on our network since there is no visible difference in quality on a smartphone or tablet when video is shown at higher resolutions,” said Verizon. Verizon also claims that “nobody can see a difference” between 720p and 1080p, but as The Verge says, it does not provide any evidence to support this statement.

Source: Verizon’s good unlimited data plan is now three bad unlimited plans

 

[scifan57]

Maybe Verizon should be improving it's network instead of throttling it's customers. Data throttling has no place in todays world, where devices are capable of ever faster download and streaming speeds.

For those who ask why Verizon is doing this, the answer is quite simple; because they can.

 

[Old Goat Ninja]

I've been disappointed with Verizon for a long time. I used to have unlimited a long time ago, then they got rid of it entirely and replaced it with a 2 gig plan for same money. Foul foul filthing foul. They originally let us stay grandfathered in, but that was short lived. Then they upped the 2 gig plan to 10 gig plan, but of course we got grandfathered into the 2 gig plan and wouldn't let us upgrade to the 10 gig plan until we got new phones. Really Verizon?!?! They crapped on long time customers and catered to new customers. Still with Verizon because my wife gets a discount from work, and to be honest, AT&T is horrible in my town. Great everywhere else, but horrible in my town.

 

[933]

Sad. Verizon has a large network but it's apparent it's not up to date as seen by the remarks being made by them. Sucks for the customer for sure!!! Yes they should have spent less on commercials and bogus advertising and focused more on a more update network or cell sites and switches as well as DAS systems!! Sorry to all the Verizon customers!! It's way too late for them to be screaming slow down on the data as this is not what their commercials portray! Again, stop spending money in the wrong place!! Time will tell if other carriers fall victim to the onslaught of data that is still forthcoming. I think that a couple of the companies prepared for this. Only time will tell.

 

[scifan57]

People have been able to circumvent this throttling by using an encrypted VPN service. The encryption prevents Verizon from detecting what part of your data usage is from video streaming, preventing them from throttling it.

 

[azoreseuropa]

Simple: Leave Verizon so they loses more customers than they can earn it. They are absolutely wrong and a greedy. Disgusting. Very disgusting! In Europe, Portugal, called Vodafone. They are cheaper if you are retirement from USA. America is a SICKO! What a greedy!

 

[iDan]

I switched from Verizon about 4-5 years ago to AT&T. No regrets. Service has been great, customer service has always been friendly and helpful, and I can't remember having any serious issues.

 

[Ledsteplin]

The only change to my unlimited Verizon plan is I get 5 gb more free Hotspot data. If video streaming is 720p, I don't notice a difference from what it was before. Everyone is bad mouthing Verizon here. I'm satisfied with Verizon. Besides, all other Carriers are doing the same.

 

[Bkdodger]

The only change to my unlimited Verizon plan is I get 5 gb more free Hotspot data. If video streaming is 720p, I don't notice a difference from what it was before. Everyone is bad mouthing Verizon here. I'm satisfied with Verizon. Besides, all other Carriers are doing the same.

I think with Verizon is more of the way they go about it... You join the unlimited offering to compete with others then light bulb hits and say wait wait we gotta change it up.. It's definitely about the congestion in network.. Oh and some extra cash too.. Haha

Most people will be fine though... It's still better plan than previous..

 

[scifan57]

Verizon and many other carriers can say they offer unlimited data plans but then place limits on certain types of data. In the case of video streaming, they analyze the data packets being sent to your device and can detect which packets are consistent with video streaming. It’s then a matter of having a program that throttles the data transfer speed whenever the data packets associated with streaming are detected. So, Verizon is behaving in an underhanded manner when they say you have unlimited data and then proceed to limit your use of it.
This is quite similar to a supposedly unlimited texting plan that charges an additional fee for sending multimedia messages.

 

[Ledsteplin]

Verizon and many other carriers can say they offer unlimited data plans but then place limits on certain types of data. In the case of video streaming, they analyze the data packets being sent to your device and can detect which packets are consistent with video streaming. It’s then a matter of having a program that throttles the data transfer speed whenever the data packets associated with streaming are detected. So, Verizon is behaving in an underhanded manner when they say you have unlimited data and then proceed to limit your use of it.
This is quite similar to a supposedly unlimited texting plan that charges an additional fee for sending multimedia messages.

All the carriers are doing the same. Verizon doesn't limit my use of data. There is no throttling. Throttling is permanent after a point. That's not what they do. It can be prioritized, but I don't notice anything, and it's temporary. And all the major carriers are doing it, not just Verizon.

 

[scifan57]

All the carriers are doing the same. Verizon doesn't limit my use of data. There is no throttling. Throttling is permanent after a point. That's not what they do. It can be prioritized, but I don't notice anything, and it's temporary. And all the major carriers are doing it, not just Verizon.

With my carrier I can stream 1080p videos with no problems.
Are you saying that Verizon is not limiting the maximum video quality of streamed video to 780p on your iPhone? That would seem to go against what Verizon stated.

 

[Ledsteplin]

With my carrier I can stream 1080p videos with no problems.
Are you saying that Verizon is not limiting the maximum video quality of streamed video to 780p on your iPhone? That would seem to go against what Verizon stated.

They're doing that now I think. I can't tell any difference. After I first got my 6s Plus, I tested my own videos. I couldn't tell the difference between 720p and 1080p. I might could on a large screen, but not on my phone. Your carrier may go that route soon.

 

[scifan57]

They're doing that now I think. I can't tell any difference. After I first got my 6s Plus, I tested my own videos. I couldn't tell the difference between 780p and 1080p. I might could on a large screen, but not on my phone. Your carrier may go that route soon.

There's one sure way to detect if your video streaming is alredy being limited to a maximum of 720p. Find a 1080p video on YouTube and attempt to stream to at full HD resolution.

 

[Ledsteplin]

There's one sure way to detect if your video streaming is alredy being limited to a maximum of 720p. Find a 1080p video on YouTube and attempt to stream to at full HD resolution.

By default, this video was set to 480p. I changed it to 1080p, and it played. Not sure if it actually changed or not. LOL