Keeping unlimited on Verizon

[elgerber]

Verizon grandfathered unlimited data and iPhone 5.

If you have an unlimited data plan and want an iPhone 5 you have two choices. Use you upgrade (subsidized) and sign a new contract. You will lose your unlimited data plan and will be changed over to a Share Everything plan. $199 16 GB/$299 for 32 GB / $399 for 64 GB.

OR

Pay full price for iPhone 5 (from Verizon, Apple, eBay etc). Phone will cost $450 MORE than the published price ($649 for 16 GB/ $749 for 32 GB/ $849 for 64GB). You will then be allowed to keep your unlimited data plan (read sales contract VERY carefully). Over 24 months, the extra $450 equates to $18+ per month. For some this is worth it, others it is not.

This is not entirely true. You can switch to 2GB of data at the same price as the unlmiited plan, instead of going to the share everything plan. For me this worked out much better, as I only have 1 smart phone on my plan of 4 phones. My bill at least stayed the same. I never go over 1gb of data, so I think I will be fine. The share everything plan would have greatly raised my bill thought.

 

[Kitzka]

DH and I have AT&T unlimited plans. Some of you have mentioned you never go over 1 or 2g of data a month. Sadly, I frequently go over 2 or 3 gigs of data a month. DH usually hits 2 gigs himself. my average is about 3.5 gigs.

Dd usually is at 1-1.5 gigs of data. I travel a lot for work and a lot of the public wifi is not going to get the job done for me. The least my data has been in a given month has been

If I had to lose my unlimited data, I would be screwed.

Lara

 

[wvjules]

Three iphone family here. Up until this summer we had unlimited data and one phone had tethering. Between 3 phones we rarely went above 1.2 gb per month and we are all heavy users (no streaming, though). I switched us to unlimited phone, texts and shared data of 6 gb. Our bills are $70 less and now all three phones have tethering. once we switch over to iphone 5's we will eliminate the insurance and save another $36 a month and keep our current phones for back up.

Same here.

Also, I love that I can use my phone as a hotspot now and not have to pay extra. We're (DD and I moderate to heavy users but not movie streamers) and we haven't gone over 2.5GB. I've used my phone as a hotspot several times too.

 

[dawnball]

Three iphone family here. Up until this summer we had unlimited data and one phone had tethering. Between 3 phones we rarely went above 1.2 gb per month and we are all heavy users (no streaming, though).

I'm not sure how you define "heavy user" then. My husband rarely streams (I can't recall him ever streaming, but he probably has at least once). He usually uses 4-5 gb in a month, with occasional spikes to 6-8 when he's spending a lot of time tethered/traveling. I don't see his usage going down in the future.

Metered data wouldn't be the end of the world, but neither of us sees a phone on the horizon that's worth it.

 

[Fire14]

I can't speak for Iphone but I was in vzw store looking to upgrade my mifi d/t mine bein g stupid and not charging and wanting 4g. I was told I could keep current plan with new hotspot thingie or switch to share everything plan. I would be switching to a 4g device from 3g. IN my case i'd save 20-30/mo by switching but I'd also lose data aval. which I can't say is getting used so no lose really.

 

[DVC Daisy]

I can't speak for Iphone but I was in vzw store looking to upgrade my mifi d/t mine bein g stupid and not charging and wanting 4g. I was told I could keep current plan with new hotspot thingie or switch to share everything plan. I would be switching to a 4g device from 3g. IN my case i'd save 20-30/mo by switching but I'd also lose data aval. which I can't say is getting used so no lose really.