Bid adieu to unlimited data on Verizon Wireless?

Are you using a smartphone from Verizon Wireless, and consume so much data that it was a no-brainer for you to sign up for the unlimited data plan beforehand? We hate to be the harbinger of bad news, but word has it that Verizon Wireless will no longer offer its unlimited smartphone data plan from this summer onwards, according to Verizon CFO Fran Shammo. In lieu of that, Verizon will be offering new tiered pricing plans – so you have at least one more month before you kiss your $30 monthly unlimited option goodbye.

The whole idea behind this move, according to Reuters, would be to “force heavy data users to pay more for mobile data.” Does that sound fair to you, and will it make you jump ship to a different carrier? This might seem a tad unfair for folks who waited so long to switch over to Verizon Wireless when the CDMA iPhone came out, only to be met with such a plan a few months down the road. Verizon thinks that only a small percentage of users will be affected – those who are really, really heavy data users.

Otherwise, if you fall under the normal side of things where monthly smartphone data usage is concerned according to Nielsen, then you would consume a mere 300MB of data monthly on average. There are schools of thought out there that the new tiered pricing models from Verizon will help them increase their coffers no matter how sugar coated it is – what do you think?

Edwin Kee
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: unlimited data, unlimited data plan, Verizon, vzw