Verizon Will Force iPhoners To Get Unlimited Data: Rumor

And then, every 3G customer

Jan 25 2011, 3:05pm CST | by Mark Raby

Verizon Will Force iPhoners To Get Unlimited Data: Rumor

Last year, people had a lot of reasons to hate AT&T over its decision to stop offering unlimited data plans, and now people will hate Verizon too, but for an entirely different reason - it's going to offer nothing but unlimited data plans.

That's what a reportedly leaked internal memo says. And in fact, it doesn't just apply to the iPhone. It looks like Verizon will start charging every new smartphone to use the $30-per-month data offering.

Currently, Verizon customers who don't browse the Web on their phone that much can pay $15 a month for a 150 MB limit. People who buy an iPhone 4, or any other smartphone after the Verizon iPhone launches, won't have the luxury of that option.

This is the exact opposite of AT&T's decision, which completely stopped its offering of an unlimited data plan and forced customers to choose a capped limit of either 200 MB of data per month ($15) or 2 GB ($25). Anyone who uses more than their limit has to pay overage charges.

At the time, AT&T said the move would result in a price reduction for most of its customers, as unlimited data subscribers were by and large using much less than 2 GB per month. But most people saw it as a penalty to the top 1% of data users who ate up several gigabytes every month.

Verizon's plan is to make those 80% or so of customers who will never use more than a gigabyte of data every month, and use the money they make off of those consumers to offset the cost they pay to accommodate the extremely heavy data users.

It's probably a smart move, because AT&T received a lot of backlash from its decision, even though it is correct that the vast majority of customers get to save money. Ironically, Verizon will probably look like the more consumer-friendly carrier since no one can say it imposes a limit on how much data people can use. Of course, most people will never need that "unlimited" service, but people just don't like to feel like they're being restricted. Funny how this world works, isn't it?

PC World

Updates

Apple’s Boss Rejects $75m Payout

Source: Ghana Soccer Net

Apple’s boss Tim Cook has turned down a payout worth about $75m (?48m). The technology giant will pay a quarterly dividend of $2.65 per share from July, the first time Apple has declared a dividend since 1995. But a regulatory filing with the Securities ...
Full article at: Ghana Soccer Net More like this 10 minutes ago

Norman Lloyd: Hitchcock's Saboteur Is a World-Class Raconteur

Source: Time Magazine

Cannes has plenty of visiting stars: people everyone knows of but needn’t. And there are people not so famous that anyone would benefit from knowing. One of these is Norman Lloyd, the actor, producer and director of movies, stage plays and TV shows wh ...
Full article at: Time Magazine More like this 30 minutes ago, 6:41pm CDT

Softpedia Linux Weekly, Issue 201

Source: Softpedia

The following Linux-based operating systems have been announced last week: Mageia 2 and Linux Mint 13. In other news: Linus Torvalds proudly released the Linux 3.4 kernel. Softpedia Linux Blog news includes articles about Ex ...
Full article at: Softpedia More like this 38 minutes ago, 6:33pm CDT

where to buy

Buy from Amazon

Don't miss ...

Apple

iPad mini Rumors continue

Mark Raby
Based in New York City, Mark follows the consumer electronics industry like a hawk. A published book author, he has a particular affinity for 3D technology and video games, and as such will surely be in the market for a new pair of glasses soon. Mark can be contacted directly at mark@i4u.com.