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All hopes of the perfect data-sharing plans were destroyed when Verizon announced its pricing strategy. Surely, this option is not for everyone, something that was made very clear by the media, as well as customers. But with our unlimited plans not being honored starting this summer, it is about time we start thinking about our options.
Having the benefit of sharing data can be a great advantage for some users. Especially those that would like to take advantage of unlimited calling and text messaging, as these plans offer those features. One can also add tablets to these plans for only $10 a month, even though these are no longer available at subsidized prices.
Regardless, these plans are still not as affordable as one would hope. They start with a base payment ranging from $50 to $100 (for 1 GB and 10 GB, relatively). Then each device added to the account will cost an extra fee, which is different depending on the nature of the device. Adding a smartphone costs $40, while a basic phone costs $30. Furthermore, a WiFi Hotspot will run for $20 and a tablet $10 (more details here).
Considering these prices, I would end up paying about $20 more than I currently do, if I decided to make the switch. Of course, I do not currently have unlimited calling or texting, but nor do I need it. And I am definitely not ready to let go of my unlimited data plan.
With that in mind, we have been wondering if our fellow Verizon readers have done the math and made a decision yet. Will you be sticking with your current plans? Have you switched to Verizon’s Share Everything plans yet? Go ahead and let us know, as we would be interested to see how well these plans have taken off.
And don’t forget to join us in the comments to explain your experiences in further detail!
[polldaddy poll=6390428]
I have been thinking about switching, mostly because I rarely use that much data. But the main reason is that I can add a tablet only for $10. Out of the currently available tablets, though, I only like ones that are WiFi-only. That, or they are not available through my carrier.
Regardless, it is nice to know that I can use GB after GB during travels.
no, left Verizon all together
Me too. This is the only type of vote that counts. I had an unlimited data plan, unlimited minutes, and the no-longer-available $5/250SMS package. I’ve never gone over 1GB in a month, so this new plan could have saved me $10-15 per month. Instead I chose to buy an unlocked Galaxy Nexus from Google and switch to Straight Talk. Instead of saving $10-15 per month I’m now saving $70 per month, and have equal or better coverage so far. Never again will I be locked into a bloatware-ridden device or a contract.
That makes since to me. Only problem is with 4 data phones and another child wanting one means major dollars.
T-Mobile has a $30 a month, no contract plan that is 5GB of data, unlimited text and 100 minutes for talk. Each additional 100 minutes is $10. This is through Wal-Mart.
I’ll be doing the same… just gonna hold off a few more months so I don’t such a stiff penalty when cancelling. That, and I don’t know what other phone to get. One X or S3… kinda hoping there’s a Nexus X soon.
You should have a “No, I don’t have have Verizon” option, so I can vote.
That’s precisely what the “other” option is here for.
I went with another option, dropped Verizon.
I switched to an 8 gig plan with 5 lines, and I’m paying only 4 dollars more. I planned on six at first, which would’ve saved me money. However, we use about that each month, and the peace of mind not having to worry about any coverages (which was only once) is worth it to me. I pay for insurance on my phones as well. Doing the math, it takes over 2 years to even up to the average phone cost, and most upgrade before that mark. In both cases, it’s all money versus time. I would rather work 15 minutes to pay for insurance or a couple more gigs of data as opposed to 10 hours for a replacement phone.
OMG, hell no. Pay more for less….
Last month I went over 50 gig.. LOL
Im curious; How do yo use 50G in a month?
Tethering And Being A Pirate.. Arr
On the contrary, I can’t wait for my contract to end so I can get a new phone. Get rid of this old DInc.
Oh, and I average 600 MB/month. So pricing isn’t an issue.
Well if it had an option for 25gbs for 4 lines for around 250 total a month that be perfect. I use about 14 average a month but everyone else barely hits over 2 gbs but the 2000 minute plan keeps getting very close to not being enough.
I really want to hold onto my unlimited data as long as I can
As far as the hotspot goes you end up paying the same as the old plan for 80GB of data and the same $10.00 per GB to add additional bandwidth the old overage fee use to be. The catch now is that by converting to the new plan your overage charge goes to $15.00 per GB.
I have Sprint, but have been unhappy with their coverage as of late as they have been modifying their towers to switch to LTE, thus affecting their 4G coverage. It has been like this for 2 months. My plan costs $100 w/tax and a Galaxy S2 and unlimited EVERYTHING.
I thought about switching to another carrier like Verizon but when all is said and done their 2GB smartphone plan would cost me in upwards of $115, AND I’d need to get a new phone to boot.
I’m told the towers will be fixed within a few days, and I was able to get a credit to my account. At least phone calls aren’t an issue, and WIFI of course works like a champ.
Sorry for the rant. I just needed to bitch for a few. Thanks for the audience.
I got a RAZR MAXX the day before the new plans started so I could keep my unlimited family plan. I don’t see me needing a new phone for a long time … assuming the devs keep making apps that will support ICS 4.0.
That’s exactly what I did. Same phone too and love it! The shared data could have maybe saved me 10 dollars but then there is the potential to go over my data limit and there’s no reason to change and they can’t make me
I bought the GS3 full price to keep my plan
In my area Tmobile is great plus they have cheaper prices.
Not just no…HELL NO!
I’ll either pay full retail, or get a CPO device, as i have the past 3 smartphones I’ve had. The way the phone prices are heading, it looks like you’ll be paying close to full retail anyway. Verizon has good service around my house, but if they pull more bullcrap, I will leave. I have unlimited data now, and just for fun I see how much I can download. Last month I did 85 GB of data. Yea 85. Take that ShareEverything!!!!!
your the reason all the company’s had to get rid of unlimited data thanks for ruining all my fun
85 < unlimited
Don't punish a user for using what he paid for, given the customary definition of "unlimited". Punish the company that went with the marketing gimmicky catch- phrase then couldn't live up to it.
Are you a Verizon rep? If I bought an unlimited product I would like to use it as such
I don’t do it every month, but if it’s going to disappear eventually, I must get my use out of it. I pay for it every month, just like you,and I’ve had the plan for 5 years. I can use it how I want, how is it my fault that I paid an assload of money over the years to have it?
I’m about to switch I went into Verizon for a new sim card and they brought up all my data usage etc.. and with the new plan I’ll be saving almost $200 a month compares to before in my 7 business smartphone lines . I use roughly 5-8 gb a month but all my other lines use a combined 3gb so I will be going with a 10gig plan and just monitoring myself to use less then 5 which should be easy if I use wifi which now I don’t . I’ll lose 2 unlimited data lines but honestly don’t need it I use to use my phone as my only internet and would use 20-30 gb a month but I don’t do that anymore and $200 extra in my pocket a month sounds great
At my upgrade, they were forcing me to switch. Would have raised the price of my plan by $50. So, I left to AT&T and got my GS3 there… on, and pay $80/month less than Verizon.
I will definately leave Verizon if they persist to penalize me for using too much data.
what is too much data?..I use 6-10GB a month and haven’t been penalized…
My wife and I are in wifi-rich environments all day, but also on the phone a lot. With our first child on the way, that’s probably not going to change. While I am well aware the availability of wifi could change, at this point saving $30/mo is worth it. A lot of my family still uses MMS, sadly, previously we used Google Voice only, so no MMS. That’s been nice to have on the new plan.
I’m very much aware of what Verizon is wanting to do, but sadly it works better for us.
If you have your family text your Google Voice number, it should be received as data on your end, not as MMS. I’ve been doing that on Verizon for ages, and the only time I use texts is using the actual Text Messaging app.
Pretty ordered gs3. Kept unlimited plan. Now I’m burning the data for all its worth
I was looking at the straight talk website and that’s a great deal. Wonder if my Verizon galaxy s 3 would work on it since It’s supposed to be global.
Just ordered two GSM Google Galaxy Nexi (wife and myself), moving to prepaid plan and dumping Verizon!
Nexuses*
I have 4 lines and a tablet. With the shared data plan, I’d be paying the same amount as I am now. Down side, between my 4 lines, we average 350 minutes so no need for unlimited minutes. I do use my unlimited data a lot. So, bottom line, I get minutes I don’t need and have a cap on my data and face possible overagea. Where is my benefit of this great new plan?
would cost me 40 more…have a gnex unlimited plan….going to try and keep it till the pry it from my cold dead hands….
Hell no, vzw can keep there share everything plan. I love their coverage but I guess I’ll be buying my next phone at full price in about 2 or 2.5 years from now or when my G-Nexus stops working. But I won’t be buying it from vzw thats for sure and I’ll be keeping my unlimited plan.
Stretching grandfathered unlimited data until long as possible.
ima switch to sprint in the future after my contract is up…I constantly go over 10gb …which is my data limit …
I would have liked to keep my unlimited plan, but it was gonna run out eventually anyway. This way my brother now gets to have a smart phone, too. The 10GB tier was only an extra $30 or something like that from the 5GB tier, and I’m the only heavy data user, so it’s a reasonable amount. Plus we’re getting unlimited text & minutes.
It looked like a really crappy plan, and I’m still far from a Verizon fan, but in the end we got a reasonable plan worked out. It’s super fucked that I’ll have to pay extra if I want to add on my Nexus 7 but fuck that, I’ll just tether it wired.
WTF? This is a YES/NO question. Stupid poll.
And “no”, I didn’t.
Somehow i kept my unlimited data when buying the S3 in store yesterday. No idea how but the sales person said the computer didn’t prompt her that i needed to change my plan.
verizon isnt even prompting in store, they just push the change to the 2gb plan no matter what. i sell verizon phones and this is not an option in the system. i would double check that you were not moved onto the 2gb plan unless you dont mind if you were or not.
My verizon mobile app says i still have unlimited data. I got subsidized phone price and had $50 Upgrade credit
it was a special run by verizon only on that particular phone
I was fortunate enough to keep my unlimited data plan and still upgraded to the galaxy s3 simply by pre ordering the GS3 before June 28th…it’s the only phone that I know of that was able to keep the unlimited data plan but only if you were one of the lucky ones to get an upgrade before June 28th. Loving my NEW Galaxy S3!!!
No, it would cost us about thirty dollars more power month. I need coverage for work, so I can’t even think about leaving Verizon until some network catches up unfortunately.
They can take my unlimited data…
When they take it from my cold, dead hands!
I’m saving $600 a year by switching
Share everything doesn’t benefit those of us who don’t share. Single user/single device customers get screwed hard by the additional costs. No thanks. It’ll be cheaper to buy unsubsidized phones every two years than to switch plans.
What I don’t understand is why they call it “share everything”. Makes no sense at all. Unlimited talk and text isn’t sharing. The only thing being “shared” is the data. DUHHHHHH!!!!!
I too left Verizon and I’m never looking back !! Why would I pay more for the same thing for cheaper with USCellular !!
Screw Verizon, bunch of greedy scumbags. This b.s. will cost me about 20-25 dollars more a month. I an just hoping that google starts selling their Verizon compatible line of nexus products in the play store. I have no problem spending full price for a phone rather then give “big red” more money for less service. They make enough off me and my wife, she only uses maybe a couple hundred mbs a month with her unlimited plan. Finally if they push this junk any further I have no problem leaving them and going to another provider, except at&t who is about to begin the same scam.
I looked into the difference between Verizon and Sprint at Sprint’s 3000 family plan price points.
NumberOfSmartphones 1 2 3 4 5
Sprint@3000SharedWkDayMinB47pm $110 $190 $220 $250 $280
Verizon@TieredData 4GB 12GB 10GB 8GB 6GB
Verizon gives you unlimited minutes whereas Sprint gives you 3000
anytime minutes with unlimited mobile to mobile, unlimited nights &
weekend after 7pm, and unlimited Google Voice that includes free calls
to Canada and cheap calls internationally when using built-in Google
Voice integration because Sprint has truly unlimited data. You can save
$40 if you decide you only want 1500 shared Sprint minutes.
Verizon gives you tiered data with nice simple overages that are $10 per
GB that seem to let you simply use you phone as a hotspot at no
additional charge whereas Sprint gives you truly unlimited data (unlike
T-Mobile who throttles and Cricket who state restrictions against high
usage behavior and apps) for just your smartphone but currently charges
$20 at 2GB or $50 at 6GB plus overages of $0.05 per MB if you want to
use it as a hotspot. But who knows Sprint might change hotspot pricing
for maybe even better than their competition after evaluating both main
competitor’s new share everything plans.
I would suggest that you look into the coverage of both. Sprint is
currently implementing their Network Vision plan (that some might say is
playing 4G catchup) that includes Clearwire’s 4G WiMax and their
transition (WiMax will continue for about a year after transitioning) to
TD-LTE on their large quantity of spectrum (something Verizon is trying
to get more of) that will be faster and more efficient than Verizon’s
LTE). Early upgrading to (months into a 2 year contract) or selecting a
Sprint smartphone that will be compatible with 2 or all 3 variants of
Network Vision’s 4G is hopefully going to be easier going forward
because of the strides in interoperability that some chipset
manufactures have made recently and China Mobile’s pull (Clearwire’s
equivalent very large provider in China). Also look into Sprint Direct
Donnect and Google Voice’s compatibility thoroughly and their privacy
concerns.
And Sprint is currently having a $100 promotion on select smartphones.
seems like customers aren’t as dumb as Verizon hoped they were…
https://www.facebook.com/VerizonShareYourWalletPlan
only 224 likes tho.
Been a Verizon customer for 12 years straight. Now I think I am going to drop them in a year and a half when my contract is done. They have screwed me too many times:
1) I used to pay extra for 1 year plans to get a new phone annually. They stopped that.
2) They told us that our unlimited plans would be grandfathered, they got rid of that
3) Under the new plans, I would be paying $15 more a month for 1 GB of data vs. Unlimited.
Screw you Big Red, you have made the decision easy for me to switch. I hope your greedy ass changes hurts your profit.
I will stay with VZ but they will take my unlimited when they pry it from my cold dead hands.
I am not a data hog. I switched to Verizon from t-mobile during the time that TMO was forcing everyone onto contracts. I had had the no contract plan, which saved me a lot, but TMO was going in a different direction. I switched at a time when Verizon had a double data promotion so I got 4GB for the price of 2. I have yet to go over 2.5 GB per month. Plus, the droid razr maxx is simply the best android phone I have ever had especially now that I have ICS. SO I will be staying for a while. I wil stay with my individual data plan until Verizon does a double data promotion with their share everything plan. If that happened my wife and I could easily share 8 GB.
I know I am in the minority among people here but I love verizon’s coverage, and use wifi enough that I can limit my data usage.
I wasn’t going to… until last night when I realized my wife and daughter were within 10 minutes of our allowance of voice minutes for the month. We’re always around Wifi and average about 500 meg of data total. I’ve stopped being obsessed about keeping unlimited when my family needs the voice and texting more.
Someone should submit this poll, officially, to Verizon.
I spoke to VW rep, he told me I could be grandfathered in with unlimited data but they would slow it down. When I asked him why VW was doing this to its long time customers he said people were abusing the unlimited data. ??? That doesn’t even make sense. I realy don’t want to switch but if its going to cost more for less service I will have no choice.
Staying until august when my contract runs out, and i will be switching. No need for a shared plan when i’m the only one on it. It’s going to cost me $30 more a month.
Ulimited LTE baby!!!
Everyone running to AT&T news is they are going to do the same thing, so i ll stick around and have better coverage……..but then again i may just say freak all the carriers and fill my van full of quarters and use a few and far between pay phone….wishful thinking!!!!
Im going to buy a couple of nexus (nexi?) off the play store and do the BYOD thing to T-Mob.
I will not upgrade to a shared plan unless I am forced too. But if I am forced too, I may just leave vzw. If that means not upgrading to a subsidized phone every 2 years then so be it. Paying 200 for a phone and being forced to switch plans is not worth it in my opinion. I would much rather buy a slightly used phone then buy new and have to sign a new contract. They will have to drastically lower subsidized phone prices if they want me to sign a new contract.
I switched and saved me about 60$ per month. Have 5 phones and a tablet.
upgraded my phone before the news of share everything came out..hopefully Verizon will have something for us grandfathered in unlimited data folks before my 2 year contract is up
I haven’t made my move yet. my original thought was a one x on at&t, but I can’t go to capped data and only have a 16 gb phone:(
These plans only really benefit families and all of you with single plans might have to pay a little more. I you all should find out how much data you use I work for a Verizon and people come in complaining and I check there usage and the use half a gig a month these plans are actually great. And the overage fee is only 15 dollars If you go over if you have a plan over 10gb its only 10 bucks for 2 gigs and you can always call in and up your plan. So do some homework and have an open mind and member you gain hot spot with these plans its built into the price so those saying the will be paying more you get more also. I I saved one guy 200 a month with these new plans before you all jump ship to horrible pre paid service be open to change. The I honestly think these plans are too good to be true. I it will take time for some to see.
I made the switch and it saved me 70 bucks a month.
Nope, I did not DOWNGRADE to the new shared plan. They will lose a 15+ year loyal customer as soon as our unlimited plan gets dropped.
My family all has unlimited yet once my sister went in to get her iPhone, the sales rep tricked my father who was buying the phone into also switching our data plan to the new “Share Everything Plan” without letting him know that he would be giving up the unlimited…
The sales rep used the line of “oh your not using X amount of data, you should switch to the cheaper share everything plan!” And poof, gone was my unlimited 4G to a measly 10gbs divided among 5 phones (two of which are heavy business phones).
We went to the store and the manager said he would send a letter to corporate but I know as well as anyone that my golden egg of unlimited is gone. I’m so tired of Verizon and their shmuck and weasel like sales tactics… all for an effing iPhone too…