MSU Red Cedar Message Board

How are they not honoring contracts?

My contract is for 2 years. I'll get unlimited data for 2 years.

They aren't forcing me to change my plan until my contract is up, are they?

I'm going to guess that the next thing they do is switch to new every 2.5 years. I know for a long time it was every 24 months, then they reduced it to every 20 months, it wouldn't surprise me to see them go to new every 30 months next, and raise the price of the phones an extra $50.

Regardless of the carrier, all the companies know they have millions of customers who have become slaves to their phones and when you've put yourself into that lifestyle, you can expect to pay for it. It's strictly business, Sonny.

I got a 3G phone last summer. So, it looks like if I want to keep unlimited data I'll either have to upgrade to a 4G phone before this new policy takes effect or keep my current phone for a few years.

My understanding is that if you change your phone without any contract renewal, such as from buying an old phone second hand, nothing about your plan changes. So, maybe I'll look for a 4G phone on craigslist or something. That way, I get the best of both worlds and none of the bullshit.

I'm on a family plan with my parents, and I'd like to avoid changing carriers for the time being despite how much I loathe these greedy, awful business practices. I hear good things about Virgin. Might swing over to them if Verizon really goes too far.

My wife and I use wifi 99.9% of the time and might use 2 hours total of talk time a month. We do text a lot, but that uses no bandwith since texts are fit in the empty spaces between data packets. For the $130 we pay a month we're not even using $10 worth of Verizon's network.

I think that what's being missed here Is that you will lose your unlimited data only if you go from a single line data plan to a family shared data plan. For instance, I have an iPhone 4s, which is 3g, and when I upgrade to a 4g device after this new implementation, I will still have my unlimited data. If I decided to go to a family share data plan, I would then lose that unlimited data plan.

I think that is going to be a different story. 3G is different from 4G and they have separate pricing. 4G unlimited has already gone by the wayside and now, unless you are grandfathered in, you will fall under tiered as it is. At least, that is how I currently understand it.

I plan on doing that in the future though. Buying a phone on eBay and activate it on my account. No contract to agree too, so there should be no reason for them to change the plan.

Although, if you are on month to month, I am curious if they would be beholden to the terms as they stand, or if they can just give you warning saying that your plan is changing in 30 days and then change it at that time. I dont know...

I wonder if they are going to do the BS where they say that the new phone is not compatible with that plan and force you onto a new plan. They did that a while ago with the nationwide plan.

Wow. Next thing you know airlines will be charging me for luggage.

I saw somewhere in the last week that you could get a no contract Google Galaxy Nexus for $400. So you end up paying more up front. The other thing that is cool about not subsidizing the phone is that the plans (not the data plan) are cheaper.

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I've been with Verizon since 2001. Every time I've bought a new phone (roughly 18-24 months) I've had to sign a new contract. Several times during that period, my old plan was no longer offered and I had to switch to a new plan if I wanted a new phone (at the subsidized price).

I guess you could buy phones from 3rd party sources and not need to sign a new contract. Sounds like you could still do this with Verizon's unlimited data.