Verizon changes it's unlimited plan, ALL video is now throttled

[shermantanker]

Quote

Well, now we know why Verizon Wireless was “testing” reduced Netflix streaming speeds last month. Today the biggest US carrier announced that its existing unlimited data plan is being divided into three new options: Go Unlimited (starting at $75 for a single line), Beyond Unlimited ($85 for first line), and Business Unlimited. Unlike the relatively straightforward unlimited plan that Verizon surprised customers with in February, these new monthly plans are chock-full of fine print and caveats. And in a move sure to anger net neutrality advocates, the regular “Go Unlimited” plan throttles all smartphone video streaming to 480p / DVD-quality. The new plans go into effect beginning tomorrow, August 23rd, so this change is happening fast. Existing postpaid customers can keep their current plan, but some things will change even for them.

Plans

Spoiler

Go Unlimited
1 line: $75/month
2 lines: $65 per line/month
3 lines: $50 per line/month
4 lines+: $40 per line/month
Paper-free billing and AutoPay must be enabled for these prices, otherwise you pay $5 more/month.

Unlimited 4G LTE data, but you could experience reduced speeds if the network is congested at all times. Not after 10GB or 15GB or 20GB or 22GB of full-speed data usage. If the network is congested where you are, you might get slowed down — even at the very beginning of your billing cycle.
Unlimited talk/text.
DVD-quality video streaming (480p) on smartphones and HD (720p) video streaming on tablets. There’s no way to watch at higher resolution for either.
Unlimited mobile hotspot, but hotspot speeds are capped at a maximum of 600kbps.

 

Beyond Unlimited
1 line: $85/month
2 lines: $80 per line/month
3 lines: $60 per line/month
4 lines+: $50 per line/month
Paper-free billing and AutoPay must be enabled for these prices, otherwise you pay $5 more/month.

Unlimited 4G LTE data, but you could experience reduced speeds at times of network congestion once you exceed 22GB in a billing cycle.
Unlimited talk/text.
HD video streaming on smartphones (limited to 720p) and Full HD 1080p video streaming for tablets. There is no way to stream videos at 1080p or higher on phones — period.
Unlimited mobile hotspot data with up to 15GB of LTE speeds. If your laptop is tethered to your phone, video quality on your laptop will be limited to 1080p.
Free calling, texting, and data in Mexico and Canada.

Existing Customers

Spoiler

WHAT IF I’M ALREADY ON THE UNLIMITED PLAN FROM EARLIER THIS YEAR?
Verizon insists that existing customers will be able keep their current plan. So you can keep paying what you are now without having to pick between the new plans. And as a bonus, for everyone on the previous unlimited data plan from February, Verizon is increasing the allowance for full-speed LTE hotspot usage from 10GB to 15GB for existing customers at no charge.

If you’re on one of the bucketed plans or the really old unlimited plan still, you can stay on those, too. But there’s one more big catch even if you change nothing, and it affects everyone...

 

ALL CUSTOMERS ARE GETTING MOVED OVER TO THROTTLED VIDEO.
This is what’s likely going to enrage Verizon customers most. No matter what plan you’re on — whether it’s the old, grandfathered unlimited data plan or a tiered plan or the new unlimited plan — Verizon is taking a tighter grip over video streaming. “Moving forward, HD video on all legacy plans will also match Beyond Unlimited’s HD quality.”

So you’ll soon be limited to a maximum video quality of 720p streaming on phones and 1080p if you’ve got a tablet on your plan. There’s no going higher for anyone. Even with a laptop connected to your mobile hotspot, you’ll never be able to reach video speeds higher than 10Mbps. “We're doing this to ensure all customers have a great experience on our network since there is no visible difference in quality on a smartphone or tablet when video is shown at higher resolutions (than 720p on phones and 1080p on tablets).” Verizon doesn’t point to any specific data that backs up its “nobody can see a difference” observation between 720p and 1080p on a 5.5-inch screen.

 

Well I'm pretty pissed about this, and the "introductory pricing" statement they made is bull. All major carriers have implemented similar controls on their network, and there isn't much you can do now if you wanted to switch. There is literally nothing you can do now if you want 1080p on Verizon phones, no upgrade, fee, charge, or bribe to get it.

 

Source: Verge

[knightslugger]

WTF!?

I live out in the country where our telecommunications lines haven't been updated since WWII (not an exaggeration). Satellite internet isn't viable for our uses, WiMAX tops out a 3Mbps (in a household LITTERED with internet aware devices), DSL service is only SLIGHTLY faster than dial-up, and cable?! ...forget about it... they wont run $100,000 worth of cable, modernization upgrades to the support beams, and asorted telecom equipment for 10 properties.

 

Verizon wireless is the ONLY high speed, medium latency option we have that is a reasonable price. THIS IS FUCKING BULLSHIT!

[WMGroomAK]

I'm still trying to figure out how you get this Unlimited Data if they are throttling and limiting your connections...  Also, I'm fairly sure that people don't purchase these high resolution screen phones to watch videos at 480p.

[JAKEBAB]

2 minutes ago, WMGroomAK said:

I'm still trying to figure out how you get this Unlimited Data if they are throttling and limiting your connections...  Also, I'm fairly sure that people don't purchase these high resolution screen phones to watch videos at 480p.

It still is unlimited data just not unlimited speed.

[knightslugger]

2 minutes ago, JAKEBAB said:

It still is unlimited data just not unlimited speed.

10Mbps video requires 10Mb of data every second. you most certainly ARE data capped for video.

[kiska3]

3 minutes ago, JAKEBAB said:

It still is unlimited data just not unlimited speed.

Hrm I see a business opportunity

[Mira Yurizaki]

3 minutes ago, knightslugger said:

10Mbps video requires 10Mb of data every second. you most certainly ARE data capped for video.

Not really if video streaming services would let you download the video. But only a handful of them will let you.

[TheUzu]

This is why apple is the best the iPhone 7 is 720p so they'll be no difference.

 

Some say they have a seer who saw this coming and that's why the iPhone 7 has a 720p display in 2017.

 

Good job I live in a reasonable country and get Unlimited data for £24 a month with the only restriction being the 30GB hotspot limit.

[WMGroomAK]

Just now, JAKEBAB said:

It still is unlimited data just not unlimited speed.

Except that by reducing the speed accessible, you are ultimately limiting the amount of data that is accessible in a month... By my second best napkin math, in a 30 day month, they are limiting you to around 200 GB (if you use all of your data at the beginning of the month and run on the throttled connection 24/7 for the rest of the month) of total data usage by throttling back your connections after the first 10 to 20 GB of data usage.  

[Mihle]

RIP people in US with Verizon

[Bananasplit_00]

well this is a pice of horse shit. good job.

[JAKEBAB]

1 minute ago, knightslugger said:

10Mbps video requires 10Mb of data every second. you most certainly ARE data capped for video.

No your speed capped. You can still download that entire video without being cut off, you just can't stream it.

[PCMasterDebater]

Time for people to speak with their wallets. Don't like what Verizon is offering? Mover over to AT&T cellular, Boost mobile, Virgin Mobile, Straight talk, Pay as you go, T-Mobile, Or many other carriers that are available.

 

Why is anyone upset about this?

 

Grow up and move on! 

[shermantanker]

1 minute ago, PCMasterDebater said:

Time for people to speak with their wallets. Don't like what Verizon is offering? Mover over to AT&T cellular, Boost mobile, Virgin Mobile, Straight talk, Pay as you go, T-Mobile, Or many other carriers that are available.

 

Why is anyone upset about this?

 

Grow up and move on! 

Because service for all of those is shit where I live.

[JAKEBAB]

3 minutes ago, WMGroomAK said:

Except that by reducing the speed accessible, you are ultimately limiting the amount of data that is accessible in a month... By my second best napkin math, in a 30 day month, they are limiting you to around 200 GB (if you use all of your data at the beginning of the month and run on the throttled connection 24/7 for the rest of the month) of total data usage by throttling back your connections after the first 10 to 20 GB of data usage.  

By that logic there is no such thing as an unlimited service.

[PCMasterDebater]

Just now, shermantanker said:

Because service for all of those is shit where I live.

Carriers share Cell towers.   Still don't understand.

[Suika]

Sounds like Verizon.

 

I did see some benchmarks of Verizon before and after the introduction of their new unlimited plan, and average speeds have come down. It's funny how the solution isn't to improve their network.

[WMGroomAK]

4 minutes ago, JAKEBAB said:

By that logic there is no such thing as an unlimited service.

Exactly, the whole marketing concept of 'Unlimited Data' is an issue...  I would rather they list the maximum amount of data that you could possibly use with an unthrottled connection and not throttling your connection...  

[Drak3]

If this is for all services, and there is no way to pay to get around it, they're doing it to ensure speeds for people that aren't streaming video. Not that having full 1080p+ is really that benefitial on ypur phone screen outside of VR.

 

I'd switch to Verizon if it weren't for the fact that unlimited and two lines on ATT's business plan wasn't cheaper. Just because peak hours leave me yearning for my old 5Mbps connection that was shared between two desktops.

[RGProductions]

Lol noobs. No data masterrace

[Indus Monk]

Meanwhile in India:

 

Reliance, one of the few network providers launched a brand called Jio (it means to remain alive)

 

After launching the service, Reliance gave us unrestricted 4G data plans. With FREE voice calls, and technically speaking, UNLIMITED access to 4G services all over India for FREE. This lasted for three months. After that, reliance extended this scheme for EVERYONE. Eventually reliance launched this scheme AGAIN and was available to EVERYONE. BUT, the scheme was renamed. At last, The govt intervened and the scheme was cancelled.

 

After that, you pay $10, to buy data and call plans very similar to the promotional offer that was given after Jio was launched.

 

The effect:

 

Other service providers gave perks that were entirely unimaginable.The most popular one was:

1 GB 4G data everyday, for 28 days. They charged Less than $6 for this

 

[Haxor Gaming]

1 minute ago, RGProductions said:

Lol noobs. No data masterrace

 I'm on T-Mobile

[TidaLWaveZ]

 

Waiting to be able to take advantage X16 LTE (1Gbps) modems in current gen phone SOC's

[knightslugger]

24 minutes ago, PCMasterDebater said:

Time for people to speak with their wallets. Don't like what Verizon is offering? Mover over to AT&T cellular, Boost mobile, Virgin Mobile, Straight talk, Pay as you go, T-Mobile, Or many other carriers that are available.

 

Why is anyone upset about this?

 

Grow up and move on! 

I am on a grandfathered plan yet. Where I live there is VERY little GSM service providers. This whole area was CDMA rich when Verizon was an upstanding company to do business with. New cell providers would be IDIOTS to run anything except CDMA service here. I get damn good service pretty much anywhere I go, and where I don't get good service, GSM subscribers leave their cells in the car. THEY DON'T WORK.

 

I am NOT going to abandon my unlimited data plan that works just about everywhere I do for a limited data plan that doesn't and OH YEAH costs more. That's precisely the OPPOSITE of what I want.

 

The fuck kind of logic is this?

[SpaceGhostC2C]

So... you are expected to pay $50-$85 for a service that requires a lawyer to even know what it is you are actually getting?

 

44 minutes ago, shermantanker said:

 

There is literally nothing you can do now if you want 1080p on Verizon phones, no upgrade, fee, charge, or bribe to get it.

 

There is this thing called "WiFi"  

 

I mean, the vast majority of people are only limited to mobile data while commuting from wifi place 1 to wifi place 2 (probably even from PC1 to PC2 anyway). There will be those who rely more on mobile internet, but if this is honestly the cheapest US providers can do, then I guess you must think about it as cell phones in the 80s or something like that.