Verizon Brings Back “Unlimited” Data Plan Starting Tomorrow for $80 (Updated)
  • Posted byby Kellen

Verizon Brings Back “Unlimited” Data Plan Starting Tomorrow for $80 (Updated)

Because weekends are always an opportunity to introduce something huge (?), Verizon today took the time to announce that unlimited data is coming back to their network. Nope, this isn’t a joke – Verizon unlimited is back in modern form, which means “unlimited” with some asterisks. The plan goes live tomorrow, so lets talk about it.

UPDATE 2/13: The new Verizon Unlimited plan is now live. Sign-up here.

Starting tomorrow, February 13, Verizon is offering a new unlimited data plan to customers. It starts at $80 for a single line, but they are offering a family of four the chance to get in for $45 per line $180 per month. These are introductory prices and both require Autopay. EDIT: The original breakdown said $45 per, but that’s not how it works. It’s actually a $100 account level price for unlimited, plus $20 per line from there. So an account with 4 lines is $20 per line, plus the $100 for the unlimited account.

The unlimited plan includes unlimited data, talk, and text. Should a customer hit 22GB of data used in a month, Verizon says that they may throttle you if you are connected to a tower or area experiencing congestion throughout the rest of the billing cycle. It’s called “network management,” and they have been doing this for years.

The rest of the plan features HD video streaming, 10GB of data for high-speed tethering (3G after 10GB used) per month, calling and texting to Mexico and Canada, and up to 500MB per day of 4G LTE data roaming in Mexico and Canada.

UPDATE: Verizon reached out to point out that even though their press release states “HD” video streaming is included, that this isn’t a throttle to 720p. In fact, they specifically said that they deliver across the network “whatever the content provider gives” them and that there is no manipulation to the data. I should point out that a source of ours also relayed some of the training materials for the new Verizon Unlimited plan and it does say that “Full-quality HD Video” is included. I would assume that means as Verizon is telling us, that they are delivering whatever the highest quality is that the provider sends. That’s a big change!

You’ll notice I said “HD video streaming,” and that’s because Verizon is also throttling video streams just like T-Mobile and Sprint do. They are giving you HD (720p), though, instead of the 480p streams that the others hand out. While we’re never fans of a carrier throttling anything, 720p is better than 480p. What we don’t know just yet is whether or not Verizon will let you upgrade to get out of video throttling or not.

If you don’t want to sign-up for a Verizon unlimited plan, they will still offer S, M, and L Verizon plans.

Thoughts?

UPDATE 2: We put together an Everything You Need to Know style post. You’ll want to cruise through it as we continue to add all of the little details you may have questions about.

Via:  Verizon
Written by

Kellen

It’s not often that you get to merge personal passions into a professional life, but that’s what Kellen did when he launched Droid Life in 2009. After working years of unsatisfying jobs in the medical and property management fields, he took a risk to try and create an online community while playing with the coolest gadgets on the planet each day, a risk that has turned out to be incredibly rewarding. Outside of Droid Life, Kellen is your typical Portlander who drinks way too much good beer, complains often about the Trail Blazers, and can be found out on the streets for a run, rain or shine.

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403 Comments

  • Anyone know if the data can be shared between phones on the same plan? Or, is it strictly limited to 22gb per phone?

  • I think I’ll stick to my Straight talk service for 45 a month thanks though Verizon you money hungry cash grabbing douche company

  • We have five lines, four of which are grandfathered unlimited data lines that each get $20/mo discount from a promo from winter 2011. Although I’m tempted to switch to this newer plan I’m going to pass for now being that I use tablets and a Verizon Novatel LTE router. The grandfathered ToS don’t restrict me from plugging in my active SIM cards into whatever device I want such as the LTE router. However, I call with the router activated then I get a letter stating that they’re going to terminate that line which is a scare tactic BUT if I make any changes to our account while the router is activated THEN they can. I’m pretty sure that Verizon has updated their ToS for this new unlimited plan. So, I’m holding out for a while longer.

  • Great! So now all they need to do is get rid of the tethering limit and make it 200GB before throttling. Then I could give up my unlimited plan.

    • They will disconnect you from the network, and force you onto a tiered plan (maybe now this new unlimited plan) if you go over 100GB on the old Unlimited plan. So your not getting 200GB now.

  • For $10 more, you can get 5 unlimited lines with Sprint. Sure it’s Sprint, but if Verizon thinks this is some kind of a deal, they are delusional.

  • The 10GB tethering and 22GB possible throttling is on a per line basis, not per account right. I have 5 lines, each line would get 10GB tethering and a 22GB cap? This sounds like a no brainer if I’m currently on the 24GB shared data plan for $110 a month. Am I missing something here.

  • Not very tech savvy, so please answer in terms I might understand… 🙂
    I have 2 IPhones and 2 Hotspots (live in a very rural area and use Hotspots instead of dealing with Hughes Net). We are using about 40+ gigs per month – with one Hotspot using the most. We are extremely careful with data usage and still use this amount. Will the 22gb be per unit before we get throttled? When we go into safe-mode now – nothing works!
    Thanks for your advice!

    • Yes its per line. And you could always get a second, or third hotspot for an extra $20 per device, and get additional 22GB per hot spot. So effectively you can now get 220GB for $300. Instead of what did they charge, 750 for 100GB? So yes they brought the price down a lot for people who get 3+ lines.

  • We are paying a total of $80 for 24GB shared across four phones… According to this article, the equivalent price would be much higher, $80 for just one phone! It’s another scheme to get more $ from people!

    • Dude read! Its $80 for 1 line, $140 for 2, $160 for 3, and finally for your situation $180 for 4 (add $20 per line if you need more than 4 lines). There is no way your bill is only $80 for 24GB, I think you forgetting your per line charges, insurance, taxes.

      • I agree there are other charges – I’m just saying the data portion only, we are paying $80 for 24 shared gb

  • Just did a test on the site. With two phones without protection plans it will cost me 214 and change before autopay credit. I think I will stick with my grandfathered udp and pay 172 (for two lines) thank you very much.

  • Watch, Verizon will offer this plan for a year or two to get the few remaining people on legacy UDP’s to switch to this and then they’ll drop it lol

  • Well since my lines are getting shut off on the 16th…maybe I will grab this instead of going to straight talk.

  • Google is paying 97$ per hour! Work for few hours and have longer with friends & family! !mj219d:
    On tuesday I got a great new Land Rover Range Rover from having earned $8752 this last four weeks.. Its the most-financialy rewarding I’ve had.. It sounds unbelievable but you wont forgive yourself if you don’t check it
    !mj219d:
    ➽➽
    ➽➽;➽➽     http://GoogleFinancialJobsCash219HomeDataGetPay$97Hour… ★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★:::::!mj219d:….,…..

  • I guess those AOL (Assumption of Liability) Ebay sellers selling or leasing Unlimited Verizon accounts are out of business. I guess anyone that wants unlimited can now go straight to Verizon themselves.

  • I am currently on a Grandfathered UDP from Verizon. I pay ~$90 and receive unlimited data, 450 peak talk minutes (free nights and weekends), and unlimited txt messaging. I do not receive any free tethering/hotspot.

    I have 2 questions:
    1) How does the “data” part of my plan compare to this new unlimited data plan – is “unlimited” for both truly the same or do I get to stream at 1080p on my grandfathered plan and have no slow down of my usage?
    2) Would you keep my old plan or switch to this new one?

    At face value this new plan seems good but I tend to take heed with Verizon.

    @Droid-Life team: any color on this?

    • I still only pay $23/mo ($30 – 22% discount) so I intend to keep my old UDP but this is a nice fall back and upgrading phones will be less stressful.

  • So im confused. what i think this and teh posted rates the guy put on here are saying. 80 dollars for 1 line. but if you will have mulitple than add 20 + 20 per device? or is it not 80 but 100? i know about the 5 dollar thing but forget that just trying to figure out is it 80 or 100 for 1 line.

    • It’s $100 + 20 per device then. If your under contract its $40 per line under contract currently.

        • 3 (lines) X $20 = $60 + $100 (starting price) = $160/month.

          I’m currently paying $100/month for 3 lines on T-Mobile’s 6GB SC plan with 20GBs of data rollover capped out. Doesn’t seem quite worth it for me for the slightly better coverage.

          I wonder if I can just get unlimited on on my line and a cheaper plan on the other lines though so I can have a cheaper bill.

  • Still under contract for our current UDPs, for contract, access fee is $40, so means I wouldn’t save a dime currently. Anyone know if once contract is up, the fee instantly goes to $20?

    • Yup, your lines will go up another $20/line once your contract(s) expire. Mine did, then I sold my lines for $500/line last year. Glad I did now, cuz they’d be about worthless now and I wouldn’t have saved a bunch by switching to T-Mobile.

      • Even though only 10 gb of LTE data is included for hotspotting?
        “(Mobile Hotspot with 10 GB of 4G LTE data is included at no charge (after 10 GB you’ll get 3G data speeds).”
        That’s where my confusion lies.
        Is this device a hotspot or a “tablet/internet device” …?

          • If your information is correct, I will be happy. You sound like you work for Verizon…What can you tell me about prioritized data?

            The town I live in has a population of about 400. Assume most are Verizon customers… it really is the only option here with anything resembling coverage. In the summer with tourism, that pop can swell to a couple thousand. We have, from what I can tell, one tower for our little middle of nowhere.

            How many users are on a tower before it “prioritizes?” Basically, when does it buckle under usage?

  • ok so no 720 limited. for those that didnt see they jsut updated and apparently there is no 720 limit. for video

    • I think it depends. It’s 100 for the plan, than 20 dollars a line for access if your out of contract or on a device payment plan but if one of your lines is on a contract it’s 40 dollars for that line. So your going to pay atleast 140.00

  • So, if Verizon reached out to say what you were reporting was false, where did you get that false information in the 1st place? I hope it just wasn’t an assumption, because that would be very sloppy and irresponsible.

  • Curious to see after 6 months how many current T-Mobile subscribers switch back. I’m sticking more for the GSM phones and ability to switch whenever easier with unlocked devices. Not many devices use CDMA unlocked ( one plus, , are, etc etc)

  • A funny thing happened when Verizon unceremoniously cut off my unlimited back in the summer. I found out I could do mostly without their precious data. Lowering my data to 2Gigs and cutting my bill by 140 bucks a month taught me a valuable lesson. Thanks Verizon for encouraging me to keep my money.

  • Anyone know if the Pixel XL sold through Verizon is unlocked or not? Wife and I travel frequently in Europe, Russia, Canada and China, I’d rather not pay Verizon insane international plan prices, but I definitely grown tired of how crappy T-Mobiles domestic service is, and this is the dream I’ve been waiting for.

    • Yes. Verizon doesn’t lock the phones (not talking about bootloaders here people). You can use a Pixel, S7, Fruitphone, whatever with an international SIM as long as it’s not some obscure band that carrier uses.

  • For what it’s worth, a Verizon online agent told me my grandfathered unlimited plan won’t be affected by this.

  • Data has gone the way of MINS & TXTs, the next frontier is Unlimited HOTSPOT. Hope the small carriers keep pushing the big boys. The free market competition is a wonderful thing.

  • Those of you saying they can’t up charge if your under contract are wrong. Contracts are for equipment only (subsidized price of equipment) and have nothing to do with the service you sign up for.

    • there is the concern, i would so no since they said not too long ago contracts are gone. and since you are not under a contract they could actually do this too steal customers back than cancel it without any reprisals.

    • Mine too! hahaha this is a huge surprise… but still trying to figure out if it’s cheaper for me (suspect: it’s not)

  • Trying to figure out if it would be worth trading my grandfathered unlimited data plan for this just so get back on a contract.. I just got the Pixel through BB for 10 a month which is good but I didn’t renew my contract. Just worried about them pushing more and more people off the old plans by raising prices if you aren’t on contract

    • same here, my thing is i go over my locked in 250 messages every month, so this may be for me. but i will read the fine print tommorow. When it comes to mobile on all carriers what they say isnt always what you get when you read the fine print.

      • Damn dude only 250?! Unless this new plan is way cheaper than what you’re paying, I’d keep the grandfathered unlimited plan and just convert your number to google voice.

        • yeah i never used texting back than so i ddint change it before i was locked in.. but i use it for work and dont want to tell the doctors no you cant text me 🙂 i only have 350 minutes of voice too but i never come near that.

  • “3G after 10GB used”, so in other words it’s a 10GB plan, cause why even bother with 3G today, I can’t even load google on 3G

  • so if i never lost my unlimited data plan, and am currently paying $50 per month for it, are they going to increase my price again? i was at $30/month before they jacked it up the first time

  • Verizon brought “Safety Mode” out about 6 months ago . When you have this free feature enabled, one you use all of your data plan, your speed is throttled but you can continue to use this throttled data until your next cycle without overages. Which is pretty awesome. So, this is really no big deal. Except that it’s marketed to hit people in the face as I’m sure most people didn’t “get” safety mode.

  • This seems like the same to me. I pay $20 per line (for smartphones with no contract) and $110 for their XXL plan, 24GB, no throttling. Excess data rolls over for one month. So 4 phones = $80 + $110 = $190. I use ~ 10GB to 16GB per month. Now this is without fees and taxes (in that order because we KNOW fees are more than taxes) and without my company discount of 8%. I think I am better off staying right where I am. 500MB in Canada or Mexico? That won’t get you far if you are on business or a week long personal trip.

  • Dropped unlimited 2 years ago and was scared to check an email for a while. With the new rollover I’ve never come close to hitting my limit. Unless you are using your lte as your only data connection and you are running a movie pirating ring from your phone than unlimited is probably unnecessary.

    • not true. if you spend much of the winter camping here is the south west and you watch netflix and stuff on your phone camping you can use quite a few gigs and doing it legally. i dotn use a lot when home but in a week or 2 of camping i use over 30gigs easy.

  • I currently have T-Mobile but I’m jumping on this. Unlimited 4G LTE data without being bonded to 480p streaming.

    • If you have unlimited on tmobile, bring on should be able to be turned off so you’ll be able to play anything over 480p

  • If Verizon didn’t have a limited and heavily locked down choice of phones, I would consider this. But, cricket gives me similar coverage, for less, and any phone I want to use (mostly). Yea, yea, yea, data speed is capped at 8mb, but I have yet to find that to be an issue whether web browsing, streaming HD or even 2K video, tethering etc…I’ll take an 8mb cap, fantastic coverage, the ability to use any phone I please on a completely unlimited everything plan for $65/month flat which includes Canada and Mexico unlimited roaming.

  • Are you planning on doing a cost comparison between all the plans, with a break down of all the pros and cons?

  • Wait a minute…so does that mean you can NEVER stream video at 1080p or higher on the network? Or is it throttled after 22gbs of data usage?

    • that is the question right there. T-mobile one plans have a ‘pass’ for that option. I definitely prefer using native resolutions of my devices over 720p (hd lol, right…)

        • what about youtube, with quality sliders all the way to 4k. vudu and other streaming sites with 1080p+ streams available as well. I only care about getting native resolutions even if it means waiting a moment for it to buffer.

        • yeah, on their tmobile one plans. iirc, video streams are set to 480p with binge on (so it doesn’t count against your data)… but if you want to enable higher quality streams, you either use the unlimited plan w/ free HD passes (higher price) or the regular unlimited w/ 1 day ‘hd’ passes (forgot prices).

  • Wait, so the HD streaming is after the 22GBs is used? or is it always on, with no way to get higher bandwidth streams? I know Tmobile one is 480p but if you use the HD pass, it takes that cap off.

    • i have searched doesnt seem anyone knows the facts on that yet. well have to wait until tommorow. But i think waiting till tommorow aint too bad as i have been called everything under the sun for saying verizon would bring unlimited back. so as far as i know hell hasnt froze over so my prediction was slightly ahead of theirs 🙂

    • The streaming is 720p which is fine for phones. 22 GB is just for when/if you’re on a congested tower.

      • you know how it is.. a tmobile fan will point out the congested tower stuff while saying how tmobile is a better choice even though they have same policy. if obama coughed it was because of his intelligence. if trump coughs its because of his stupidity 🙂 fan boys/girls/trans/bi etc etc are all the same 🙂

      • yeah, but what if you are using casting to a tv, or using a larger screen tablet… 720p doesn’t look good cast to a 4k tv, heck it barely looks good coming straight from the line (att u-verse has all their ‘hd’ stuff wired in @ 720p, unless they updated recently).

        • well get f–king internet then for that. heck my TV is 720p looks f–king just fine. if you can afford a 4K TV you can afford real internet. This plan is mainly for unlimited data ON A PHONE.

          • you are aware phones can connect to other devices right? if you are fine with lower quality, by all means consume said product. if it costs more for real HD streaming, then I will pay for that. I apologize for triggering you with my higher quality electronics.

          • Then get REAL internet like cable or fiber. Sorry if you live in such a crappy place no wired internet companies want to offer you service.

          • I have real internet. Doesn’t change the fact that I would still pay for higher streaming priority.

      • ???? Let’s see, grandfathered unlimited data only went up by $20, did it not? Current $30+$20=$50. Yea, that’s right. Nothing wing with my math.

        • but that is the data charge, you still have the phone minutes and messaging. SO please explain to me how you are paying only 50 for your bill. Not saying its not true just not working with math i have seen for cost of the phone plans i have had on unlimited.

          • For more than 1 line the data is $100 so two lines the data is $50 each. So you’re complaint is?

          • i figured, with me i only has 350 minutes and 250 messages and locked in where i couldnt change them. i never get close to the minutes i mean i heard but not sure about making calls on my minny video watcher 🙂 but i go over my messages every month. mainly because of work but its jsut wasier. so i really would save about 30 bucks amonth with this if its truly 80. But i will read all the fine print before i even think about giving up my current unlimiteed. although i do believe that all grandfatherd limited will now get a letter in the mail. This would be the time for verizon to end the old plan without losing lots of people or having a huge media outrage.

  • 720p is not big deal. Netflix limits speeds on phones to 2 Mbps anyway and 720p is 3 Mbps.

  • Im gonna buck the Verizon hate comments and say this isnt bad…

    22gb is actually quite reasonable considering at home ur probably on wifi and when you not, even using netflix, 22gb for phone usage is plenty for the vast majority of people (i dont need the tech enthusiast data hog crowd bragging about how they use 50+gb…notice the “majority” wording…not “everyone”).

    Plus 10gb for tethering thrown in..which is also a decent amount and usually costs an arm and a leg.

    And despite the 99% of coverage crap Tmobile and sprint spout, i dont care about POPULATION coverage…i care about AREA coverage. I like having a signal on long weekend drives or vacation drive trips in the middle of rural areas where the other 3 arent anywhere near.

    For once, this is actually a reasonable plan for Verizon. And for the people worried about ‘introductory price”, this isnt cable tv. Verizon up to now has always meant after the period is over, NEW customers after that date will pay full price but anyone that got in before it are keeping the low price…

    • 22gb is also on par with everyone else… isn’t 22gb (or near it) what every other provider cites for high usage?

    • Not to mention that they’ve already been doing this. I’ve been throttled for years. I’m currently using around 55-65 GB and I’m throttled pretty much all day long until I get home. Sometimes it’s just slow. Other times it doesn’t work at all. All the while my co-workers on Verizon are streaming video just fine while I can’t even do a google search.

      • Google is paying 97$ per hour! Work for few hours and have longer with friends & family! !mj219d:
        On tuesday I got a great new Land Rover Range Rover from having earned $8752 this last four weeks.. Its the most-financialy rewarding I’ve had.. It sounds unbelievable but you wont forgive yourself if you don’t check it
        !mj219d:
        ➽➽
        ➽➽;➽➽         http://GoogleFinancialJobsCash219HomeDataGetPay$97Hour… ★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★:::::!mj219d:….,……

    • Wow lots of replies, I thought DL fans were all with Metro PCs but looks like we still have some decent people paying for the best network like it or not they are the best, unless you want free Tuesday pizza and 480p or unlimited data only with wifi like Sprint sells for 1 year lol

    • CFO Fran “Sham-wow” Shammo must be flipping his lid when just 6 months ago or so he said people don’t need Unlimited Data.

      What changed? Did his pile of money collapse on him and he’s deemed missing?

      • Do you know if the data can be shared between phones on the same plan? Or, is it strictly limited to 22gb per phone?

    • Google is paying 97$ per hour! Work for few hours and have longer with friends & family! !mj225d:
      On tuesday I got a great new Land Rover Range Rover from having earned $8752 this last four weeks.. Its the most-financialy rewarding I’ve had.. It sounds unbelievable but you wont forgive yourself if you don’t check it
      !mj225d:
      ➽➽
      ➽➽;➽➽ http://GoogleFinancialJobsCash225DirectIncGetPay$97Hour… ★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★:::::!mj225d:….,……..

    • I use 275-300 gigs a month as I have no wifi. This is going to keep me connected. I just switch 6 lines from the old unlimited and two tiered plans to this new unlimited plan. Saved me almost $140 bucks not to mention the hotspot and unlimited data for all of my lines. I couldn’t believe it, I had to call Verizon to confirm the bill. WOW. I am flabbergasted, greedy ass Verizon did a solid for their customers. Speechless. Now since I signed up two year contract, I can get a pixel for $199 and sell it for $1000 on CL and just keep using my note 4. Pocket $700 bucks.

    • I’d call finding a way to use data the way it should be, not 480p, on the best network pretty leading

  • i should of wrote down all those doubters when i continued to say unlimited would come back in 2-3 years. But this is verizon, ill hold judgement if this is good until the facts come out tomorrow. But since i end up going over my messaging every month this may actually make me finally dump my current grandfathered unlimited plan. But well see what the fine print says.

  • Say what you want, but the restrictions aren’t that terrible. Pricing is high, but it’ll eventually come down, or more data will be thrown into the smaller buckets.

    We’ve got 10GB bonus on our plan + 12GB plan, and then usually don’t even use a lot of that, so we often have oodles of roll over data (not to mention the data safety thing, which we did have to use at one time), it took me a long time to get rid of the UDP, but it hasn’t necessarily been a terrible thing, with a family of 7 people.

    What I wish they would do is throttle the safety data feature based on network congestion. I’m not in a congested area usually, so why not let me use 4G speeds instead of dial up?

  • hmmmm this sounds interesting but if im not wrong isn’t Tmo towers on the same level as Verizon now? So what will be the benefit?

    • I can tell you the answer is absolutely not. In yuma arizona they added the 700mhz lte. it was fantastic for about 6 months. than it got saturated. verizon turned on 4g here around feb 16 2013. I know this because it came on about 10 days after i moved here. tmobile was still 2g until about a year ago. I know this because i had a tmobile nexus and a verizon nexus. dumped tmobile because of the 2g service here. In colorado where i lived tmobile blew verizon away there i lived in the country where tmobile had a tower and verizon didnt. …………….Again it really depends on your usage and needs which is better. But from what i have experienced neither is perfect.

    • As the others have stated, OpenSignal’s report does not take into consideration the fact that Verizon has over 1 million more square miles of LTE than T-Mobile does. Ever wondered why you have to zoom WAAYYYY into T-Mobiles coverage map to see the actual type of data service (LTE, 2G, etc) in a certain area? This is why.

  • >> Should a customer hit 22GB of data used in a month

    Is this a per-person quota? If I join with a family of 4, does each of the family member gets 22GB?

    • Yes, this is the same plan with ATT and the only thing that differs is the requirement of ATT uverse or direct tv. If you have any of those services than you have the unlimited data as well. The data cap is 22 gb but I barely see a slow down after those speeds UNLESS I have in a congested area, like events such as basketball games and than my internet sucks..but whatever

      • dude, those are the worst (special events). Sometimes I could barely get a call out. wonder how long before situations like that can be handled better.

    • They collect hundreds of millions of dollars, the fastest its in their accounts, the more money they make on interest or can use for reasons.

  • So how does video throttling work usually? Do I not even see the 1080p quality options (in YouTube for example) or would I still be able to select 1080p but it would just be the 720p steam? Who’s doing the transcoding?

  • Sorry T-Maybe, now customers don’t have to settle for your sub par network just to get their peace of mind about unlimited…This is why Verizon will always be #1, it’s all about that Network! And I heard new customers can get a free Pixel….yet another reason to join Big Red, get the best Android phone for free!!!! Can’t wait for all you sad T-Mobile people to keep fan-boying your sizzler style unlimited while we feast on Quality Unlimited!

  • Does this plan price include the 10gb tethering or is that extra? I’m currently paying $30/month to add tethering on my legacy unlimited plan that I barely use, for a total of $130 ($40 for 450 min, $50 for unl data, $10 for 1000 texts, and $30 for hotspot). This already looks better even if hotspot is still an extra charge. I rarely hit 22gb anyway, usually hover in the upper teens.

      • I’m a little paranoid, don’t care for VPNs. Using an iPhone anyway, so maybe I have bigger problems.

      • Yes violate the TOS and steal service. nice morals. This is why Verizon is hiking the price of old UDP plans and kicking people off after 200 GB.

    • I have the same exact plan and pay that as well… My thought process is to future proof myself… Technology will be consuming more and more data in years to come, and even though I’m paying more now, I’d still like to be one of the few with true UDP when that time comes… I bet a lot of people that still have UDP will jump to this, and it’s seriously not bad but that will hopefully get Verizon to forget about the .05% that still remain grandfathered

      • Right, that’s been my thinking all along. As everyone transitioned to the capped data plans I happily paid more for my service and devices, anticipating the future when unlimited data would really be valuable. It sounds like Verizon may throttle legacy unlimited plans too, but I’ll be doing my homework before making any changes. I’m under contract now anyway.

    • Yes you’ll pay more and it’s why you don’t sign 2 year contracts. You should have known that even back in Nov 2015.

    • No your not screwed. Just an extra $20 a month until contract ends, which essentially is just you paying back the $400 or so they gave you towards a device.

      • Yeah I checked it out and came to $190 for me plus taxes etc. I’m regretting signing up for a contract but couldn’t pass up 2 Galaxy S6’s for $1 a piece lol

  • Just as a heads up for fellow grandfathered unlimited data customers – a trusted source told me that the plan is to start throttling us as well to get us on these new plans. That could still change, but this source has never led me astray before.

      • If I remember correctly, when they tried before, a lot of people were still under contract and they couldn’t. Technically, since we’re all out of contract now, they can change it at any point.

      • please enlighten me on what this admin plans to do to castrate the fcc, i havent seen anything on that please share with me so i am more knowledgeable. thanks.

      • also wheeler nor the fcc did anything that stopped verizon from throttling unlimited customers in fact att and tmobile are doing it as will this new one. there is nothing from the fcc saying you cant. it was verizon that decided there werent enough people on it or hitting the limits to make the bad press worth it. In fact i would liove to see something from teh fcc saying you cant call it unlimited unless its truley full speed unlimited with no restrictions like tmobiles 480 video etc. i also dont think att shoudl be able to offer unlimited only to customers who also have direct tv. both things that wheeler talked about but continued to never do anything about.

        • That’s not true. I have one line with UDP and three other family members on my account. When I transferred my upgrade to another number in my account, in order to upgrade and not lose unlimited, it locked my UDP line into a contract for two more years. I am under contract through October.

  • I have this exact same plan with AT&T and it is awesome. My entire family used like 120 GB last month for 4 lines. No more worrying about data and overages…The slow down is barely noticeable and I have four lines and the fourth line is free..So under $200 I got unlimited data, the u verse package cost $80…So for $275, my mom has all her channels for tv and family of four have unlimited data.

      • I left Verizon because I couldn’t justify paying $167 a month for 2 lines anymore. Cricket is owned by AT&T, the second best network in my area.
        Think of it like this; While you’re paying $140 for an all-you-can-eat meal for two(plus taxes, fees and monthly device payments), I can satisfy 5 people’s phone needs for $100(taxes and fees included). Yes, I have to show self-control. But you’ll be surprised just how little data you need when you only watch online videos on wifi.

        • Actually I have been thinking switching from Verizon to Cricket. Our house is in a Verizon valley, and I have to have a network extender (and I live near O’Hare airport), so dropping the land line house phone has issues (power out, UPS battery drained, no calls). Bought a 6p just so I could switch to anything, including Fi. If my kids want to stream video away from WiFi they can get jobs and pay for their own damn cell phone service. I totally understand where you are coming from, I live by the motto of “leave beneath your means”, cell phone service and smart phones will become a commodity just like PCs. But how do you like Cricket?

          (I know T-Mobile and US Cellular work at our house, and a looong time ago had Cingular with I think is ATT).

          • Let me start by saying I live in Oklahoma and I use a Droid Turbo (had a 2 but my brother-in-law is using it), so my results will be different from others.
            In the month that I’ve been on Cricket, the only issue I’ve had is the same issue I had on Verizon, which is getting a connection where my sister lives. It is on the border of both AT&T and Verizon’s towers, making it impossible to get good signal inside.
            I will be honest, my phone does limit me on where I get 4G LTE. But that’s due to it being manufactured to not carry all of the bands AT&T/Cricket supports. My brother’s Galaxy S5(also a Verizon phone) gets LTE on Cricket in more places than I do. But since I get the LTE where I am most of the time, I am ok with it. Will get a new phone later, though.
            You are correct that Cingular is now AT&T. If you had Cingular coverage, you should have AT&T and Cricket coverage now.
            There are a few small issues I can’t figure out, like how to get the Visual Voicemail app to work. Probably not an issue on a truly unlocked phone. Other than that, pretty much satisfied. I do want to go back to unlimited one day. The fact that unlimited is only $30 more a line(compared to the $40 plan. I’m the only one who really wants it, though) and you aren’t locked into a contract makes things pretty nice.
            And I’ll be honest, no contract and the taxes and fees being part of the actual cost of service makes Cricket a really sweet deal. Only reason I’d consider Verizon again is because of my 20% discount. But I would have to take care of 4 lines either way.

          • How did you get the Droid Turbo to work on Cricket? Call up Verizon, or root it with “Sunshine” and install a new OS I see on xda-developers? I just so happen to have a Droid Turbo, using it right now, need to get a few more things cleaned up off of it. Also need to figure out how to take pictures as quickly with the 6p as the droid turbo twist *when wearing gloves* at work.

          • All phones over the last few years are required to be unlocked and freely work on whatever network bands are supported by the radio of the phone. It only takes an APN setting to make them connect to internet and MMS.
            While Verizon doesn’t use GSM itself, its international partners do. So they have their manufacturers include GSM bands supported my their partners. But not all manufacturers support the same bands, as demonstrated by my brother’s Galaxy S5 being superior to my Turbo.
            Before switching, I used a Straight Talk AT&T sim to test the waters. It worked just as well for Straight Talk as it does Cricket.
            Any time you start your Verizon phone with a non-Verizon sim, it will tell you via notification. But you can dismiss that. Just mentioning for reference.

    • What plan do you have? Unlimited Cricket is $70 vs $80 on Verizon, and speeds aren’t throttled and you get much lower latency.

      • I have 4 lines on Cricket. Because of budget issues, we are keeping ourselves on the $40 plan. But we get the multi-line discount, making our bill $100 a month. We could get a fifth line with the same plan for $0 a month, but we don’t have any extra phones laying around.
        Sure, Verizon is clearly a better network, but I am OK with it. I have unlimited data at home via my cable internet provider. I don’t do much of anything that requires latency to be lower or speed to be above 8mbps on cellular.
        Not everyone is a power user. If you aren’t, you might as well save your money to pay for your next phone.

      • Really? Are they? Verizon has over 1 million more square miles of LTE than T-Mobile does. Ever wondered why you have to zoom WAAYYYY into T-Mobiles coverage map to see the actual type of data service (LTE, 2G, etc) in a certain area? This is why.

  • Is there a way to circumvent video throttling on this verizon plan or t-mobile’s by using a VPN?

    • There is no video throttle. Its sent over pure, whatever the content provider sends.

  • This is slightly stupid. The 24gb plan is $110. For every line I activate I get 2gbs of bonus data. That’s 32gbs at $190 + safety mode which they put you in after 22gbs.

    As far as I’m concerned, this is just marketing.

    • You do not get throttled after 22 GB you could POTENTIALLY get throttled if you’re on a congested tower. if you’re never on a congested tower you’ll never be affected.

    • Except for the people who have 11 lines. My bill is going down from 790 to $300 + tax. Think big. Get more people to all join the same account and the cost of each line goes down to around 30 bucks.

  • Wouldn’t it be 80+45 per line? So a single line would be $125 and 4 lines would be $260?

      • pretty sure it’s $80 for data and then an access fee per line, including the first line.

        so $80 + ($45 * l) where l = lines of service.

        that’s how Verizon rates their other plans.

  • I use over 70 GBs a month and barely half of my talk minutes. Doubt this new plan with throttling would be good for me. Any idea if you have to pay a line access fee on top of this?

  • Figures they do this right after I leave them for Cricket, and just bought a One Plus 3T. Whatever, I’m still saving money.

  • Key words are”INTRODUCTORY PRICING” How much do they jack up the price after the introductory period?

    • Verizon has never really increased prices after the fact.. ( old unlimited plan notwithstanding) I’d bet the cost of the plan will go up later for new subscribers but those who choose to get the plan now will be grandfathered into that price

    • They won’t. they don’t jack up prices on people once they are on a plan. it’s the people who wait that will pay more.

      • The raised all the old grandfathered unlimited plans from $30 a Mos to $50 Mos pretty recently in an effort to get customers to drop those old unlimited plans

        • All my contracts expired back in 2013, and they still haven’t raised my grandfathered unlimited plans. 5 lines, all still with unlimited data at $30 per month per line. And with the Talk Text & Data discount of $20 per line, that drops to $10 per month per line.

          • Same here. I’m still @ $30/month for my unlimited data plan – not scheduled to be out of contract until Oct 2017. If they do up my plan by $20/month they may get me to change over to this new plan (Most data I’ve ever used is 12 GB and don’t currently have tethering which would be very useful). Also, I have no texting plan and only have 700 anytime minutes (on very old family plan). So, there are some pretty attractive parts of the new plan that I need to consider.

          • They’ll increase your price as soon as your contract is over. That’s what they did to me when my contract ended.

          • When I bought my iPhone at the Apple store, the sales rep there said my unlimited would go up the $20 that VZW introduced last year. The way I got around this was to take my phone home and set it up there. I just took out the SIM card they had pre-installed in the phone, and used the same SIM card from my Nexus 6P. My phone bill has not gone up at, still have my original unlimited data plan. My contact ended in Oct too.

          • Actually, this new pricing is basically the same that I am paying now, except it offers unlimited minutes versus the 1400 I get now, although I never get even close to going over the minutes. The new pricing is $100, plus $20 per line, so 5 lines would be $200. My current pricing is $100 for 1400 minutes and unlimited text, plus $10 per line access and $30 per line for unlimited data, less $20 per line discount, which works out to be $200 for 5 lines. The only benefit for me to switch over would be to be able to make payments on a new device.

        • I’m still paying 29.99 a month for ULD on Verizon, the charges didn’t apply if you are a Federal worker in the Government

      • Hey Nunya, I thought Verizon’s network couldn’t handle unlimited data? I thought unlimited data was history? I thought Verizon couldn’t throttle?

        Yeah you never knew what you were talking about.

    • Actually they stated that price will not change and it’s not introductory or promotional. I think you misunderstood that it’s being introduced

      • They’ve been increasing their old unlimited plans charges so it would be no surprise when they increase the rates on this one after a year or two.

  • And 720p is better than 480p, but If I wanted to stream video on YouTube at 720p I’d buy a 750p iPhone.

  • The question I have is, does it have the typicall “Access Line Charge” of $20… Or is it Flat $80 + taxes and fees.

    • They didn’t say, so I’m leaning towards, no access charge. But yeah, this is Verizon soooooooo….guess we’ll know in the morning.

        • No company discounts on this plan.

          It’s 80 for single line

          100 for multiline plus 20 access fees (that’s where 45 per line comes from 100/4= 25. 25+20= 45)

          • That’s strange, because the new $55 for 5GB single line allows for company discounts. 40+20=60(-5 auto pay). Company discount applies to the $40 plan. So I save $10 on the $40 plan part or 30+20=50-5=$45.

            You can also add a table on the single line. Could you add a tablet on the single line unlimited data line? I think they were $10.

  • Any news on how this will affect us grandfathered unlimited legacy data users? Will Verizon slip us into this new unlimited plan and throttle down our HD to 720? Change our pricing? Cap us at 22GB?

  • I currently spend almost $130 a month for grandfathered unlimited data with a mobile hotspot and 450 minutes of talk.

    This may finally be what makes me update my plan.

  • If I didn’t have a grandfathered plan, I’d get this before they change their minds again. How long until “Unlimited” means 500MB?

    • I’m grandfathered, but this could save me a good bit of money and now will include unlimited talk/text.

      • I’m grandfathered with unlimited data. Currently 4people on my line with 2smart phones about 220 a month. Switching over would be significantly cheaper

      • I’m grandfathered unlimited (single line) new unlimited plan will cost me more. $30 for data, $35 for 300 minutes (minus %25 employer discount) $10 for 1000 messages. Costs me a bit under $65 AFTER taxes and fees. new plan would cost me $80 plus taxes and fees, with no employer discount.

      • My phone bill is going down from $790 a month to $320 a month (plus insurance and financed phones) but still! Thats a car payments worth of reduction! Im stoked!

    • I’m thinking the same thing. I’m paying 98/month grandfathered, with not a lot of options to upgrade…. where’s the catch?

  • So are they still charging monthly access fees? So this $80 plan is more like $100 + taxes and fees?

  • As it stands right now that actually doesn’t seem too terrible. T-Mobile’s former Simple Choice Unlimited plan was priced similarly.

    However, they’re still calling it unlimited when it’s still limited to 22GB. 10GB of LTE streaming isn’t bad either. That being said I won’t be leaving my $30 unlimited at TMO.

    • Was my first thought. Dude spent the last 3 years saying “No one wants or needs unlimited.” Barely retired, Verizon instantly brings it back.

        • Who knew that a guy could retire at 50 and be that crusty about change heh. Should have been happy as hell.

          • So getting rid of the original unlimited plan was his retirement goal. He convinced VZW stock holders that getting rid of unlimited plan would benefit VZW. In return, he got a BIG FAT bonus for his early retirement.

  • Anyone know what will happen if you are getting at 20% discount now? I want 4 lines, so will I only get 20% off one line, or all? No conjecture please 🙂

  • So $125 plus tax for 2? I’m paying roughly that right now on grandfathered unlimited with employee discount. Might do some switching if we can get a good deal on phone upgrades

  • Wonder if they’ll let those of us on legacy Unlimited tether for free now.

    Oh why am I even suggesting that. No way no how that happens 🙁

    • Legacy unlimited plans have been able to tether for free for years. I’m not sure what you’re talking about.

        • Not if you buy a phone off contract, and not sold through Verizon. My N exus 6p has been able to tether for free since I purchased it on Verizon with my grandfathered unlimited data plan.

          • FoxFi stopped working on my razr maxx hd when it got the 4.4.2 update. Definitely depends on the phone.

        • Uh no. You just have to know the go around. Unlimited legacy plan tether all the time without paying that stupid Hotspot fee.

          • Yes, there are several ways to tether without subscribing to that feature on Verizon. This isn’t a discussion about that.

            It’s a discussion about the subscription requirement itself.

      • Definitely not true, I’m still on grandfathered Verizon unlimited and I still (as of one minute ago) cannot tether on my iPhone 6. The only way I could do it on my android was because I was running a custom ROM but I could never do it via factory means.

        • You don’t need to root. As was said below, it depends entirely on the phone. I also believe, that a requirment is that it not be purchased through Verizon itself. My nexus 6p is un-rooted, and on stock Android on Verizon and I have always been able to tether for free.

          • Interesting. I purchased my Pixel XL direct from Google. I still may go with this new plan (as my SO would absolutely want to get in on it and I only use 22-25 GB a month) but I absolutely did not know this. Thanks for the heads up Yellow!

      • No they haven’t, only if they’ve rooted, used a third party app, or had one of a few select phones that allowed it.

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