As Verizon introduced their new Go and Beyond Unlimited data plans in August to replace the unlimited offering they had just introduced in February, we joked about how that initial offering may have impacted their network negatively, hence the quick move away from it. Verizon was so adamant (before editing the section out) that this move to two separate plans, both of which include a hell of a lot of throttling of video, had nothing to do with network performance, that it almost came off as them fully admitting that that’s exactly why Go and Beyond were here.
Fast forward to today, where Verizon CFO Matt Ellis sat down for a talk at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference, and Verizon seems to have realized that this move likely eased some strain on their network in an unexpected way.
Ellis was in the middle of talking about their move to two plans and that they created these for customer choice. He mentioned the plan for non-video consumers (Go Unlimited) and the other for those who like gobbling up all the streams their mind can handle (Beyond Unlimited), before admitting that unlimited has ushered in a new era of usage patterns on their network.
While they have certainly seen an increase in overall usage because of unlimited data, they are seeing usage spread more throughout a day. Instead of customers with limited buckets of data holding out from using their phones, only to then all dive in at once during peak hours, they are now evenly distributing their data usage. Those results had Ellis referring to Verizon’s network performance since unlimited’s re-launch as “fantastic.”
Of course, Ellis wouldn’t want to say anything else other than “fantastic” when talking about his company’s network, especially after the constant barrage of attacks from T-Mobile executives that Verizon can’t avoid. But you get the sense from his interview that this change in usage was a bit of an added bonus discovery.
What do you think, Verizon customers? How has the network been since unlimited launched earlier in the year?
// Verizon
I’ve been in video buffer hell. I feel like it’s 2001…
I did some speed checks. Using the Ookla’s Speedtest app, I’m getting a whopping 68 Mbps, but Netflix maxes out at 3.7 Mbps. I’m not sure what YouTube is throttled to, but it’s absolutely terrible.
I bet they did this because T-Mobile has been winning the speed awards. They have all this unused bandwidth just so they seem better on paper than in actual use.
If they use the word unlimited in their advertising this is surely a breach of trading standards no? The things littered with limits!
Verizon is getting slower, but they are my only choice for service everywhere I need them right now… Hoping for T-mobile to stretch out in NW Ohio, so I can get away from the most expensive, worst everywhere network.
I’m wondering what to do and could use some help. Just got hit with a monthly increase on VZ with my OG unlimited. It’s now over $100/month. I’ve been considering T-Mobile and Straighttalk. I do use hotspot but with my S8+ unlocked it doesn’t do the check which has been nice. Moving to the new VZ unlimited only drops the price by $10, so I’m looking for cheaper still. And I’m not sure I’d be able to retain hotspot with the new unlimited anyway. So….which do I try? T-Mo or Straighttalk? Gotta have the ability to hotspot whichever it is….
Idk but my FiOS sucks.
San Jose, Ca..consistant but slow.. bring on that 5G ASAP. Put some money back into the infastructure to make Verizon undoubtedly the best again…not just close.
Consistent*
It worked out great because now the MVNOs have unlimited too and it’s an even better deal than it was before. Thanks Verizon!
In Hawaii I got .5mbps down and 5mbps up. I got 10mbps down before unlimited then it dropped to half a mbps. I contacted Verizon multiple times and got different lies each time. I filed a complaint with the fcc. The fcc said Verizon would send s letter that they never sent. I HATE Verizon and hope they get shut down! Liars and cons!
I used to have them when I had unlimited. However, the speeds had seemed to get slower back then (3 yrs ago), and in my office, I’d never get reception. Changed to TMo, and on the top end, have gotten speeds I’ve never gotten with VZW. My office I get reception all the time, and in the 30mbps, up to 50s. Perfect? no. do I still have slow areas or areas with no coverage? yes. but I can deal with it for the savings I am getting.
I used to be grandfathered UDP and when Verizon decided to roll out their unlimited plans the company I work for jumped on and took over my line. So while I no longer have a bill which I like and yes I am greatful, the speed has gone downhill for me. I’ve noticed a bad drop in speed and overall network capability. Since the switch I’ve got 30mbps down once…every time I look at speed it’s at a crawl and I mean 1-3 Mbps even at times slower. If I was on my own I would probably jumped ship already since I was close to doing that already before work took over line. Good thing tho, is work and home have great WiFi so when I’m out and about I have to put up with it. I’ll live.
The network has been at least $10 more expensive than it was in 2016. I’m still salty over the arbitrary price hikes on my grandfathered unlimited data plan. Cost aside, I haven’t noticed any changes in performance over the last 12 months.
It’s been fine for me. I live in a rural area, so it’s less congested anyways. I’ve been picking up around 10-40mbps when I head to the city to work, 50-140mbps when in back around home. I haven’t noticed much different. Actually, more of an increase in speeds recently.
Interestingly, my wife and I were seeing a lot of speed issues on Verizon. She was on a Droid Turbo and I was on a Droid Turbo 2. We both usually saw 1-4Mbps down and about .5-2Mbps up in our area. Sometimes we might see a spike into the 10-14Mbps range. Last Thursday, we both switched our phones to the Pixel 2 and I’m seeing 20-30Mbps download and 15Mbps Up in the same area since switching phones. This is in the Akron/Canton Ohio area. I was even out yesterday and saw 50Mbps down yesterday.
The Turbo/Turbo 2 may not have had access to LTE advanced or some of the newer bands Verizon’s been deploying.
That’s why I haven’t gave up my grandfather unlimited plan still have it I like the freedom of no restrictions at all they Verizon has try to convince me too change plan but no I’ve had this plan for 6 years or more
No throttling of video when I use VPN. Well worth $30 for 3 years. Overall service is still slow as heck
AT&T was just ranked fastest highway network while moving. It really depends where you are at, but both AT&T and Verizon have weak spots, even though in general they have the best coverage areas. I’m really looking forward to see what happens when cdma goes away. AT&T has the HSPA, HSPA+ back-up secondary network option, Verizon will have nothing.
Speed is never the issue with T-Mobile … it’s coverage. I administrate 30 T-Mobile lines and 30 Verizon lines for a small business in Mpls/St Paul, and it’s amazing that in the middle of a large city, our T-Mobile users regularly experience spotty call quality.
Oh yea, ever since i switched from the 8gb plan to the Go Unlimited, they seem to be taking the “you may be throttle if you are on a congested tower etc…” statement a little to far. literally the day I switched I immediately started having buffering on youtube, instagram, twitter, you name it.
I was actually noticing tons of buffering about 6 months before they officially re-introduced Unlimited.
But it’s definitely worse now than it was, especially on Youtube. AT&T and T-Mo have never lagged VZW in LTE speeds from what I have seen. It’s always coverage, as Mike Reiners pointed out above. The coverage is the main reason I stick with VZW since I still travel to some pretty remote rural areas for work.
I wish my computer would allow me to post a screenshot but I am quite impressed. I am on Straighttalk VZW for about 3 weeks now and it is by far the fastest of the big 4 in my area. I am averaging 80+ DL 20+UL where the closest Tmobile the most I could pull was 60 and that was rare. I am shocked yet amazingly pleased at the results and I get unlimited (no throttling) for $55/month. Straighttalk FTW!!!!!
Do they allow hotspot?? I’m trying to figure out what to do. VZ just upped my monthly by nearly $20. It’s over $100/month now so I’ve got to do something. My S8+ doesn’t check hotspot so I can use it, but wondering what to do….
Try Beyond Unlimited? $85 + tax should be less than your current bill, and hotspot is a feature that’s enabled. No deprioritzation until 22GB. Another option is to talk to chat – if you get lucky, you can get someone who knows how to swap you to the February Unlimited plan for $80. May take a few reps to find someone that knows how.
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The only time I use the data is when WiFi isn’t available which is rare. Too little too late. They should have offered it before and not take it away from us.
Someday Verizon will learn the hard way after they lose a few million more customers. They’re constantly screwing around with cell phone manufactures that have all the bands in their phones but not “approved” to work on their “system”…another words extortion. Pay to play.
Also the insulting throttling of data when streaming video. People are flooding over to Tmobile, Metro PCS and to ATT where even on their $40 prepaid plan you can stream Direct TV Now without it counting against your data. Again on 6 gigs of data for $40 unlimited streaming of TV service. Now you do have to pay for the TV service but is reasonably priced. No wifi internet needed.
Tmobile has unlimited Netflix and Sprint now has Hulu.
Verizon has nothing. Go back to the drawing board.
I haven’t experienced any negative impact.
They’ve changed their network completely here in Tennessee. Last year, dropped calls were nearly obsolete. Today, calls drop in very urban areas and along the interstate where they haven’t dropped over the past 10+ years. It is as if they have turned the power down at all tower sites.
I think I deserve a little credit easing the strain on their network. I switched away from them to T-Mobile on October 4th – the last day they offered their 2 lines for $100 One plan. Haven’t had a lick of trouble and my data speeds are actually better.
As good, if not better, than ever. My speeds on Verizon have always been great. No complaints.
I actually decided to downsize my plan since I consistently used less than 4 gb a month. Then when I did I came close to going over. They said it was because of everyone on the unlimited plan taxing my data stream. Wtf ever. I am just counting the days until I can get off of Verizon
If you were using less than 4GB a month, how would other user’s use on an unlimited plan have anything to do with your data allotment? That makes no sense.
Since Unlimited launched. I dumped them and switched to ATT. Their speeds tanked.
I was with Verizon far too long. I stayed because I was scared to change and I thought they were the best.
Totally shocked at how much faster TMobile is. Just my experience.
It was crap, unusable in some places in my area. Switched in August and not going back.
I’m getting around 160mbps down at my house with t-mobile these days. 50+ at work, most places I have no issues and I can do simultaneous voice and data. No need to even turn on the wifi anymore at home or work because I have the 50GB soft cap and have never hit it (was in the 40’s the last month lol).
Verizon can suck it.
When I was on Verizon I had to use Wi-Fi if I wanted to do anything.
With T-Mobile I have no need to even turn it on.
I’m on VZW and I can talk and surf as well. I can even turn on Mobile Hotspot with my Essential 8.0 beta since they (Essential) didnt disable that feature. Im averaging about +80 mbps.
That’s awesome! I used to get those speeds on Verizon back when I first got the Thunderbolt. Didn’t last long though.
3.3 mbs here in downtown San Francisco. I still hold on to my UDP till they take it away. Its now $100 a month though, which is a bit much…
I just wish I could figure out a way to get hotspot tethering at no cost on my new Picel 2 XL without paying the crazy Verizon charges.
There is an xda link for this… You need a VPN service and a VPN tether app… https://forum.xda-developers.com/pixel-2-xl/how-to/bypass-verizon-throttling-reaching-15gb-t3702942
Thanks for the link!
Ouch, it would suck not having tethering included.
After rooting your phone, you can edit the build.prop to bypass the tethering check.
Cool. I will check out XDA.
Or for anyone that is getting a new phone, there are a lot of unlocked devices that carriers don’t have the software built-into that bypass the hotspot check without any root. I know almost Samsung unlocked devices worked for that, at least the S7, Edge, Note 5 and before…not sure about the S8’s or N8.
Ouch. I pay $85/month for two lines, completely unlimited, on TMobile. That’s $85 total, not for each line.
I pay $120 for 6 unlimited lines on T-Mobile, loving it.
Niiiiiiice! ????
Yes and at $20 per line I get Netflix ($10/month) and T-Mobile tuesdays (another $5 to $10 a month) free per line so it’s like almost FREE per line.
There is no $20/line TMO plan that includes Netflix On Us. Unless you’re an employee?
Twisting the additional line to sound good just seems like a way to cheapen the facts.
It’s also one Netflix account per TMO One plan, so you don’t get it “free per line” considering you have to have two lines for $120 after autopay to get it for a single Netflix account. It’s a single $11.99 credit per TMO account.
Line 3+ is $20 to add to the account though.
I am not an employee. I have 6 lines. two of which are free, I pay for the other 4. T-Mobile gives a $10 a month discount for phones that don’t use more than 2 gig of data. Now that would be $160 – $40 = $120 now you factor in Netflix and T-Mobile Tuesdays and also factor in everything else all the Uncarrier moves since number 1 and there you have it. Anybody could have had the same deal, including the free lines. I am on wifi 90% of the time to boot. And of course music and video do not count. You do the math.
What? He didn’t thank John Legere?
If it wasn’t for T-Mobile, VZW never resurrected any sorts of unlimited plans.
My video experience has gotten significantly worse yet im paying the same.. i think its time to switch
Switch to what? They all throttle video now, unless you pay extra.
Doesn’t matter, everything else is crazy faster.
Lies
That’s not true on At&t
I don’t pay extra, and i stream whatever qualityi want on TMobile.
No you dont
Yes, i do.
Unless you’re on an old plan, this is simply not true.
I’m on TMobile One.
I forget if it was a promo at the time or they just weren’t charging yet, but when i switched to TMo, all i had to do to be able to stream HD was toggle a setting in my account. Been streaming at whatever resolution i want for no extra charge ever since.
It says on the T-Mobile website that they limit you to 480p, unless you pay $25 extra for the higher-resolution? Do you know by any chance
I forget if it was a promo or they went charging at the time, but when i signed up with them, all i had to do was change a setting in my account online. After that, i could stream at whatever resolution i wanted.
Thanks for the reply, you’re right they said it was just a promo. They said all customers today are defalted to the lower resolution unless they pay more..ugh.. T-Mobile said they have to do it this way in order to allow customers to stream without interruptions.
Straighttalk doesnt throttle anything unless you use too much data in a congested area. Which I have yet to see a slowdown. Avg +80mbps
not true on AT&T but it is obscured through the “data saver” option as default ON. of course, I leave it on for my daughter, but turn it off for the wife and I.
My grandfathered original unlimited data plan on VZW doesn’t throttle video. I am getting full 1080p videos through Google play and Netflix, probably also through Hulu and Amazon Prime Video. One of the many reasons I have held on to my UDP with a deathgrip.
That is capitalism for you, oh and now that net neutrality has been repealed, you can expect more slow downs, and blocked content…
I’ve struggled for years now to get even 1mbps here in south Orlando FL. Unlimited isn’t worth jack if you don’t have the speed to use it.
Dude T-Mobile is crazy fast in Orlando…make the switch!
Tried it and got zero bars of service. About 18 months ago so maybe they’ve made progress with their Network. They gave me a router but it was pointless when I had literally no service … Wasn’t going to pay to use my own wifi
AT&T is king in FL.
Tried it and got worse speeds than VZW.
remember it also depends on the Phone antennas and Bands
Not in South Florida, not even close.
I want to say I’ve been with Verizon for 9 happy years, but it’s been terrible since throttle began (even on grandfathered Unlimited Plans) in late August. I plan on switching vey soon.
Same
I see no difference. But with my employe discount I’m considered a business customer so doubt I would anyway.
Their network got so bad in my area that we took all six of our lines to TMobile. No more outages or slow downloads.
Just 480p video.
Ha. At over 100 mb download on everything else we don’t worry about it.
Don’t know what nonsense you’re spouting, but I stream 4K video on TMo.
Lol, on what device? No phone has a 4k screen.
It’s easy enough to hotspot to a 4K TV to test. The base T-Mobile One plan is the only one that’s limited to 480p. The One Plus plan takes off the restriction on video res and now costs $10 extra per month. Prior to this summer it was a free addon. When TMO started the Netflix On Us promo the One Plus plan jumped to $10.
True, but you can still stream a 4K YouTube video, for example.
Fast and reliable as always.
Verizon upload speeds are horrible in Jupiter Fl. Less than .5 mbps 24/7 all 5 devices on plan. It has been that way since unlimited started last February.
Have not seen any network performances since switching to unlimited. So far it’s been very consistent in MD. Just happy to save $40 on unlimited since switching from OG unlimited.
Oh, so this means they’ll get rid of their bogus activation/upgrade fees? Right? Right??
I finally gave up my OG unlimited plan this black Friday.. it was painful but switching from Nationwide 1400 for three lines to unlimited beyond saved me $50/month even with the 128 GB Pixel 2 XL payment. My only regret is the locked bootloader ???? so far data is stable and streaming is not a problem. 75 mbs up and 55 mbs down in So Cal
Working 60 feet underground in the belly of a major airport, I am getting 125 down with 21 up. Considering that my co-worker’s have to take their T-Mobile phones upstairs just to send a text, I think I am stuck with VZW a little while longer. YMMV, but I know mine.
Dogshit slow as it always was. Less than 3mb down and maxed out around 256k upload here at my house (Dayton, OH). Not even a slight change for me. Which is why I finally ditched them. Switched to MetroPCS and I routinely get over 20mb down and 12 up at my house. Up the street where the signal is a little better, I pulled down 103mb and 50 up. Insane and for a hell of a lot less money to boot.
It’s the same in Cleveland. I use to have them as well and in my house and outside got crappy service then went to family Dollar down the street and got searching. I paid way to much for that crap.
I’m in Franklin OH, about 15 miles south of Dayton, and I just got 75mb down and 1.75mb up.
I’m in Dayton to…I get anywhere from 25-120mbps down on average. ~50 down on average.
I utterly hate Metro, I left them in September. Straighttalk is miles better imo.
Maybe it depends on the area that you’re in? I’m between Philadelphia and New York and Metro is so slow. I had to switch back to Verizon because it was much faster and better coverage.. I guess it varies on area.
Oh, it definitely does. I can drive about 2 miles from my house and get a decent VZW signal, but it completely sucks where I spend most of my time.
I’m still on the limited data. We have like 30GB shared between 7 people, and it’s cheaper for us that way.
Verizon has been sucking since I switched back in May. Central PA Harrisburg here.
Funny I got 100 down the other day in Harrisburg ????
I live in Carlisle and work evenings in Harrisburg. I just did a speedtest and got 71Mbps down and 20Mbps up. I almost always have good speeds on VZW.
It’s not so much the speed that sucks. It’s the lag and latency just trying to connect. Went to York shopping on Saturday and phone was almost unusable. Skipped streaming Spotify.
Definitely feels like Chicago has taken a hit in terms of network speed / connectivity. Apparently Verizon is still the best here but it’s lagging in the Loop.