Kyle
There was an outcry yesterday after Verizon Communications CFO Fran Shammo spoke at a JP Morgan investor conference. During his keynote he talked about Verizon’s move to shared data.
Shammo said that Verizon will start offering shared data plans this summer. This has actually come as welcome news to a majority of Verizon Wireless customers.
Many families want to enjoy the features and convenience of a smart phone without having to get individual data plans for each device and each family member.
New shared data plans will mean a family plan and perhaps small business plans as well, can share buckets of data. This would be similar to the way shared buckets of calling minutes are shared.
The outcry came after Shammo said Verizon Wireless would begin moving customers to tiered and shared data plans at their next upgrade.
Customers who had an unlimited data plan for $30 per month prior to July 2011, were able to stay “grandfathered” into their unlimited data, provided that they didn’t change any other part of their plan. Verizon would even allow upgrade eligible customers, covered by the “grandfathe” clause when they upgraded their device under subsidy.
Now the only way to keep your unlimited data is to elect to stay on the same device or pay full retail for your next device. This can be rather costly for the average customer.
A Verizon Wireless spokes woman confirmed all this to CNet earlier in the day.
While this may seem outlandish to some, those maximizing their unlimited data may find this to be a decent compromise.
Source: CNet
