Tiers

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, chances are you’ve heard about Verizon’s new tiered data plans. To me, they strike me as bullshit. Consider the factors:

  • Verizon’s biggest competitor is AT&T.
  • Verizon’s new plans are not price-competitive with AT&T.
  • AT&T, if the acquisition of T-Mo goes through, will be somewhat more reliable than it was before.
  • Therefore, Verizon is being dumb and ceding customers to AT&T.

Let’s run over the carrier’s data plans:

AT&T

  • $15 for 200MB, $15 per 200MB overage
  • $25 for 2GB, $10 per 1GB overage
  • $45 for 4GB, $10 per 1GB overage, tethering included

Verizon

  • $10 for 75MB, $10 per 75MB overage (Feature phone only)
  • $30 for 2GB, $10 per 1GB overage (applies to all smartphone data plans)
  • $50 for 5GB
  • $80 for 10GB

With Verizon, you’re essentially losing unlimited data for absolutely NO pricing break whatsoever. AT&T gives you $5 off, which might not be much, but it’s still something.

Also consider that the entry-level price for AT&T is much lower than that of Verizon. $30 vs. $15. (This would change slightly if Verizon’s 75MB plan were available on smartphones, but alas, it is not.) But even then, Verizon’s 75MB plan is badly valued; for just $5 more, you get more than double the data on AT&T’s network.

Also consider that AT&T’s highest-end DataPro plan includes tethering and 4GB of data at no additional cost. While you do get one more GB of data for just $5 on Verizon, if you want tethering you’re still stuck paying an additional $20, even if you don’t need the additional 2GB that a tethering plan gives you.

(Also to note: If you go with the 2GB plan and add tethering to THAT, it’s still more expensive than AT&T’s comparable plan: $50 for 4GB+tethering. If Verizon had followed AT&T’s lead on the tiered data, then they’d be even.)

One last thing to consider: If you buy a featurephone (think phones like the Voyager, enV series, the Rogue, etc.), you will be forced into ponying up that extra $10 per month. So Verizon’s entry-level prices for featurephones is also higher.

So to sum up these last bits:

  • Verizon’s plans are more expensive than AT&T’s. This is, of course, removing the network reliability from the equation. Verizon’s network is more reliable, and you’ll be now paying a premium for it.
  • Verizon has no entry-level data plan for smartphones. AT&T does, and if you want a smartphone, but don’t use data much, AT&T looks like the best choice at this point.
  • Verizon’s entry-level price for featurephones is also more expensive. As of this writing, AT&T doesn’t require you to get a data plan with a featurephone. Verizon, however, does.
  • AT&T might just get better after their buyout of T-Mobile. I’m not betting on it, but hell, it might hust happen.

My viewpoint on the whole thing

I think Steve Jobs said it best when he was talking about the iPhone; he said something along the lines of “It’s easier to start with nothing and slowly include features, than to include a ton of features and then have to take them all away.”

In this case, the carriers promised us unlimited data. Then, the iPhone happened, and internet usage on mobile devices surged. The carriers could see this coming. Carriers could definitely see that mobile internet was the next big thing. So why continue to offer unlimited data? Why not offer tiered data at first, then move up to unlimited if your infrastructure can handle it?

You can’t promise your customers something, then turn around and take it away from them. This will only serve to piss off your customer base.

Alternatively, there are other ways to manage data use. T-Mobile manages their network by throttling the heaviest users. And why this might suck slightly, it is much better than what Verizon and AT&T do to you. And in this age of apps such as Hulu Plus, Pandora, Netflix, and YouTube, it’s clear we’re going to get screwed by these data caps.

tl;dr: Switch to Sprint. They’re awesome.

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