Verizon Moneymaking Plans: Low Bandwidth Caps + New High Bandwidth Services = Profits?
from the or-pissed-off-customers dept
We've argued before that the rush by various mobile operators to push for (very low) bandwidth caps is going to backfire. They're trying to get more people using their services, while at the same time making it harder for them to actually make use of those services. Now users have to be a lot more aware of how much bandwidth something is using, which also creates serious mental transaction costs. Verizon recently put in place extremely low data caps (2 gigs?!?) with extremely high overage fees ($10 per gig?). And... just a few weeks later the company announces a (high bandwidth) video on demand offering and set it up so you can't use it over WiFi. In other words, the only way to use this high bandwidth offering is over the network with the low caps and the high overage fee. Have fun paying for those videos you watch. That's going to add up fast.
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Filed Under: bandwidth caps, data, mobile broadband
Companies: verizon wireless
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https://products.verizonwireless.com/index.aspx?id=fnd_video_packages
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I expect that they will add their video service to all the expensive data plans ("according to your data plan"), so that it will not count toward the cap. I expect each data plan will include an "Up To XX hours per month of Verizon Video" or "Up To XX GB per month of Verizon Video" which don't count toward your normal data cap, at which point any additional video starts counting toward your data cap or costs money directly.
There are plenty of ways to hit the customer with this one, and I'm sure Verizon Wireless will be able to figure out the method that "maximizes profit" on people who use the service.
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Same old song and dance
So, same old song & dance, just in a new era.
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Re: Same old song and dance
As far as shortening the prompts, you can type in commands at any time during message playback. If I wanted to delete a message without listening to it, that's 337. (33 = forward to end, 7 = delete message.)
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to navigate a voicemail system.
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These commands were also used by the various landline phone systems I have used in Canada (Rogers, Bell, Aliant and eastlink). The only company I don't have experience with is Telus and Koodo (owner by Telus).
Given this information and a the desire to make switching easy for a customer, I suspect these commands are likely standard across Canada and the USA. Especially since choosing/changing the command numbers takes relatively little effort.
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Re: Same old song and dance
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It was indeed deliberately designed to use as many of a customer's minutes as possible.
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Something has to replace txt msg.
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Verizon
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Re: Verizon
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"We limeys cede the right to forever bastardize our language to you bloody colonials."
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I suppose you also think that split infinitives aren't proper English, despite the fact that they have been in regular use by all class levels for hundreds of years.
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To me it means that there is some kind of upper age limit and you are to old. Like in the children's playground where you have to be 12 or under to go on the swings - tough on us oldies!
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Translation
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It is hard to believe that anyone is worse than AT&T
If we allow AT&T to buy T-Mobile, I am sure we will see more competition to see which company can screw over their customers the most.
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$10 a gig?The signal must be made of gold....
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Re: $10 a gig?The signal must be made of gold....
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Regression
Those of us who've suffered with satellite broadband have one thing in common -- we *hate* low caps and bandwidth meters. That service is marketed towards home use, but how the H377 can you hope to stay under the cap when you have kids, especially teenagers? Low caps are to be loathed, despised, insulted, screamed-at and fought at all costs. And the mental toll is FAR more costly than the $80 or whatever a month you're shelling out.
"Bill Shock" is nothing now. Wait until those "family plans" with thimbles of data at $10 bucks a Gig start becoming widespread. Junior is stuck on the bus 30 minutes each morning and afternoon, so what does he do? He blows through MB's like they're a box of Twinkes. And the parent gets a heart attack when the overcharge warnings start hitting his in-box. Then you get the lectures, the warnings, the whining, the complaining, the "I didn't do it! I wasn't on my phone! I didn't watch that movie! No, I don't use YouTube!!"
Have fun, kiddies. The online media industry is too late to this ball game to have much say-so when people start getting into the habit of "I'm not going to download that app, I don't think I have the data available."
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Ideal result: People go elsewhere for videos so they can use WiFi; money spent developing video on demand service ends up wasted.
Likely result: More "Person surprised by $30 million phone bill" articles.
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This implies they didn't just setup a webpage and put real effort into a system they knew would rarely be used. Its going to be inefficient with encoding streams because every bit of the data will make them money.
Use the internet its awesome! Here is just enough bandwith for about 2 hours for the month. Enjoy.
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Costumer: Please don't do this again!
Pirates: Rooooooted! Suck it Verizon I own the handset now.
Competition: What competition?
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Ok, so you rooted it. How much did it cost you? Are you breaking the contract? And why is Competition asking "What competition?" when there is evidently no competition?
Please don't post anymore.
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F. the contract the handset is mine.
Please don't post again fool.
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By doing that, I'm sure that I'm not paying any data charges above and beyond my home internet, or my mobile Clearwire "Puck" that we use for mobile use. Obviously if some other kind of service is in the device, a software change or two and suddenly every "good" app on it only uses 3G. Oops.
Cell phone based data is just outlandish. But then again, so is printer ink if you bought it by the gallon.
Anything to make a buck.
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Bandwidth and speed, and requirements.
It's not that hard, and Mike, you claim to be an expert in everything internet related.
It is promoted as a high speed and low latency service, it is that for the simple reason is that they make it more expensive for bulk downloaders to use the LIMITED bandwidth.
If you allowed everyone to download large files, then it would cease to be a high speed / low lat system, and people who want to surf the web and just check their emails will have to deal with a slower system.
when your are playing WoW or some online game you are not worried about you cap, you worry about connection speed and latency, it's only the bulk downloaders that do not care about latency and response, or hogging bandwidth that people are willing to pay for, to gain the performance they want.
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"then it would cease to be a high speed / low lat system, and people who want to surf the web and just check their emails will have to deal with a slower system."
Then maybe verizon and ATT shouldn't be selling wireless as a viable alternative to wireline internet access or suggesting that it can be used for a broad range of internet activities. ATT, for example, is focused almost entirely on wireless and has essentially ceased build-out of wireline of any kind.
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Re: Bandwidth and speed, and requirements.
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my phone has data/text disabled and i will never allow my money to feed the greed of these asses.i have the cheapest plan possible as well.Verizon and others can suck it.
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The phone does everything I want it to. Wifi, internal GPS with TomTom installed and a respectable app selection are all I need. I expect as these "(rape)services" are rolled out, more and more people will see the value in completely avoiding wireless data services to begin with.
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Have fun getting raped anywhere else you go!
I recently looked around at plans, just because Sprint wanted a $10 data premium, and I was not able to find anything via a national carrier that wasn't capped, outrageously priced, or just plain shitty service.
While I do not like the $10 extra, it sure as hell beats any capped plan hands down. Sometimes you just have to settle for the lesser evil to get (near) what you want....
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Overhead and updates.
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Re: Overhead and updates.
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Mac 128k
This number actually changes daily as people discover services and streaming that gobble bandwidth. Still they quote this number like it's static. I remember when PCs had 128k of ram, and that was "more than anyone would need".
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Most people use bandwidth only to get mail, update the weather, things like that. It's all very low bandwidth use. There are some people who surf occassionally, and they use a little more.
I think that they are correct that the average use doesn't use very much bandwidth. I don't expect Techdirt people to be average users, that's all.
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Business models
* Limit 35 lbs per seat*. Overage fees are $1 per pound per mile travelled. Carryon luggage counts towards weight allotment.
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