Verizon Changes Internet Rates for New or Changed Contracts

Verizon is going to give everyone free Internet access on their
national calling plans as of this last week.

The GOTCHA is that there is a new Verizon Internet fee of something
like $2 per megabyte of data moved!

http://www.phonescoop.com/news/item.php?n=2515


Was this with the best interest of the consumer at heart or corporate
greed rearing its ugly head again? Well for one thing those who down
load ring tones will pay not only for the ring tone but now must pony
up for the data moved. This will add a little over a dollar to your
bill for the ring tone data plus the cost of the ring tone itself.

Look at streaming radio, downloading pictures or mp3s; you will want
to buy an unlimited data plan (which is secretly limited anyway to
about 4 GB total for any one month but that is another can of worms).
The problem is that I have unlimited high speed data cable access at
home for less than the cost of Verizon's Mobile Phone 'unlimited' data
plans. I know people here in Georgia who now pay only $10 for DSL from
AT&T which is even cheaper. BTW did you know that the current high
speed of 5 megabits DSL will shortly jump to 250 megabits DSL with the
introduction of new DSL modems (see CNet news)?


But there is more. Soon some carriers may be giving away totally free
phones based on the Google marketing model where advertisers pay for
your phone bill and Internet access. Verizon it appears will not be
part of that scheme unless something changes over the weekend
according to Forbes.
Sprint and T-Mobile may be announced on Monday as members of the new
scheme.

Verizon can now advertise they offer a free phone and free Internet
access too. Will anyone read the fine print before signing up?

On 2007-11-03, 4phun <vic.healey@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Verizon is going to give everyone free Internet access on their
> national calling plans as of this last week.
>
> The GOTCHA is that there is a new Verizon Internet fee of something
> like $2 per megabyte of data moved!

That's not free. They're giving you the choice of paying per megabyte or
paying a flat monthly rate. Sprint's been doing that for years.


--
Steve Sobol, Victorville, CA PGP:0xE3AE35ED www.SteveSobol.com

Steve Sobol wrote:
> On 2007-11-03, 4phun <vic.healey@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Verizon is going to give everyone free Internet access on their
>> national calling plans as of this last week.
>>
>> The GOTCHA is that there is a new Verizon Internet fee of something
>> like $2 per megabyte of data moved!
>
> That's not free. They're giving you the choice of paying per megabyte
> or paying a flat monthly rate. Sprint's been doing that for years.
>
He's right though. That's the new deal and I didn't see a choice as you
mentioned though I just looked into it today. Btw, I, for one, happened to
notice the 'fine print' and it turned me away.

I think 4phun's 'correctness' about this lies in the semantics. What Vz is
saying is that "ACCESS" is free, which it is. But USAGE isn't. These word
games are fair game in advertising and promotion.

On 2007-11-11, Carl <crothman@NOSPAMoptonline.net> wrote:

> I think 4phun's 'correctness' about this lies in the semantics. What Vz is
> saying is that "ACCESS" is free, which it is. But USAGE isn't. These word
> games are fair game in advertising and promotion.

I would agree with you. Your assessment matches VZW's typical M.O.


--
Steve Sobol, Victorville, CA PGP:0xE3AE35ED www.SteveSobol.com
Geek-for-hire. Details: http://www.linkedin.com/in/stevesobol