Is it worth losing Verizon Unlimited Data plan for a phone upgrade?

[andyzee]

It gets expensive quickly.

Not true, you don't get charged for roaming unless it amounts to something like more than 50% for your phone usage.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Sprint advocate, I don't work for Sprint, just throwing an option out there. Just seems with cell service and home service (FIOS) Verizon has built a name for themselves and are living on that name, people forget there are other options and actually options that have been improving. Nothing like a little competition to give the consumer and edge.

 

[Geoff]

I'm pretty sure Sprint roams on the Verizon network so you should have coverage where ever they do.

My personal experience from 3 years ago is that Sprint devices often roam onto Verizon voice-only. Many Verizon base stations at 1900 MHz are configured to run CDMA in EVDO-only mode and I believe the Sprint data roaming agreement with Verizon is limited to the slower 1X protocol. 1X makes lousy use of the spectrum and Verizon doesn't want 1X phones to use up all the scarce bandwidth.

I have no idea if this is still true 3 years later.

 

[BackLoafRiver]

I was in the exact same situation last fall. I decided to suck it up and grab my upgrade since I had been due for over a year. The thought of losing Unlimited data was killing me. I am a "latest and greatest" guy when it comes to tech and sometimes the whole "early adopter" thing has bitten me in the butt.

Ended up with a 6 Gb shared data plan with the girlfriend and an iPhone 5. The only time I have even come close to the cap (I hit somewhere around 90% used) was over the holidays where I was streaming Netflix for an hour over LTE 4 days in a row. That sucked up data fast. I use it for almost everything (Pandora, Alpine Replay, GPS, etc) and usually between the lady and I we don't even come close. (50%ish)

Having used Verizon, At&t, and US Cellular in the east, Verizon has been the most consistent with the most agressive LTE expansion. In Maine, Sprint is pretty poor second only to T-Mo for worst coverage. Yes, you can roam on Verizon but a lot of time, it isn't a seamless transition and, iirc, data-roaming puts you at 3g speeds where VZ has LTE in the same area.

 

[Edd]

Yeah I should have been more specific earlier. Between Verizon and Sprint the voice coverage seems equivalent but for data Verizon often has 3G in rural areas where Sprint does not.

 

[bvibert]

The Sprint phone that I had didn't roam to Verizon for voice. I get excellent coverage on my Verizon phone at work, the Sprint phone right next to it didn't have jack for a signal..

 

[mlctvt]

Sometimes it's the placement of the tower or the height of the antenna on the tower. We had Verizon now Republic Wireless which uses Sprint. I get good coverage at work with both. My wife actually has better coverage with Sprint due to being closer to the Sprint tower than the Verizon tower. But overall I agree Verizon has the best coverage I also agree with the data roaming on Sprint is often at 1x.

I switched to save almost $100 per month. For the amount I use my phone the savings is well worth it. My only negative is I can't use the tracking app at Mount Snow due to the slow 1X data roaming speed, with Verizon I always got 3G there.

 

[Nick]

Apparently you can "sell" your Verizon Unlimited contract. on eBay people are paying $300+ for an assignment of an unlimited contract.

 

[hammer]

OK, so how does one get a smart phone and then keep their Verizon service without a required data plan? Is is possible?

Sorry if this has been answered but when I look into this the info is about as clear as mud...

 

[bvibert]

Apparently you can "sell" your Verizon Unlimited contract. on eBay people are paying $300+ for an assignment of an unlimited contract.

Really? How does that work?

 

[mlctvt]

OK, so how does one get a smart phone and then keep their Verizon service without a required data plan? Is is possible?

Sorry if this has been answered but when I look into this the info is about as clear as mud...

Would you use WiFi for the data? This would probably work for me since I'm on wifi except when I'm in my car. I do know that if you buy a smartphone from Verizon you are forced into a data plan. Not sure if you brought your phone?

 

[drjeff]

Sometimes it's the placement of the tower or the height of the antenna on the tower. We had Verizon now Republic Wireless which uses Sprint. I get good coverage at work with both. My wife actually has better coverage with Sprint due to being closer to the Sprint tower than the Verizon tower. But overall I agree Verizon has the best coverage I also agree with the data roaming on Sprint is often at 1x.

I switched to save almost $100 per month. For the amount I use my phone the savings is well worth it. My only negative is I can't use the tracking app at Mount Snow due to the slow 1X data roaming speed, with Verizon I always got 3G there.

That mid mountain tower near the top of the Tumbleweed lift at Mount Snow now has my Verizon service on my Droid at full 5 bar 4G service!

When I got my new phone in November, I gave up my unlimited verizon data plan for the 2 gigs a month they recommended and now save about $35 a month and have yet to use more than 60% of my allotted data- there's just too many free wi-fi hotspots out there to realistically need an unlimited data plan for about 98% of the population IMHO

 

[Nick]

Really? How does that work?

Its a contract assignment. I'll find some links tomorrow

 

[ScottySkis]

That mid mountain tower near the top of the Tumbleweed lift at Mount Snow now has my Verizon service on my Droid at full 5 bar 4G service!

When I got my new phone in November, I gave up my unlimited verizon data plan for the 2 gigs a month they recommended and now save about $35 a month and have yet to use more than 60% of my allotted data- there's just too many free wi-fi hotspots out there to realistically need an unlimited data plan for about 98% of the population IMHO

I agree with the good Doctor on this one 100%.

 

[mlctvt]

That mid mountain tower near the top of the Tumbleweed lift at Mount Snow now has my Verizon service on my Droid at full 5 bar 4G service!

When I got my new phone in November, I gave up my unlimited verizon data plan for the 2 gigs a month they recommended and now save about $35 a month and have yet to use more than 60% of my allotted data- there's just too many free wi-fi hotspots out there to realistically need an unlimited data plan for about 98% of the population IMHO

It's interesting that I live probably less than a mile from that tower at Bears Crossing and nobody at my place can get anything more than 3G 1 bar and lots of calls get dropped. I'm shdowed by the hill. Units lower on the hill have perfect signal. I used to get 4 bars from the tower acrosss the valley but as soon as they turned on the tower at the top of Tumbleweed they turned off the one that gave me service. This is another reason I went with Republic wireless, at least I can use my cell phone over Wifi at the condo now. The only other option was getting a FemtoCell for Verizon. I guess the new Mount Snow tower improved things for most people but a few dozen at our condo complex have worse service than before.

 

[andyzee]

In the end, guess it depends on what you require. If service on the hill is important, so be it, depends on the service, depends on the hill. Verizon has long been known as the best, maybe they still are, but others are catching up. Me, I don't really care about service on the hill, nice to have, but can live without it. Sprint does give it to me on my hill, Killington, even if it is a bit spotty at times. On the freeways I find it's great.

 

[Nick]

So at least here is some silver lining.

http://support.verizonwireless.com/clc/faqs/Account Management/faq_billing.html?grp=3&faq=2

You can "sell" your unlimited data plan. There are a lot of listings on ebay, etc.. Look like they go for > $300 regularly.

So basically, you "sell out" the rest of your contract to someone who wants unlimited data for $300. Then you go sign up for a new account at Verizon under shared data. You can get new (subsidized) phones again. Although this is now on shared data at least you are +$300 and +new subsidized phones.

 

[bvibert]

So at least here is some silver lining.

http://support.verizonwireless.com/clc/faqs/Account Management/faq_billing.html?grp=3&faq=2

You can "sell" your unlimited data plan. There are a lot of listings on ebay, etc.. Look like they go for > $300 regularly.

So basically, you "sell out" the rest of your contract to someone who wants unlimited data for $300. Then you go sign up for a new account at Verizon under shared data. You can get new (subsidized) phones again. Although this is now on shared data at least you are +$300 and +new subsidized phones.

Interesting. Let us know how selling your plan works out for you.

Does that mean that you lose your phone number?

 

[Nick]

Not sure on the number. It doesn't matter much for me bc I use Google voice, but it would matter for my wife.

 

[Glenn]

That's a lot of data you go through Nick. My wife and I have had our iPhone 5's since the fall. Combined, we "may" go over one gig a month. Each...maybe 500-800megs a month. Granted, we do all our heavy lifting on wifi: app updates, os updates, videos. But I still check webcams multiple times a day and we stream Pandora at times up and back on the weekends.

 

[Nick]

Yeah I don't get wifi in the office so when I am there I am often on the network. At home I typically use wifi though.

It's not that consistent, i could probably use wifi more often. My concern is more long-term ... who knows how much data I will be using five years from now. Also if wireless networks improved significantly enough I could potentially use a wifi modem to power my house but as of now it's not really reliable enough, but I pay Charter I think $60 a month for 20down / 5up at home.