http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/ Engadget Mobile Comments for Verizon to offer unlimited voice, data, and messaging packages http://www.engadgetmobile.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadgetmobile.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/What about tethering?

The prices are a little high compared to what Sprint is offering (everything for $120; everything + tethering for $150)... but both are way too high. IMO: the attractive price point is at half that number ($75/mo for unlimited everything including tethering).

]]>Feb 17th 2008 8:36PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/Feb 17th 2008 8:43PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/Yup. $50/mo for unlimited everything except tethering is what I believe will be the market sweet spot. And $75/mo with tethering.

Sprint and Verizon are just going to "prove" to the world that they can't sell unlimited service by pricing it at that level. They'll neglect to add "but we might have made it stick by selling it at the prices charged by MetroPCS, Cricket, and Boost".

Dorks.
]]>Feb 17th 2008 8:59PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/Feb 17th 2008 9:28PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/There is that: hopefully the fact that Sprint and Verizon have done this will mean that AT&T will soon follow, even if the prices are just as high.

From there, it's just a matter of competition until the prices drop down to the price that the market will properly bear.]]>Feb 17th 2008 9:34PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/Feb 17th 2008 9:35PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/Feb 18th 2008 2:39PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/
Go back to your school, little one. You clearly haven't done your homework. The ONE carrier you picked (helio) does in fact have a nationwide unlimited voice and unlimited data plan, for less $ than either Sprint or Verizon are asking.

Further, "nationwide" service only matters if you'll actually be using it "nationwide". Most people don't travel enough to care about that. In those cases, MetroPCS, Cricket, and Boost's "region" specific plans aren't a _real_ limitation. You can use all 3 on the road for a fee, or use them "unlimited" while near home. For half as much money per month.

The problem for Sprint and Verizon is: they're charging extra for something most people wont need, and they wont want to pay for it. So they'll go with the carriers that give them what they want (unlimited use) on the basis that they need (near home) for far less money.

It doesn't take a genius to see that anywhere MetroPCS, Cricket, or Boost are available, Sprint and Verizon will have to compete with them on those price points ... and at that point, it doesn't make sense to have drastically different rates (twice as much money) based on your zip code ... so they might as well offer those rates wherever they offer the unlimited plans. If they don't, then they're just baiting MetroPCS to expand into those other cities more quickly (and Metro only charges off-network roaming, not roaming when you're in a different MetroPCS city).

One way or the other, the big carriers have to recognize that $100+ for unlimited service isn't going to be a reasonable price point. It'll limit them to a niche market (high income traveling businessmen) at best. And they'll lose everyone else to MetroPCS, Cricket, and Boost.
]]>Feb 18th 2008 3:07PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/
If $100 for unlimited is an "unreasonable" price point, please explain all the customers that VZW, AT&T and Sprint have who gladly pay more than $100 for only 2,000+ minutes?

You are actually thinking that VZW offering unlimited NATIONWIDE calling (nationwide is a lot more common and neccessary than you think) for $100 a month will NOT help them compete against the likes of MetroPCS and Cricket when VZW ALREADY smashes the hell out of them in net adds quarter after quarter by a ridiculous margin without unlimited nationwide calling? Doesn't make any sense. ]]>Feb 18th 2008 6:09PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/
if the big 4 were smashing them, then the unlimited carriers wouldn't be expanding consistently. Even within Sprint, the profitable part of the company is Boost. Clearly the expanding part of the market right now is people for whom "nationwide" isn't the important part of the equation.

With Sprint specifically, they're going to continue to hemorrhage customers with these prices. So they're going to have to lower prices in order to reverse that trend. Then Verizon will have to do the same, in order to keep expanding instead of start losing ground to Sprint.
]]>Feb 18th 2008 6:29PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/
VZW had 2.1 MILLION net new customers in the 4th quarter of 2007. How many did MetroPCS and Cricket add?

I can't find the official numbers but I do know it's only a couple hundred thousand for each. So yeah, they are likely adding 1/10th what VZW and AT&T add each quarter.

]]>Feb 18th 2008 7:30PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/
1/10 the new customer base, with 1/10 of the native coverage, isn't a bad comparison.

The real stats to look at (which are probably impossible to find): how do their growth rates compare within the same markets.
]]>Feb 18th 2008 7:42PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.digg.com/tech_news/Verizon_to_offer_UNLIMITED_Wireless_Service]]>Feb 17th 2008 8:45PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/Just do two $99 Single lines. That way they can both get NE2 credit.
Something doesn't sound right.
]]>Feb 17th 2008 9:14PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/Feb 17th 2008 11:07PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/Feb 18th 2008 9:03AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/
Dee, where did you hear this? I did a google search and found nothing on all lines getting NE2]]>Feb 18th 2008 9:03PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/Some places like Best Buy have higher upgrade prices than the new plan prices. ]]>Feb 18th 2008 9:24PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/Feb 19th 2008 9:40PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/Feb 17th 2008 11:13PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/Feb 18th 2008 12:49AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/Feb 18th 2008 1:36AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/
It's just one of the annoyances of the Engadget family of sites.
]]>Feb 18th 2008 3:42AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/Feb 18th 2008 2:56AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/Feb 18th 2008 7:53AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/Feb 18th 2008 7:41AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/Feb 18th 2008 10:45AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/Feb 18th 2008 11:21AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/you name the local only, semi national coverage carriers like cricket as if they are really the reason verizon is doing this.

verizon is marketing this idea to the high end user, this isn't for the grass is always greener type who will switch companies to save 10 bucks a month. this is for the high end core user, it will benefit some casual users, but verizon has a lot of people with 6000 minute plans, or people going over their 1350 plans a lot and this needed to be offered

you want unlimited nationwide minutes, no roaming, no long distance, unlimited data, unlimited tethering, unlimited text, unlimited MMS, unlimited Vznav, unlimited mobile email
VS
unlimited minutes, pay for roaming, use minutes while roaming, free text and pix

the above is what verizon offers unlimited, the below is what cricket offers unlimited...wow..GREAT comparison john. You can;t be seriously trying to compare verizon to a crappy local unlimited plan...they are not even in the same state, little on the same ballpark.
]]>Feb 18th 2008 11:21AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/
People say $99.99 for unlimited voice is too high when there are TONS of users with VZW right now on their current $99.99 2000 minute plan or on higher plans. These plans are going to be VERY popular. ]]>Feb 18th 2008 12:16PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/
man, i just had to comment on this:

"little on the same ballpark"???????

The phrase is "let alone ... (the same ballpark)"

That was funny. It's like when people write or say "I could care less"; do they ever think about the logic of that statement? It's "I couldn't care less"!

/Rant]]>Feb 18th 2008 9:10PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/Feb 18th 2008 3:35PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/
I'll wait to see what they say about tethering. If tethering is in (and no silly cap), i am an instant switcher. I was going to wait for Tmobile's Talk Forever(tm) (Hotspot@home) VoIP to come out in March....but might not have to now....]]>Feb 18th 2008 3:57PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/Feb 18th 2008 5:44PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/Feb 18th 2008 7:46PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/Feb 18th 2008 7:23PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/Feb 18th 2008 11:55PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/Feb 18th 2008 9:33PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/

Side question: Did i read correctly and employee discounts wont be able to apply to these new plans?]]>Feb 19th 2008 12:14AMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/Feb 22nd 2008 1:13PMhttp://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/17/verizon-to-offer-unlimited-voice-data-and-messaging-packages/Feb 20th 2008 9:06PM