yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Thunderbolt General] rajuabju:
My business rep has also told me that people getting 4G data plans better do it now, before it changes. He did not tell me this Thursday, but his feeling was no more than 30 days after the TB was released. He also told me there's no guarantee anyone on the unlim plans will be grandfathered.
[Thunderbolt General] biglipps66:
This is what I was afraid of.. glad I JUST got mine lol
[Thunderbolt General] jamesfrom818:
I knew the unlimited 4G data wouldn't last until the Droid Bionic. Glad I have my Thunderbolt.
[Thunderbolt General] lorijuan1024:
i am in the door but i still am going to sell TB when bionic comes out
[Thunderbolt General] javawolfpack:
There would be lots of trouble for not grandfathering people already up and running on unlimited 4G data plans. If it isn't in the contract they can't suddenly put it into the contract. Additionally as the TB currently offers no built in mechanism to turn off 4G for those who got it under the concept of it having unlimited data would have to be offered the option to return their phones, etc... Seriously it'd be a PR nightmare/huge trouble for VZW to not grandfather people in, its the same reason AT&T did it for people who already had unlimited plans when they moved to a tiered system.
[Thunderbolt General] RafficaX:
That was my thought to it also. Cant change my contract just bc they want to. Thats why we have contracts, to lock things in place :)
[Thunderbolt General] Diversion:
So what happens when we want to move onto another 4g device? Are they going to allow us to transfer our 4g plan to the new device and retain our unlimited? I'd imagine since the LTE sim is swappable.. we can probably just pop it into another device and keep unlimited..

Any thoughts?
[Thunderbolt General] igotit989:
Wow I just signed up for Verizon today and got the Thunderbolt I signed up for the Unlimited plan looks like its a good thing I did ;) seeing this tonight
[Thunderbolt General] allquixotic:
So glad I bought my Tbird on release day.

So pissed that Verizon would do this. After the gov't sat on their hands and made them go either unlimited or 5GB (not "5GB unlimited") in years past, their CDMA based data plans have been unlimited ever since. REALLY unlimited. Unless you're in the 95th percentile. Maybe.

But now they're going the way of the greedy !@#$@#%(^#$^$$%#$$ at AT&T? What happened to the carrier that was both reliable-thanks-CDMA and consumer-friendly-thanks-Sprint, in the same package?

Major regression. Very unhappy. I'm glad I have grandfathered, but I wonder if I will be forced over to a 5GB plan in two years when my contract expires.
[Thunderbolt General] Philosophre:
Can we get some sort of confirmation to this rumor?
[Thunderbolt General] WilliamStern:
I'm glad I became a Verizon customer this past Sunday. I was with T-Mobile till the news broke out. I refuse to give AT&T any of my money!

Anyway, I'm glad I made this move. The Thunderbolt is crazy fast, and I'm very happy with it. Oh, only 1 thing I did hate.... My battery died after 3 hours of being fully charged.
[Thunderbolt General] javawolfpack:
I'd think that switching devices isn't an issue. Take AT&T they only forced people to tiered if they change out of the unlimited data plan. As their entry level tiered was priced at like $15/mo vs $30 so some people who didn't use much data chose to do that but never could get unlimited again. Also for developers and the like switching between devices for testing on Verizon it seems to require switching a phone ID and activating that device, but I assume with 4G the sim card would only need to be moved? I'm unsure as to how that works, but I'll likely need to move between my TB, which arrives tomorrow, and my Incredible for development purposes. So I'm sure I'll figure out the details soon.

I assume until Verizon makes an official statement it'll remain a rumor. Regardless, sooner than I've been hearing. I'd heard tiered by the summer. But suppose a test run for a week might be enough to see what kind of saturation to expect network wise. But think before the bionics release would be a reasonable guess. But well wish it wasn't headed that way. Think the approach of I think sprint just charging an additional $10/mo if you want 4G isn't a bad business model. Plus the users who get these phones and barely use any data would likely offset from those who do...
[Thunderbolt General] RafficaX:
after testing lte i would pay $10 a month more for it.
[Thunderbolt General] Philosophre:
My Verizon Rep is allowing me to upgrade early, but pay Verizon price for the phone. But my upgrade is the 29th of March. So if I can, I would wait and grab from Amazon. So until some sort of verification somewhere I'll wait. They won't do a surprise change would they?
[Thunderbolt General] allquixotic:
Don't think for a minute that they won't do a surprise change! The legalese you click / sign through when you're becoming a customer says they can change any part of any of your terms at any time with or without notice, basically they can decide that it's $1,000 per byte and that's just tough luck for you. Of course they would probably get sued for being unreasonable, but you see my point. The act of changing the deal on a dime is not illegal because you agreed to let them.

And if you aren't even a Verizon Unlimited Smartphone Data Plan customer at all right now, they have even less obligation to you, because you aren't a customer, and you have no chance of being grandfathered.
[Thunderbolt General] nosympathy:
this was my understanding. Even if they have a contract with you, they can still change it, but it then gives you an option, you bend over and take the changes, or you can leave with no ETF.

Also if they are not going to grandfather people in, then I will be returning my phone within the 30 days and going with another carrier. I like their coverage and LTE is crazy, but a 5GB cap on internet speeds this fast? you'll be hitting cap in a week.

I am hoping that the whole deal between AT&T and T-Mobile becoming one company makes them change their mind, or at least rethink the data plans.
[Thunderbolt General] kpitao:
Where did you get this info?
[Thunderbolt General] milan03:
I don't want to be taken wrongly, but what are you trying to do with your phone that will require a dual core with only 256MB of RAM per core, and OS that really doesn't even support it yet. All that with the possibility of not being able to get the unlimited data which renders the whole LTE experience frigid.

Just my 2cents.
[Thunderbolt General] Gr8gorilla:
Most of the tech community buzz that I can find through Google, believes that the Unlimited Pricing will end in May when they do away with the Free Wifi Hotspot. Most believe that after May, if you want to make any changes to your account (possibly adding wifi hotspot) that you will have to sign a new contract and agree to tiered data pricing.

Take all of this with a grain of salt. The Tmobile ATT merger, could make Verizon keep unlimited plans. It would be one more reason for customers to leave ATT/Tmobile and come to them. (This is totally my opinion of course). I think that if they don't keep the unlimited data a lot of the Tmobile customers will flock to Sprint as the last bastion of Unlimited.

But hey, who knows, I don't work for Verizon, nor am I psychic.
[Thunderbolt General] Philosophre:
Don't worry, people from all walks of life like to throw out guesses with no factual backing from corporate to stir the community. *ahem* this thread...

But at least your post is filled with acceptable logic and facts too. Thanks.
[Thunderbolt General] bplewis24:
False. Thursday was 3 days ago and there was no announcement and unlimited plans are still available.

Brandon
[Thunderbolt General] ThunderStick:
Here is a link to the VZ unlimited data plan in black and white from the VZ website. No limit stated yet. Getting my TB on thursday, order from letstalk for $175.00 along with a phone for my wife.

http://support.vzw.com/terms/products/vz_email.html

And of course a link to some relative information on this topic

http://phandroid.com/2010/05/27/kiss-your-unlimited-data-goodbye-verizon-wants-tiered-plans-with-4g/ <--- OLD MY BAD, but still hasn't happened
[Thunderbolt General] funkybside:
That second article is like a decade old.
[Thunderbolt General] Nicaragüense:
I just got my TB today and I am still on unlimited 3g/4g.
[Thunderbolt General] Sesso:
Everyone is getting data caps. just gotta deal with it.
[Thunderbolt General] Sesso:
me too. Mine is unlimited and I got mine yesterday.
[Thunderbolt General] squeeze:
But you can't buy the phone without adding this feature to the contract. Nor canyou take it off unless you have the proper handset.
[Thunderbolt General] Morkai Almandragon:
No, we don't. Esp with 4g and the ability to use playon etc, VZW capping data would be tha last straw for many.
[Thunderbolt General] ckochinsky125:
If they do try and screw people over by not grandfathering them in I could see a lot of people changing carriers. i mean between sprint with changing to LTE and their new phones coming out in the next few months and even tmobile(although coverage isnt that great in many areas) there are other options out there verizon isnt the best necessarily and I think in this case its a good thing there is competition.
[Thunderbolt General] eallan:
No joke. What an awful defeatist attitude. "just roll over and accept it "
[Thunderbolt General] miketoasty:
Verizon said that there is no plan on moving to data caps, and if this was to happen we would be grandfathered in most likely.

Also, I would be moving to Sprint and getting Unlimited anyways.
[Thunderbolt General] l7777:
The tiers haven't hurt AT&T much if any. As long as they lower the price a little, the masses will cheer and corporate profits will go up. Only a small number of users actually understand what a gigabyte is or how quickly it can be used.

And how long do you think it will be before sprint gets an LTE network up and running that is as widespread as VZW's? They don't even have a wide deployment of WIMAX yet. No to mention raising their dataplan prices by $10 across the board.

I think you missed the memo where T-Mobile will be consumed by the death star soon. While coverage will improve, I doubt costs will do anything but go up. As of right now, VZW is the best place to be if you're a heavy data user. We can only hope it stays that way in the future. Should the future bring data tiers and price increases, our only choices will be to suck it up and pay or drop service all together.

This thread has been a colossal waste of resources and people spouting threats they probably have no intention of following through on. It has been amusing though. Why don't you all wait until there is an official change before jumping on the VZW bashing bandwagon? I just left AT&T because of their poor data coverage but I could live with the tier. Tiers can actually be a good thing, it just depends on what VZW decides to do with them. Tires could pave the way for eliminating a "teathering" surcharge for example. When they place a number on what you can use, they shouldn't be able to tell you how you can use it. They could also surprise everyone and have reasonably priced tiers, say $30 per 5GB or $10 per 1GB. I fail to see what all the fuss is about until they actually come out with their plans. Grandfathering is also only a guarantee so long as you don't get another phone unless you pay full retail price. As soon as you chose to take the next latest and greatest phone at a discount from VZW, you'll have to accept a whole new contract. VZW could be nice and let you keep your unlimited plan, but they certainly would have no obligation to do so.
[Thunderbolt General] ktrinidad:
So this is not happening anytime soon I guess. Hopefully we all get grandfathered.
[Thunderbolt General] PJnc284:
That's what I said. If it were actually part of the 2 yr contract, then you would be required to keep the data add-on for the duration of the contract regardless of what phone was on the line.
[Thunderbolt General] whoisyasin:
Thank god I bought this phone on the day it came out. Yeah no dual core is a bummer, but this phone will soon be overclocked to 1.5+ghz anyways lol.
[Thunderbolt General] milan03:
I really hope that you're talking about 3G tiers because using LTE you'll blow through that in a day. Or you can use WiFi or downgrade your phone to 3G, but WTF is the point of having LTE device if you can't use any of that?!?

Just to give you the ballpark, here is my usage since 19th of this month and I'm not even trying to use loads of data. Speedtesting, average browsing, NO WiFi 'cause I don't want/need to.
[Thunderbolt General] ben7337:
Okay, people keep posting on here that in 1 week or so they are using 10-20GB of data for normal web browsing. How the hell are you people doing this? Are you tethering to your laptop and watching hours of HD youtube videos each week? A webpage does not take up nearly that much space, even if you made all pages 1 MB which is way bigger than most you would have loaded over 19,000 pages in one week, that's 121 pages an hour every hour for 16 hrs a day, or 2 pages a minute every minute for 16 hours of the day. Unless you are using only your phone for web browsing or tethering I don't see how you are possibly using this much data.

Honestly I can live with caps in most cases, the only thing that I think a cap would effect for me would be if I wanted to do netflix streaming over 4g then there would be a problem with useage. Because of that I don't support caps, but at the same time the average user won't be affected by them.
[Thunderbolt General] g00s3y:
Anybody ever think this "rumor" was just made to increase sales of the TB... Thumbs up to Verizon

And I agree to the post above, I don't know how much you guys do with your TB, but it sure isn't just phone use if you are using 20+GB a month...
[Thunderbolt General] milan03:
You people? Buy yourself a Thunderbolt, use it for a week, log into your MyVerizon, and check your data usage.

On a serious note, I have a feeling the usage will lower a bit after everyone gets enough of this new phone, but again, you'll be eating your 5GB caps in a few days. If you use WiFi all the time, you may not need LTE. It's a waste having Thunderbolt in a 4G market and turning on that WiFi radio.
[Thunderbolt General] Gunnarsaxon:
Yay for grandfathering in!
[Thunderbolt General] Strife21:
Wow thank god I got the phone when I did. I terminated my at&t contract just to be grand fathered in, looks like i made the right move.
[Thunderbolt General] TDevilsG:
Whew! Thankfully I was able to grandfather myself into this.
[Thunderbolt General] smoody:
If you have used 20GB that fast then you are doing more then web browsing, you are streaming HD movies, playing xbox on your connection and/or downloading torrents or allowing 5 of your neighbors to use your wireless hotspot

I tether 5 days a week at work 6 hours +/- per day and use roughly 900MB - 1GB per week, no way possible you are using that much bandwidth with out doing things similar to the above.
[Thunderbolt General] milan03:
And what phone do you own?

I do none of that. I USB tether in the evenings to do some speedtests, and during the day have it in my pocket while at work. Regular browsing, NO WIFI, NO streaming of any kind besides YouTube clips every once in a while, mostly when commuting to and from work.
[Thunderbolt General] smoody:
I have Thunderbolt, its not possible if that's all you do, sorry. Something is wrong with your phone or your account, you need to look into that. click that "view data details" and look and see whats going on.
[Thunderbolt General] Syco54645:
I have 5 gigs in less than a week. Going in and checking my account there are some huge amounts of data being drawn that I do not remember doing... over 1 gig when I was out of lte... Dont think I really did that. I think their meter is mostly incorrect...
[Thunderbolt General] milan03:
Yup I'm about to start calculating cause I have 1+GB being drawn quite a few times, and I have no idea what could've taken so much bandwidth...
[Thunderbolt General] Russ36363:
I've also tried to see how much I can get up my data usage.

I'm at 4GB since last tuesday, with at least 2 GB From tethering with friends Friday night. I really don't see how people can use that much, except with streaming/tethering 24/7. But oh well. It's not my time to judge.
[Thunderbolt General] milan03:
If I didn't work 5 days a week and tether it would be easier to understand, but i don't really have time to tether all day long. But we should consider the wideband speeds this phone delivers.
[Thunderbolt General] funkybside:
And no way is anyone gaming, bandwidth is great but latency would kill.
[Thunderbolt General] bplewis24:
I think some folks will be okay with tiers, but a 5GB cap with no unlimited plan would be unbearable.

Brandon
[Thunderbolt General] bplewis24:
I honestly think that the Verizon data tracking software is broken for most of these new accounts. Almost every person I've seen post unusual data usage is a new account holder with the Thunderbolt.

Nevertheless, I think something is wrong. There is no way with average usage a person should get into the multiple GBs of data after a couple days.

Last summer was the peak of my 3G data usage because during commutes I would stream Pandora radio for several hours a day. I still only went over 1GB of data (barely) twice. Now that I no longer stream as much, I am down to using 200-500MB a month for web surfing and email.

Either there is a leak on the TB software side or the data calculations are wrong.

Brandon
[Thunderbolt General] emarusamun:
I'm at 11gigs so far this month and counting....no clue how I used so much.
[Thunderbolt General] milan03:
Could be the speed and the size of packets coming out of Thunderbolt, which is also causing the retarded upload results on speedtest.app.
[Thunderbolt General] mdeblaz:
Glad I found this thread and I'm not the only one who noticed the excessive data usage.

I am very interested to know what is causing this ridiculously high reading.

I'm a very light user at best... with my Eris I went over 400MB in a month only ONCE! in over a year. In the past week alone, I've used 400 MB on my Thunderbolt and haven't really done anything different than before... extremely light use.
[Thunderbolt General] JBO1018:
You think it's possible that because everyone has unlimited data right now,they are using our phones to stress test the LTE when the phone is idling? Could explain the vast differences in baterry life people are seeing. Just a random thought.
[Thunderbolt General] pchoi94:
that's actually a really good point. remember the whole yahoo imap fiasco on WP7?

if it's not stress testing by verizon, perhaps a rogue app or setting somewhere? maybe some users are installing or using a feature others aren't?

i don't have one, but i'm watching closely because i want to get one soon...
[Thunderbolt General] davey11:
Try getting traffic monitor from the market...lets you monitor wifi and network traffic...breaks down traffic to what apps are using data
[Thunderbolt General] ben7337:
I never said "you people" I said "people" and sadly I am not in a 4G area nor will I be in one until probably sometime after may depending on if verizon's 4g spreads the extra 3-10 miles out to my home, hopefully that will happen sometime this year. However there is clearly a glitch in the data usage counter or a lot of people are torrenting and streaming a lot. Also my college wifi can easily beat 4g speeds, so having the wifi on when in range of it at my school could definitely be beneficial.
[Thunderbolt General] destroyerbmx:
Not in a 4g location, nor will I in the next 2 years. Got this phone just to have it. My data on VZW site is normal useage and I dont have battery issues. Maybe because I am in 3g they arent stress testing my phone.
[Thunderbolt General] JBO1018:
Just to clairify. What I said about stress testing was just a random guess and has no source or proof. It was just a thought. A random idea. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't starting rumors.
[Thunderbolt General] shaddix2:
I'm up to 11 gigs and I don't have 4g.
[Thunderbolt General] sm0k3y-TB:
So those of us who already have unlimited plans are safe for sure or is that just assumed?
[Thunderbolt General] HarlyFan:
What are you using that you have used up to 11gigs?
[Thunderbolt General] shaddix2:
I downloaded ubuntu images over and over for two days in a row
[Thunderbolt General] vwlove09:
I just bought a TB today w/ Unlimited Data....
[Thunderbolt General] psufan5:
ROFL... this made my night :D I did 1 gig in 5 minutes today.
[Thunderbolt General] Gr8gorilla:
Verizon's data rules are much different than Tmobile's. I read them thoroughly. Basically if you fall in the top 5% of data users (meaning that you use more data than 95% of Verizon's customers) then they will throttle you for this and possibly the next billing cycle. They also reserve the right to cancel your contract.

This is very similar to home internet data usage policy.
[Thunderbolt General] livestrong2012:
Hey guys,

Just wanted to drop in, you may or may not be aware that the VirusRom guy has made a "no throttle" hack so that your speeds wont be throttled at all. All you have to do is flash it in CWR. here is the link to the post

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=12327016&postcount=272

I do not take any credit for this, all credit goes to XxXViRuSXxX

He has done some awesome stuff!

PS I can not confirm that this works with other roms, i only know that it works with VirusRom for sure.

Enjoy!
[Thunderbolt General] xeene:
I've used a WiFi hotspot feature over the weekend and downloaded 90gigs of data. Probably going to break 500 by the end this billing cycle.
[Thunderbolt General] azturbomini:
Where is the OP? Start a rumor that turns sour then hide?
[Thunderbolt General] :
That's kind of ridiculous if you're serious. Yes you can argue that with unlimited data there is no defined "limit" but you're basically asking to get noticed and watched closely by Verizon from here on out.
[Thunderbolt General] ERIFNOMI:
I've never used more than 100GB of data in a month on my home connection...
[Thunderbolt General] shaddix2:
Most I've done on home connection was 1.6 terabytes in one month. This 11gigs on vz is the most I've ever done and ever plan to do on wireless
[Thunderbolt General] dcarr622:
So what's the verdict...unlimited LTE still available? Any end date in sight?

I'm thinking of jumping in and getting grandfathered LTE before it's too late, but I'd rather wait 3-6 months before buying a new device, but idk if we have that long.
[Thunderbolt General] unremarked:
At some point, VZW intends to move to a tiered system like the other major carriers. The only thing that's been said regarding that is the change is aimrd at the summer. There's no further information regarding this. On or shortly before May 15, when the free tethering ends, VZW will probably announce their pricing structure for 4G going forward.

Sent from my HTC Thunderbolt.
[Thunderbolt General] sublimaze:
I ported 3 numbers and added 1 new line to my acct on April 10 and still got unlimited data for all devices. I asked the sales rep & store mgr when tiered pricing was coming, but they didn't know
[Thunderbolt General] nolmt60243:
Got the tbolt a week ago and still no 4g additional charges!
[Thunderbolt General] magneticzero:
i love this place, the rumors that never die.....
[Thunderbolt General] funkybside:
You mean the interwebs?

-sent via 1.21 giggawatts of android.
[Thunderbolt General] :
i love this place, the rumors are killed off with two dozen posts.....
[Thunderbolt General] Morkai Almandragon:
Now if only people would let the damned post die
[Thunderbolt General] :
+1 ;)