yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Thunderbolt General] jbhorner:
I received this yesterday from Verizon:

Your global data service plan will end when your contract expires. Please take action now.

Dear Verizon Wireless Customer,

Your current global data service plan will no longer be available when your contract expires or when you renew your contract, whichever comes first. You will need to convert to an available global data service plan before your contract expires in order to maintain global data capabilities.

Let's discuss your global options.

Call us at 888.370.9515 to discuss special offers available for a limited time.

If you do not contact us to discuss your options and move to a new global data plan, your current global data plan - which includes unlimited domestic data - will be replaced by our $29.99/month unlimited domestic data package.

Thank you for choosing Verizon Wireless. We realize how important it is to have wireless data services while traveling overseas and we are committed to finding the right solution for you.

Sincerely,

Verizon Wireless

If this is an indication of things to come, it would appear that the past practice of grandfathering features has come to an end. They have no suitable replacement for this feature. Fortunately, I don't need to worry about it until next April. But, you can bet that I'll be canceling the line when that time comes. The more a carrier removes the stickiness of their service (i.e., keeping customers by having the ability to keep what they have), the more their churn will increase. All things being equal (pricing/service) there is no reason to stay with one carrier versus another.

Joel
[Thunderbolt General] mikeinrichmond:
Hopefully, or I just bought the Bolt for no good reason...lol...Been happy with my X, only did this to get 'grandfathered'....
[Thunderbolt General] Seanren78:
Can't find you a direct quote, but you will be grandfathered in. There is no question about it. :)
[Thunderbolt General] l7777:
And you can say this how? Are you a high ranking board member at VZW? I think some definition of "grandfathering" needs to be stated as well. Most of you making a fuss want it to mean that you can have Unlimited data forever unless you change the plan. I'm guessing VZW will define it such that you can keep it until your current contract is over and or you get a new subsidized phone.
[Thunderbolt General] apthirdeye14:
Look its gonna suck for those who get contracts under the tiered. I'm not worried about my unlimited all of the sudden being tiered. If that happened I'll early terminate for free and go to Sprint. All carriers will be tiered at some point. Once that day comes its not gonna be the end of days. Most people have cable internet at home and throw wifi on anyway. Other people probably use data differently than me, but the bulk of my data usage is at home anyway.
[Thunderbolt General] Daptonic:
It's beyond frustrating that as everything is requiring more data usage these days the caps are getting more and more restrictive. If the data caps were reasonable it wouldn't be so bad. But honestly 5gb these days is nothing. It'll be even harder to maintain when all the music streaming services from Apple and Google go live to the general public.
[Thunderbolt General] cstrife999:
Contract doesn't need to state it. If they changed your service it would be a breach of contract where on your agreement with Verizon it states "Unlimited Data."
[Thunderbolt General] cstrife999:
It would be a breach of contract based upon the original service agreement. Ask any legal student even they would know that.
[Thunderbolt General] voiceofid:
it comes down to this

if you are on unlimited lte and they change it, you can get out of the contract without penalty, after all your contract states "29.99 unlimited [rest of verbage]" if that's no longer the case, you can get out without etf.

that would be too stupid of vzw, they will allow the unlimited to stick around.

as for your next contract renewal, things maybe different, and you can decide at that time.

as for those who said "oh, just buy a phone without contract" that part works a little different with vzw, the system automatically populates your line with the required services, REGARDLESS THE REP WANTS TO OR NOT.

example, if vzw forces new devices post tier data to use a new data feature and force it to be incompatible with the old data feature, even if you bought a phone without contract, it will still change your service. much like the voyage post a few posts back.
[Thunderbolt General] mike.s:
LOL. You haven't read the contract, have you?
[Thunderbolt General] htcthundr:
talked to a rep lastnight " off the record" type stuff. They are grandfathering in all users who have contracts. Now please no more bs.

no release date for bionic
[Thunderbolt General] cstrife999:
Doesn't matter what it says. All that matters is that you are in contract with them. Any features you have must be carried over at least until the contract expires. I deal with BOC's all the time...
[Thunderbolt General] mike.s:
LOL. Your ignorance is your bliss. The contract specifically allows VZW to change services and prices at any time, including mid-contract. The only recourse if they do is your ability to cancel the contract without paying an early termination fee. Note that what they can do, and how they actually behave have been two different things - they've been very good about "grandfathering" plans, even though they're not required to contractually.
[Thunderbolt General] Sub-Standard:
........double post...........................
[Thunderbolt General] Icey34:
Sucks that we can't keep 4g unlimited :(
[Thunderbolt General] Sub-Standard:
He wasn't disagreeing with you douchebag. That's exactly what everyone was saying, is that if they break their end of the contract, so can you. That's what a contract is.

Most of your posts lately have been condescending towards people as if you know everything and no one else knows anything. But you have shown that you are actually the one who lacks knowledge and basic reading comprehenension abilities. You are so worried with trying to make someone else appear to be wrong that you don't even keep track of what has been said.

Keep your childish ignorance to your self if you have nothing helpful or knowledgable to say.

As far as the topic of this thread, it is lawful fact that if verizon doesn't allow people to finish out their contracts under the same terms, then they are breaching contract & must let you out with no penalties.

Beyond that is all speculation..... whether or not verizon would actually do this mid contract & loose that many customers wouldn't seem to make since to a lot of people, but if you read the contract, they certainly have the right to do that if they wish.

Now if the OP is talking about grandfathering as being able to continue existing service after the contract is expired, then again this is all speculation. Although they have allowed customers to do this in some past circumstances such as with the alltel accounts, they are certainly not leagally bound to ever do this again. Guessing whether or not they will allow this is similar to guessing when the Bionic might be released.... no one knows for sure, but we can assume what might make sense to do.
[Thunderbolt General] c0olj:
Back when I first got my Thunderbolt I asked the same thing to the vzw rep and he said that we don't have to pay extra for 4g till our contracts are up
[Thunderbolt General] :
Talk about throwing a bucket of water on my face.

Here I am looking to take advantage of the Amazon deals on Monday and this thread pops up. As a potential customer who is thinking of grabbing a TB for free on Monday? It's a real turn off that a company would be greedy enough to even entertain this thought. Do I have this right?

If they don't: I'd enjoy two full years of unlimited LTE on a TB and after that I'd have to find another carrier, potentially, that serves as my all you can eat buffet.

If they do, nightmare: And I decide to purchase a new LTE mobile outright and switch sometime in the beginning, middle, and end, under the current Verizon system and new data plans, I would have to give up the unlimited plan because the system forces you into a phony phone/data incompatibility?

If they do, wet dream: Everything is golden. They shut down CDMA, move to everything to LTE, then LTEA and I just keep rolling with my unlimited data.

You guys know Verizon better than me, I certainly don't. I just figured out a way back into AT&T for unlimited data but thier LTE plans piss me the $#@! off.

Play odds makers and guess for me? 50/50 they will grandfather?
[Thunderbolt General] Sub-Standard:
Are you refering to grandfathering as:

A=

you sign a two year contract for service with unlimeted 4G for $29.99. Then a month from now, they change to a teired data plan that would cause your amount of data usage cost more than $29.99 monthly. However, since you are in a two year contract, instead of telling you that you either have to sign a new contract agreeing to pay their higher data rates OR you can discontinue verizon wireless service and get to keep their $600.00 phone without an early termination fee & you are free to take yor business to another wireless carrier; They instead inform you that you will be able to continue your contract under your original agreed pricing <you are being "grandfathered"> til your original contract expired. Once your two year contract expires, you may either contiue paying monthly under the new higher data rates, or you have the option of signing a new contract under the new higher pricing therefor locking you into that rate for two years.

B=

Same as (A) except for the part after the contract expires. Instead of signing a new contract with the higher data pricing, they also give you the option of continuing your data plan for $29.99/month like you are used to paying. They are in fear that since you are used to paying that amount and your contract has expired, you may choose to leave them for a different service provider instead of paying the higher rates -they are grandfathering you in for as long as they choose to do this-.
[Thunderbolt General] cstrife999:
Whatever you think... Dude I deal with contract breaches all the time. When I got data there was no limited package. The only package available to me was unlimited. Also with a smartphone you are required to have a data package. You may think what you know is true, but formerly working as a business attorney kinda means I need to know this stuff... It would be a breach of contract as it is also not an "optional" service it was demanded. They could kill my contract and ETF but they will follow the same way ATT did and grandfather us in. When it happens you'll know I'm right. Unlike you brotha I used to deal with this all the time.
[Thunderbolt General] popular nobody:
It's a business practice, that wouldn't fair well with Verizon. The talks of the company heading towards tiered data, were made before AT&T publically endorsed it last year. Two of the marketing pitches for both the iPhone and Thunderbolt, is that the unlimited data is still the same and pricing is still the same, for now. You take advantage of that deal, and you purchased the Thunderbolt with a new contract. Within 5 months in this contract, Verizon changes their mind and makes your unlimited data tiered? That's a bait and switch, and the customer will have the right to leave ETF free, new 2 year upgrade pricing, or no contract at all.
[Thunderbolt General] mike.s:
You're an idiot. VZW's ability to change pricing, and the user's ability to terminate the contract are both covered by contractual terms. No one is "breaking" anything.

And, the claim was "Any features you have must be carried over at least until the contract expires." That's simply false.
[Thunderbolt General] brandogg:
It will be just like AT&T, if you signed you're contract before they come out with a new one saying that there will be tiered data plans, then you cannot have your CONTRACT changed. If they change it, then you can leave the company, since you did not agree to their new terms, especially when you are told first hand by Verizon employees, the ones who offer the contract to you, that your plan cannot and will not be changed. Verizon would be completely retarded to even attempt something like that - but what they can do, again, like AT&T, is make a new contract, that says if you add a 4G LTE phone later on, even if you pay retail, that you will automatically be signed up for their tiered pricing.
[Thunderbolt General] cstrife999:
Dude... Whatever you are too thick headed to listen so I quit. When you get grandfathered in come thank me, but you don't deserve it. You (someone who obviously doesn't work in or around law) is telling me (someone who does) what they "know." Yea... okay...
[Thunderbolt General] adrynalyne:
Just add mike.s to your ignore list. He trolls in everything he posts. Best not feed his voracious appetite.
[Thunderbolt General] cstrife999:
Ah. Sounds like a good idea :-)
[Thunderbolt General] mike.s:
Reading the "Caution: Contents are hot" warnings on the McD coffee you serve doesn't constitute working in contract law.
[Thunderbolt General] shock2sys:
Everyone seems to be scared about losing their unlimited data, but does anyone look at their data usage? i'm not sure how much data i use with my TB, but when i had the doid 1 i never went over a 1 GB. i'm not sweating it if/when verizon goes to tiered pricing. if they have something that's cheaper than current unlimited pricing and with a 2GB llimit than i'll be happy.
[Thunderbolt General] cstrife999:
Wow... Looked at mine over 4GBs now... Ha ha.
[Thunderbolt General] cstrife999:
Nope, but working for a city commissioner does. I used to for awhile as I have alot of family working for the city. Now I'm finishing my legal degree and my overall goal is to be a corporate lawyer. So yea this is my kinda things brotha! :-)
[Thunderbolt General] Drukan:
Wow... i just felt like reading through the forums cuz im bored... are people STILL talking about this ...

if you have a TB and u have SERVICE, you signed a CONTRACT. If your contract states you are paying for UNLIMITED data, YOU HAVE 2 YEARS (or one if thats how u went) SO WHY WORRY... really the way markets and plans and pricing change these days... 2 YEARS from now is not something to care about. THEY CANNOT CHAGE YOUR CONTRACT... its a CONTRACT... its illegal to just force a change. even if they are the high n mighty Verizon .. they have to abide by the LAW and honor the CONTRACT.
[Thunderbolt General] Mr. Transistor:
VZW has allowed all altel custys to stay grandfathered into plans. They can even upgrade w/o changing their plan. altel custy is however gonna have to change there plan if they upgrade from an altel phone to a VZW phone. Samething if they want a 4g phone.

I concur w the grandfather believers.
[Thunderbolt General] orkillakilla:
It's simple. Verizon would piss A LOT of people off if they forced everyone out of their contracts to force them to pay for tiered data plans. God knows if they did that to me, id leave and go to sprint.

It would be a horrible business move, and won't happen. If you get a contact with unlimited data before they implement their tiered data plans, then you'll keep unlimited data until you renew your contract. No need to worry.

Sent from my HTC Thunderbolt
[Thunderbolt General] Turb0wned:
I don't even think they will take your unlimited away after your 2 years..
[Thunderbolt General] htcthundr:
well isnt that just some great news!! wow your special you deserve a reward. No ones gives a **** what limit you want, people want unlimited. your a troll and anyone else who doesnt care is also a verizon puppet. we are getting grandfathered in i said it and its the truth. The rest who want to pay tiered are big tool bags that like paying high bills.
[Thunderbolt General] HawkStream:
To where? You really think if AT&T and Verizon get rid of unlimited data Sprint and T-Mobile won't? T-Mobile being the low man on the pole might keep it to pull customers away... But then they will just be bought out by AT&T or if that doesn’t go through... Sprint.

So good luck on that plan working for more than a year or so. Blame yourselves… All you guys running ROMS and most importantly using the wireless tether hack have ruined it for the rest of us. Enjoy it while you can.
[Thunderbolt General] Yufice:
If your contract changes, so will your price; there will be no grandfathering. The only choice is to not use the upgrade and buy phones retail (700+ dollars)
[Thunderbolt General] Yufice:
Ps running custom roms has nothing to do with it. Not even wireless tether does. Blame new technology data hogs like live tv and netflix. You are uninformed.
[Thunderbolt General] HawkStream:
Unlimited data!!

Oooo I’m just going to go ahead and root my phone and turn my TB it to the sole internet hotspot for my whole household.

Unlimited data!!

At any given time I’m going to have 2 Netflix sessions and one hulu plus, an Xbox, PS3, and 2 iPads going. Not to mention I just cancelled cable TV and have 12 torrents downloading… Sweet!!

Unlimited data!!

What?!?! They are going to start charging for that???!?
[Thunderbolt General] HawkStream:
If you think people are going to watch 30 movies/TV shows a month ON THEIR FRAKING PHONES you are just naive! (Not to mention the tiny res that Netflix streams to phones does not use much bandwidth) Watching movies on your phone is purely a novelty. You do it once or twice and you say… ok this sucks… I want to see this on a bigger screen.

This issue is PURELY about the tether.

(Now here comes all the posts from people talking about all the videos they watch constantly on their tiny phone screens and never use tethering at all... rolls eye..)
[Thunderbolt General] Yufice:
It's NOT about tether. Even the biggest tether-er uses a minimal amount of data in the grand scheme of things. If you have 1-2% of people tethering GBs of data a month, it comes no where near to amount of data that is used when 90-95% of people are using youtube/netflix/optimum online app/Watch ESPN etc.

Dishing out data to the entire verizon network while a few super nerds got free tethering out of it and installed crazy slingbox like programs to stream their own video was fine.

Dishing out data to the entire verizon network while the entire verizon network watches sportscenter and youtube is a completely different network. From 2009 (unlmited data time) to 2011, the smartphones to feature phones ratio has sky rocketed.

To you, watching netflix on your phone is a novelty. To the security guard or the get-up-10-times-a-day doorman, its a breakthrough in technology.

That said, verizon isn't supposed try to satisfy the amount of data used if people watch one or two movies, they're supposed to try to satisfy the amount of data used if people watch 30 movies/TV shows a month.
[Thunderbolt General] HawkStream:
That’s why people that use under 2 GB will actually see a $5 drop in their bill!! We can argue who to blame all night but the facts are that your 90-95% will never go over the 2GB limit anyway and will be paying a little less! And more to the point, all the companies are going to go to this. I look forward to $5 less a month!

(which is why it is 100% about the tether)
[Thunderbolt General] Yufice:
You don't use your unlimited data, awesome, save your 5 bucks.

So, who is this "rest of us" that the rooters ruined unlimited data for?

lol.
[Thunderbolt General] HawkStream:
So you think 95% of Verizon customers use more than 2GB?

On my family plan of 2 people we have used 316,662.8KB of Unlimited on the last day of the month.

and I guarantee you we use more than average. You can’t win this argument. There is no way.. Easily...EASILY 99.9% of Verizon customers use less than 2GB a month (Unless they are tethering), way less!
[Thunderbolt General] Yufice:
i never disagreed
[Thunderbolt General] HawkStream:
Well I don’t know...

"You don't use your unlimited data, awesome, save your 5 bucks.

So, who is this "rest of us" that the rooters ruined unlimited data for?

lol."

That pretty much sounded like a disagreement to me.

Let’s get real, I will concede... It not really the tether people today, well it is, but it isn't. Regardless of what you want to say very few security guards are pumping 2 GB worth of video a month on their post. This is all about tether and what the futer devices will use a few years from now.

I will say it again... right now... this is 100% about tether.. But they are doing it to be positioned for 2-3 years from now when everyone just offers data. period.

Time warner,Comcast, Satellite radio, etc. It will all just be a flat data usage charge in a year or two.

And those of you upset by this are just taking advantage of the system early.

This is cool.. I have not played a video disk in 13 years lol! But don’t try to BS about what you are doing.
[Thunderbolt General] Turb0wned:
Some of you people are really fu**ing idiots. I can and have easily used over 2 gigabytes in a month. It's people like you that cry cause you have to pay $30 for unlimited then that's when company's take it from us all to save $5 a month but have to be watching your data... Not worth it.
[Thunderbolt General] cstrife999:
I don't tether and easily use over 2GB. The five android users I'm good friends with all use over as well. No doubt we are in the minority, but not by much. Users of newwer phones from Droid X and future are using more data. I believe there was an engadget article stating that data use is going up quickly on average.
[Thunderbolt General] ben7337:
If you ever are stuck on a bus or train or anything like that you might find video to be pretty useful, or if you're stuck waiting for a doctors appointment or really waiting for anything that takes any amount of time. Having the ability to stream is very useful for quite a few people I imagine.
[Thunderbolt General] htcthundr:
how can you make claims when you have no data proof to back it up? Blabbing off these claims with no evidence is real cool
[Thunderbolt General] eraursls1984:
You don't have to watch 30 movies or tether to use much data. I've never tethered and have had a rooted android phone for about 10 months, I haven't streamed much video either, just a little on YouTube. I used about 6-8 gb a month on my Droid X (16 gb one month) and I use more now. My wife barely used her blackberry for Facebook only and used 150-200 mb, now that she has my old X she is using about a gb or a little more and she doesn't use her data much at all.
[Thunderbolt General] miketoasty:
First off I left my contract early (Droid 2) to lock myself into the unlimited 4G plan for at least 2 years. When Verizon decides to go to tiered pricing (Completely ridiculous in my opinion when you can use 5gb in 3 or 4 hours of HD viewing) if I am forced into one of the tiers (Not grandfathered in) I will be leaving Verizon. Simple as that.

I stay with Verizon because I get good service and unlimited data. Considering I can get good service with another company (Sprint) why stay on Verizon? I understand Verizon is just trying to pad their bottom line but come on. You are already the biggest phone company around but you still need to get every last penny you can? This just makes you look like a bad guy when its really not needed.

So just to finish off my rant, Verizon please tier your data and force me into it. I would love to get a new phone that has unlimited data and a switch to a company that actually cares about their customers.
[Thunderbolt General] jakkzen:
When I worked at ATT we upgraded people with unlimited data plans all the time and were able to keep them on it. They were not forced to a tiered plan because they were getting a new phone. Could be different with VZW.
[Thunderbolt General] SamOliver:
Yes, you will get unlimited 4g until at least the end of your contract. Even after that, it seems unlikely that they would force you into a different data plan unless you got another phone from them and signed another contract.
[G2 and Desire Z Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Pickx:
Compared to another device that runs Froyo MIUI, Gingerbread MIUI is quite laggy (the Settings app in particular just pisses me off)

Is there a Froyo MIUI ROM for the G2?