Wow this really blows. One piece not mentioned above is if you get a business discount, %20, it no longer applies to the 29.99 data package, only the $50 and up one.

I'm happy I switched back to BB, my data usage with a Droid was way way higher than compared to me BB, but realistically this just sucks period.

The question is: Are BB and Android $29.99 smartphone data plans interchangeable?

This does blow. I'm glad my wife and I are going to be grandfathered with our unlimited plans. I really do wonder what Verizon and the FCC are looking to accomplish or change with these plans. Yeah they look to profit in a great way, but some people down the line will be at a loss, especially with how much they're gonna charge for the overage.

This is just for Android phones? Why wouldn't it apply to other smartphones too like BB or iPhone? Also 75MB for $10 is a small threshold, I like the ATT 200MB for $15 as a more practical plan.

I think Verizon's new pricing plan blows, Sprint and ATT have more practical data plans, IMHO...

What about those of us who are not heavy data users who have the $15.00 per month 150 mb plan now? I usually am connected to wifi somewhere, so I have not even used 75 mb in a month yet. Will my wife and I be forced to pony up $30 more a month between us for the 2 gb plan? I do not see it addressed anywhere. Do we grandfather in too?

I just went to a local Verizon store. The customer service rep said if you upgrade you will lose the unlimited data plan if you upgrade after the plans take effect. The only way you can keep unlimited is if you keep your current smart phone. :/

yeah but that's coming from a sales rep... and we know how knowledgable they are most of the time. I guess we'll wait and see. It may be time to finally say goodbye to Verizon if this is true. The first major strike was when they dropped the global unlimited data plan at the beginning of this year. The 2nd major strike was when they told me they also dropped support for Asia and parts of Europe. This will be the 3rd strike and I'm history.

bah.. i just checked the last 6 months.. the most i used was like 106mb... lol
so even if i switch.. no big deal.

This answered some questions except the upgrade question. If we switch platforms but are current users with an unlimited plan with our BlackBerry? I may take a hiatus from BB and give Android a fair chance and come back to BB if their QNX phones get good reviews and better developer support.

I've just had the same screw up the butt with sprint. Its gonna get to the point where people who are rich are going to be the only ones with cell phones and us working class people are gonna go back to using dixie cups and strings.

I haven't read if free WiFi is involved in these data plans? Verizon is really dropping the ball if they don't include free wifi. Why I love Att. Waitin on my Torch 9810 patiently!

I read somewhere that text messages were way down and was a major source of revenue. This is an attempt to make that up. Also coming to a computer near you! Days of free unlimited data are going fast on any platform!

EXISTING CUSTOMERS- That current have the unlimited data WILL BE ABLE TO UPGRADE AND KEEP the unlimited data feature (No known end date on this as of this moment)

Sounds like you will be able to upgrade and keep your unlimited plan to me.....

These tiered plans are going to kill RIM even more. With no new handsets for awhile, there's going to be a flood (or at least a good number of people) who will want to get the best and most technologically advanced smartphone available and lock themselves in before July 7th.

You can sure as h3ll bet that no one is locking themselves in with an outdated POS BB phone! LMFAO

So, I am curious, if the cutoff is 7/7/11, when exactly is Verizion going to inform their customers of the change? Or should I say the Blackberry customers

even after the official date, the unlimited data plan should be available, they are grandfathered. as for the data plans, the unl data plan will still have the employee discount because the data plan discount is for 29,99 or higher data plans, so that will stay the same, it's just unlimited calling plans that don't have the discount because the calling plan has to have a minute plan. that's what i heard. hopefully they revamp the prices, they still have 2 weeks to do this. my hubby has an iphone and he used to have a droid, he didn't even come close to 2 gb's, not even close to 1 gb.

I hope that is the case ! I don't want to lose my plan for some tiered gig. Alol

They will have to grand father current unlimited users, if not it would be a modification of a contract which would allow many to cancel free and clear which would include me first if possible. But with the way these cell phone companies are getting now a days paying in access of 200 or more a month, boost, straight talk, cricket and the likes look much better. I like a BB but when you get down to it the purpose of the phone is to talk and 50 a month seems good right now. If BB came to these likes, which I can say they will be low grade models I might keep BB'ing. But its all about profits and I can no longer justify paying more for the use of a cellphone than a car note or in some people cases a mortage note.

These guys have usually played it straight w/me over the years (even voluntarily told me of the $30 price drop from $45 for WinMo Big Red didn't bother mentioning). They told me so long as I didn't change my # (ie- start a "new acct" or add others to my current setup), that the $30 "unlimited" stays intact. Even if you jumped around devices (upgrades/contract re-ups, across PLATFORMS). I asked again to make sure I heard right. They (two employees) insisted a VZW rep was in that morning explaining it to them.

Seems too good to be true, so as has been said, have to wait for official word...which likely won't be until AFTER the 7th (or whenever this kicks in).

Equally confounding is what I was told does NOT pressure me into upgrading straightaway and would make me a flight risk if they DO punk me at upgrade/renewal time. I avoid the local corp stores as they're riddled w/the scheistiest mofos out there (I stick out VZW b/c of the network coverage where I frequent).

Just reporting my exploration...

What I have not seen yet is this.....

Back when the tiered stuff was first mentioned, wasn't there some speculation that they may offer "family" data plans....i.e., pay a certain price and all phones count towards that data?

To me, for VZW, that should be part of the roll-out of the tiers. What's a great way to get someone playing $30 for unlimited to pay a bit more for something limited? Make it be a large bundle of limited data.

All this, at this point, doesn't affect me as I am on unlimited with my BB. Who it does affect is my wife. She has yet to go smartphone as we have held off on paying another $30/month. But I guess when the time comes, 2GB would probably be enough for her.

At least the overage cost is by full GB and not piecemeal measly MB.

I took a peak at my last 10 billing statements...oldest to newest (in GB):

.737
1,18
.526
1.07
1.3
1.38
1.61
1.57
1.64
1.04

So clearly, the 2GB level is appropriate for me. This includes plenty of Podcast downloads. But I set Wifi on when I am home. That helps keep my totals down.

I am sticking Berry, and may upgrade from my Bold to the Bold Touch. But I guess I am happy to know I could go to another platform and come close to staying under 2gb (knowing that there is compression on the BB side of things). If I ever went, say, iPhone (likely never since I hate touch keys), I could take my primary data usage "off-line" and grab my podcasts from iTunes and just copy them over. Don't like that method, but at least it's an option.

Bottom line for me, unlimited now. Will be unlimited after 7/7.

For VZW's perspective.......You have me at unlimited. That isn't going to change (at least for now). I was considering a smartphone for my wife, but we're not ready to pay $30/mo now. Paying the same for less down the road completely takes the possibility of a new data plan/smartphone off the table for the foreseeable future.

You are going to lose with this VZW.

When AT&T went to similar plans, I jumped at the chance to reduce my data charges from $30/unlimited to $15/200 MB. This is because my average usage on my BB was under 100 MB for the previous 6 months (including streaming radio). And since I don't have an iPhone, I don't notice any significant difference in coverage between AT&T and Verizon.

I understand the need for these plans. A minority of users abuse the "unlimited" data, but also, smartphones in general have more apps that consume data. Unfortunately, Verizon is offering no way for the customer to save money; theirs is strictly a price increase.

The million dollar question though is will we get to keep our $29.99 pricing if we move from BlackBerry to another device. Verizon has different data plans for BlackBerry than they do for Android/iPhones due to BIS and RIM infrastructure provisioning. It looks like we can keep our pricing if we stay within the "BlackBerry Data" plan, but might be screwed if we switch to another device, where as a Thunderbolt user for example on an unlimited plan would have no problem switching to the iPhone.

I, like probably many others on the forum have been holding out for the BlackBerry 9930, but if that underwhelms, I am off to the iPhone 5. I am going to be really pissed if I get relegated to tiered pricing, simply because of some semantics between a BB data plan and the one used on every other smart phone.