Verizon Introduces New EVDO Phone and Data Plans

firedude · EVDO Junkie Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 435

First of all Jim there is no shortage of bandwidth. My brother works in the industry and he even says Verizon's bandwidth cap is a joke. They just can't keep up with the supply and demand. They let themselves fall back and now are scrambling to get more evdo up as Sprint is walking in the front doors of many places like here where I am.

As far as satellite providers throttling people back because of their FAP (Fair Acccess Policy)? A joke in itself to a degree. I was with Direcway (Hughes) for over 5 years and was never throttled back for going over my cap. It works all together differently than say Verizon's cap so you can't mix apples and oranges.

EVDO like all other forms of internet connections was designed to be USED, not babied. This is why carriers like Verizon and Sprint (and others) jumped on the bandwagon. It's a delicacy as well since it's MOBILE and they know there is a demand. Verizon as my bro says puts their limit in place to lessen their workload and keep their costs down, NOT to meet public demand. They've failed for years here on the central coast and yep Sprint took their market and will have it all by the time Verizon gets around to meeting their customers requests. It's already happened. Where did Sprint get their bandwidth??Don't you thin k if the bandwidth issue was such a huge problem Sprint would have caps in place as well??? As far as costs being passed onto the customer?? Sheesh there is nothing new there as it has been happening since day one in every industry and will continue no matter how much we think we are "helping" lol. Overloaded towers and switches are the direct result of the providers in failing to keep up with the demand. All the bandwidth in the world is there for them IF they was to buy it, install it and distribute it.

A lot of cable companies and even satellite providers are feeling the crunch of people leaving for faster speeds and more bandwidth and easier mobility and one hell of a lot LESS cost!. I was one and for good reason. It's just another day on the tower................

TigerFX · EVDO User Joined: 05 Jan 2008 Posts: 38

Has anyone ever wondered - is there a way to just bypass your ISP and buy bandwidth from wherever they get it from? You say more bandwidth is available if Verizon were to buy it - how outragous would it be for us to go out and buy it ourselves?

An ambitious dream, I know - but I'm so wanting decent bandwidth I'm just curious how feasable that sort of thing is.

Another point to consider: if you purchase web space at a server farm, you can be allocated hundreds of GBs of bandwidth per month on your rental server for less than our ISP's charge us... if we were determined and lived in the right area, could we bypass our ISP's and purchase huge chunks of bandwidth from wherever these web hosts get it from? How viable is that option? The companies do it - how much would it cost us?

And surley if you had enough friends wanting reasonable bandwidth, you could just split the cost.

Let me know if my idea is just way out there.

sctrt · Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 9:14 pm Post subject:

Alex

Thanks for the timely and very informative info.

sctrt

Alex · Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 9:25 pm Post subject:

uvarules

jackrodgers · EVDO Addict Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 1131

Here's an idea for Comcast:

Portable internet connections.

Not an engineer but how about a small hub so we can unplug/unscrew the cable connection from the back of a TV and tie it into the hub and then user our personal surfing account to do the internet.

This would give me access to the 6 Meg speed of Comcast.

xenophon · EVDO Addict Joined: 30 Aug 2005 Posts: 2004

Sprint's CEO said a few weeks ago that they are preparing to deploy some 'nukes'. Wow if this happens....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080220/bs_nm/wireless_pricing_dc

Alex · Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 10:54 am Post subject:

yeah. that would start a nice war, wouldn't it?

the consumers should win big in this one! Very Happy

firedude · EVDO Junkie Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 435

Like I said earlier, let the battle begin! Verizon may have shot themselves in the foot pulling that one. when I called Verizon yesterday and asked how it would affect my 2 line family plan I told the gal that Sprint was offering the same thing and she was totally surprised and said really? Be good for us the consumer to get the prices lowered. Hopefully next will be the data plan war and those prices will come down. Can't do anything but help the economy!

xenophon · EVDO Addict Joined: 30 Aug 2005 Posts: 2004

vpnavy · EVDO Junkie Joined: 29 Jul 2005 Posts: 168

Wow! Unless I messed up with my math - if someone uses 6GB one month - they will owe $512.00 (.50 per MB X 1024) plus $59.99? That will slow down usage and chase everyone over to Sprint.

firedude · EVDO Junkie Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 435

Just spoke to Verizon's Accounts Investigative Unit at 866 221-3979 and confirmed the above mentioned charges for going over on both accounts HOWEVER it is for new customers. If you are an existing customer it will not apply. Whew either way I'm sure glad I bailed to Sprint a few days ago! Shocked

On edit...
I don't think they could change your TOS anyway at least without your knowledge and acceptance. That would be a bit illegal I believe and somethi8ng you didn't sign when entering an agreement with them.. One thing I didn't ask was how it may affect your contract if you renewed your 2 year agreement or at the end of such and went month to month like I was for a long time.

xenophon · EVDO Addict Joined: 30 Aug 2005 Posts: 2004

Carriers can change the TOS on existing accounts as long as they offer choice to cancel service with no ETF. But it appears Verizon has grandfathered in existing EVDO card users, as you've confirmed. But probably only for the remainder of the existing contract.