

Verizon is doing away with contracts - denzil_correa
http://www.theverge.com/2015/8/7/9116493/verizon-is-doing-away-with-contracts

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Someone1234
I just want to say, them charging more for smartphones and then again for data
is nonsense, if they aren't subsidizing the phones themselves, then there is
no rational reason why a smartphone would seek a premium. It is just double-
dipping. And tablets costing $10/month while smart watches are "only" $5 a
month is again nonsensical and one doesn't cost more than the other, and they
aren't offering more value either.

Now that they're no longer subsidizing phones, it is easy to see just how
horribly expensive cellular service is in the US. Their cheapest smartphone
plan is $20 + $30 a month plus a million little fees and charges. That gets
you 1GB of data, unlimited calls and text.

That's £32.27. 1 GB of data is only £12 (4G speeds) on GiffGaff in the UK,
with 500 minutes calls/unlimited texts. If you have £32 to spend you can get
5GB of 4G data and 5K minutes of calls if you wish.

I like T-Mobile the most out of the big three in the US, but even T-Mobile
charges $50/month starting rate for a smartphone. Now, yes, you get some cool
value adds with T-Mobile (Canada/Mexico calling, free music streaming, basic
international data/texts, and so on) but still, the US remains a very
expensive place to own a cellphone.

If they were smart (any of them) they'd only charge a setup fee for
tablets/laptops/smart watches/etc and then after that keeping the devices on
the network is "free" indefinitely and they just charge you data usage. This
encourages more data usage on the network, which is a much safer long term
prospect than scaring people into adding their devices due to the silly
monthly fees.

I'm not going to go to the hassle of adding my tablet just for a short
vacation, but if it was on the network indefinitely, I am going to enable the
3G/4G modem and use it for that vacation. Their supposed greed ($5/month, etc)
is actually costing them more money than it makes them.

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mtgx
Source:

[https://www.verizonwireless.com/news/article/2015/08/simplif...](https://www.verizonwireless.com/news/article/2015/08/simplified-
data-choices-match-customer-lifestyles.html)

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ocdtrekkie
Isn't this basically the More Everything plan? Line access fees plus data
buckets aren't new here. The lack of a two year agreement is new though.

I wonder if the whole "we'll buy out your plan for you to switch" thing is the
big motivator for this. By killing off contracts, these carriers end their
need to buy out each others' ETFs and such.

