Verizon to cease data package requirement on new 3G feature phones

By on Sep 17, 2010 at 6:01 PM
Exclusive September 17, 2010

We’re not sure why the Verizon Wireless news always seems to appear on Friday afternoon… but it does. One of our VZW ninjas sent us in a memo (pictured above) that was distributed to select Verizon Wireless employees today. The communication details that beginning in Q4, Verizon will start to phase out the “3G Multimedia device” category and discontinue requiring a $9.99 monthly data plan on the new 3G feature phones being released to replace said devices. 3G multimedia phones that have already launched, like the LG EnV 3, will still require said plan until they are phased out. Good news for those who want a 3G feature phone with a full QWERTY keypad but not a monthly data plan. Aside from the feature phone news, the memo also reiterates that Verizon will be launching 4G, LTE data cards in Q4 (which we already knew). There you have it. Thoughts?

Tags:
, , , , , , , ,
129 Comments

Related Articles

  • bryan

    Wow, I’m really glad they made this decision…customers HATE that feature phone data requirement. I’m suprised that Verizon, out of all the carriers, chose to eliminate this. Usually VZW’s tactics are to charge whatever inflated price they want and claim their “amazing service” is worth it. Honestly their customer service has always been lackluster and their strategy never customer oriented. Nice to see a step in a friendlier direction.

    • bobaloo

      While I agree with most of your post, your statement that their “customer service has alwasy been lackluster,” is completely inaccurate.

      I have never called a CS rep and not been taken care of. Perhaps not all of them are extremely knowledgable, but in my experience they are all will to help satisfy my needs when I call.

      Just thought I’d throw that out there.

      • navi

        i agree with bobaloo. 9 years with them and i have NEVER had an issue with them. i get credits to my account all the time.

      • Patty

        Why are you constantly having to complain to customer service and getting all these “credits all the time”????

        A good cell provider wouldn’t have so many problems… and have to issue 100s of “credits” to you in the first place.

      • Joshua John Tappe

        Patty: At least we gave out credits. You ought to call in once in a while just for the heck of it to go over your cell usage.

        One woman got me on the line. Basic reps like me were allowed to give out $50 credits without any reasoning at all. Beyond that, an explanation was needed.

        This woman had been overpaying on her bill for the last 8 months for something she caused. I took pity on her because she hadn’t even called in about this issue. I took it upon myself to not only credit her the $3 a month for 8 months, but to flat out give her a $50 credit because she was kind on the phone and she was obviously not a very “phone savvy” person.

        She actually cried on the phone. Apparently there was some major bill that she didn’t know where she was going to get the extra $50. Boy did that make my day.

        On another note, be nice to your phone reps. They WANT to help you. I tended to give out $10 credits left and right solely if the person was nice on the call. They yelled or swore(17 min straight one time on a SIMPLE fix!), they got $0. Teaches ya something. :-)

      • Joshua John Tappe

        As a previous CSR for VZW, I have to say this should be INCREDIBLY inaccurate. When working for them, I felt a personal connection to EVERY customer that came onto my phone. There were times where I had some complicated issues to fix(caused by store reps…) that I stayed through solving them on my lunch or even AFTER work with NO pay just so I could spend the time necessary to figure it out.

        If you got a poor Rep EVER, I personally apologize for them. I will say this though. VZW does outsource a lot of their business to a company called ACS(or whatever they’re called now). Their management didn’t know BUNK about VZW. Only the on-the-phone reps. This led to some poor reps for a while before VZW wisened up and got the heck rid of them.

        Just had to say that all. I mean, VZW reps CARE about their customers and HATE hold times that THEY get forced to deal with too. Trust me when I say this, we ALL tried to find ways to eliminate hold times.

        It’s not like the Sprint CSRs I use to know that admitted to my face that Sprint is WAY too compartmentalized and that partially causes their CS to suck.

    • Roh

      I don’t get it. “Feature Phones” is the category where you have never required the data plan. Things like the Cosmos, the Intensity, the Haven, the Accolade, basically all the basic ones, with or without a QWERTY keyboard that don’t have HTML browsers or as much in the way of multimedia features.

      The Multimedia phones are things like the Rogue, Env Touch, Chocolate Touch, etc. They need the $9.99 data plan.

      Then the Smartphone category has the Blackberry and the Droid and all of that high end stuff. Those need the $29.99 data plan.

      So saying that feature phones will not require a data plan is accurate but nothing new. The only thing new in that memo is that Verizon will be launching devices that have more features but are still in the basic feature Phone category.

  • rusty

    So does this mean my wife can use my old Curve, and we don’t have to pay for a data plan?

    • Garett

      @rusty: I don’t think so. At least not based on this letter. It says “new Feature Phones launching during Q4 will not require a data package.” So your old Curve wouldn’t seem to apply.

      Also, it says that a $9.99 or higher package is still required for “any customer with his/her own 3G multimedia device who wants to activate VZW service,” which would seem to be directed at situations such as yours.

    • Butthead007

      No. Blackberry devices have always required a data plan so they are definitely not going to eliminate the requirement for a blackberry.

    • john

      why the hell would you buy a blackberry w/o the data package – you should not even buy one then

      • Robert

        I agree buying a Blackberry without a data package is pointless, but if I had an old Blackberry laying around and someone wanted to use it for the keyboard, and awesome multimedia features instead of buying something like a POS Intensity I would rather do that. Plus they could still use it to sync calendars and contacts from their computer.

      • BK

        some people actually want to keep robust contact information and need a full on calendar/appointment function that can sync to their pc, but have no need for the data plan. i would gladly buy a non smartphone if there was one that had full contact data, robust calendar/appointment function and came with software to sync to my pc out of the box. that phone doesn’t exist.

      • Joshua John Tappe

        I once had a Customer that bought a RIM BB that said she bought it SOLELY because it “looked cool.”

        Take that one to the bank folks. :-)

    • Roh

      No. The requirement is straight from RIM that they made Verizon sign. All Blackberries will always require a data plan, to avoid litigation because of disputed overages. And a Blackberry isn’t a Feature Phone anyway. It’s a Smartphone.

  • Joe

    Shocking… but understandable, they were losing A LOT of people while they were doing that.

    • Joe B.

      Verizon has consistently added customers quarter after quarter for the past 2+ years. I’m not quite sure where you’re getting the “Losing Customers” idea from. You might be thinking of Sprint.

      • Peter F

        They had net adds of ALL customers, but they probably lost out on a decent amount of customers that want feature phones without the data plan.

      • wekebu

        @Joe B, Sprint has been adding customers. They are doing quite well. (happy Sprint true unlimited data plan user).

      • dano96

        while Sprint did add 111,000 subscribers last quarter, they also loss 760 million in revenue as per their second quarter results/just wondering your definition of well.

      • menno

        While they did add customers for the first time in years, that’s only after you count their prepaid customers (virgin, boost, etc).

        They still had a loss of customers if you look only at their postpaid (which this article, and your claim are about)

        They’re finally starting to keep their head above water. That doesn’t mean they’re doing “quite well.”

    • Rizzle

      Actually there are earnings reports from each of the carriers every quarter. Verizon still loses less customers than any other company. There was an increase in customer base regardless of this change. It was for consumer protection for customers who don’t pay attention to detail on their bill and get enormous charges for MB usage on their bill.

      • Willow

        While VZW might not have lost customers, many have chosen not to upgrade and sign a new 2 year contract. We were due for an upgrade in August but are choosing to wait it out. I have talked to a lot of people who are doing the same thing in the hopes that something like this will happen.

      • long time vsw customer

        i am with u on that weve been due for an upgrade since april & may and have chose not to upgrade or renew we are in the process of waiting out our third line b4 deciding anything……i have to say i can see points from both sides every phone company has different perks and downsides thats whats makes them different but arguing or dewelling on stuff you cant fix is redundent it gets you no where just flaring your feathers trying to see who has the brightest colors i think that if enough ppl came together they would make a change thats why they intrduced the data plans ppl wanted newer better phones and thats what they got and more and more started to use internet on their phones im not 4 it but i can see where they r coming from with this it just sucks for ppl that dont need or want the data plans and want to use their phones for other options like video and pictures txting and etc. i no the phones are made for more but everything that does i have other stuff that does it as well i think it would be in their best interest to consider letting the customers have a choice if they want to use internet or data plans they can or if they want to not use their phones for that purpose they should be able to say “no i dont want to pay an extra $700 a yr on something im not going to use”

  • http://crichton007.blogspot.com crichton007

    This is certainly good news. My wife would never have used it so we would likely have gone shopping for other service.

    • dano96

      the intensity 2 does not require a data plan

  • shaggy

    It’s the new 3G multimedia phones that are released after the 4th quarter starts that will not require data. The phones that are currently offered, such as the intensity 2, chocolate touch, env touch, env3, and those that are currently available will still require the 9.99 data plan. How hard is that to figure out????

    • Roh

      Intensity 2 doesn’t require a data plan. Never has, never will. I agree that the three tiered smartphone, multimedia phone, and feature phone categories can be confusing at first but everything’s already separated out at their website.

  • Thomas

    Damm, wish I knew this before I signed up with AT&T 30 days ago.

    Good move Verizon!

    • navi

      may be worth the ETF? i would call asap and see if you can talk your way out of it or pay the fee. would be worth it if you save in the long run.

  • myron mccray

    News releases and phone launches are done on late friday’s and weekends simply because bloggers and news organizations cannot have a major negative effect on sales over a weekend. Why? Because carriers are aware of the fact that most people pay attention monday thru thursday and plan to make purchases friday nights, saturday and sunday when off from work. Secondly, most people do not pay attention to what is happening in the wireless world on weekends. If a phone or a product appears on a weekend, there was an attempt made to keep blog and news folks from rendering an opinion about the product thus maximizing sales during the weekend.

  • David

    WAIT… this memo reads they will not release any new 3G devices just “feature” phones. So they are releasing simple phones? no more 3g phones until next year I assume? So 3g phones still require the 9.99 fee right?

    • Rizzle

      No no no. Okay 3g is the technology. Feature phone is the type of phone. So a 3g feature phone is a simple phone with not the need for a data plan…………..BUT if you want to get online it will cost per mb, and uses 3g, when they say 3g multimedia phone that requires data, then 3g smartphone is well…..a smartphone and will always require data or is essentially a paperweight.

  • Robert

    And manufacturers get screwed again. First they change up everything earlier in the year with handsets already developed and being shipped requiring them to create new devices to work around the data plan requirement by releasing 1x devices. And now that they have 1x devices coming out with good basic features Verizon screws their strategy again by changing things up on these up and coming devices.

    • JODON

      There is a reason why the LG CEO got booted.

  • Dom

    Wow, BGR is ill informed. Feature phones have NEVER required data plans. Only 3G smartphone and 3G multimedia phones require them. All the above article says is they dont plan to introduce ne 3G multimedia phones.

    • Robert

      That’s correct. My wife and daughter both just got the Intensity 2 (a feature phone) a couple of weeks ago, and no data plan was required.

      As far as I’ve seen, Verizon has never required a data plan for feature phones, just for multimedia phones and smartphones. There is no change of policy described in this memo, so I’m not sure what everyone is getting so excited about.

  • vz care rep

    @jackie

    Go to another carrier. Your petulant whining is irritating. You are right, we don’t care about your business because you are one the those FOOLS that doesn’t read, doesn’t research, doesn’t READ WHAT SHE SIGNS WHEN A CONTRACT IS INVOLVED, then in her holy suburbanite mom glory insists that somebody else is at fault for her ignorance, and goes on and on about how no one will fix it. I have scrolled this topic and seen you say multiple times how you are leaving… no one gives a $%&#, DO IT! Leave! Now! Out of 93+ million customers, at least 2/3rds research, mange there account, don’t call care incessantly, make scenes at stores. It is people like you who drive the cost of business up. Port the hell out.

    • Roh

      Ha ha ha, to quote a famous philanderer, I feel your pain.

    • cthunder

      @ vz care rep.
      Wow! I seriously doubt you work for Verizon and if you did. You should be fired on the spot. It’s seems you’re the real FOOL here. Sorry reading is fundamental, how did you get she needs to read, research or doesn’t read when she signed her contract from her problem at hand?

      Let me help you out, her problem is with an existing phone that happened to be out of warranty. And when she went into get a replacement (Reality) they never told her about the $9.99 data plan. She found out later via a text msg. So how is this her fault for not reading, doing research or understanding her signed contract. So I can see why Jackie is upset or bitching. She didn’t have the plan before but now it’s required even though they can go back and set it the way it was before. The rep there told her it could be done. Jade rep stated it could be done. And another rep exchanged a Touch for a Touch and BLOCKED the data plan.

      Verizon pulled the same stunt with my sister and her husband both had the Env 3 with the data block before the new plans went into effect. My sisters Env 3 just kept acting up so they gave her a new one. Guess what, she was it with th $9.99 data plan. She called in and complained with no luck. She went back to the store and they too denied her. I suggested to her see take it to the main store, the one’s that can do repairs and updates. She did and they immediately set her acct back to the way it was and credited her acct. So once again they both have Env 3′s with no data plans.

      Only reason Verizon add data plans is because of greed. Before I got my Touch my previous LG VX8350 flip phone was on the list required to have a data plan. Why would anyone in there right mind pay a data plan for that phone? Yes I used my phone to get on the internet, but it was only to check scores, movie times or to look for a place to eat. While it was a nice phone it was the worst phone for internet access. Like Chellykay stated, another VZ rep, none of those phones should have a required a data plan since none of them were SMARTPHONES.

  • Fred

    Two words, pre paid.
    Get a prepaid phone for your kid and keep them off your plan. No contract. Buy a new phone anytime. Teaches responsibility. Prepaid services cam restrict the heck out of the service. You can lock down the phone to only call numbers the controller/parent programs into it.
    And so it is….

    • Jackie

      Thanks, Fred…already going that route.

  • Eric

    The fact that this memo was distributed to “select employees” raised a flag with me. An old intelligence trick is to release documents to a suspicious group, each document being ever so slightly different. The leaker of this document would have been better served by paraphrasing the content, rather than publishing it…

  • Greg

    I am glad Verizon is taking this step. Its a good start anyway. I’d like to see the 3G smart phones without a data package too but i guess that will take longer. I mean minus the internet and email those phones could be a nice upgrade to the standard phones.

    • PM

      Why would you even want a 3G smartphone without data? All the Android phones need it. Blackberry messanger and email would not work on a berry without it? You are upgrading to NOT use something the phone was made for.

      • Greg

        There are some nice smart phones that would be a good upgrade even without the data. Touch screen, nice display for watching videos, standalone apps im sure. The whole point is offering all the nice phones without mandatory BS fees. If you want the data plan then sign up, if not then don’t but still have a nice phone.

      • menno

        Besides phones like android and BB devices are built AROUND data, not with a nice “data option.” They’re basically worthless without it, and there are MUCH better alternatives for customers who want nicer features but no data plan.

        I agree, if you pay RETAIL for the device, you can choose to make data optional, but if you get the device on contract and get ANY discount, you play by their rules, which is required data.

  • Slim6596

    “…these devices will now have similar functionality to our 3G Multimedia devices.”

    Fantastic. I have been shopping other carriers because of this ridiculous requirement, but now I guess i will wait and see what the big V has in store next year. The good thing is that I live in a marginal reception area and can cancel anytime without ETF. Here’s looking forward to some nice non-data phones…hopefully.

    • PM

      I don’t think Verizon cancels without ETF in marginal areas anymore.

      • steady

        @pm. your correct, at least thats what they tell us in store

      • Slim6596

        I already have the option. Per Verizon, I can cancel ETF-free at any time. I have verified that it is notated on my account.

  • sam

    Verizon never should have required it in the first place

  • Swokrep

    Go Jaded Rep! Ok ok ok for all my fellow Big Red comrades out there…we are number one for a reason…because we can adapt to change. Vzw is a company that yes, actually does give a eff about their employees, and customers hence providing backup power during crisis, providing their customers a large variety of options with their plans, and well damnit they put food in my childrens mouths plus some. I support my company. The only negative thing that I. Can say is about joe bob farmer over here trying to look at accuweather because he didn’t listen when we told him about per mb charges, now all of the sudden mr farmer turns into an ass, cusses out his rep, and cancels service. It happens. Not my fault. My four year old knows what a megabyte is,but my children are growing up in the industry. Well he has an idea. There is a reason for the data plan. If ya don’t like it go get yourself a different phone on a crappy network. Ill be rulin some air and countin my cheddah! Go swok can I get a heck yeah!

    • Sad Day

      You sound mildly retarded the way you type. I really hope that you don’t work for VZW and sound like that interacting with customers.

  • TheBivMan

    Who cares? Is anyone minus the elderly paying less than $30 extra a month for data already?

  • Lisa

    Question…what are they refering to as a ‘tiered’ package for data? I assume there will be different pricing rather than the flat $29.99 rate for different usage times, is this correct or am I missing something?
    Also, would I be better off waiting until January to pick up a Droid or go for it now?

  • vmbx

    Shucks. Wanted to move my spouse up to an env3 in December. He’s not ready for a smart phone.

  • long time vsw customer

    my husband and i have been with vsw now for over 7 yrs we have always been good customers always renewed our 2 yr contracts……..till now we have been up for an upgrade since may i understand ppl like to use the internet on their phones i under stand the convience of it…but we use our phones for txting, and pictures we dont use internet on or phones i feel that we should have a choice if we want to use the internet on our phones or if we want to use it for pictures and txting. i no that they have the “feature phones” that do not require a data package but the pics are only 3 mega bits to 3.2 mega bits wat if i wanted a nice phone with 8 mega bits for taking better pics without the package? ive always said we liked verizon and have gotten quite a bit of our friends and family to switch to them but now it kinda feels like we r being punished for not wanting to pay an extra $719.76 a yr bwetween the both of our phones or an extra $239.76 to keep the phones that we have now

1 2
blog comments powered by Disqus