Verizon launches unlimited high speed data add-on, for short time periods

Jos

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Verizon isn’t very fond of unlimited data plans. The company hasn’t offered one since 2011, has made efforts to kick users off grandfathered plans, and its CFO Fram Shammo notably declared that you “cannot make money on an unlimited video world” — Verizon saw $8.0 billion in profit on $21.7 billion in second-quarter revenues, but I digress.

Well now the company is opening up to the idea of unlimited high-speed data, but with its own twist to keep usage under control: you can get either 30 minutes for $2 or 1 hour for $3. The timed limit under the new PopData program is meant so that you can enjoy an occasional spike in data usage without having to worry about your data cap — for example, to download several music playlists, or enjoying a video stream when Wi-Fi is not an option.

PopData can be purchased from the My Verizon app on Android, iPhone and iPad devices, under Data Meter > Get More Data. It’ll only be available if you are able to get a 4G signal in your location and if there’s no network congestion, otherwise it will be grayed out.

When your session begins, a timer will start counting down to show how much time you’ve got left, and you’ll also get a five-minute warning before the session concludes.

It’s not a bad deal if you only occasionally need to use lots of data — at least it’ll be cheaper next to overage charges. For comparison, T-Mobile is now offering an unlimited high speed data plan for $70 per month, but has a number of strings attached, most notably when it comes to streaming video it’s either SD quality or $3 a day for high quality.

The PopData program is in a beta phase right now. “The beta launch of PopData gives us an opportunity to learn more about how time-based data options resonate with our customers and how they engage with a digital-only experience through the My Verizon app,” a Verizon spokeswoman said in a statement.

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Verizon.....I am one of your customers and for the most part I am happy. there are some shady spots with my signal but they are few to say the least. but I digress. just give us an unlimited data plan with unlimited 4g and throttle our speeds after a certain data cap but no so much that we cant stream music and maybe some youtube stuff without buffering. I seriously need to be able to utilize your network while listening to radio at work all day AT THE VERY LEAST. just come on verizon.....come on......give it to us. people will hop over to you guys so fast if you offer an unlimited data plan like I mentioned.......
 
Screw small government. I want the government to step in and stop practices like this which are nonsense money grabs by huge corporations that do nothing good.
 
Just another opportunity for a money grab through corporate greed. Even the former "good guys" like Consumer Cellular are doing the same thing. Once you go over their "limits" they instantly bump you up into the next catagory without permission and refuse to send you back. I'm now looking for another new company that will put me back in control ...... good luck to me!!!
 
The ONLY way unlimited is coming back is when #Verizon starts losing customers, so why stay irrespective of how good you might think they are
 
Don't know what's the big deal. You install the hardware, attach a monitoring software and you don't have to pay anything more.

And for that you can charge $5 per month. For 10 million customers that's already 50 million dollars. I can't fathom larger numbers. Even if the hardware is 1 billion, you get your investment back in 20 months.
 
Screw small government. I want the government to step in and stop practices like this which are nonsense money grabs by huge corporations that do nothing good.
Your comment logically contradicts everything you asked for. It is because of big government that we have sh*t like this. The corporations and politicians are all in bed together with corrupt money flying like water from Old Faithful. What is actually better is competition between companies (with some regulations to avoid total monopolies). In an ideal world, a big effective, truly for the people, government would put a stop to these practices, but that will never happen. Small government is heavily in the people's favor for the reasons I talked about and more...
 
The ONLY way unlimited is coming back is when #Verizon starts losing customers, so why stay irrespective of how good you might think they are

Cellphone companies have regional monopolies in many areas of the US. They carve out parts of the states and don't overlap their networks. It's the same tactic that the ISPs use and it's very effective at keeping prices high.

Where I live sure you could switch to AT&T or T-Mobile but your signal would be crap compared to verizon.

In the US we love two things, money and monopolies and they go hand in hand. It's getting hard to think of a market that does have competition.
 
Verizon.....I am one of your customers and for the most part I am happy. there are some shady spots with my signal but they are few to say the least. but I digress. just give us an unlimited data plan with unlimited 4g and throttle our speeds after a certain data cap but no so much that we cant stream music and maybe some youtube stuff without buffering. I seriously need to be able to utilize your network while listening to radio at work all day AT THE VERY LEAST. just come on verizon.....come on......give it to us. people will hop over to you guys so fast if you offer an unlimited data plan like I mentioned.......
Unlimited data is great, yet I can listen to streaming music all day every day and use less than 2gb a month in data thru Verizon. Video is the largest data muncher then pictures. Maybe it is a priority thing, not a Verizon thing. Just saying.
 
Unlimited data is great, yet I can listen to streaming music all day every day and use less than 2gb a month in data thru Verizon. Video is the largest data muncher then pictures. Maybe it is a priority thing, not a Verizon thing. Just saying.
explain to me how you do this. I know a typical "garbage" quality song is easily less than 5 megs. but all day through an 8-10 hour shift through 28+ days.....I just don't see it
 
explain to me how you do this. I know a typical "garbage" quality song is easily less than 5 megs. but all day through an 8-10 hour shift through 28+ days.....I just don't see it
I listen to pandora, for the last nine months I have tracked all my family's usage and my data usage has averaged 2.2 gb per month on my phone. Now my teens use anywhere between 5 and 7 gigs with snapchat and other social media things. I have five phones on my account and we use 13 to 16 gigs a month consistently.
 
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