Verizon Wont Cap Its Unlimited Data Plans

Heres How Its Getting Subscribers to Ditch the Plans Instead

Some of Verizon Wireless subscribers are still on unlimited data plans, though the carrier no longer offers them to new subscribers.

And while other carriers have unlimited plans as well, many have started to limit the amount of data their users can consume each month.

AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile all have some type of data throttling, typically after a user surpasses 22 GB of data in a billing cycle and when specific cellular towers are heavily congested.Source: FierceWireless.

But earlier this week, Verizons Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo told CNET that the carrier wont slow down the speeds of unlimited plans.Source: CNET.

"For a customer who signed up for unlimited, they're going to get unlimited. But we are increasing the price. These customers are consuming a lot of data. But we're not in the habit of throttling customers." Fran Shammo, Verizon CFO

Earlier this month, Verizon hiked up the cost of its unlimited plans by $20 per month.

The carrier also makes its unlimited customers pay full price for their phones when they upgrade.Source: CNET.

So why is Verizon increasing the plan prices, instead of just throttling the data speeds like other carriers?

Verizon actually did throttle its 3G customers in the past.

But when it tried to do the same with its 4G customers, the Federal Communications Commission and Verizon customers lashed out.

So the carrier decided not to throttle its 4G customers, and stopped slowing data speeds on its 3G unlimited plans as well.

Instead, the carrier is focusing on making it very difficult for unlimited customers to stay on their plans by raising plan prices and device costs.

While Verizon may be the only carrier raising prices on its unlimited customers right now, its likely other carriers will do the same in the future.

By 2020, the average wireless subscriber in the U.S. will consume about 14 GB of data per month, which is nearly five times higher than todays average.Source: CITA.

And all that data usage will force carriers to improve their networks, and eventually increase data plan prices.

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