I doubt the Verizon "unlimited" claim is sincere. Let me explain why.<p>When Verizon rolled out its 3G data plan (EVDO Rev.0) in 2005, they <i>initially</i> sold an "unlimited" plan. Very few smart phones could do EVDO, so it was mostly the sale of USB dongles for use with laptops and similar.<p>In 2006, Verizon started terminating "abusive" users for downloading too much on their supposed "unlimited" plan, and after much wrangling, Verizon finally declared that using more than 5GByte/Month of network traffic is their line in the sand for "abuse."<p>The above resulted in a class action suit for false advertising. The way Verizon resolved the dispute is not very well known. They simply changed the terms for new customers so new customers would pay per KB fees for everything in excess of 5GByte, and the new accounts were no longer advertised as "unlimited."<p>The old customers were allowed to keep their "unlimited" status and use the connection as much as they want, but if transfers got too far past 5GByte, the connection would be throttled back to a slower speed. As the saying goes, the old customers were "grandfathered in" with basically the old terms. --The reason, of course, after a few years is most people would make changes to their account, like accepting a "free" new phone/dongle offer, and create a new contract under the new LIMITED terms.<p>Since I was an early adopter, I have an old "unlimited" account. I refuse to change the account, so it remains unlimited. Only on very rare occasion do I see it get throttled for a few days until the billing cycle ends.<p>With the new iPhone offering, Verizon might be using the same "unlimited" tricks to get early adopters. It will be interesting to see how this works out...<p>EDIT: precafinated typos
Is this plan actually unlimited, or is there a soft cap? I'm guessing the latter.<p>I know some people are going to say its absurd to suggest Verizon should offer a truly unlimited plan, but in that case, they shouldn't be advertising their plan as such either.
I don't know if I'll switch immediately, but come any catalyst - be it a new iPhone model or my AT&T contract running out - you can bet I won't be sticking around.
I supposedly have unlimited data from Verizon on the Android phone I have. I'm actually surprised at how little I've been able to use in a month (my max has been 2-3 GB). I don't watch a lot of videos, but I stream a fair bit of music and browse the web frequently, making use of wifi when possible.<p>I think this works like shared hosting. Many people think they need unlimited bandwidth, and it sounds great, but they end up using far less than expected. This more than makes up for the people who use excessive amounts.
I'm really glad that in Australia we have a strong government consumer rights body, being the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commmission).<p>Several years ago they banned the use of the word "unlimited" on ADSL (or any Internet) accounts unless it truly was no unlimited. If the account had "fair use" limits, traffic shaping or overage fees.<p>The result? You buy the quota you want. Outside of Australia people seem to dislike the idea of quotas but the result is practices like surreptitious shaping. Quotas really are fairer and (IMHO) have the best end result.<p>As for Verizon, I have a DroidX and live in NYC. My iPhone is useless in a lot of places. My Droid isn't. I can't help but think the net result of the Verizon iPhone will be that my DroidX will become equally useless.
We have one carrier offering an unlimited 3G plan here in Austria. They don't limit you or shape you traffic when you use too much (I had 80 GB traffic last month). The bad thing is that their network is often an order of magnitude slower than the networks of their competitors that don't offer an unlimited plan. During the late afternoon/evening it is unusable, even for surfing or checking your mails.