After releasing our first ever monthly rumor round-up post in May and attempting to not commit to it being a monthly deal, we are back 1 month later with another. As we get ready for the summer, there are too many interesting stories floating around behind the scenes to not let you in on them. What we have here is information officially released paired with bits of info that have been handed to us from industry sources. Most of it can change with time, but we like to keep you up on the gossip behind the scenes. Enjoy. 

Verizon’s CFO Fran Shammo spoke at the JP Morgan Media and Telecom conference this morning, providing further detail on their plans for shared or family data tiers. During his conversation, he mentioned the end of grandfathered unlimited data plans, but before that he talked specifically about these shared tiers. While he didn’t go into detail on how they would be priced or structured as far as data amounts go, he did say that Verizon will have no problem making money off of them in the very near future. 

During the JP Morgan Media and Telecom conference, Verizon’s CFO Fran “ShamWow” Shammo dropped a bomb that most of you are not going to be a fan of. During his talk, he mentioned that unlimited data plans will go away completely when the company introduces shared data plans this summer. He talked about everyone’s next upgrade cycle and how at that time, users will be forced into shared data tiers and off of the unlimited plans that you have come to love. He mentioned specifically that 3G users on unlimited data will indeed have to go into a shared plan once they upgrade to a 4G phone, but in the quote we have below, it sounds like it is going beyond that.

During Verizon’s Q1 earnings call today, CFO Fran “ShamWow” Shammo said that family data plans will launch this summer. He did not go into specifics on price or data bundle size, but did mention that by mid-summer, families will have an option to share a pool of data and add devices onto it easily.

As I said, we will be launching our data share plan in midsummer this year.We believe that plan, the way we have it designed, will enable our customers to easily connect other devices to that plan.

We have covered this saga for almost a year now, all the while seeing family plan calculators appear, mentions of “mid-year” launches, and overhauling of account management systems. While Big Red has taken time to work out all the kinks, it looks like they have come far enough for Shammo to express a more specific time frame publicly.

We are still unsure if this will be a positive or negative move for the industry. In a time when data prices are increasing, we can’t help but wonder if these bundles will be overpriced and under-sized. I guess we’ll know in a couple of months.

It’s no secret, Verizon is preparing to introduce Family Data plans at some point in 2012, potentially during Q2 or Q3. Company executives have mentioned it a handful of times and we have seen changes made to billing systems for months now to prepare for it. The move is definitely happening.

Today’s picture of a Family Data Usage Calculator is yet another sign that things are moving along quickly. The picture above matches the style and format of VZW’s current Data Usage Calculator and even appears to be live somewhere on their website. We poked around for a few minutes and were unable to find it, but the top bar in the window leads us to believe that it can be found. (Do work DL community.)

Not that we were expected to see them, but prices are not included in the calculator. This tool is made for one purpose, to get you to decide during the checkout process how much data you think you need since Verizon has tiered data plans now.

Family data plans could be a big deal, especially for those with multiple lines that see varying amounts of data usage. The key here is obviously the pricing – something we have nothing to compare or get a feel for since Verizon will be the first to introduce plans of this kind.

Via:  PhoneArena

Verizon Communications CFO Fran Shammo spoke at the Deutsche Bank Media and Telecommunications Conference on Monday and provided a few extra details that we had not yet heard on the shared or family data front. Having long been rumored to go live some time this year, Shammo was a bit more specific during his time, saying that we will see “something launched mid-year this year, from us.”

He then talked about how this won’t initially go live for everyone the day they announce it, but that it will be a “4G play” which we are assuming means that LTE customers will have the option to go with shared data first. Clearly this makes sense, as Verizon has already decided to limit the number of non-4G phones that enter their stores going forward. With an expecting 4G LTE nationwide completion rollout of “end of year 2013,” Big Red should try to incentivize LTE and smartphones, to try and rid the world of 3G and feature phones.

He did not going into pricing or specifics and I wish someone would already. This is one of those areas that no other company has moved into, so we really have no idea what to expect. Is it going to be 10GB for $100 with as many lines as you can add? Or is it going to be something completely different and more affordable? It’s anyone’s guess at this point.

On a semi-related note, Shammo also threw out some network numbers, claiming that only 5% of their customers are using their 4G LTE network, a network that covers over 200 million people. Verizon activated around 5.4 million LTE devices in 2011.

Via:  FierceWireless

Cheers pyroholtz!

Family data plans at Verizon may be right around the corner. Not only has their CEO mentioned that 2012 could be the year that we finally see them introduced, but over the last 6 or 7 months we have seen numerous changes to the way that accounts are handled. “Account level data plans” is how Big Red is referring to them for now, which basically means that all of our accounts are being prepped for the possibility of a pool of shared data. We aren’t sure if we are weeks or months away, but after talking to a couple of sources, it certainly seems like enough changes are happening that it could be sooner rather than later.

With that said, we want some feedback from the DL community to see if anyone is even interested in the idea of having an account level or shared data plan. If you aren’t sure what that means, think of it as a bucket of data that your entire family could pull from. Say you purchase a 5GB shared plan – the 3 or 4 lines on your account can all access that. Maybe you use 2GB, your daughter uses 1GB and someone else in your family pulls another couple of GBs in a month.

Now, we have no idea what pricing or data packages would look like. They could be 5GB and 10GB plans at astronomical prices for all we know. The idea behind shared data seems like (in theory) that it would be an option that targets consumers who are looking to spend less money on data. However, we all know Verizon’s track record and probably can’t find a person in the room that would consider them to offer “cheap” or “bottom line” prices on anything. Until something is announced or leaked into the wild, it’s tough to even guess how Big Red plans to approach this. As far as we know, this idea is new and has never been done before.

Interested?

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This screenshot showed up in the tech world today, and everyone is taking it to mean that Verizon’s family shared data plans are imminent. It could very well mean just that, but we have seen these “account level” changes happening in Big Red systems for a while now, none of which have turned into family plans. In fact, we saw the first changes to start migrating family accounts towards a future of shared data back in June. But since the company’s CEO spoke of family pots happening in 2012, our ears are perked.

However, until we see something that actually references “family data plans” and not just “account level,” we will have to assume that not much is changing just yet. With that said though, I think we would all welcome in family pots of data sooner than later (assuming the price is right, of course).

Via:  Engadget