Verizon limits their unlimited access to mobile broadband. When you buy the service, the documentation says you are buying unlimited internet access. But it is actually limited by the amount (though the limit is apparently arbitrarily enforced) and type of activity.
However, according to consumeraffairs.com:
Jeffrey Nelson, Verizon Wireless spokesman, said that calling the service, "unlimited" is not misleading.
"It's very clear in all the legal materials we put out," he said. "It's unlimited amounts of data for certain types of data," he said.
Any Color So Long As It's Black
So what we see here is yet another example of how the telcos completely understand how to provide and charge for service - but they are seriously lacking in fundamental understanding of how the Internet works, what it is for and how people use it.
The article goes on:
The letter from Verizon said that the cancelled ConsumerAffairs.Com account downloaded and uploaded 10 gigabytes in the preceding 30 days. However, as is shown on the access log that is an integral part of the program, we actually tallied less than 2 gigabytes over more than a year's use.
This, in and of itself, is a dispute and could be blamed on a glitch somewhere in Verizon's services. But, like a kid caught in the act, Verizon went on....
The letter also said our "10 Gigabytes" in 30 days was, "more than 40 times that of a typical user." That would mean the "typical user" only downloads about 8.3 megabytes per day - good for less than 12 seconds of constant downloading at the service's average speed.
It seems apparent to me that most people who buy the Verizon cards, don't use them very often. So saying "8.3 meg a day" is misleading because it assumes people use them constantly. I'd say it's more likely that most of the Verizon service subscribers use them one or two days a week. So Verizon is betting the $80 per month rate on this fact.
Verizon, on the other hand, should have figured that if they provided a service, some people would actually use it.
Nelson said the service, which Verizon introduced in Fall 2003, can be hindered if one person downloads too much.
"The wireless spectrum is a limited and finite service," he said.
Nelson would not say how many wireless broadband customers Verizon has but said only "a minute fraction" of customers have been removed.
The cell network is a bad backbone for data transfer. Nelson, in effect, is saying "There is not enough capacity in the network to actually allow people to use this as an Internet connection".
One can extrapolate further that "only a minute fraction" of users could bring the entire system down.
I would recommend that one not buy a Verizon card if you plan to use the net more than twice a week. Wait for WiMax.
Also, if you have a product, and something called consumeraffairs.com is your customer, going out of your way to prove that you say one thing and mean another is likely a bad idea.
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