Last month Verizon started a mandatory $10/month data plan on a lot of their phones that used to be covered under their basic service. Their reasoning is that people without the data plan were accessing the system by accident and running up big fees.

So now only a few lame phones are covered by their basic plan, and anything nicer they charge for the data plan whether you use it or not. For us it means $50 more per month for nothing. Looks like we may be switching providers.

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1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma

I'm not sure if that's legal. Call them and ask to have the data plan turned off on the phones. They can't charge you for something you don't want or use.

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99 ML320
94 SL600
92 SL500
95 E320 Cabriolet
87 560SEC
86 300SDL Grease Car
80 380SLC Euro

13 Fiat Abarth
02 Maserati Spyder Cambiocorsa
00 BMW Z3
90 Rolls Royce Silver Spur
80 Ferrari 308 GTSI
88 Jaguar XJS12 H&E Edition
99 Land Rover Discovery

We tried. It seems they can do whatever they want, until enough customers walk away.

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1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma

i've had verizon for about 15 yrs and have never heard of such data plan.what does this plan pertain too??

Cell phones. Depending on the phone you have, when your renewal comes up a monthly data charge will be tacked on to your bill whether or not you want it.

UGH! Data Service plan charge.

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1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma

Now I see. Sort of like buying an iphone. If it's smartphone, you have to get the data plan. Sucks, but I do see their point to a certain extent.

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99 ML320
94 SL600
92 SL500
95 E320 Cabriolet
87 560SEC
86 300SDL Grease Car
80 380SLC Euro

13 Fiat Abarth
02 Maserati Spyder Cambiocorsa
00 BMW Z3
90 Rolls Royce Silver Spur
80 Ferrari 308 GTSI
88 Jaguar XJS12 H&E Edition
99 Land Rover Discovery

hmm i'm gonna have to check this out on my next bill.i have 3 lines and my moms phone(3rd line) just took a crap and that line was due for an upgrade so i got her a new phone last week.but i do not use text(actually it's blocked on my phones) or have internet.heck i get the cheap phones that don't even have camera's as i didn't use em when i did have em.

My wife got the env3 phone last year after doing much research. It has a nice qwerty keyboard and good font sizes for aging eyes. No data plan was needed, and it wasn't required. Now all of a sudden the data plan is mandatory for this phone, so if I or anyone else in our family wants one, it will be $120 a year more per line for the privilege. Whoever says talk is cheap doesn't pay the cell phone bills!

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1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma

Shortly after Verizon bought Alltel my cell phone went inop. A rep with a real attitude said I would have to buy one of their new ones. After getting this rep's blood pressure up to critical all the while remaining completly calm and professional, I told them their store manager he could stick his new phones where the sun doesn't shine. I faxed the the new contract from the nearby Spint store to the Verizon store, not once, but 12 times during the next few days. It was fun. I got a beter phone and plan from Sprint.

Verizon didn't change my plan.

Just stop paying it and sign up with Sprint, they can try to charge you anything they want, you don't have to agree. I'd just send them the bill minus the $10 for a few months and if they complain stop paying. All they can do is nick your credit a bit, I wouldn't care.

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2006 CL500
2009 C300 4matic
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Renewal? Why renew? You can just keep your old plan indefinitely. I have had my old Sprint plan for 9 years. Been out of contract for 7 years. T-Mobile has the best rates from what I know. Check out www.billshrink.com

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1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra

a few friends and I are starting a new cell phone company, and hope to offer service to American customers by the end of the year. There will only be 2 plans. Unlimited talk and text in North America, or that same as before with unlimited data. No talk about whether you have some data or not. You could be downloading movies to your phone for all we care...
Within 3 years we hope to be servicing a number of EU countries as well as a number of Asian countries. Any call made into any areas we service as well as trips made with this phone into those areas will be treated like a local call... No roaming charges for these calls made from other countries, and no special sim cards...
We're hoping to be live in Canada within the next month. Just waiting on a few government stamps.
No contracts either. But you have to buy the phone outright... Or supply a global unlocked HSPA enabled phone. If you don't want the service anymore, just don't pay next month's bill. Or cancel your credit card payments. Service will be shut off automatically at the end of the billing period...

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All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to stand by and do nothing.

Too many people tip toe through life, never attempting or doing anything great, hoping to make it safely to death... Bob Proctor

'95 S320 LWB
'87 300SDL
'04 E500 wagon 4matic