Grandfathered Unlimited Data Ending in Summer 4 Verizon 4G LTE

Uh-oh, Verizon Wireless is planning on ending its grandfathering of LTE unlimited data plans for the summer.  The way they're going to get you is that when you upgrade to 4G LTE, you will lose your unlimited data but the up-sell will be that you can share all your LTE data  as our family.

The last time we contacted a Verizon spokesperson last summer we were told that unlimited smartphone data plans would be grandfathered with 4G LTE upgrades until further notice.  It looks like further notice is going to happen this summer.

Verizon CFO, Fran Shammo in a webcast at the  J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Telecom Conference, said:

"And really the theory behind this is LTE is our anchor point for data share. So as you come through an upgrade cycle and you upgrade in the future, you will have to go onto the data share plan. And moving away from, if you will, the unlimited world and moving everybody into a tiered structure data share-type plan.

So when you think about our 3G base, a lot of our 3G base is unlimited. As they start to migrate into 4G, they will have to come off of unlimited and go into the data share plan. And that is beneficial for us for many reasons, obviously. So as you pick what tier you want to be and we think that there will be some price up in those tiers."

For those of you are waiting to upgrade to 4G LTE you may be able to slide in with unlimited data before the shared data plans go into effect.  It is not clear, yet if there will be any warning as to when the change will happen.  It is also not clear if current unlimited 4G data users when they upgrade devices will keep their unlimited data plans.