Verizon Wireless shareholders and executives are very pleased with the profit capabilities of Verizon's new Share Everything plans. The only thing shared in the plans is data which can be very costly, especially since data is what people and even tweens are using the most. Although the Share Everything plan commerical uses the world "only." It is not only $10 when you do the math.
Let's look at Verizon's latest commercial, you see the lovely yuppie couple whom we estimate to be in their twenties. They will love the unlimited text - but the data is where they'll really pay. If say one of them would like to buy the latest smartphone the Samsung Galaxy S III at a subsidized price they will have sign up for at least two years of the Share Everything plan.
The narration of the video that follows says:
"This is the plan that revolves around you. Introducing Share Everything. unlimited talk unlimited text. Tap into a single pool of shareable data and add up to ten devices, including smartphoens and tablets. The first plan of it kind. "Share Everything.' Now add a tablet for only $10 on month monthly access. "
So for $10 one tablet will be able to share the data that they are buying for your smartphone. They will pay $120 for the year just to only share the data. The gray-ed out print states, "After $40 monthly line access for smartphones and $50 monthly account access for 1GB of data plus other charges."
Then after that when they up all their data, they will be charged more for the data which is $15 per 1 GB for overages or $10 per 2GB if billed and set in "My Verizon."
Verizon Wireless claims the majority of its customers use less than 2 GB of data at each. These figures are not based on Share Everything plans that on smartphone plans.
We've seen Tweets where young people use up to 16GB of data month. Even Reader's Digest called the Share Everything plan complicated and confusing. We figured that an average upscale teenager could easily use 14GB a month, this summer.
According to Cisco's Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update(see chart):
- 2011 mobile connected tablets tripled to 34 million and each tablet generated 3.4 times more traffic than the average smartphone. Global mobile data traffic will increase 18-fold between 2011 and 2016.
- Over 100 million smartphone users will belong to the “gigabyte club” (over 1 GB per month) by 2012.
- By the end of 2012, the number of mobile-connected devices will exceed the number of people on earth and by 2016 there will be 1.4 mobile devices per capita.
- By 2016, one-quarter of mobile users will have more than one mobile-connected device, and 9 percent will have three or more mobile-connected devices.
- Two-thirds of the world’s mobile data traffic will be video by 2016. Mobile video will increase 25-fold between2011 and 2016, accounting for over 70 percent of total mobile data traffic by the end of the forecast period.
Lets' calculate data by the data predictions of Cisco in 2016 which show the average usage will be 4GB per tablet and 2GB per smartphone, which is 12 GB a month for our couple, without a mobile hotspot or jetpack. (see chart above).
We'll look at our lovely couple in 2016 each with a smartphone and tablet by monthly and yearly cost.
The base price is $210 per month, add on taxes of approximately 15% total per month, it totals $241.50 per month or $2898.00 a year. This calculation is without using the mobile htospot feature for notebooks or laptops.
So, the only $10 per month for the tablet is not such a good deal, perhaps? The only way the Share Everything plan is a good deal if you have member your plan who hardly uses data.
The kids will beg,"Please, Grandma can you come in our - Share Everything plan?" (So we can eat up your minimum 1GB of data.)
The mobile video is going to really drain the data usages, too in the future. Previously, we noted that you could keep your unlimited data plan, not getting a subsidized smarpthone and by buying a Verizon compatible device like a Droid RAZR from ebay or CowBoom. There are even those who propose to not tell Verizon when a family member dies in order to keep the unlimited data plan.
Before you sign up and contract for the Share Everything plan you look at all your options and what you'll need in the next few years.