Verizon announces price hikes, customers say they are getting lower quality

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Hundreds of Verizon customers turned to social media Tuesday to express their frustration with Verizon’s rate increases. Many vowing to “dump” Verizon as their mobile carrier.

Verizon says customers should not be upset.

Verizon said the company is raising the price of its unlimited plan while introducing a slightly cheaper, more limited version.

Beginning August 23, Verizon unlimited is changing to Go Unlimited, Beyond Unlimited and Business Unlimited.  Verizon said this will give customers more choices on the network.

With Go Unlimited, Verizon maintains that customers will get the Verizon network at a better value.

“Beyond Unlimited gives you the best of the best: premium high-speed 4G LTE data so you can stream lots of HD video, mobile hotspot and calling and data to and from Canada and Mexico,” Verizon said.

Verizon said, “These plans give you the best unlimited choices, but you also get what only Verizon can give you: the best network, the best rewards program, the best way to manage your plan with the My Verizon app and the best selection of phones and devices.”

Verizon said for the first time, they are bringing the power of unlimited to business customers without line limitations. Verizon says businesses can get cost-effective flat monthly rates without having to manage voice and data usage by employees who can now use their smartphones, tablets, and jetpacks without having to worry about volume overages.

According to Verizon, video on Go Unlimited is DVD-quality (SD on phones (480p) and HD on tablets (720p)), while video on Beyond Unlimited is HD for phones and tablets (720p for phones; 1080p for tablets).  Moving forward, HD video on all legacy plans will match Beyond Unlimited’s HD quality. Verizon said they are doing this to ensure all customers have a great experience on the network since there is no significant difference in quality on a smartphone or tablet when video is shown at higher resolutions (than 720p on phones and 1080p on tablets).

Verizon said customers who signed up earlier this year for Verizon unlimited will automatically get 5 GB additional mobile hotspot data – at no additional charge. They said customers can keep their current plan.

Brian Gilbert wrote to Verizon, “I seriously don’t get you Verizon. Two years ago you attempted to make the agreement that you simultaneously couldn’t handle unlimited traffic AND had the best most awesome network. You admitted that this was totally incorrect since, but seem to have missed why people like me left after doing business with you for over a decade. I left because you moved to end my unlimited data, yes. I was infuriated with you because your offer to move me off unlimited data was WORSE than your new customer offers. You can’t have customer loyalty when you as a company aren’t loyal to you customers.”

“Unlimited data is a blatant lie, don’t believe the hype. The more you use the slower it gets. Verizon calls it tower prioritization, but basically, once you hit a monthly cap your connection is shoved to the bottom of the heap. Hence our internet becomes pretty much useless for a third of the month. Download speed will not even open a search page without a lengthy wait. Even at its best 144p video is all it will allow, and not even that after the cap is reached. I have noticed this lack of speed does not apply to receiving Verizon’s $300 mo. bill. That seems to download post haste,” Joel Murphy wrote.

It should be noted that Verizon’s pricing does not include other taxes and fees.

Are you a Verizon customer? What do you think?