# VZW Data Usage



## amoeller (Aug 1, 2011)

So I got a call today from VZW about a lot of data requests from my phone. I'm on an grandfathered unlimited data plan still and I use a lot of data. The girl on the phone asked if I was actually doing this because they were worried that my number could be hijacked. I use a VPN service using UDP often to countries in Europe and commonly use over 30GB a month. VZW also said that I won't be billed for anything, considering I have unlimited data. They were more concerned about a possible hijack. Has anyone had this happen to them?

Thanks.


----------



## ITGuy11 (Jun 10, 2011)

I have never had this happen and I average between 20-30GB of data per month. Keep sticking it to them!


----------



## drozek (Jul 22, 2011)

Easily over 250GB per month no phone calls

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


----------



## yarly (Jun 22, 2011)

nope, but that seems like a legit concern by Verizon given where you're connecting. Probably tripped some heuristic that watches for potential botnets. nothing to worry about.


----------



## amoeller (Aug 1, 2011)

yarly said:


> nope, but that seems like a legit concern by Verizon given where you're connecting. Probably tripped some heuristic that watches for potential botnets. nothing to worry about.


Thats what I was thinking. I had a similar issue with my school's firewall a few months back using the same VPN. All I had to do with the school is tell them and it was fine.


----------



## skinien (Jun 30, 2011)

Wow. When they say unlimited, they mean it! It's going to be hard to leave Verizon knowing that if I ever want to come back, I have 2 measly GB.


----------



## Sandman007 (Sep 6, 2011)

drozek said:


> Easily over 250GB per month no phone calls
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


wtf?! Way too much porn dude


----------



## akellar (Jun 11, 2011)

drozek said:


> Easily over 250GB per month no phone calls
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


Not commenting on whether you should or shouldn't be using that much but users like this are exactly why unlimited is no longer available.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


----------



## ozzyrulez (Mar 6, 2012)

No doubt, I can see 20 to 50GB but holy jeebus! I think the most I've ever used is 17GB in a month.


----------



## I Am Marino (Jul 14, 2011)

akellar said:


> Not commenting on whether you should or shouldn't be using that much but users like this are exactly why unlimited is no longer available.
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


I don't see why it even matters, he's one person.
250GB is still probably a drop in the bucket to what they could deal with.

And since most users according to Verizon use less than 2GB a month, I still call BS on Verizon as they just want to nickel and dime you.


----------



## rester555 (Jul 20, 2011)

I Am Marino said:


> I don't see why it even matters, he's one person.
> 250GB is still probably a drop in the bucket to what they could deal with.
> 
> And since most users according to Verizon use less than 2GB a month, I still call BS on Verizon as they just want to nickel and dime you.


Amen


----------



## binglejellsx2 (Jun 22, 2011)

I Am Marino said:


> I don't see why it even matters, he's one person.
> 250GB is still probably a drop in the bucket to what they could deal with.
> 
> And since most users according to Verizon use less than 2GB a month, I still call BS on Verizon as they just want to nickel and dime you.


With these data caps, they're going to keep it under 2GB too. I've never topped 10GB (no tethering), but why should we be forced to use wifi when we're paying for this "unlimited" data? Not everyone has access to wifi everywhere, nor is it always as fast. In my case, my LTE connection is faster than my DSL connection at home.


----------



## fused2explode (Jan 6, 2012)

I Am Marino said:


> I don't see why it even matters, he's one person.
> 250GB is still probably a drop in the bucket to what they could deal with.
> 
> And since most users according to Verizon use less than 2GB a month, I still call BS on Verizon as they just want to nickel and dime you.


Lol. You must be good with statistics.


----------



## ryan (Jun 7, 2011)

akellar said:


> Not commenting on whether you should or shouldn't be using that much but users like this are exactly why unlimited is no longer available.
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


I beg to differ. Number one, don't offer an unlimited plan if you can't keep the kettle on the stove. That was Verizon's mistake. Number two, the hardware and network capacity is there, it's just not being utilized. Unfortunately, subsidizing phones and advertising campaigns tend to be higher on the priority list than upgrading/maintaining infrastructure. In fact, most carriers don't even own their towers/equipment, they lease it. It's cheaper for them to upgrade/move/expand... (if you own a tower, they'll try all sorts of sleezy tactics to muscle you for the cheapest lease possible... a good lawyer will help with that.) Carriers seem to think that throttling and packet filtering are more important. It kind of makes you scratch your head (at least from a network engineer's prospective) as to why they beat a dead horse over and over, rather than get a better horse. There are much better methods at managing traffic. As you can imagine, the majority of users are downloading email, using social networking sites, and watching silly cat videos. The former two of which are not as taxing, and even then codecs are much more efficient than they used to be in early 3G days for video. The pointing fingers at individuals because they actually USE their UNLIMITED data on their UNLIMITED DATA PLAN always blows my mind. I'm no lawyer, but I'm pretty sure unlimited means unlimited (for now). Point is, get angry at Verizon, not other subscribers, for twisting your arm when it comes to data. Look at European carriers like Vodafone (largest shareholder in Verizon) and Orange/O2. Rather than subsidize and advertise devices, you pay outright. As a result, plans are significantly cheaper. The U.S. wireless industry made that decision along time ago, so unless customers start doing something about it, that's the way it's going to be. Most importantly, don't make statements based on speculation. I'm not trying to be a dick or anything, just trying to have some constructive criticism and playing devil's advocate a bit from another perspective.


----------



## Barf (Sep 26, 2011)

ryan said:


> I beg to differ. Number one, don't offer an unlimited plan if you can't keep the kettle on the stove. That was Verizon's mistake. Number two, the hardware and network capacity is there, it's just not being utilized. Unfortunately, subsidizing phones and advertising campaigns tend to be higher on the priority list than upgrading/maintaining infrastructure. In fact, most carriers don't even own their towers/equipment, they lease it. It's cheaper for them to upgrade/move/expand... (if you own a tower, they'll try all sorts of sleezy tactics to muscle you for the cheapest lease possible... a good lawyer will help with that.) Carriers seem to think that throttling and packet filtering are more important. It kind of makes you scratch your head (at least from a network engineer's prospective) as to why they beat a dead horse over and over, rather than get a better horse. There are much better methods at managing traffic. As you can imagine, the majority of users are downloading email, using social networking sites, and watching silly cat videos. The former two of which are not as taxing, and even then codecs are much more efficient than they used to be in early 3G days for video. The pointing fingers at individuals because they actually USE their UNLIMITED data on their UNLIMITED DATA PLAN always blows my mind. I'm no lawyer, but I'm pretty sure unlimited means unlimited (for now). Point is, get angry at Verizon, not other subscribers, for twisting your arm when it comes to data. Look at European carriers like Vodafone (largest shareholder in Verizon) and Orange/O2. Rather than subsidize and advertise devices, you pay outright. As a result, plans are significantly cheaper. The U.S. wireless industry made that decision along time ago, so unless customers start doing something about it, that's the way it's going to be.


Boom! Someone get him some aloe for that burn.

I agree completely. I pay for unlimited data and I'll use as much of it however the fuk I want to. Don't sell a product you can't provide.


----------



## cstrife999 (Aug 8, 2011)

akellar said:


> Not commenting on whether you should or shouldn't be using that much but users like this are exactly why unlimited is no longer available.
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


 BS on that one. On 3g yes it strained the towers to a point. On LTE no. Not even close. Unlimited data is dead because the carriers want to nickel and dime us.


----------



## cstrife999 (Aug 8, 2011)

ryan said:


> I beg to differ. Number one, don't offer an unlimited plan if you can't keep the kettle on the stove. That was Verizon's mistake. Number two, the hardware and network capacity is there, it's just not being utilized. Unfortunately, subsidizing phones and advertising campaigns tend to be higher on the priority list than upgrading/maintaining infrastructure. In fact, most carriers don't even own their towers/equipment, they lease it. It's cheaper for them to upgrade/move/expand... (if you own a tower, they'll try all sorts of sleezy tactics to muscle you for the cheapest lease possible... a good lawyer will help with that.) Carriers seem to think that throttling and packet filtering are more important. It kind of makes you scratch your head (at least from a network engineer's prospective) as to why they beat a dead horse over and over, rather than get a better horse. There are much better methods at managing traffic. As you can imagine, the majority of users are downloading email, using social networking sites, and watching silly cat videos. The former two of which are not as taxing, and even then codecs are much more efficient than they used to be in early 3G days for video. The pointing fingers at individuals because they actually USE their UNLIMITED data on their UNLIMITED DATA PLAN always blows my mind. I'm no lawyer, but I'm pretty sure unlimited means unlimited (for now). Point is, get angry at Verizon, not other subscribers, for twisting your arm when it comes to data. Look at European carriers like Vodafone (largest shareholder in Verizon) and Orange/O2. Rather than subsidize and advertise devices, you pay outright. As a result, plans are significantly cheaper. The U.S. wireless industry made that decision along time ago, so unless customers start doing something about it, that's the way it's going to be. Most importantly, don't make statements based on speculation. I'm not trying to be a dick or anything, just trying to have some constructive criticism and playing devil's advocate a bit from another perspective.


 You win. I should have just copied this comment. I could not agree more


----------



## amoeller (Aug 1, 2011)

I had a feeling this topic would turn into a unlimited data debate lol but none the less I'm certain that the call I got was because of the high amount of data to Europe. One thing that I forgot to mention that the rep said over the phone was that I almost crashed their servers last month doing this. I used 30GB in total last month and I live in a very saturated 4G area. Its city wide and there is a ton of people with 4G phones here. The fact that they said that I thought was interesting.


----------



## akellar (Jun 11, 2011)

Ok deep breaths everyone. I wasn't blaming the consumer, I was stating that his data usage is what Verizon is using as their reasoning (along with the "average" users use) for getting rid of unlimited data. I agree that if you have unlimited you should be able to use it however you want and as much as you want.


----------



## Barf (Sep 26, 2011)

amoeller said:


> I almost crashed their servers last month doing this. I used 30GB in total last month and I live in a very saturated 4G area. Its city wide and there is a ton of people with 4G phones here. The fact that they said that I thought was interesting.


Huh? You almost crashed their servers with 30gb of data usage? That rep is selling bullshit, and you bought it.


----------



## amoeller (Aug 1, 2011)

Barf said:


> Huh? You almost crashed their servers with 30gb of data usage? That rep is selling bullshit, and you bought it.


What makes you think I believed it? I live in a city of 100,000 people. If one out of 100,000 people can make a server fail then my area would have constant outages. Obviously this is complete nonsense.


----------



## Barf (Sep 26, 2011)

You're right, my apologies. I misread the meaning of your comment.


----------



## yarly (Jun 22, 2011)

amoeller said:


> What makes you think I believed it? I live in a city of 100,000 people. If one out of 100,000 people can make a server fail then my area would have constant outages. Obviously this is complete nonsense.


Given that data used in a given instance (and how much other bandwidth was being used by others in that instance) matters way way more than what one used on average over the course of a month (which for all that matters could be in the middle of the night when no one is using it), definitely BS for them to point to the overall usage as anything. Those towers can handle many many more LTE phones at a given time than just one.

A good estimate could be found by Googling a while on LTE cell towers and such, but not really worth it. However, just interpret it in comparison to networking equipment out there, the best (wired) networking routers (which came not too long before Verizon rolled out LTE in 2010ish) can push theoretically, up to 100Gigabits per second whenever one's traffic hits landlines. Given that the acceptable LTE connection is at least 12Mbps (according to something Verizon said previously), a single network router can handle ~8533 users concurrently and still give each at least 12Mbps. This is all a stretch comparison and shouldn't be taken as anything other than a loose metaphor.

It's a fair estimate that it can handle many connections when it comes to LTE without doing that. They would in the end, just temporally do some extended QoS on the offending connection so others would have access to more bandwidth.


----------



## Sandman007 (Sep 6, 2011)

There is this one guy on youtube who used 1 TB of Data in one month. I thing he is THE reason why unlimited is gone.


----------



## I Am Marino (Jul 14, 2011)

Sandman007 said:


> There is this one guy on youtube who used 1 TB of Data in one month. I thing he is THE reason why unlimited is gone.


I doubt one person could ever be the reason.
I'm glad he did it to them.


----------



## BeardedB (Jul 13, 2012)

I don't know why there's so much hate on Verizon! I need to defend Verizon to spark a debate.

Listen guys. Im a Verizon man. When I started with Verizon , I started off with a 3G phone. I noticed the 3G wasn't working out for me, there had to be more 4G in my life. I went to a Verizon store and said "Hey I need 4G now, probably a a Galaxy Nexus!"

You know what they did? They brought me binders full of 4G phones. I am 100% in support of Verizon and their terms and conditions.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


----------



## throwbot (Jan 2, 2012)

Yeah my girlfriend uses a shitload, not sure how much but she tethers for Netflix all day every day, I mean its easily over 150 I'd say. But her parents are like 13 year customers with like 9 lines (4 phones and three ipads with two dummy lines for upgrades). The other three phones probably use 2 gigs total, and they probably pay $700 a month for all their shit.

Verizon definitely throttles her, BC my nexus holds 4g in the middle of our lte area and her charge has been going to/staying on 3g a lot lately, and even on 4g it can get sluggish.

I'm sure (especially averaging out all their lines) that she is nowhere near causing traffic problems. Hell Verizon could probably handle 1 out of ten contracts like that easily.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Character Zero (Jul 27, 2011)

Since subsidizing was mentioned, thats a topic that really burns me. First they give you this "discount" that you pay back over your 2 year plan. So why when that 2 years is up doesn't your plan go down in price? The phone is paid off buy then. I guess you have the power to leave without penalty but the rational for subsidizing seems to fall apart once that contract is up. Also lets take the Razr HD and Razr Maxx Hd. The phones are $600 and $650 respectively Yet their subsidized price is a $100 difference. How does that make sense if you figure your 2 year plan is paying that difference. And why don't the out of contract prices fall along with the subsidized prices? I would love to go to the global model with higher phone prices but lower monthly bills and none of this upgrade stuff (not sure how it really works in Europe for example but I understand it is like that).


----------



## akellar (Jun 11, 2011)

Character Zero said:


> Since subsidizing was mentioned, thats a topic that really burns me. First they give you this "discount" that you pay back over your 2 year plan. So why when that 2 years is up doesn't your plan go down in price? The phone is paid off buy then. I guess you have the power to leave without penalty but the rational for subsidizing seems to fall apart once that contract is up. Also lets take the Razr HD and Razr Maxx Hd. The phones are $600 and $650 respectively Yet their subsidized price is a $100 difference. How does that make sense if you figure your 2 year plan is paying that difference. And why don't the out of contract prices fall along with the subsidized prices? I would love to go to the global model with higher phone prices but lower monthly bills and none of this upgrade stuff (not sure how it really works in Europe for example but I understand it is like that).


It's not so much that you are paying the difference over the life of the contract. It's that you agree to pay less for the device in exchange for the guaranteed money they get for two years.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


----------



## bl00tdi (Sep 18, 2011)

Character Zero said:


> Since subsidizing was mentioned, thats a topic that really burns me. First they give you this "discount" that you pay back over your 2 year plan. So why when that 2 years is up doesn't your plan go down in price? The phone is paid off buy then. I guess you have the power to leave without penalty but the rational for subsidizing seems to fall apart once that contract is up. Also lets take the Razr HD and Razr Maxx Hd. The phones are $600 and $650 respectively Yet their subsidized price is a $100 difference. How does that make sense if you figure your 2 year plan is paying that difference. And why don't the out of contract prices fall along with the subsidized prices? I would love to go to the global model with higher phone prices but lower monthly bills and none of this upgrade stuff (not sure how it really works in Europe for example but I understand it is like that).


Even the $600 and $650 price points are subsidized. Only difference is that you don't need a new contract to take advantage, you just need to be a current subscriber. Odds are that it cost Verizon more than that to purchase the devices from Motorola.


----------



## Schoat333 (Jun 14, 2011)

My phone is always on 4g, never wifi, and I never use more than 5GB in a month.

What do you heavy users do to get that much? Lots of streaming? Porn?


----------



## Mellen_hed (Aug 11, 2011)

Schoat333 said:


> My phone is always on 4g, never wifi, and I never use more than 5GB in a month.
> 
> What do you heavy users do to get that much? Lots of streaming? Porn?


I'm curious, too. I streamed Pandora all month long once and still barely pulled 6 gigs. What gives?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


----------



## cstrife999 (Aug 8, 2011)

Schoat333 said:


> My phone is always on 4g, never wifi, and I never use more than 5GB in a month.
> 
> What do you heavy users do to get that much? Lots of streaming? Porn?


I can;t count how many times I have been out and nowhere near wi-fi. Or if I don't want it to take forever to download a huge file I tether.


----------



## fakiesk8r333 (Aug 7, 2011)

Most of my data is YouTube and netfilx, nightlies and tethering. I use at least 15 a month but usually closer to 25-30

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


----------



## binglejellsx2 (Jun 22, 2011)

Mellen_hed said:


> I'm curious, too. I streamed Pandora all month long once and still barely pulled 6 gigs. What gives?
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


There is a setting on Pandora to stream in high quality. Without that, your data usage will likely be much lower. Then there's YouTube HD, downloading ROMs/GApps, Skype, other video chat, Google Music, email, web, photo/video uploads, Netflix, etc. There's plenty of legit reasons you can go above 5GB. Video chat alone can get you there.


----------



## wesmantooth267 (May 28, 2012)

amoeller said:


> One thing that I forgot to mention that the rep said over the phone was that I almost crashed their servers last month doing this. I used 30GB in total last month and I live in a very saturated 4G area. Its city wide and there is a ton of people with 4G phones here. The fact that they said that I thought was interesting.


sounds like they should fix that issue with more towers, then you can get mad at her for providing a poor service.


----------



## knivesout (Dec 1, 2011)

BeardedB said:


> Even the $600 and $650 price points are subsidized. Only difference is that you don't need a new contract to take advantage, you just need to be a current subscriber. Odds are that it cost Verizon more than that to purchase the devices from Motorola.


You really think Verizon is paying Motorola more than $600 for an HD razr? With the kind of volumes we're talking about I'd be quite surprised if that was the case.


----------



## Barf (Sep 26, 2011)

BeardedB said:


> I don't know why there's so much hate on Verizon! I need to defend Verizon to spark a debate.
> 
> Listen guys. Im a Verizon man. When I started with Verizon , I started off with a 3G phone. I noticed the 3G wasn't working out for me, there had to be more 4G in my life. I went to a Verizon store and said "Hey I need 4G now, probably a a Galaxy Nexus!"
> 
> ...


And which Verizon store do you work at? Lol


----------



## WorldPeaceAndStuff (May 13, 2012)

knivesout said:


> Lol, binders full of 4g phones..
> 
> You really think Verizon is paying Motorola more than $600 for an HD razr? With the kind of volumes we're talking about I'd be quite surprised if that was the case.


They are paying half that or less guaranteed. Wouldn't be shocked if the subsidy price when a phone first drops is their actual purchase price.


----------



## Sandman007 (Sep 6, 2011)

Its because they buy in bulk. So they get discounted


----------



## fakiesk8r333 (Aug 7, 2011)

I wonder if verizon buys the phones then the stores buy them from VZW or if they stores buy them from the sellers.


----------



## Sandman007 (Sep 6, 2011)

I would imagine they would buy from carriers


----------

