Verizon cutting EV-DO prices?

Is Verizon Wireless getting ready to drop what it charges for accessing EV-DO on a laptop? Reuters is reporting that they're expected to announce a price cut from $80 to $60 a month in order to rope in as many new subscribers as possible before Sprint Nextel has a chance to go nationwide with its own high-speed EV-DO network. We're completely and utterly addicted to EV-DO now, but even sixty bucks a month is probably more than they should be charging if they really, really, really want to expand their subscriber base. Don't just try and edge out Sprint: if Verizon made the price competitive with DSL and cable they'd easily scoop up a fair number of people who'd rather have EV-DO everywhere than just broadband at home.

[Dan Everest @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Price reduction will help, but I agree, get competitive with cable or DSL and then watch a large movement to EVDO. $40/mo would be very attractive.

What EVDO PCMCIA card options are there?

[Matt Targett @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

I really like my Verizon EV-DO but I have to use it so infrequently that the $79.99 monthly service fee (plus the usual taxes) make me wonder why I have it...until I find myself outside the range of free wi-fi. Then it feels like a lifesaver. BTW: I use the V620 PCMCIA card and am very happy with my choice.

[Conrad Quilty-Harper @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

You Americans are so lucky. I'd buy a wireless GPRS card in a shot if they didn't still cost around �60 a month for a decent service (which is about $110).

[Joe Taylor @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Why not just get the cable to hook up to your USB then just dial #777 and bam you have EV-DO on your laptop. It cost minutes but if your like me, work is paying for those minutes.

[Don P @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

not sure if verizon wants to cut into its investment in DSL and FIOS.

[chris joseph @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

It's mobile, and will probably always carry a premium opposed to a DSL or cable land-line.

If they dropped the price to what I'm paying for cable, I'd switch carriers as soon as my contract (recently renewed) with t-mobile is up.

[macstibs @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

If you took up EVDO in exchange for your cable/dsl service, you'd have no way to connect back to the machines in your apartment from your spiffy EVDO connection. Not too useful for me.

Of course the flip side is my outgoing bandwidth at home on cable sucks tremendously. You can suck up as much data to your home as you want, but God help you if you want to get it off the machines while you're in the wild.

[YourNameHere @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Wow, I would do this in a second. Would fix my current situation with Verizon DSL � The PPPoE on my router isn't logging in properly but my laptop will connect with plain-jane DHCP WTF??

Don P � People who want DSL and FIOS, that's more for their house, while the EV-DO is all about the mobility. Not everybody gets signal in their house: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A//www.engadget.com/entry/1234000997040452/&ei=8zISQ6zwIYz6-AHmlLi2Cg and Verizon doesn't care about that, so why would they think people would use EV-DO in their house? Plus, EV-DO isn't necessarily as fast (especially compared to FIOS!) and not as dependable as that dedicated line.

[mkh @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

I just had my first experience with EV-DO during Hurricane Katrina in Miami. My boss bought the card and service from Verizon a couple of months ago, and when his POTS and cable died, he was still on-line with his laptop and EV-DO. It made a believer out of me.

Now if I could only get the company to pay for mine, too....

[nxmehta @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

You are all forgetting the biggest problem with EV-DO... you cannot make or recieve calls on your phone when you are connected to the Internet. This alone will render EV-DO useless for me.

[Viper5DN @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

I work for Verizon and had a hand in the meeting that decided the price for Ev-Do. The rumors are true $59.00/mo of service for unlimited data.

[macstibs @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

nxmehta -

You can't make them, but afaik you can still receive them.

[John David @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Everyone seems to be forgetting about their usage policy--very 'verizon.'

Unlimited NationalAccess/BroadbandAccess:
Subject to VZAccess Acceptable Use Policy, available on www.verizonwireless.com. NationalAccess and BroadbandAccess data sessions may be used with wireless devices for the following purposes: (i) Internet browsing; (ii) email; and (iii) intranet access (including access to corporate intranets, email and individual productivity applications like customer relationship management, sales force and field service automation). Unlimited NationalAccess/BroadbandAccess services cannot be used (1) for uploading, downloading or streaming of movies, music or games, (2) with server devices or with host computer applications, including, but not limited to, Web camera posts or broadcasts, automatic data feeds, Voice over IP (VoIP), automated machine-to-machine connections, or peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, or (3) as a substitute or backup for private lines or dedicated data connections. NationalAccess/BroadbandAccess is for individual use only and is not for resale. We reserve right to limit throughput or amount of data transferred, deny or terminate service, without notice, to anyone we believe is using NationalAccess or BroadbandAccess in any manner prohibited above or whose usage adversely impacts our network or service levels. Verizon Wireless reserves the right to protect its network from harm, which may impact legitimate data flows. We also reserve the right to terminate service upon expiration of Customer Agreement term.

[Zode135 @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Wow, they really broke that down for us, can't be used for anything COOL!

[chris joseph @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

so I'd be paying "more than cable" prices for a service that isn't anywhere near as functional by the terms of the user agreement?

forget it

[Robbie @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

The VOIP thing is irrelviant now becuase wonder cable interent providers and DSL providers (Comcast ring a bell?) for VOIP becuase there bastards. or is it because we use so mcuh bandwith that we pay for and are offered "Super fast internet 6mbps all the time!" i hate Comcast,Though i think EV-DO would be cool, it still has its number of problems. Plus (this may not be aplcable to some people)I live in a Major city so arround every corrner theres arround ten WI-fi networks for public acssess so its useless for me... Portland is one of the most unwired citys in the US though...

[Victor Healey @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

I am looking forward to the new cable speeds that are fifty times faster than current ones due in 2006 according to announcment I heard on XM radio. Cable will ace all other forms of consumer broadband completely for years as long as they don't get greedy like Verizon.

[Nelson @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Joe Taylor-

You are correct that you can get internet access that way (I use that all the time), but it's not even CLOSE to the EV-DO speeds offered.

[YourNameHere @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

John David � Have you tried using it in any of those ways? If not, have you known anybody to? And if that's a yes to either one, have they done anything about it. Otherwise thanks for pointing it out, but what's the chances of them holding you to it (and I'm not criticizing you, I really do wonder if they actually care that much or are doing it for other reasons, e.g. in case you use it for criminal activities.)

[Nick @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Bah, I say!
Australian customers are encouraged to pay 100 australian monies a month for 500MB download, at a measly 300k. This of course is a special deal which includes a 12 month contract. Seeing Americans bitch about lameness, when they know not of true lameness, makes me grind my teeth in frustration.

[John David @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

#19-- I can't speak for Verizon ($80/month is still too pricy for me) but I recall that Direcway did actively enforce policies like this and one could argue that it would be for similar reasons. You really can't blame them since too many users taking full advantage of the bandwidth would probably quickly swamp the system. Still, I hesitate to sign up for anything like this with such a restrictive usage clause knowing Verizon's tendency to nickel and dime their customers for everything. Has anyone used the service enough to know how actively Verizon is enforcing this, if at all? I�d be interested to know.

[maximum @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

A more reasonable situation would be $40 a month for laptop users and $20 a month for pda users. Of course we'll probably never see that. Maybe if Sprint might go that route to be more competitive.

[Austin @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Well i just got into the cell phone seen (data cables, etc) and if you have any verizon phone and a data cable, all you gotta do is enter your [e-mail] and the password is vzw.. it will work on non ev-do phones even tho speeds at max are like 200kbps but still downloads at 30k a second.. and seriously think bout it! after 9o'clock and weekends you get free (unlimited minutes) and that means free internet.. this also applies to the new 8100 that HAS EV-DO built in the phone! !!! you can go to itrimming and get a 16 dollar data cable...

[Pete Jenkins @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

YourNameHere, if you can connect with just dhcp if your laptop is directly connected to the modem, just set your router to use dhcp. if you want your router to have a "real" ip address (for dyn dns usually), then hook up your laptop directly to the modem, go to 192.168.1.1 and change settings on your modem (mines a westell 2200) to just pass the connection through and not try to initiate a pppoe connection itself. of course then if you need to connect your laptop direct to the modem you'll need a dialer connection created on your laptop.
neways, evdo, i have it on my i730, i don't surf the web with it as much as i thought i would. streaming internet radio with it is cool, i'd like video but it's tougher to set up.

[YourNameHere @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Pete Jenkins � Yea, the DHCP doesn't work on the router to connect to the westell for some stupid reason.

The EV-DO is good news, seeing that Verizon has the green-light to charge as much s they please for DSL now.

[Ian Jardine @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

I suspect that Verizon's real target customer is not so much future Sprint EVDO users, but those who might be attracted to Intel's WiMax down the road. If people want internet and complete freedom then EVDO (and probably future improvements in speed) effectively compete directly with Intel's single basket WiMax stuff which is coming in a year or 2. Note Intel dropped outa DSL a few years ack so their broadband strategy IS effectively WiMax. IMHO EVDO undercuts this.

[Buzzcut @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Verizon would never be able to meet the demand if they lowered the price to $40. As it is, the service is limited to certain areas, and those restrictions are there to limit bandwidth, so that there is enough to go around for each individual user.

Not to mention that they have no reason to canibalize their DSL customer base.

Nope, their pricing makes a lot of sense to me. Charge a small premium over DSL for those that really need the mobility.

[Z @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

$60/mo. is still far too much. $25/mo. would make it virtually irresitable for most who would want it in the first place. My instincts tell me that $40 or even $30/mo. would still be too much.

T-Mo offers unlimited GPRS/EDGE for $20/mo. Granted, this isn't 3G, but an extra $5 over this cost would be reasonable for 3G speeds.

Long gone are the days where cell phone companies can charge an arm and a leg for data services. $60-80/mo. reminds me of the early 90's.

These companies must think VOLUME. As in volume of customers. The way to reaching their goals is to make the cost so appealing, that they make up their profits through volume of customers.

These companies must also keep in mind that as far as technology is concerned, people are already paying monthly for many other services - it's not as though EV-DO would be the only service people would have to pay for. We have monthly fees for things like: Cable/Satellite TV, Cable/DSL internet, Cable/Digital/VoIP phone, Cell phone service, Cell phone data service, Tivo, Xbox Live, Satellite radio, and whatever else. Many of us have all of these services which amounts to a lot of money we pay out each and every month...

Out of these services, EV-DO data would be at the bottom of the list. People will sign up and pay for the above services before signing up for EV-DO data...

On top of that, they need to realize or remember the way of the world, financially speaking, is not about sloppy indulgence anymore - this isn't the 80's. Just like during the agricultural, industrial, and service eras, we're globalizing in today's information/technology era like never before and life is about sustainability now - making things stretch as far as they'll go - it's all about low cost and high volume now. So wireless companies need to price their EV-DO (or any data) service appropriately - and $25/mo. is all it should cost.

This is how you win the war these days - price it so low that everyone wants it and can afford it.

[Alcaron @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Don't forget.

Its $59.99 with two year contract AND, and this is the absolute deal breaker (and ultra dumb part), "qualifying voice plan".

[Z @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

And now that I've read all of the restrictions of usage, which makes the service virtually worthless for the average individual, maybe they should PAY their customers for using it. Good grief. I know they may have to "start from start" as they develop their 3G data networks by rolling it out little by little and increasing coverage areas and bandwidth over time, so all the more why they should only be charging $25/mo. (or even less with all the restrictions). And without being argumentative, some people think THIS service at less than $60/mo. could canabalize their DSL service? Don't think so!

[EVDO Guy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Just a note, the promotional pricing of $59.99/month is ONLY on 2 year plans, NOT 1 year plans. And requires a voice plan, you need to have a Verizon mobile number to qualify. This is good news for some, BUT not for non-Verizon customers.

[dude without EV-DO Service @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Sadly EV-DO is not even available in my home town (Grand Rapids, Mi). Hopefully it ends up here sometime in the near future, I really like my 1xRTT @ 200k but 2m would be better :)

[Kevin C. Tofel @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Couple of things: I push about 2GB of bandwidth a month through my EVDO modem card; a good portion of that is catching podcasts from anywhere, so while I'm technically not "streaming", Verizon hasn't stopped me from grabbing mp3's. I have stramed some through iTunes, but it's not my preferred method. Also: the $60 deal is for promoted for "new customers". I just contacted VZ Wireless via e-mail and they are going to begin a new 2 year contract for me at the lower rate even though I just initiated a 2 year contract in June.