Timothy is one of those lucky Verizon Wireless customers who still has an unlimited data plan. He also happens to get some pretty great discounts, and pays less for the four phones on his account with data plans than he would if he were to walk in off the street as a new customer today. If he wants to upgrade those lines, Verizon says that’s cool, but he’ll have to give up his discounts and go from his current unlimited plan to a limited one.

I know it’s no surprise that Verizon Wireless is forcing it’s long time customers to adapt to the new tiered data plans, in efforts to migrate them off of their unlimited data plans. What frustrates me as a consumer is their unwillingness to try to work with their loyal customers who don’t fall under the standard pricing schedule, which normally they wouldn’t incur much of a financial penalty when making the switch.

I on the other hand am fortunate enough to have a very good deal on my plan. On top of my employee discount, I receive an additional $20 off data on each of my 4 phones. This is a substantial savings, accounting for nearly $1000 annually. Verizon refuses to work with me on coming to a fair transition if I want to upgrade my phones. For someone who is paying them $2500 per year, I find it unreasonable that they are unwilling to honor my existing special pricing, and instead want me to pay an additional $20 per line, for an inferior data plan. If plans were going the other direction and I was asked to pay $80 per month, but would get unlimited data, I would be fine with that. But having me increase my plan by 30% and to take away my unlimited data is just wrong and is not how you should be treating your loyal customers.

Thank you for your time. I just wanted to vent my frustrations on this matter, as I feel frustrated that I have no bargaining power when it comes to this. I either bow to the pressures and open my wallet, or start to look for another carrier. I have lost a lot of respect for Verizon, their company image is tarnished in my eyes.

The only way around this might be to pay full price for a new phone, or bring his own. Financially, finding a new carrier might work out better for him.

These growing pains while the wireless industry tries to wean us all off subsidized phones and unlimited data can really hurt. Here’s the question for Timothy, though: is he really a loyal Verizon customer, or is he only loyal to the discount itself?

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