Gadgetory

hi I'm Bridget Carey here with your inside scoop in here with me today is Maggie Reardon author of the ask Maggie column you can find every week and she just recently explained the differences of these new data plans we're seeing at AT&T and Verizon where you share your data but you have unlimited voice and text and I have to ask what is the number one question you get when it comes to data plans from readers Wow well the number one question I get is how do I keep my unlimited data that's something that that verizon has taken away from a lot of subscribers out there people who are grandfathered in now when their contracts expire to be able to keep their unlimited data plan they have to buy a new phone or come with their own phone but as long as you don't take the subsidy you're okay you get to keep it as long as you want and and that's the question that everybody asks because people are just deathly afraid of losing that unlimited data yeah I don't I want to keep my unlimited data I and a lot of people are really focused around them is it that much worse are we that much worse off compared to keeping with our unlimited plans well you know it's kind of an irrational fear because people don't actually need the unlimited data plan most people are using on average between 400 and 500 megabytes of data I think the fear is that someday they're going to need it you know they're going to start streaming a lot of Netflix or watching a lot of YouTube and they know that it's out there and once you get rid of your unlimited data plan you can't get it back now with AT&T they're not only offering this data share plan they're still offering their old plans and you cannot you can keep your unlimited plan to if you decide to keep upgrading with it you can hang on to that unlike verizon right right so with AT&T the unlimited data plans people people can keep forever if they want now they are putting a cap on how much data you can use with that plan so they start to slow you down after three gigabytes but the other thing I think a lot of people are confused about is I keep hearing this even from the experts the consumer advocates who say these plans are terrible they're going to you know people are going to pay so much more than they ever were before and and really people aren't paying more for these plans for the share plans they're there just getting less and I think that irks people and and also the ATT is giving people a choice they don't necessarily have to get these plans now with verizon when they announced that when you upgrade you're going to lose this unlimited plan people were in an uproar we heard from lots of readers who were upset and AT&T didn't go down that same route you think they try to learn a lesson from verizon well I think it's more that Verizon can do what it wants because it's just a better carrier you don't hear people complaining about dropped calls or really crappy data speeds because they have a solid network they've always invested in their network you know I'm someone who actually am an ATT customer and I've thought about moving to verizon because it's a better service but it tends to be more expensive they tend to be a little bit more restrictive but but that's the trade-off and they know that and so you know if customers are really upset about it they should vote with their wallets and go someplace else well thanks Maggie for cnet I'm Bridget Carey