If you were one of the Verizon Wireless customers who was allowed to continue their unlimited data plans after the company switched to tiered pricing last summer, we have some bad news. The company says it will be eliminating grandfathered plans as it rolls out LTE service.

Speaking at the J.P. Morgan Technology, Media and Telecom conference, Verizon CFO Fran Shammo said customers currently enjoying unlimited 3G data access will have to switch to VZW’s soon-to-launch data-share plan when they move to 4G LTE service.

Explained Shammo:

LTE is our anchor point for data share. So, as you come through an upgrade cycle and you upgrade in the future, you will have to go on to the data share plan. And moving away from, if you will, the unlimited world and moving everyone into a tiered structure data share plan.

“Everyone will be on data share,” said Shammo. “A lot of our 3G base is on unlimited… [and] when they migrate off 3G they will have to go to data share.”

This is precisely why we opposed the AT&T/T-Mobile merger and wireless consolidation in general. Consumers need to have options when companies decide to pull the rug out from under them. Now at the very least, people still have a small handful of national options.

Verizon will kill ‘grandfathered’ unlimited data plans, push users to data share [Fierce Wireless]

Verizon CFO says grandfathered unlimited plans on the way out

[Engadget]