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Verizon Global Data Plan to Cost 28 Thousand Dollars Per Month

FARMINGTON, New York- My year long subscription to Verizon’s Global Data Plan for a Blackberry expired last month. Good thing, as due to changes in this plan my bill would have jumped from $65 to $28,000 per month. This is not a joke.

Read the new Verizon Global Data plan page

Using Verizon’s own data calculator I estimated that I have been using roughly 1,400MB, or around a gig and a half, of data bandwidth per month with my Blackberry. 1,400MB equals 1,400,000KB, and the new cost of the Verizon Global Data plan outside of the USA and Canada is 2 cents per KB.

1,400,000KB X $0.02 per KB = $28,000.

According to Verizon, 1,400MB of bandwidth usage per month is around 5 emails sent, 25 webpages browsed, and 10 photos uploaded per day. The cost for this amount of internet usage per month is more than double my yearly earnings. For $28,000 you could buy a luxury home in most countries in the world; for $28,000 I could live for three years. This is how much money Verizon now wants per month to use their Global Data plan.

On the new webpage for this plan it is also stated that if you use it for over three months in a row in countries outside of the USA and Canada, your plan will be terminated.

Note: Verizon Wireless will terminate your service for good cause if less than half of your voice or data usage over three consecutive billing cycles is on the Verizon Wireless National Enhanced Services Rate and Coverage Area. –Verizon Global Data plan

It was my impression that a plan called “Global Data” which was once advertised as working in hundreds of countries should be designed to be used abroad. But, apparently, consistent international use of this international phone plan is prohibited.

I first purchased this plan on a one year contract on the recommendation of Andy Graham of Hobotraveler.com. He received promotional smartphones from Verizon along with a Global Data plan to test and review. Without warning, Verizon notified him of the price hike only after he racked up an $80,000 bill.

Read 80,000 Dollar Verizon Phone Bill

This Global Data plan once provided provide me with UNLIMITED 24 hour data usage on my Blackberry in 200+ countries for the flat fee of $65 per month. I used this plan in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Mexico almost continuously over the past year. But the price has gone up . . . considerably, to say the least.

The new cost for a conservative estimate of my previous Global Data usage would now be around $28,000 per month.This is not a joke, use the data calculator that I linked to above and then run the costs yourself.

The Verizon Global Data plan has obviously changed over this past month, and I am unsure if all customers were explicitly notified. I have it on good authority that these excessive charges are being passed on to Verizon customers, and I want to make sure that anybody who has purchased this plan on my recommendation knows that they need to cancel it immediately — or at least phone a Verizon representative.

I don’t want your $28,000 phone bill on my hands.