Bad news today for those that have been longtime customers of Verizon Wireless. I’m getting ready for the backlash now, and I bet Verizon is too. Today the news has just dropped that Verizon will be axing data plans for those using unlimited data on old “grandfathered” plans from back before 4G LTE and all that. If you’ve been enjoying unlimited data for $30 a month like many others, this will be coming to an end this summer.

Verizon will be yanking those unlimited plans from your grip, and your smartphones later this year in favor of shared and tiered data plans. These original 3G unlimited data plans for $30 are currently being used by tons of people (including a few of us here) so this is extremely bad news. Most customers with this plan are long-time users of Verizon Wireless. This will undoubtedly make a few people extremely unhappy.

While we’ve reached out to Verizon for clarification, according to CFO Fran Shammo users that upgrade to 4G LTE devices will not be allowed to bring over their grandfathered data plans, and will be required to sign a new 4G LTE shared data plan from Verizon. If we understand this right 3G customers won’t be effected. If you get a new 4G LTE capable phone you’ll lose the plan, and can’t just choose to rely on 3G only.

Shared data plans will be taking over. We’ve mentioned these before and they will be a great move for Verizon customers, but losing those grandfathered plans at the same time is sad to hear. Being able to pay one price for my phone and tablet’s 4G LTE data would be nice, and same applies for family plans. This is one more confirmation that Verizon will be pushing shared data plans hard later this year, although grandfathered plans will be withering away at the same time.

Thoughts?

[via Fiercewireless]