I'm Trying an Experiment

Verizon Wireless is killing unlimited data. It's true. I was so upset about this when I read the article that I picked up the phone to call and cancel my account with them. However, I remembered that $350 early termination fee that I would have to pay and I hung up the phone before even making the call.

There have been official updates since then from Verizon saying that you will only be forced off of an unlimited plan if you purchase a new subsidized device and renew your contract for another two years. Those that continue to pay full price for their new phones will be able to keep their unlimited plan.

Later, I came across a forum posting at MacRumors.com saying that it worked to take a Verizon 4G LTE sim card and put it in your Verizon 4G LTE iPad. Your unlimited data plan will work on the iPad, including personal hotspot functionality. There's nothing Verizon can currently do about this. They are obligated to allow you to put your sim card in any device that will function on their 700 Mhz block C LTE network. When the FCC auctioned off the 700 Mhz block C spectrum, they put a provision into the terms of the purchase that open access must be allowed. Verizon sued to try and get this open access requirement removed, but then later dropped the lawsuit. They seem to have surrendered to the FCC's requirements.

Reading about all of this sparked an idea. If I somehow had my 3G unlimited account upgraded to a 4G account and got my hands on a 4G LTE sim then I could have unlimited 4G LTE data on my iPad. Then, if I fully switch over to Google Voice, I could also tether my iPhone to it and still use it while my account was provisioned on the iPad. Then, what convinced me to actually give this experiment a try was that I logged in to my account on the Verizon Wireless website and saw that they actually had a free 4G LTE phone. It wasn't actually free, of course. It comes at the price of a new 2 year contract commitment.

Well, I took the plunge. I decided that it was worth the risk of a new two year contract on one of my lines to try this experiment. I transfered one of the upgrades that was available on my family plan over to my line. I ordered the Droid Charge to replace my beloved iPhone 4S. Let me say that I don't have too much experience with Android devices. The little experience that I do have has left a bad taste in my mouth. It didn't feel very good to order the Charge, for all intents and purposes, to replace my iPhone. It especially didn't feel good after reading all the reviews about the Droid Charge. It doesn't look like a very good phone at all. I still went ahead and did it, intending to never use it at all. I knew that I could still contact Verizon and have my iPhone activated again if the experiment failed horribly.

The device finally arrived. I followed the instructions that came in the box to activate my sim card. As soon as I heard confirmation that my new sim card was activated I picked up my iPhone and tried to make a call. I got the message saying that my device was not activated. Ahhh! It was really done! I stuck the sim card into the Droid Charge and turned it on. I confirmed that I could make calls and that the data connection was working.

I actually made myself use the device that night and the next day to see if I could ever like it. It seemed like an okay phone while I used it until I went to sleep. The next day, however, it was a horrible experience. The battery was dead by noon, the data connection kept dropping, and the device started to feel very slow. I've never had experiences like this on my iPhone.

Later that night, after I got home from work, I pulled the sim card out of the Droid Charge and cut it down to micro sim size. I pulled the sim tray out of my iPad, removed the sim card, and replaced it with my cut down card. Everything that I had read said that you should only have to go into the settings app on the iPad and reprovision the cellular account under general -> reset -> subscriber services. However, after fussing with the sim card and rebooting the iPad several times, I decided to try the reset account option under subscriber services. It worked! I had a cellular data connection on my existing unlimited plan!

It turns out the next day we were traveling up to the Boise area. I turned on the iPad's hotspot option and tethered my iPhone to it. I logged in to my Google Voice account using the Talkatone app. I had my wife give me a test call and Talkatone would not ring. We then made an outbound test call while on the freeway using a 3G data connection. They heard us loud and clear. I realized that my iPad would drop the data connection if I was receiving an incoming call on my Verizon number and the busy/no answer forwarding wasn't working because of that. I stuck the sim card back in my Charge and dialed *72 plus my Google Voice number to enable permanent call forwarding. We tried another incoming call and it worked great. My experiment was working. At this point I was delighted that everything was working out. My enjoyment was increased even more when we finally got to Boise and I tried this all out in a 4G LTE service area. I was getting speeds up around 20 megabits a second!

So far this experiment seems to be a success. My iPad already went with me on my commute to work and back, so it's not a problem to have my iPad in my backpack and my phone tethered to it in my pocket. No behavior is changing there. 99 percent of the time I am always in an area with WiFi, so I will still be able to receive calls without the iPad. When I am going somewhere where I won't have WiFi and it is inconvenient to carry my iPad with me, then I will just pop the sim back into my Droid Charge and just use it as a basic phone.

I just thought I'd share my experience for those that might be thinking about doing something similar...