To be grandfathered into an unlimited 3G data plan, you would have to have upgraded your phone before Verizon implemented tiered data. However, Verizon is trying to get all those customers on data-share plans. Those plans are set to launch mid-summer. Verizon Communications CFO Fran Shammo said that all 3G customers will have to migrate to 4G LTE, and that will force them off of an unlimited data plan.

Similar to what AT&T talked about, these shared data plans will mean that a family or small business can buy a pool of data and share it between multiple devices, like everyone currently does with minutes. Also like AT&T, no pricing details have been divulged.

With shared data comes a change in the way revenue is obtained by Verizon. Thus, they are changing their system from “revenue per user” to “revenue per account” to accurately gauge revenue.

On an interesting note, AT&T hasn’t been doing the same thing. When I had an unlimited 3G data plan, I called in and asked to be switched to an HSPA+ plan (to work with a Veer I acquired outside of regular upgrades), and they let me have 4G and kept my unlimited data plan. Then I asked to be switched to a Blackberry data plan, and I still had unlimited. Finally, I used my upgrade to get my current phone, and they upgraded the entire data plan and let me keep unlimited data to this day.

Source: Fierce Wireless