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Barbara Stern shows a message from Verizon saying they were using too much data. Stern and her husband alleged Verizon’s messages about data were highly inaccurate. Ian Peters | For NJ Advance Medi<\/p>\nOne of the most important rules of cell phone use?<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t go over your data limit.<\/p>\n
Overages can lead to a more expensive bill than you\u2019d been planning for.<\/p>\n
Indeed, anyone who has a cell phone-armed teen has probably warned about watching data use when they\u2019re not on Wi-Fi \u2014 something that can be a challenge in today\u2019s world of TikTok videos, Instagram reels and music streaming that incessantly eat up data. <\/p>\n
But Steve and Barbara Stern, who have used Verizon for decades, aren\u2019t teens. <\/p>\n
\u201c(Verizon) cannot explain why my wife\u2019s monthly data use is consistently much higher than mine \u2014 and sometimes even my millennial son\u2019s \u2014 despite the fact that all music streaming and 95% of navigation are on my phone, not hers,\u201d Steve Stern said. \u201cIn point of fact, she has very little non-Wi-Fi usage.\u201d <\/p>\n
He said he and his wife are retired and mostly on Wi-Fi from home. When they go out, Steve Stern\u2019s phone does the hard data work. <\/p>\n
\u201cHer usage should be the lowest by far,\u201d Steve Stern said. \u201cShe does not stream music and uses maps only when traveling locally by herself.\u201d<\/p>\n
But their complaint goes beyond unexplained data use. <\/p>\n
Their current Verizon plan gives them 6 gigs of data shared across their three phone lines. If they come close to using up their allotment, Verizon sends a warning text that they\u2019ll be charged $20 for each additional gig of data they use. <\/p>\n
But the couple alleges that Verizon\u2019s warnings about their data have been way off base \u2014 even taking into account Barbara Stern\u2019s mystery high data use \u2014 and the messages have been something of a false alarm. And now, they said, they have a sneaking suspicion that the inaccurate alerts are done intentionally so the couple drops their grandfathered plan and switches to a new one. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s a hefty accusation. <\/p>\n
But is it a fair one? <\/p>\n
Are the texts well-intended warnings? Or are they part of a larger effort to upsell, to get the couple off a generous, grandfathered plan that Verizon no longer offers?<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s take a closer look. <\/p>\n
\u2018NOT TRUE\u2019<\/p>\n
The Sterns said they get warnings every month about how much data they\u2019ve used and how many days are left for their monthly allotment.<\/p>\n
But in October, they\u2019d had enough with what they said were consistent inaccuracies. <\/p>\n
They received warnings they were nearing their limit on Oct. 2 and Oct. 4. Then on Oct. 7, a text said they were being charged $20 for an extra gig. Two days later, a text warned they\u2019d soon be charged even more. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn actuality, we were far from that,\u201d Steve Stern said. \u201cOn Oct.12, we were told that we had now gone over by 2 gigabytes, which was not true.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s important to understand the exact language used in the message. <\/p>\n
Barbara Stern shows a message from Verizon saying they were using too much data. Stern and her husband alleged Verizon’s messages about data were highly inaccurate. Ian Peters | For NJ Advance Medi<\/p>\n
The Oct. 12 message said: \u201cYou\u2019re being charged for overage data. Your current overage charge is $40 for 2GB of usage, and you\u2019ll soon be charged another $20 for 1GB.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then the text offers a link to \u201csee how you can save\u201d with Verizon\u2019s unlimited data plans. <\/p>\n
The same day, they also received an email that estimated their monthly data usage at 7.92 gigs and suggested they upgrade their plan. <\/p>\n
![\"Are](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/DH5NOM34YBHIVPLNX5QW7NOS2I.png\"\/)
Steve and Barbara Stern received this email from Verizon saying their data use was much higher than it actually was. (Red circle added for emphasis.)Courtesy Steve and Barbara Stern\/Canva illustration for NJ.com<\/p>\n
But that turned out to be wrong. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn reality, usage was 6.65 gigs,\u201d Stern said, citing his bill. \u201cThat\u2019s a heck of an estimate \u2014 19% higher than the reality.\u201d<\/p>\n
They called Verizon customer service.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe rep made a big deal about how much money we\u2019d save by switching plans. Not true,\u201d Steve Stern said. \u201cOnly after I drilled down did he admit that the plan he was describing was 4G. To keep our current 5G, the cost would actually be $40 more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Without getting too technical, 5G is a faster speed than 4G.<\/p>\n
They also asked if the price offered was for a limited time or forever.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said there was no limit as long as we did not make changes. Not true,\u201d Steve Stern said. \u201cThey\u2019re offering just 3-year price fixes.\u201d He checked the website to make sure. <\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s still the unexplained higher usage on Barbara Stern\u2019s line. <\/p>\n
He said the Verizon rep wasn\u2019t helpful there, but was \u201cvery obviously much more interested in moving us out of our grandfathered plan into an unlimited plan, which he pushed again and again.\u201d <\/p>\n
Stern said they\u2019d take her phone to an Apple store to see if anyone could diagnose the problem. <\/p>\n
The couple said more than the money aspect of what happened, they were most bothered by the \u201cdishonesty\u201d of the text messages and email and the \u201clack of honesty\u201d from the rep in their phone call about a new plan. <\/p>\n
The Sterns asked if Bamboozled could make sense of it all. <\/p>\n
DATA DILEMMA<\/p>\n
Cell phones often have apps that run in the background, gobbling up data and using up your battery.<\/p>\n
They operate even when you\u2019re not actively using the apps. <\/p>\n
Perhaps you get alerts from a news or weather app. Or Facebook or Instagram notifications. Or your email may constantly \u201cfetch\u201d new messages. <\/p>\n
Every phone is different, but you can generally go to \u201csettings\u201d to see what apps are working in the background and how much data they\u2019re using. And you can change your settings so certain apps no longer run in the background. <\/p>\n
But the Sterns have checked the apps on Barbara\u2019s phone and said they didn\u2019t see anything using a lot of data. <\/p>\n
After we reviewed the couple\u2019s texts, emails and bills, we asked Verizon to take a look.<\/p>\n
A representative called the couple, but the 20-minute exchange was less than satisfying. <\/p>\n
First, they discussed the data discrepancy in the text messages compared to the actual usage. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe blamed computers \u2014 `the computer makes mistakes\u2019 \u2014 essentially saying that because it was the very end of the billing cycle, the computer probably got confused with its estimate,\u201d Steve Stern said. <\/p>\n
The computer got confused?<\/p>\n
The rep also made some efforts to discuss Barbara Stern\u2019s data usage. He suggested she turn off autoplay for her social media apps. The couple remained skeptical. <\/p>\n
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Steven and Barbara Stern say Verizon’s messages about high data usage are wrong. They believe the company is trying to get them to switch from their grandfathered plan to a new one. Ian Peters | For NJ Advance Medi<\/p>\n
Next, they discussed the earlier rep\u2019s efforts to get them to drop their grandfathered plan. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe apologized for the rep omitting the truth that the plan he offered was of a lower streaming quality than our current plan, not identical,\u201d Steven Stern said, adding that the rep also apologized for the first rep saying a new plan\u2019s price was for an unlimited time. <\/p>\n
Then they discussed changing plans. Would it be worth it?<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said that he had run the numbers, and switching from our current plan may not be worth it \u2014 a conclusion we\u2019d already come to,\u201d Steve Stern said. <\/p>\n
They kept their grandfathered plan after all. <\/p>\n
We asked Verizon to comment on the case. It said it could not because of customer privacy purposes, but it said it has \u201ccome to a satisfactory resolution with the customer.\u201d<\/p>\n
We asked the Sterns: Were they satisfied?<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. Basically, all we got were apologies and `it was the computer\u2019s fault,\u2019\u201d Steve Stern said. <\/p>\n
We shared that with Verizon, which dug a little deeper. And it\u2019s a good thing it did.<\/p>\n
It said after a \u201cthorough investigation,\u201d it found the data usage warnings were accurate. But Verizon engineers saw \u201cthere was an isolated and brief hardware failure\u201d that caused a blip in relaying usage information to the billing team.<\/p>\n
The company said it wanted to make sure customers were not overcharged, so it split the actual data usage across two billing cycles. That\u2019s why the Sterns\u2019 data didn\u2019t match up, it said. <\/p>\n
Is it a bigger problem?<\/p>\n
The company would not share the dates of the hardware failure. It said it hasn\u2019t found other affected customers, but a team is still looking. <\/p>\n
The Sterns, in the meantime, took Barbara\u2019s phone to an Apple store. <\/p>\n
They changed a setting so the background app refresh setting would only work on Wi-Fi. <\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully, this will solve the problem. We\u2019ll see,\u201d Steve Stern said. <\/p>\n
So what\u2019s the lesson here?<\/p>\n
Pay attention. Pay close attention.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re not saying Verizon\u2019s text alerts are anything but a well-meaning attempt or that it wasn\u2019t an \u201cisolated\u201d incident.<\/p>\n
But sheesh, if the data usage texts are not accurate, we\u2019d hate to imagine that customers are changing their plans because of wrong data usage reporting. <\/p>\n
Let\u2019s hope this was an outlier and not the norm. <\/p>\n
Let us know your experiences at KPriceMueller@NJAdvanceMedia.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the most important rules of cell phone use? Don\u2019t go over your data limit. Overages can…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281552,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[165,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-281551","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-mobile","9":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}