As far as Verizon is concerned, the word "Unlimited", when applied to data plans, now means no more than 200GB-per-month. So if you're lucky enough to be using a Verizon Wireless unlimited data plan, you'd better start keeping a close eye on your data usage. Or else.

As first reported by Droid-life, Verizon is setting a new cap of 200GB-per-month for all customers on unlimited data plans. Any that exceed this as an average "over several months" will be asked to move to a limited plan. A Verizon spokesperson told Ars Technica:

"Because our network is a shared resource and we need to ensure all customers have a great mobile experience with Verizon, we are notifying a small group of customers on unlimited plans who use more than 200GB a month that they must move to a Verizon Plan by February 16, 2017."

If any Verizon users on unlimited plans who are exceeding this new limit refuse to switch, they will be cut off completely. Which is essentially Verizon's way of purging those users who it feels are consuming more than their fair share of mobile data every month.

Dictionary Definitions Vs. Data Descriptions

To be completely fair to Verizon. it isn't the only company which institutes a data cap even on unlimited plans. Plenty of other ISPs and mobile broadband providers do exactly the same thing. So, in other words, "unlimited" no longer really means "unlimited" as defined by dictionaries.

Dictionary.com defines "unlimited" variously as "not limited; unrestricted; unconfined; boundless; infinite; vast; without any qualification or exception; unconditional". Whereas when it comes to data, "unlimited" really means "an amount of data regular users will never need".

The problem, as we're seeing with Verizon, is that some people do exceed these arbitrary data caps. And the companies responsible would rather lose their custom altogether than let them keep using so much more data than the rest of us. Which sucks for that small percentage of users.

Are you a Verizon customer with an unlimited data plan? Do you know how much data you're using each month? Has Verizon notified you that you're exceeding the 200GB-per-month limit? What are your thoughts on this new limit? Please let us know in the comments below!

Image Credit: Eli Christman via Flickr