Back in June, when Verizon Wireless announced its shared data plan, and that existing customers with unlimited data would have to move to it when they purchased a new, subsidized device, consumers, in the words of the company, “freaked out.”

But it seems to be a different story now. When Verizon reported its third-quarter earnings, company CFO Fran Shammo said many current customers are voluntarily switching to “Share Everything,” a plan that allows users to allocate a set amount of data among different devices on one account.

Migration

"We're seeing customers from our legacy business moving from the unlimited data plan to Share Everything,” Shammo said. “And we're seeing people attach more devices and more smartphones."

New customers must enroll in a Share Everything account but current customers are grandfathered into their unlimited data plans. They can keep unlimited data until they buy a subsidized phone. At that point, that can either pay full price -- usually about $600 for a typical phone -- or go on a Share Everything account.

While Verizon says while the third quarter saw a larger-than-usual number of consumers paying full price for a phone, many others willingly adopted the shared plan. At the end of the third quarter 13 percent of Verizon Wireless's customer base was on a shared plan.

Unlimited fear

Carriers like Verizon and AT&T fear unlimited data plans. As smartphones, and now tablets, have proliferated, the demands for bandwidth have exploded. Fixed data plans give the carriers the ability to better manage the amount of bandwidth they have to provide.

To make the shared data plans more appealing to consumers, Verizon Wireless's Share Everything plans include unlimited text and calling, as well as Mobile Hotspot for all devices, a feature that costs $20 a month under the grandfathered unlimited data plan.

Consumers who have an unlimited data plan may discover that they don't really need it, and that switching to a shared data plan will actually save them money.