Verizon Wireless has rewarded its early and longtime customers by "grandfathering" them into their $30 a month unlimited data plans with the carrier switched to tiered pricing. But that perk is going away.

At some point in the future, Verizon's 3G customers on a grandfathered unlimited data plan will lose that treasured status when they buy a new phone that runs on the company's 4G LTE network. Verizon will then steer them toward a "shared" data plan, for either families or small businesses.