Why does Verizon Penalize Long-time Customers?

Question

I started out as a Alltel customer in 2004 and became Verizon during the merger.  I had a pretty nice plan at 500mins with unlimited text and data.  When Verizon started their More Everything Plans, they started alienating those of us who still had unlimited plans.  Not only are the plans more expensive than the Alltel plan I have (by about $10 - $15 for a decent plan), but if you didn't sign up for it, you could no longer upgrade at the promotional price and had to pay full price for your phone.
The compromise to this was Verizon Max.  This gave customers a way to keep a fairly large amount of data (6GB) and still keep their plan price low.  However, even this plan penalizes customers:
     - You can't share the data
     - You can't use your device as a hotspot, even though you have plenty of data to use
This works just fine, until you decide to add devices to your plan.  So here's my situation:
I'm sitting pretty at about $90 per month (before taxes, add-ons, discount) on the Max plan.  All is well until I see that they started selling the Galaxy Gear S.  I call Verizon and they tell me I need to upgrade to the More Everything Plan, which is about $120 before taxes for 10GB (they give you 10GB instead of 6GB).  Then you pay $5 per month to add the watch to your plan.  All this for a total of $125 a month - a permanent difference of $30.
Obviously I don't want to spend that much more money on my plan, so I ask what else they can do.  They said the only other thing they can do is add the device as a separate line with its own data plan and phone number.  Since the only plan you can buy from Big Red is More Everything, that comes out to about  $25 before taxes.  That's only a $5 difference between that and More Everything, so I may as well use More Everything so I can keep the same number and just share data.
My point is, either way, I will have to pay at least $25 just to enjoy the benefits of owning a new device.  For context, before More Everything, new lines only cost $10 and you just paid for the device and that was that - easy.  $10 is something I can handle - $15 is pushing it.  But $25 more a month??
It's ridiculous I have to jump through all these hoops just to enjoy new devices and good service.  As a customer of 10yrs, there's absolutely nothing Customer Care is even able to do for me (I was on the phone with them for over an hour) and their so-called loyalty plans are just crippled versions of the fully-priced plans.  I just want to buy the stupid watch, add it to my plan for a low price, and keep it moving.
There's no benefit to being a long time customer at Verizon, so I'm going to start looking at other companies that take better care of their loyal customers. I'd love to stay with Verizon, but there's obviously no love for me.

Answer 1

Hi Lasina, thank you for reaching out.
I didn’t get a new number, but I was presented with the full paperwork.  
I’m not sure how you can restore my trust in Verizon.  First of all, they blew me off in the store – told me I needed to contact customer support.  My expectation was that speaking to someone in the store was one of the customer service options.
Once the Target employee listened to my needs, he actually got me to upgrade my phone.  When I called with questions regarding the $40 I was charged to activate the new phone.  After asking to speak to a supervisor, I was put on hold, and the agent came back to me with this stupid option about how they’d refund $20 and then give me $2/month to make up the difference.
At this point, I asked about my cancellation options – since I called immediately when I got the bill.  I was told I was 3 days past the opportunity to cancel my contract altogether – unless I want to fork over $350.
I am open to whatever options you have to attempt to restore my faith in Verizon, but my Customer Service experience so far isn’t promising.
What do you propose?