Phone Upgrade for Verizon Soon?

My upgrade along with my parents and brother on our family plan. We are going to re-sign for the 2 year family plan contract again, but I have a question when choosing a phone. I have a cheap feature phone that they don't even make any more and it seems like all they have now are smartphones (I know they actually have other phones, but we are most likely getting smartphones so it doesn't matter). Why does every smartphone require a $30 unlimited data plan? Is there anyway to get around this, besides doing some stupid crap like downloading a program or jailbreaking. I did the math and $30 a month x 4 people x 12 months = A WASTE OF MONEY. Why can't I just get a $10 data plan or something a lot cheaper because to me it's a waste. Any help/advice?