Cingular:
Cingular Wireless, LLC, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, is an AT&T subsidiary and the largest mobile phone company in the United States and Puerto Rico, with more than 59.8 million subscribers. The company has the largest digital voice and data network in the United States.
Cingular was formed through mergers and acquisitions, and as a result of these - as well as the rapid technological change in the wireless industry - Cingular operates wireless networks using many different wireless communication standards. The most widely used of these technologies is called Global System for Mobile Communications, or GSM. On top of its GSM network Cingular operates a data network called GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) and an upgrade for faster speeds called EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution). Cingular supports their legacy TDMA and analog networks; however in March 2006 they announced that these networks would be shut down by February 2008. As part of this effort, Cingular will charge a $5 monthly fee to those customers who still use TDMA-based phones. Former networks include various paging services and the Cingular Interactive division that became Velocita Wireless which was recently purchased by Sprint Nextel.
In Q1 2006, Cingular Wireless, LLC reported in its first-quarter financial statement that regulatory complaints (complaints to the FCC, Better Business Bureaus and other regulatory or semiregulatory bodies) were reduced over 56% compared to the same quarter one year prior.
Verizon
Verizon Wireless owns and operates the second-largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States, based on total wireless customers.
1) Verizon "cripples" the file and media transferring features of many of their cellphone offerings in order to force customers to purchase content through its "Get It Now" service. One example is the LG VX8500, a phone that features full MP3 player support. (It has a miniSD card to store MP3s, and play and pause/stop buttons on the front of the phone.) Verizon initially modified the phone's firmware to prevent MP3s from being used altogether. While newer phones were sold with the MP3 player re-enabled, and customers were usually informed of this feature, they still cannot be used as ringtones. The newest version of this phone has once again disabled this capability. Verizon's policy is in contrast to its major competitors (both GSM and CDMA): Cingular, T-Mobile, Sprint Nextel, and Alltel; which allow their customers to use all the features that are available in the manufacturer's reference firmware design.
Verizon advertised the Motorola V710 as having full Bluetooth capability, when in reality it had no OBEX or OPP functions built in. After many complaints, a class action suit was filed for false advertising, not only for advertising missing capabilities, but also for telling customers who complained to Verizon that an update was coming out "in November." The lawsuit was initiated in January of 2005 and settlement decision became final on March 20, 2006. The settlement to the lawsuit did not directly address the V710's restrictions. The same hardware crippling exists with Motorola's successor to the V710, the E815, but unlike the V710, the E815 was marked clearly that OBEX and OPP was disabled. Other carriers' versions of the V710, while still possessing some restrictions to the Bluetooth functionality, are much less restrictive overall, allowing full use of the customer's own MIDI and MP3 files for ringtones, etc.
2) Verizon makes heavy use of Qualcomm's BREW technology, and uses it over Java in case of phones where both are an option. By using BREW (which is branded Get It Now), Verizon locks users into its own applications, making it impossible to install anything Verizon doesn't offer. Programs such as the standard mail reader included in some phones were removed, forcing people to buy expensive mail readers from Get It Now. It is not uncommon for CDMA carriers to implement BREW. Most of the US CDMA carriers currently use BREW. Sprint Nextel is the main exception. They have opted for the Java interface.
3) Verizon Wireless has removed features in firmware updates for the Motorola V710 and several other newer phones for ringtone transfers, making it more difficult - but not impossible - to transfer MP3s from the phone's microSD card. This update also disabled editing of the homepage field in WebSessions making it more difficult to use alternate WAP gateways.
4) Verizon Wireless has recently implemented a standard user interface across all handsets. Somewhat reminiscent of LG's interface, this standard reduces support training costs. However, it has also anecdotally alienated many brand-loyal customers who find it not aesthetically pleasing, only minimally customizable, slower than the previous interface, and a hindrance to the functioning of several previously available phone features.
5) Verizon Wireless has come under fire by "power users" of its EV-DO wireless data network (called BroadbandAccess), for using language in its terms of service which heavily restricts what activities an EV-DO user can conduct even though the service is advertised as offering "Unlimited" data usage. The language in Verizon Wireless' usage agreement states "Unlimited NationalAccess/BroadbandAccess services cannot be used for uploading, downloading or streaming of movies, music or games, with server devices or with host computer applications, including, but not limited to, Web camera posts or broadcasts, automatic data feeds, Voice over IP (VoIP), automated machine-to-machine connections, or peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, or as a substitute or backup for private lines or dedicated data connections... We reserve right to limit throughput or amount of data transferred, deny or terminate service, without notice, to anyone we believe is using NationalAccess or BroadbandAccess in any manner prohibited above or whose usage adversely impacts our network or service levels."
Not only does Verizon limit the type of "unlimited" use, it imposes a quota on "unlimited" use, and terminates customers who exceed it. According to the Washington Post., Broadband Reports, tech columnist Robert X. Cringely, many wireless industry "insider" news sites, and countless blogs; Verizon advertises "unlimited" broadband service reserves the right to terminate anyone using more than 5G/month (166M/day). This is a quota of about 15 minutes of continuous data transmission time per day. A PBS investigator monitored his bandwidth during normal use and discovered it to be 184M/day.
6) Verizon has advertised picture/video (MMS) messaging as an "IN" Service that will not cost you the normal $0.25 fee per message, or will not deduct from a fixed number of messages plan as long as both parties use Verizon. They however do not mention that there is a data transfer charge at $.015/KB transferred. This hidden charge is imposed on all "data" phones regardless of whether your plan states that you get free "Pix/Flix." Because of this, even a small image transfer can end up costing several dollars.
Verizon has stated that this charge is due to a difference in the way "data phones" transmit pictures and video(by connecting to the data network).
7) Several customers have reported being mis-quoted billing rates for data transfer by customer service representatives over the phone. The company quoted rates such as "0.002¢ per kb" when the actual billed rate was "$0.002 per kb", 100 times more than the quoted rate. Attempts to rectify the discrepancy were hampered by an apparent inabillity for anyone at Verizon to recognize the difference between the two values.
...and yet Cingular sucks? That's a lot of complaints and legal issues with Verizon Wireless...
