Anyone switching to Verizon before unlimited goes away?

[TraceyS/FL]

For those in a marginal ATT area wonder, I turned on Personal Hotspot tonight to use on my iPad. Holy smokes, it blew the ATT speeds out of the water. My cohort at the meeting normally comments about it being slow (he's a retired gentleman that has a dumb phone), and tonight no comments.

I've never felt, despite decent bars of service the area is anything to write home about. Unfortunately I don't have any speedtests, but I'm in the same spot weekly accessing the same website.

 

[barkingDog]

Hmmm - that's a good question about the activation fee. I don't know if that can be waived - I guess I'll find out when I activate it later this morning. Maybe my corp discount entitles me to no activation fee? I'll look for the online activation option too, but I was just planning to call the rep I've been emailing back and forth with to have him activate my service for me (he's the one who also told me that there's no charge to suspend my service without billing). As far as I know, you can suspend the service whenever you want but only for 3 months at a time and only twice for a total of 6 months each calendar year. I'm planning on activating my service today, suspending tomorrow for 3 months, and then suspending again on October 1st, January 1, 2012 and April 1, 2012. That will take me until the end of June/beginning of July 2012 when I'll need to decide which carrier to go with. I'm hoping that both will have 4G-capable iphones by then but if not I'll just figure out a way to delay my decision until they do.

Not sure what you found out, but this is what I'm getting in response to my inquiries:

• The activation fee ($35) can be waived if you tug at them a bit (I just mentioned that you can do it online from Friday through Monday, and he said he'd go ahead and waive it.)

• But ... The first month's fee ($40 talk + $30 data) can't be suspended. You can only do that starting the second month of the service. So you're in it for at least a month's worth of service.

• And, according to said VZW rep, the "suspend service" feature is available only one time (for 3 months) over a period of a year, not twice. Is this incorrect?

All in all, we're talking:

1. $60 (for the Palm Pixi + shipping)
2. $70 (for the first month's service)

So about $130 plus change. This, coupled with the fact that I can only suspend it for 3 months, has me wondering if I should pursue this route. If I return the Palm Pixi phone, I'm out only $10 shipping.


Just think -- a few more days, and this entire thread will be pushed into the bowels of MacRumors. (I think I hear some clapping in the background. )

 

[Jigga]

There's no guarantee that a month-to-month will be grandfathered in.

 

[DeadSoulive]

Switch befor 7/7

I was hoping Verizon would get a cheap i phone 3g. like at&t did for $50.

I am planning on getting the unlimited plan and holding my current samsung intensity II until the iphone 5!. Seems like people in this forum are doing a similar thing.

Anymore information on the iphone 5?

 

[psywzrd]

Not sure what you found out, but this is what I'm getting in response to my inquiries:

• The activation fee ($35) can be waived if you tug at them a bit (I just mentioned that you can do it online from Friday through Monday, and he said he'd go ahead and waive it.)

• But ... The first month's fee ($40 talk + $30 data) can't be suspended. You can only do that starting the second month of the service. So you're in it for at least a month's worth of service.

• And, according to said VZW rep, the "suspend service" feature is available only one time (for 3 months) over a period of a year, not twice. Is this incorrect?

All in all, we're talking:

1. $60 (for the Palm Pixi + shipping)
2. $70 (for the first month's service)

So about $130 plus change. This, coupled with the fact that I can only suspend it for 3 months, has me wondering if I should pursue this route. If I return the Palm Pixi phone, I'm out only $10 shipping.


Just think -- a few more days, and this entire thread will be pushed into the bowels of MacRumors. (I think I hear some clapping in the background. )

I was told that my activation fee would most likely be waived because I have a corporate discount but I don't know that for sure yet. I wasn't told anything about not being able to suspend until the 2nd month. In fact, when I activated my phone today the guy asked me if I planned to suspend and I told him that I planned to suspend it starting tomorrow. He said that was fine and he also told me that you can suspend without billing as many times as you want for up to a total of 6 months per calendar year but that you can only suspend for 90 days at a time. Basically, I'm going to have to call on day 91 and tell them to suspend it for another 90 days.

I plan on suspending tomorrow so hopefully I'll have a little more info at that time.

 

[barkingDog]

There's no guarantee that a month-to-month will be grandfathered in.

Beg to differ, my friend. While I don't imply I'm able to "crystal ball" into the post UL data era (8-Jul-2011), I feel enough research has been done to verify this is going to happen:

(a link to a previous post in this thread)

"Month to Month" versus "Prepaid" and the Grandfather clause

I was told that my activation fee would most likely be waived because I have a corporate discount but I don't know that for sure yet. I wasn't told anything about not being able to suspend until the 2nd month. In fact, when I activated my phone today the guy asked me if I planned to suspend and I told him that I planned to suspend it starting tomorrow. He said that was fine and he also told me that you can suspend without billing as many times as you want for up to a total of 6 months per calendar year but that you can only suspend for 90 days at a time. Basically, I'm going to have to call on day 91 and tell them to suspend it for another 90 days.

I plan on suspending tomorrow so hopefully I'll have a little more info at that time.

Hmm. Since "Month to Month" is a post paid plan -- if you suspend it after 1 day, they should (?) prorate you credit for the rest of the month I suppose. EDIT: They will prorate it.

I'll give VZW a call re: suspension of service details. EDIT: You are correct again sir; you may suspend it 2 times (without billing) for a period of 90 days within a 1 year period. Doesn't matter if you're on contract or Month to Month.

 

[JAT]

I was told that my activation fee would most likely be waived because I have a corporate discount but I don't know that for sure yet.

Mine was waived, right on the first statement. I never knew the reason. Maybe that is it, I do have a corporate discount.

 

[Jigga]

Beg to differ, my friend. While I don't imply I'm able to "crystal ball" into the post UL data era (8-Jul-2011), I feel enough research has been done to verify this is going to happen:

(a link to a previous post in this thread)

"Month to Month" versus "Prepaid" and the Grandfather clause




Hmm. Since "Month to Month" is a post paid plan -- if you suspend it after 1 day, they should (?) prorate you credit for the rest of the month I suppose. EDIT: They will prorate it.

I'll give VZW a call re: suspension of service details. EDIT: You are correct again sir; you may suspend it 2 times (without billing) for a period of 90 days within a 1 year period. Doesn't matter if you're on contract or Month to Month.

I hope you're right about month-to-month but it's a risk.

If I started one and suspended it, can I transfer my primary phone # to it after?
Ideally, I'd like to keep my phone #

 

[utwarreng]

I hope you're right about month-to-month but it's a risk.

If I started one and suspended it, can I transfer my primary phone # to it after?
Ideally, I'd like to keep my phone #

This is pretty much what I'm doing. I still have my unlimited plan (and my primary phone number) on my AT&T account. I'm checking out the quality of the Verizon service in my area on a used iPhone 4 that I bought on Craigslist. If I decide I don't like it, all I'm out is the one month of Verizon service. If I prefer it, then I'll just transfer my phone number to Verizon and leave AT&T in the dust.

So to answer your question: Yes, you can start/suspend and transfer later on.

 

[Jigga]

This is pretty much what I'm doing. I still have my unlimited plan (and my primary phone number) on my AT&T account. I'm checking out the quality of the Verizon service in my area on a used iPhone 4 that I bought on Craigslist. If I decide I don't like it, all I'm out is the one month of Verizon service. If I prefer it, then I'll just transfer my phone number to Verizon and leave AT&T in the dust.

So to answer your question: Yes, you can start/suspend and transfer later on.

In your scenario, if you decide to keep VZ, you won't be able to keep unlimited if you port in your primary # to VZ.

 

[utwarreng]

In your scenario, if you decide to keep VZ, you won't be able to keep unlimited if you port in your primary # to VZ.

Yes you can. I already have an established VZ line with unlimited on it. It's on month-to-month with no contract. If I decide to keep it, I will port my current phone number over on top of the temporary number they set me up with at Verizon.

I think my original post must have come across as me having this current VZ line, and then thinking about porting my original number over as an additional line. It's actually going to just override the temporary number they assigned me.

 

[psywzrd]

Looks like I got some mixed results with Verizon this morning. I inquired about getting my activation fee waived due to my corp discount and they told me that my activation fee WILL NOT be waived. They said that it all depends on your organization's agreement with them and apparently mine does not include a waived activation fee - kind of a bummer actually but I didn't push to have them waive it anyway. I'll wait until my first bill comes though - maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. If not, I guess I can push them to waive it but we'll see.

As far as suspending my service without billing, they wanted to charge me $15 to do it. When I said I was told there would be no charge to suspend without billing, she informed me that there's no charge if you do it yourself online (doing it through customer service costs $15). I had seen the "Suspend" option on My Verizon Wireless (or whatever it's called) but it didn't specifically say "suspend without billing" so I didn't want to do it that way; however, once you actually go through the process of selecting why you want to suspend (I chose "Other"), there is an option to suspend without billing. Make sure you select that option - you'll be good to go and there's no charge. It does say that your service will automatically be restored in 90 days so just make sure you go back online and suspend it again in 90 days if that's what you want to do (I'll go back on October 1st and suspend it again for the rest of this year).

All in all I'm pretty happy so far other than the activation fee, but I really can't blame Verizon for that. I'm sure they'll waive it if I really push them, but I'm not sure if I will. Hope this helps some of you who are planning to do the same thing.

 

[feelthefire]

Yes you can. I already have an established VZ line with unlimited on it. It's on month-to-month with no contract. If I decide to keep it, I will port my current phone number over on top of the temporary number they set me up with at Verizon.

I think my original post must have come across as me having this current VZ line, and then thinking about porting my original number over as an additional line. It's actually going to just override the temporary number they assigned me.

I'd check your source on this information.

My understanding is this would cause a material change and any activity going forward would be subject to current pricing.

The data applies to the temporary number. Changing the number is not the same as changing the phone, and porting in your number will restart everything at whatever rate is available on the day you port. Since this effectively terminates your existing verizon number and starts a new month to month with the ported number.

I'd confirm your information to be true before relying on this information.

 

[JSWilliams75]

I'm seriously considering just cancelling my AT&T 3GS and getting a 4G for both me and my wife on Verizon. Question: any San Diego/Southern CA Verizon 4G users here? Any problems with the 4G on their network?

 

[Shockwave78]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/9A5248d Safari/6533.18.5)

Returned my Verizon iPhone today after two days...

Here the reasons

1. After thinking about it I will hold out until September when thr new phones are released. I give up on unlimited data factoring into my decision now because by the time I start using data to that point they will most likely be phasing it out in a couple years no matter what , even for the grandfathered plans.

2. I was very surprised with Verizon's speed overall, on average I was getting about 1 Meg download with about .5 up. With there low latency times it was pretty much blazing past my AT&T iPhone in all aspects(which gets up to 4mb at its leak around here)

3. Props to Verizon, if I was not under contract with AT&T I would probably have switched. My ETF is 265 right now. It was very wierd to actually go pretty much everywhere and get 5 bars of service! I work inside deep in a 500,000sqft building and I never get signal there other than maybe one blip of edge every 10 or 15 minutes. With the Verizon phone I was getting 2-3 bars all the time! I could not believe it! All in all I should have switched, but I just can't see myself paying $299 for the iPhone and then another $265 for my ETF and then in the end have the same iPhone 4 and be unelegible for 2yrs with Verizon.


4. AT&T is very good with upgrades, usually 7-8 months into your 2yr contract you can always sign up for a new two year with a refurbished iPhone , or every 14-18 months. Verizon holds you concrete at 20 months

5. I ordered the Verizon iPhone online and returned it in store. I could not believe it, Verizon is trying to run there store like an apple store, the employees are all brainwashed clowns, I had to "sign in" even though the store had maybe 3 customers and then I had to wait about 20 minutes even though there were plenty of people doing nothing who could have processed my return. Just the attitude in general was joke and it seemed like a commercial dream world or something .


In the end if 4th devices come out in September I will buy one for AT&T and try it, if there service is not better immediately I am switching to Verizon(online order though )

 

[TraceyS/FL]

We started at Best Buy and ended up at the Verizon store because my mom didn't realize she still had a business account. Oops.

That said, we waited longer at BB to find out we couldn't do it there (but they gave us comfy desk chairs to sit in!) than we did at the Verizon store. 2 phones, activated and contacts transferred on one and out the door in 15 minutes!

That said, I told my mom when we found out we had to go to the V store, "if that lady is working and comes up to us I'm going to smack her". She was some kinda of rude vulture morphed into a phone salesperson a month ago..... But the kid that helped was nice and low key. Probably the nicest person i have ever talked to there!

The EFT would be hard to swallow, but then it would be hard to give up actually having service! it will be interesting to see what ATT does one early upgrades this time around. Hopefully something works out for you!

I did have marginal service this morning at speech therapy. She told me it was that way, and my treo used to drop in and out a couple of times during the 2 hours, but the iPad was normally always there. Has to be the big ole Antennae in it, because i was lucky to be able to get any bars for phone. I'll know next friday if it was a tower problem or normal.

 

[erayser]

I'm seriously considering just cancelling my AT&T 3GS and getting a 4G for both me and my wife on Verizon. Question: any San Diego/Southern CA Verizon 4G users here? Any problems with the 4G on their network?

I'm using Verizon 4G LTE in San Diego. It's spotty, but when I connects to 4G... it's pretty fast. When it doesn't connect to 4G, it usually goes to 3G data. 3G is pretty good most of the time, but sometimes it doesn't stream video's very well... when I compare it to my AT&T 3G. When you connect to 4G, Netflix and Hulu + works great. Data coverage is pretty good. There is only one time where data dropped on me, and that was when I was traveling back home from Disneyland in the camp pendleton area. I do still use AT&T since Verizon phone coverage isn't that great where I live, plus I don't have any issues with dropped calls. If it weren't for that, I would be considering going back to Verizon again... but it's kind of nice having 2 options for data. I have great data coverage with Verizon, but once in a great while, Verizon 3G is so slow and unusable... that's when I switch back to AT&T 3G. Anyhow, I am satisfied with Verizon's 4G in our area, even if it is spotty... but it will only get better.

 

[jp700p]

I'm using Verizon 4G LTE in San Diego. It's spotty, but when I connects to 4G... it's pretty fast. When it doesn't connect to 4G, it usually goes to 3G data. 3G is pretty good most of the time, but sometimes it doesn't stream video's very well... when I compare it to my AT&T 3G. When you connect to 4G, Netflix and Hulu + works great. Data coverage is pretty good. There is only one time where data dropped on me, and that was when I was traveling back home from Disneyland in the camp pendleton area. I do still use AT&T since Verizon phone coverage isn't that great where I live, plus I don't have any issues with dropped calls. If it weren't for that, I would be considering going back to Verizon again... but it's kind of nice having 2 options for data. I have great data coverage with Verizon, but once in a great while, Verizon 3G is so slow and unusable... that's when I switch back to AT&T 3G. Anyhow, I am satisfied with Verizon's 4G in our area, even if it is spotty... but it will only get better.

What phone do you have?

 

[erayser]

What phone do you have?

iPhone 4. My work primarily goes through Verizon, which doesn't have good phone coverage in my area. So I asked if they can just pay for my Verizon 4G LTE mifi, and they can call my personal iPhone. It was cheaper for them, so they pay for my AT&T 3G data also.

 

[barkingDog]

I'd check your source on this information.

My understanding is this would cause a material change and any activity going forward would be subject to current pricing.

The data applies to the temporary number. Changing the number is not the same as changing the phone, and porting in your number will restart everything at whatever rate is available on the day you port. Since this effectively terminates your existing verizon number and starts a new month to month with the ported number.

I'd confirm your information to be true before relying on this information.

I checked multiple VZW sources (corporate, and two different "Premium Retailers"), and porting a number won't have any effect on your voice & data plan -- be it month to month, or contracted.

Curious though -- what/who were your sources?

 

[richxps]

well i ported back to Att after 3 days with Verizon. Its just something with Verizon that i do not feel comfortable with. I feel that they will always be behind the ATT Iphone. Right now Verizon is still not on 4.3, the 3G is noticeably slower. Service is great on both, but i did get the circle icon on the Verizon iphone a few times in my house where ATT i am always on 3g.

 

[Geckotek]

I'm leaving on an expensive trip soon. IF I decided to do this, what's the least expensive route. (I make plenty to afford it, just trying to be as frugal as possible before I leave to keep cash reserves up in case of emergency as I'll be in a very unfriendly country...well, meaning the gov't of said country).

 

[Centient]

i'm leaving on an expensive trip soon. If i decided to do this, what's the least expensive route. (i make plenty to afford it, just trying to be as frugal as possible before i leave to keep cash reserves up in case of emergency as i'll be in a very unfriendly country...well, meaning the gov't of said country).

nvm

 

[Geckotek]

I guess I'm asking which phone would be the cheapest option....but not be trash. I'll probably suspend and stay on AT&T a bit longer before making the full move to Verizon.

 

[ap3604]

Mine was waived, right on the first statement. I never knew the reason. Maybe that is it, I do have a corporate discount.

I kept looking for a way to get the activation fee waived but couldn't find one for a month to month contract. I ended up biting the bullet and paying it to lock in the unlimited data option