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Verizon Makes Customers Wait Longer for Upgrades
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My Verizon service in my area is great but with how much I pay it should be. My wife's tmobile iPhone comes in this week and after I pay out of my Verizon contract and unlock my iphone it'll be on tmobile as well. I can't justify paying an extra 150 a month for cell phone service.
They are all evil, but Verizon gets the crown of worst of the worst.
They have the best network in America bar none in terms of coverage and consistency, and if your Verizon coverage is so-so, then you probably barely have coverage at all from others
And I think they know that, that's why they are the most expensive and let's just say dont' go out of their way to serve the customers.
Second place goes to AT&T, the combination of evil policies and so-so network in key areas (surprisingly, it works very well in the middle of nowhere America) makes it the second evil one. But again, it is too big.
Third place I think in terms of evilness is a tie between Sprint and T-Mobile. Both are smaller and are longing for your business, but both suffer from spotty networks and their own evilness.
Verizon is still evil though.
According to the map on their website that is wrong, cause I have LTE in a lot of areas that the map doesn't show. Including basically my whole town, my school's town (different town), my college town, and various places I visit often. AKA I'm happy.
yeah man, it's been a great time to be a VZ and ATT shareholder haha. that dividend is just icing on the cake in addition to the gains over the last few years or so.
the one difference i see about cable companies vs cell phone providers is that cable TV is a medium of providing content where as data plans are a means of providing communication in the form of either voice, text, or data. with the internet, there is now virtually an unlimited number of places to obtain the same media content. there is however, only 1 way of obtaining communication and that's by subscribing with any of the carriers that provide service. carriers know we are addicted to mobile data, and with the elimination of unlimited data plans (for the most part, throttled unlimited now), they will be milking us dry
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your verizon iphone will not work on tmobile's network
This thread is all about acting like it's the end of the world because our cell phone companies are making us wait for our new stuff. Your calm, sensible disposition doesn't belong here.
But seriously, there are a lot of people a little overly angry about having to wait a few months to get the latest and greatest. Sure, it's a little bastardly of Verizon...I guess, but it's not really all that terrible in the grand scheme of things. They're not cutting bandwidth to save a buck while jacking the price of their service up. They're not doing anything that will affect you in any way whatsoever. Not being able to get the iPhone 6 at the subsidized price the moment it comes out isn't the end of the world, and definitely isn't worth all this screaming rage we're seeing around here.
If people are this desperate to own the latest and greatest the very moment it arrives, then they should be perfectly willing to pay full price for it.
Not that I'm defending Verizon here, either. I mean it's not like offering us early upgrades was breaking their bank or anything. But...well...they could be doing far worse to us. Let's try to keep things in perspective.
This thread is all about acting like it's the end of the world because our cell phone companies are making us wait for our new stuff. Your calm, sensible disposition doesn't belong here.
I know, you're right...I'll go away now.
When you're my age, phones aren't important...waking up every day, continuing to breath, maintaining a heartbeat sufficient to support life...these are important things.
It's all a matter of perspective...
I don't think Verizon sees T-Mobile as competition, as most VZW customers cite bad t-mobile/sprint coverage in the area they need it as why they have VZW service.
Thankfully I have great T-Mobile coverage, aside from a few random areas where I don't - but I can live with that. However, if I had no signal at work.. or even at home, I'd have to think twice about it.
Agreed! A couple things I'll add: Gratitude and the ability to wake up everyday and say good morning world!I know, you're right...I'll go away now.
When you're my age, phones aren't important...waking up every day, continuing to breath, maintaining a heartbeat sufficient to support life...these are important things.
It's all a matter of perspective...
The cool cell phone is just a bonus.
I think it's clear VZW and ATT Are the two biggest offenders, but they offend in different ways.
VZW won't let you get a subsidized upgrade and keep unlimited data.
ATT makes your unlimited data unusable after 2 (or maybe 3?) GB, in an effort to force you off
VZW uses CDMA which allows them more control
ATT won't let you use Facetime over cellular without switching to family share
VZW has done away with everything that isn't family share
ATT's network is so bad they have to make a transponder for people to connect to their LAN... and they have the nerve to charge people for it. Yes, they actually charge people for helping them build their network.
Again, they offend in different ways.
Three strikes
First, they added the $30 upgrade fee. Next, they did away with traditional family plans and tried to push everyone to shared data plans. Now this? I will seriously consider moving to T-Mobile over this trend of higher charges for the same level of service. I pay VZW about $3,000 annually for 700 monthly minutes shared by 5 phones (we never exceed the allowance). 4 of these are iPhones with 2GB each (we never exceed 1GB per line) and 1 is a feature phone. And this is with a corporate discount on one of the lines. The shared plan they have tried to push me to would be $20/month higher. Arrgh.
First, they added the $30 upgrade fee. Next, they did away with traditional family plans and tried to push everyone to shared data plans. Now this? I will seriously consider moving to T-Mobile over this trend of higher charges for the same level of service. I pay VZW about $3,000 annually for 700 monthly minutes shared by 5 phones (we never exceed the allowance). 4 of these are iPhones with 2GB each (we never exceed 1GB per line) and 1 is a feature phone. And this is with a corporate discount on one of the lines. The shared plan they have tried to push me to would be $20/month higher. Arrgh.
Confound it I HATE this company. I can't wait until I become of age and move to a city where I can dump these anti consumer leaches. The only thing I will give them is their coverage. Every other thing about this company I absolutely abhor. How they reach #1 for customer satisfaction is freaking beyond me. I walk into a store looking for assistance and end up helping the morons with their own job. This company and its practices seriously make my blood boil. Even as much as I hate to say it though, I love their LTE but something tells me that AT&T's LTE is going to beat Verizon's in the long term, even in coverage.
Because its an ogliopoly meaning it breaks the rules of capitalism (READ: NO DAMN COMPETITION
)Verizon tried forcing 3 year contracts in the mid atlantic area 5-6 years ago.
I know. I wished I would have save that promo they mailed me. Verizon does tests in select markets. But even Verizon knows the US public isn't ready for 3 year contracts like they have in Canada.
I think Canada have the worst cell phone market. The US is probably number 2. Although I think data plans in the USA is comparable to many countries.
I know the UK has a few that offer dirt cheap data but coverage isn't the greatest.
Also remember unlike other countries, USA carriers have to build out their own networks. Many European and Asian networks are State subsidized. The USA companies don't have that option. But USA is a huge country land mass. And like I said, Canada is also a larger land mass country and also has expensive phone plans.
I know. I wished I would have save that promo they mailed me. Verizon does tests in select markets. But even Verizon knows the US public isn't ready for 3 year contracts like they have in Canada.
I think Canada have the worst cell phone market. The US is probably number 2. Although I think data plans in the USA is comparable to many countries.
I know the UK has a few that offer dirt cheap data but coverage isn't the greatest.
Also remember unlike other countries, USA carriers have to build out their own networks. Many European and Asian networks are State subsidized. The USA companies don't have that option. But USA is a huge country land mass. And like I said, Canada is also a larger land mass country and also has expensive phone plans.
One thing I notice is that T-Mobile rarely attacks Verizon, especially since they made that deal with them last year to gain more AWS spectrum. They seem to mainly focus on AT&T.
Generally speaking whatever AT&T does Verizon will do or whatever Verizon does AT&T will do. Those two companies hold so much marketshare that they can pretty much do whatever they want and follow each other.
Now I can see why the AT&T - T-mobile merger didn't happen. If it had happened you can be certain that Verizon would have purchased Sprint and we would really be down to 2 players other then a few regional carriers.
Now I can see why the AT&T - T-mobile merger didn't happen. If it had happened you can be certain that Verizon would have purchased Sprint and we would really be down to 2 players other then a few regional carriers.
Because its an ogliopoly meaning it breaks the rules of capitalism (READ: NO DAMN COMPETITION
Actually, this is the result of unchecked capitalism
A little regulation can actually be a good thing.
Big deal
If you can't wait the extra few months to upgrade, then get a classic brick Nokia from the 1990's. Seriously people, what was the world like without cell phones?
If you can't wait the extra few months to upgrade, then get a classic brick Nokia from the 1990's. Seriously people, what was the world like without cell phones?
How can you logically justify this from a business standpoint?
The early upgrade is a great idea to retain customers because if they are fine with their contact they can just go to another carrier offering better value.
This comes to loss of revenue.
Meanwhile you do it at 20 months, they resign and you keep making money.