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Verizon Makes Customers Wait Longer for Upgrades

Rocco83 said:
Unfortunately I have to eat the ***** and love it that Verizon dishes out to me. The rural area I live in only gets reception from Verizon, and then it is only if I stand in one window of my house with my face pressed against the glass. And there are only like 3 spots outside I can stand in order to get signal out there. I've already tried all the other carriers and had 0 reception and had to go back to Verizon. I wish Tmo would get signal out here :(
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Can you get one of those signal boosters that works off your internet connection? Though if you are rural enough, Verizon may be your best internet connection option.
 
AT&T's service sucks in Chicago. So we switched to Verizon. Service is great. But now we can't buy the next fully numbered iphone (6) day and date because our contract won't be up? This is ridiculous.
 
Small White Car said:
I've said it a million times:

AT&T is inept. Verizon is evil. Take your pick, but they are different!
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You only said it one other time in your 9,296 posts (as of this post) on MacRumos and it wasn't even the same thing you said originally. One and a half times is a far cry from a million times.

Small White Car said:
They're just inept whereas Verizon is slimy.
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Just Sayin'
 
Who really cares about another 4 months?
If you don't like it, then pay the termination fee and leave!! you will still save more than the duration of your contract left and go somewhere else! damn. people are SO spoiled.
 
Verizon, what are you thinking?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I always figured the reason for the early upgrade at a subsidized price was to lock you back into another 2 year contract at a time when you were more concerned about getting a new phone than re-upping for another 2 years.

It seems that with this policy, they are making it easier for customers to just leave. If you are desperate for a new phone and the first time you are allowed to upgrade coincides with the end of your endentured servitude to your wireless provider, then why not shop around?
 
CrAkD said:
Everyone should just get into the habit of paying full price. Never agree to another contract then see how these carriers act.
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I did with my iPhone 5 (in order to keep unlimited data), but it doesn't make much financial sense; you are still paying high monthly access fees that include subsidies. So now you've paid full price, plus you're paying a high monthly fee to subsidize the phone that you purchased unsubsidized.
 
January?

My 20 months is up in January 2014. Does that mean I have to wait until May 2014 then?

EDIT: the My Verizon page still says I'm eligible in January 2014.
 
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scorwitz said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I always figured the reason for the early upgrade at a subsidized price was to lock you back into another 2 year contract at a time when you were more concerned about getting a new phone than re-upping for another 2 years.

It seems that with this policy, they are making it easier for customers to just leave. If you are desperate for a new phone and the first time you are allowed to upgrade coincides with the end of your endentured servitude to your wireless provider, then why not shop around?
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My interpretation of their news release is that subscribers tend to have more than one device (phones, tablets, etc), so they don't need those 4 months to entice you to renew; you are already locked into their service because your other devices also have contracts which have not yet expired.
 
rdlink said:
This is kind of dumb, if you ask me. One of the benefits for the carrier on allowing the early upgrade is holding a carrot in front of the user that will get them to re-up before their contract is up. Now, they're going to put me in a position to make my carrier decision without any hindrance of the contract.

Cutting their own noses off to spite their face, IMO
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Agreed 100%. Unfortunately, it's now only a matter of time before AT&T implements the same policy. That's usually how these things work out.
 
No one forces you to play their game and sign a contract. Apple will be more than happy to sell you an unsubsidized/unlocked iPhone that you can take to the carrier of your choice contract free. Vote with your wallet. I imagine a lot of people will be going to T-Mobile in the near future. I'm strongly considering it.

Now, if I had a contract expiring in February or March of next year, I'd go raise hell, because Verizon just changed the terms of my contract without my approval.
 
scorwitz said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I always figured the reason for the early upgrade at a subsidized price was to lock you back into another 2 year contract at a time when you were more concerned about getting a new phone than re-upping for another 2 years.

It seems that with this policy, they are making it easier for customers to just leave. If you are desperate for a new phone and the first time you are allowed to upgrade coincides with the end of your endentured servitude to your wireless provider, then why not shop around?
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You are correct, I think Verizon are just the biggest and they have way too many customers and they honestly don't care if they P-off or loose customers, they are arrogant in that sense.

It's not the first time they shafted their customers, and I don't see why they would change now.
 
CrAkD said:
Everyone should just get into the habit of paying full price. Never agree to another contract then see how these carriers act.
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The problem is the month to month contract costs the same - that is, there is no discount for having an unsubsidized phone. So if the phone is cheaper subsidized, you kinda have to..
 
I guess mgmt. decided to milk more before they have to match TMO. They probably have little more time than ATT because of the crap CDMA they run on.
 
dfnj123 said:
It's pretty hard to justify a reason why anyone should have Verizon (other than the few people who live in areas that do not get coverage with other carriers).
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Hmmm, let's see:

AT&T's customer service is incompetent. A few years ago, I had to call their customer service and speak to "managers" every month for six months to get them to remove a recurring monthly charge on my bill. Everyone I spoke to at AT&T was supposedly clueless as to what it was or why it was on my bill. I wonder how many other people have charges buried deep in their AT&T bills that they've been paying for years like a special AT&T "tax"?

Sprint's customer service sucks and their network blows, as well.

T-Mobile's network is far from covering the majority of this country. Not talking about their LTE network -- just their network in general. In many parts of the country, you'll only get T-Mobile coverage within 10 miles of an interstate. Try traveling with that kind of coverage. It's not a pleasant experience.

Who else is left but Verizon if you're looking for a nationwide (not regional) carrier? Sure, Verizon's far from perfect; but IMO, they're the lesser of four evils.
 
The truth?

Oligopoly.

What people don't realize is that switching carriers doesn't actually do anything, nor does boycotting. It's all the same, just with different labels. You are simply switching to a different cabin on the same rotten ship. America!

The people who say "vote with your wallet" always amaze me, as if doing that is anything other than stoking your own pride. The carriers don't care. The people you're telling don't care. The hundreds of people that may know you in your immediate vicinity don't care. The thousands that don't know you in your state don't care. The millions across the country, many of which are happy customers of said carrier, don't care either. Small, disjointed movements aren't movements.

For every person who bails on Verizon to switch to AT&T or Sprint, another is at that same breaking point with the opposite carrier, and is about to switch to Verizon.

Personally, I want to see them all burn. :(
 
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My goodness, folks!

It's four months, not a lifetime.

It's just a new phone.

The capacity to defer gratification is essential to coping in life...

Note: this is not a defense of Verizon, or their policies.
 
Stupid move. By letting customers upgrade thier phone several months before thier contact is up you're getting them to extend thier contact for another two years in the process preventing them from jumping carriers. If you make them wait until the contract is up they are much more likely to change carriers when they change phones.
 
People will piss and moan, but it's not going to make a huge difference in the long run. People will just deal with it, just like they have dealt with all of the other changes.

I'd rather see contracts and all forms of subsidies go away and we get cheaper monthly rates. I've always felt contracts do nothing but hurt the. Us toner anyway.
 
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