Verizon - Now even more awesome

marshac

American Hero
Joined
Mar 25, 2003
Messages
2,551
Verizon is moving towards 24mo upgrade cycles rather than the current 20mo cycle- good for them, bad for us. Thoughts? I particularly enjoy their assertion that the change "does not represent a change to the customer agreement"... Personally, I'm done with contracts once my current term with VZW is up- although I might disagree with their one-sided interpretation of the contract, I really lack any power to contest their interpretation and have little choice but to accept the new terms.

lando-vader-boba_crop.jpg

"I am altering the deal, pray I don't alter it any further."
 
Time to sell that samsung/apple/etc.. stock. They'll be moving less phones.
 
Time to sell that samsung/apple/etc.. stock. They'll be moving less phones.

Their phones are available on all carriers anyways, so why would they be moving less phones? Even if this does affect Verizon sales (which I doubt), the consumer will still have the option to buy the same phone on pretty much any other carrier.

I posted this in another thread too and am getting further annoyed about Verizon's practices. They're constantly adopting shittier policies that only benefit them and cost the customer more. In this case though, I think/hope it might bite them in the ass because if customers have to wait until their contract is actually over in order to upgrade their phone, they will feel more enticed to switch carriers. Allowing customers to upgrade at 20 months instead of 24 at least enticed customers to re-new their contract early in order to get a new phone sooner. I don't mind paying a premium for their great coverage and speeds, but I'm tired of playing the system (swapping phone upgrades) to keep unlimited data and I think all these BS changes are going to push me away at the end of this year when my current contract is up. T-Mobile is decent in my area and I like their new no-contract system. I think I may do that when the time comes.

Expect AT&T to adopt this policy in the next month or so too. It seems any time one of them changes anything, the other makes the same or slightly different change soon afterwards. That doesn't hint at a duopoly at all, right? :rolleyes:
 
I'm done with att anyways, I've been ok with them for the past several years but this contract stuff is pissing me off and pricing is too high. Hopefully TMO starts a revolution in the US.
 
I'm done with att anyways, I've been ok with them for the past several years but this contract stuff is pissing me off and pricing is too high. Hopefully TMO starts a revolution in the US.

The issue with TMO is that their coverage is not only limited, but even in areas where they advertise 3G/HSPA+, they don't cover much. If they have five towers in an area, the middle one will support 3G/HSPA+ while the four outer ones will be GPRS/Edge only. Even driving through Seattle/Tacoma, I find myself on Edge the vast majority of the time with occasional 3G/H+ areas.

I called to complain about my indoor signal quality at my house, and they told me to hang on, they'd be upgrading to LTE soon. I had to repeat several times that if they had never upgraded this area beyond Edge, there was no way in hell we'd be seeing LTE. So, unless TMO is planning to bypass H+ and go straight to LTE in all areas (something that would be at odds with their traditional model), I don't see their signal issue being better.

Granted, I understand that you get what you pay for. Verizon's goal is to have their entire network blanked in LTE. Therefore, their network should cost more. However, it's not the price that scares me off, but the lack of user control over the phone (outside of the iPhone). Give me a real unlocked or Nexus device on Verizon, and I'd go there in a heartbeat. So in this area, the only options are AT&T, TMO, and their MVNOs. AT&T cannot hold a signal to save their lives. Any call over 5 minutes WILL be dropped here. It has this weird issue due to congestion where you'll go from full bars to a circle with a line through it. Even standing still, a call WILL be dropped. So my switch to TMO was less about price and more about service. Thankfully, their Edge service is more than adequate. Web browsing on Edge here is better than AT&T on "4G" most of the time.

But that brings me to my next issue. Why would I pay an extra $20/$40 per month for 2.5GB/unlim 4G data when I predominantly get Edge coverage? They are seriously missing out on ARPU due to an underdeveloped network.
 
I still get the newest iPhone every 12 months on ATT. Family plan allows me to upgrade every year though is why.
 
The issue with TMO is that their coverage is not only limited, but even in areas where they advertise 3G/HSPA+, they don't cover much. If they have five towers in an area, the middle one will support 3G/HSPA+ while the four outer ones will be GPRS/Edge only. Even driving through Seattle/Tacoma, I find myself on Edge the vast majority of the time with occasional 3G/H+ areas.

I called to complain about my indoor signal quality at my house, and they told me to hang on, they'd be upgrading to LTE soon. I had to repeat several times that if they had never upgraded this area beyond Edge, there was no way in hell we'd be seeing LTE. So, unless TMO is planning to bypass H+ and go straight to LTE in all areas (something that would be at odds with their traditional model), I don't see their signal issue being better.

Granted, I understand that you get what you pay for. Verizon's goal is to have their entire network blanked in LTE. Therefore, their network should cost more. However, it's not the price that scares me off, but the lack of user control over the phone (outside of the iPhone). Give me a real unlocked or Nexus device on Verizon, and I'd go there in a heartbeat. So in this area, the only options are AT&T, TMO, and their MVNOs. AT&T cannot hold a signal to save their lives. Any call over 5 minutes WILL be dropped here. It has this weird issue due to congestion where you'll go from full bars to a circle with a line through it. Even standing still, a call WILL be dropped. So my switch to TMO was less about price and more about service. Thankfully, their Edge service is more than adequate. Web browsing on Edge here is better than AT&T on "4G" most of the time.

But that brings me to my next issue. Why would I pay an extra $20/$40 per month for 2.5GB/unlim 4G data when I predominantly get Edge coverage? They are seriously missing out on ARPU due to an underdeveloped network.
Unfortunately, coverage is probably the only thing that will keep me tethered to Verizon.

I know that if I switch to T-Mo, there would be no way for me to continue using my phone as I do know. I'd be reliant on free wi-fi. At that point, what's the point of paying for a carrier?

Depressing that Verizon is the only company that can figure out how to build a half-decent network
 
Personally, I'm done with contracts once my current term with VZW is up- although I might disagree with their one-sided interpretation of the contract, I really lack any power to contest their interpretation and have little choice but to accept the new terms.

lando-vader-boba_crop.jpg

"I am altering the deal, pray I don't alter it any further."

They're not altering your deal at all. Your contract (or upgrade term) won't change until your next upgrade, when you sign a new contract. New contract, new rules, and a new signature will state if you agree with it or not.

That being said, scumbag move from a scumbag company.
 
They're not altering your deal at all. Your contract (or upgrade term) won't change until your next upgrade, when you sign a new contract. New contract, new rules, and a new signature will state if you agree with it or not.

Did you even read the article?

Once the 21st rolls around, anyone with an upgrade that is scheduled to arrive before September 1, 2013 (or essentially a contract that expires in January of 2014), will get to keep the same upgrade date. For those with upgrade dates later than 9/1/13, your next upgrade will be moved onto a new 24 month schedule or “aligned to contract terms.”

This affects everyone who has an upgrade currently scheduled after Sept 1 of this year (like me- mine is currently in Nov). Here's the language from Verizon themselves. So no, you don't need to sign a new contract in order to 'enjoy' their new terms.
 
Was it not already 24 months? I mean, I signed up for a 2 year plan. I've always just figured that it's them being nice and letting me upgrade early.
 
I hope their new 1yr contracts will allow u/l data users. Paying full price for an upgrade kinda sucks.
 
I hope their new 1yr contracts will allow u/l data users. Paying full price for an upgrade kinda sucks.
If you have unlimited data, signing an new contract and getting a subsidy will make you lose the unlimited data - no longer how long the contract.

You must pay full retail price - for as long as Verizon allows the loophole to exist.

They are rolling out a plan that will split the cost of the phone over 12 months so that might soften the blow a little bit.
 
Verizon can kiss my rear end. I don't like how the company is ran. I thought having unlimited data with a pretty decent 4g network in my area was enough to linger on with them, but I'm growing tired of their out of touch idea of contracts and data restriction and poor hardware support. I cannot wait next year when my contract is up. I will be moving to Sprint or Tmobile.
 
Verizon can kiss my rear end. I don't like how the company is ran. I thought having unlimited data with a pretty decent 4g network in my area was enough to linger on with them, but I'm growing tired of their out of touch idea of contracts and data restriction and poor hardware support. I cannot wait next year when my contract is up. I will be moving to Sprint or Tmobile.

Verizon's network is the only thing keeping me on Verizon. You just can't beat them. I live in northern Virginia. My in-laws have a beach house in Delaware. My parents live down in North Carolina just past the VA/NC border. I have full 4G LTE coverage everywhere I go in both directions. I thought about ditching Verizon when they took unlimited data but simple research showed that I'd be stupid to do so.

I won't touch Sprint as I see friends with Sprint struggle with data every day and that's here in the DC Metro area. That's just sad for this area of the country. My brother and his wife live just north of me in Maryland. They have Sprint and when I talk to them on the phone it's the shittiest connection imaginable.

T-Mobile has pretty good coverage here with their HSPA+ network but work your way out of this area or south towards my parents and you're on EDGE only if not roaming. Not paying for that spotty coverage.

AT&T I will never touch again. Slow speeds. Dropped calls. Calls don't even ring my phone. Sorry not a chance in hell.

While I'm not a fan of what Verizon is doing another 4 months with my phone won't ruin my life or kill me. Small price to pay for far higher quality of service.
 
Verizon's network is the only thing keeping me on Verizon. You just can't beat them. I live in northern Virginia. My in-laws have a beach house in Delaware. My parents live down in North Carolina just past the VA/NC border. I have full 4G LTE coverage everywhere I go in both directions. I thought about ditching Verizon when they took unlimited data but simple research showed that I'd be stupid to do so.

I won't touch Sprint as I see friends with Sprint struggle with data every day and that's here in the DC Metro area. That's just sad for this area of the country. My brother and his wife live just north of me in Maryland. They have Sprint and when I talk to them on the phone it's the shittiest connection imaginable.

T-Mobile has pretty good coverage here with their HSPA+ network but work your way out of this area or south towards my parents and you're on EDGE only if not roaming. Not paying for that spotty coverage.

AT&T I will never touch again. Slow speeds. Dropped calls. Calls don't even ring my phone. Sorry not a chance in hell.

While I'm not a fan of what Verizon is doing another 4 months with my phone won't ruin my life or kill me. Small price to pay for far higher quality of service.

I agree with this, no carrier has come close in service. Seen everyone struggle but my trusty verizon.
 
What I keep hoping will happen is the model of relying on the carrier to provide a handset will erode away. I want to be able to buy a handset from the manufacture directly (even at full retail) then I can run it on the carrier with a subscription to their service.

In the same way we don't expect an ISP to provide a computer when we get an internet connection, I don't want to rely on the carrier for the handset anymore.
 
Great, I am getting double screwed. Just got this email this morning.

Anyone else get an employer discount thats changing?

VZW said:
We've updated the agreement between Verizon Wireless and your employer or association. As a result your employee discount will change on 6/4/2013.

All eligible wireless numbers on your account will now receive a 15% Monthly Access Discount.
 
So basically instead of being able to upgrade on 3/14/2014 like my account says now, It will be 7/14/2014. I wont likely need to upgrade before that anyway. And they've always advertised new every 2 years. So I've just always perceived being able to upgrade before the 2 year mark as a little bonus. Not that big of a deal to me. Their prices and data caps are my gripe.
 
I always convince them to upgrade early anyway. I convinced them to push my upgrade earlier by a YEAR. I wanted to get a new phone before they added that "shared everything" bullshit. Still got my unlimited data :)
 
The only reason I stay with Verizon is because at least in my areas, they are head and shoulders above everyone else in coverage and data rates. I get cell coverage everywhere and 4G pretty much everywhere also.
 
If you were one of the lucky ones to keep your unlimited data plan before they switched over to the "share everything" crap, are you able to keep it when its time to renew again?
 
Man this sucks. Almost makes me want to give up my Note 2 and go back to dumb phones. It was so much simpler then with my FREE upgrade every year with my little flip phone. But alas, I'm now addicted to smart phones and don't think I could ever give them up. Likewise with Verizon. I'm addicted to having 4G even out in the Georgia boonies. So guess I'll bend over a little further and spread a little wider and just hope VZW will be gentle.
 
If you were one of the lucky ones to keep your unlimited data plan before they switched over to the "share everything" crap, are you able to keep it when its time to renew again?

I got a galaxy nexus on eBay so I could keep my unlimited
 
If you were one of the lucky ones to keep your unlimited data plan before they switched over to the "share everything" crap, are you able to keep it when its time to renew again?

If you renew your contract, it goes bye bye. All of my new phones from this point forward will be purchased outright from craigslist or swappa.
 
If you renew your contract, it goes bye bye. All of my new phones from this point forward will be purchased outright from craigslist or swappa.

Yeah, I'm in the same position. I have been through three or four different phones now and haven't had an issue with my unlimited data plan. The phone I bought last week didn't have a SIM card in it so I had to go to Verizon and get a new one and get the phone activated there in the store. I was pretty nervous but didn't have any issues with altering my plan or anything.
 
I must of read it wrong as I read they'll allow you to buy phones off them now for full price under their new device payment plan without renewing your contract and just add it to your bill until it's paid off. Was I wrong, is only for people signing new contracts?
 
http://www.droid-life.com/2013/04/2...-can-be-used-as-a-way-to-keep-unlimited-data/

You can use this if you have u/l data to get a cheaper upfront cost but the financing fee makes it $24 more overall. Good news imo

While better than paying full retail, this still sucks because you're basically paying 2 subsidies for 1 phone; the normal contract pricing that has the phone subsidy built in on top of your financed phone. They don't cut you a break at all even though you're not on contract anymore and your old phone is already paid off, unlike T-Mobile. I think I'll stick to buying used a month or two after a phone comes out.

But I guess I wouldn't expect Verizon to compete with T-Mobile's rates/plans, they're really on two totally different levels as far as coverage goes. As long as that remains true, Verizon can pretty much charge whatever they want and keep killing all of these incentives (New Every 2 program, 20-month upgrade cycles, unlimited data, plus $30 upgrade fees) because they know people will most likely stay with them because of their superior network. As long as I can keep unlimited data, I'll be staying with them too as much as I'd like to say "F'UUUUUUUU!" and defect to T-Mobile or even Sprint, I just can't give up the luxury of having unlimited LTE basically everywhere I go. It's a premium that I'm willing to pay for until they force me off of unlimited data, at which point LTE means nothing to me if I have to constantly watch my usage.
 
I just switched from Sprint to Verizon and I'm never going back, I don't care what Verizon does they really do have the best network in the nation and I'm willing to stay with them just because of that.
 
I regret switching to Sprint sometimes. This announcement is not one of them.
 
Unfortunately, coverage is probably the only thing that will keep me tethered to Verizon.

I know that if I switch to T-Mo, there would be no way for me to continue using my phone as I do know. I'd be reliant on free wi-fi. At that point, what's the point of paying for a carrier?

Depressing that Verizon is the only company that can figure out how to build a half-decent network

How do you think they are able to do it? They charge more so they have more money to throw at it. Everyone I know, they pay the most if they are on Verizon. I think most of the companies have done a decent job building their networks given their situations. The only exception is my carrier sprint. They have just made one bad decision after another and it has cost them dearly. They have a ton of spectrum they just don't have the funds and speed to get it into good shape.

Sprints mistakes started with Nextel, they bought it, and took way to long to consolidate the spectrum, they also lost everything they bought Nextel for, Nextel was known for its business clients and by the time sprint finally consolidated Nextel Verizon had added direct connect, and the bad CS had driven them most off Nextel. Then they over paid for tons of smaller carriers they had to buy out, still some bigger ones left. After that is was the wimax fiasco where they screwed up wasting a ton of time and money on clearwire and implementing a half ass network, for years they will still need to waste waves on that stupid wimax.

But for the most part the other carriers have done alright they don't have as much money so they don't build out as fast. If I had to make one major gripe with all the carriers its the fact that they NEVER seem to select other markets to roll out faster in. For instance if Verizon rolls out LTE in a decently big city, say grand rapids, sprint will try the same, and att, etc... Instead of saying let them have it they got the jump lets try to roll out in lansing and drive in more customers where no LTE is available. If the companies would o more of that we would have much better coverage faster nationwide.
 
It's a premium that I'm willing to pay for until they force me off of unlimited data, at which point LTE means nothing to me if I have to constantly watch my usage.

To me that thinking is part of the problem with unlimited cell phone data plans. Unlike fiber optics, wireless signals have a very finite limit. There still is only a relatively small population on smart phones and even less of them using those phones to their full potential. I'm not sure when we will develop the technology to wring more out of the wireless we have but for right now, I think there needs to be a limit. What in the heck are you doing with yours anyhow? I would hope you not downloading "linux distros' or porn. I'm sorry if you're really using that much data on a wireless plan, when coverage starts to get weak in an area your plan would be the first thing I would go after as a carrier.
 
To me that thinking is part of the problem with unlimited cell phone data plans. Unlike fiber optics, wireless signals have a very finite limit. There still is only a relatively small population on smart phones and even less of them using those phones to their full potential. I'm not sure when we will develop the technology to wring more out of the wireless we have but for right now, I think there needs to be a limit. What in the heck are you doing with yours anyhow? I would hope you not downloading "linux distros' or porn. I'm sorry if you're really using that much data on a wireless plan, when coverage starts to get weak in an area your plan would be the first thing I would go after as a carrier.

If it is such a problem, then Verizon needs to learn how QoS works. Putting a hard cap on your monthly service does nothing for network saturation at any one time. If bandwidth was really an issue, then they would implement some sort of throttling or QoS on their network to slow down high bandwidth users that are seemingly "abusing" their connection. Or maybe even adopt a traditional ISP plan structure of paying for speed tiers, not data cap tiers. If Sprint and T-Mobile can afford to do it with much less infrastructure, then surely Verizon can support it as well, even with all of the subscribers they have, I doubt the ratio of coverage/network type per user is that much different than the other carriers, but that would be an interesting statistic to see if anyone can produce it.

As to what I'm doing to use so much data. All I use is 3-5 GBs/month normally. That is mostly downloading podcasts, streaming video/Youtube and some occasional tethering away to do school work. Some months I go away for work for weeks at a time and use my phone as my main internet connection since hotel WiFi is much slower and less secure than LTE and I'll use up to 10-15 GBs on those months. Having unlimited data is more for piece of mind for me so I don't have to constantly monitor my data usage.

Paying for that much data though would be outrageous on their shared data plans and it's not really that much data considering you can download that much on LTE in less than a hour if you wanted to. So you can't tell me that they can't support it and if they wanted to, I definitely wouldn't mind being throttled to 5 Mb/s if there's other people on the tower at the time that have used less data and need the speed boost. That's how an efficient network would handle that traffic. But there's no profit in that, the profit is in data caps and restricting users into data plans that they can exceed in a matter of minutes if they wanted to. Capped data plans are nothing more than a money grab and there's no way you can convince me otherwise.
 
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If it is such a problem, then Verizon needs to learn how QoS works. Putting a hard cap on your monthly service does nothing for network saturation at any one time. If bandwidth was really an issue, then they would implement some sort of throttling or QoS on their network to slow down high bandwidth users that are seemingly "abusing" their connection. Or maybe even adopt a traditional ISP plan structure of paying for speed tiers, not data cap tiers. If Sprint and T-Mobile can afford to do it with much less infrastructure, then surely Verizon can support it as well, even with all of the subscribers they have, I doubt the ratio of coverage/network type per user is that much different than the other carriers, but that would be an interesting statistic to see if anyone can produce it.

As to what I'm doing to use so much data. All I use is 3-5 GBs/month normally. That is mostly downloading podcasts, streaming video/Youtube and some occasional tethering away to do school work. Some months I go away for work for weeks at a time and use my phone as my main internet connection since hotel WiFi is much slower and less secure than LTE and I'll use up to 10-15 GBs on those months. Having unlimited data is more for piece of mind for me so I don't have to constantly monitor my data usage.

Paying for that much data though would be outrageous on their shared data plans and it's not really that much data considering you can download that much on LTE in less than a hour if you wanted to. So you can't tell me that they can't support it and if they wanted to, I definitely wouldn't mind being throttled to 5 Mb/s if there's other people on the tower at the time that have used less data and need the speed boost. That's how an efficient network would handle that traffic. But there's no profit in that, the profit is in data caps and restricting users into data plans that they can exceed in a matter of minutes if they wanted to. Capped data plans are nothing more than a money grab and there's no way you can convince me otherwise.

I would actually agree with you on that. Unfortunately the government has allowed AT&T and Verizon to grab too much spectrum. They are only just now starting to realize their folly by denying Verizon the rights to buy another huge chunk of spectrum from another business ( I forget the company, but I recall reading the story though). Tmobile has the right idea, but alas their network is pretty poor and they have the bad portions of spectrum that don't like to penetrate buildings.

I only asked how you used your connection b/c I do know people who use it to torrent and for their usenet. I'm not too keen on that as those can be fairly bandwidth intensive, especially torrenting. I learned networking coming up in my years, but the wireless industry is one I would definitely like to learn the physics of. I just hate hearing the stupid excuses as to why networks don't work in certain areas. Oh well, hopefully we can figure out something beyond what we have now.
 
I'm keeping my unlimited plan and paying full price for a new phone every year. It sounds crazy, but I live in the country and LTE is available. The fastest Internet package is 6Mbps and my LTE pulls 8-15Mbps. I signed up for a fantastic plan with my wife a couple of years ago, 1400 min, unlimited text, and unlimited data on two lines for 129.99 a month. I get an additional 20% discount on the voice portion of the plan from work. After taxes we pay just over $130 a month. A 4GB Share Everything plan will cost us $150 a month before taxes. I use 10 - 15GB a month so a 4GB plan won't work.

I'm currently rocking the Galaxy Note 2 and will be ready to upgrade in January. If and when Verizon forces me off the plan I will probably jump ship to AT&T. That way I can buy an unlocked phone like the Nexus every year for an affordable price.
 
I've generally changed providers ever 2 years.

I had Cingular (if you remember back that far) which became AT&T. Work paid for that line and all the options with it so I didn't care how much it was, only that it worked. Right about that time the iphone came out and AT&T started their great decline (IMO). Went to sprint after that as they were the last "unlimited data". Found out pretty quick that unlimited didn't mean crap when you were on a spotty WiMax connection that only worked in a few parts of a major city (Dallas/Fort Worth)

Now on Verizon -- and the fact I can get 4G connections even in the middle of nowhere when I'm at work says a lot. I can sit on my toilet and pull 15-20Mbit... talk about crazy. Only reason I find Verizon tolerable is because of the 20% discount via work. Even then my bill is a little under 100/month for 450min/unlimited text/10GB of data.

Honestly -- who needs 20Mbit pipe on your phone? I'd be happier if they would limit my phone to say 5 to 8Mbit and give me unlimited bandwidth or a cheaper price. The most you are going to do is stream a 720p movie to it... and that does NOT require 20Mbit.
 
Honestly -- who needs 20Mbit pipe on your phone? I'd be happier if they would limit my phone to say 5 to 8Mbit and give me unlimited bandwidth or a cheaper price. The most you are going to do is stream a 720p movie to it... and that does NOT require 20Mbit.

I don't even WANT LTE. Give me HSPA+, limit me to 5-8 as you said, give me a lower price, and I'm a happy camper. If T-Mobile could penetrate large buildings, it would be ideal for me. Until then, I'm stuck with AT&T.
 
I don't even WANT LTE. Give me HSPA+, limit me to 5-8 as you said, give me a lower price, and I'm a happy camper. If T-Mobile could penetrate large buildings, it would be ideal for me. Until then, I'm stuck with AT&T.

T-Mobile's building penetration for HSPA+ is no worse than AT&T. It's their Edge coverage that cannot penetrate as well. Higher frequencies offer higher potential speeds, but lower frequencies offer better coverage and penetration. This is why AT&T can have Edge (850mhz) outdistance their 3G (1900mhz). T-Mobile uses 1900mhz for Edge, but uses 1700/2100 (AWS) and 1900mhz for 3G.

In the few weeks I've been with T-Mobile, anywhere I'm in a refarmed area (my phone doesn't support 1700/2100), I get great coverage and building penetration. But if I'm in an area that is Edge-only (to me), building penetration sucks.

A phone that properly supports HSPA+ on T-Mobile, like the Nexus 4, would be ideal for your situation (without considering your other needs, whatever they might be). It's because of this reason that I won't even consider the HTC One. The T-Mobile version is great, except that I don't want a carrier-branded handset due to bloatware and slower updates. So, I can go unlocked 32GB or dev-64GB...but neither of them support 1700/2100 for HSPA like the T-Mobile version does.
 
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