Why is Verizon still in business ?

[Brovane]

I have hard Verizon for about 10+ years now. The reason we still stick with them is coverage. We had Sprint before and overall their coverage just sucked compared to Verizon.

Overall Verizon I have been overall very happy. However I have noticed that customer service can really vary. About 18 months ago when the wife got a Droid Charge the lady service rep at the store was great and was extremely helpful. This last weekend we went down to the local Verizon store to get a new phone. Both my wife and I have 6GB plans on each or or SmartPhones. We use about 3-4GB a month between us. However when we go on trips this can jump up. So the wife was looking at a new phone and the Rep at the store told use that we would have to switch to a shared plan if the wife got a new phone. This didn't sound right to me. So we left the store and I called the Verizon customer number. A extremely helpful sales rep on the phone told me no that this wasn't the case. We could keep or current plans if we where just swapping phones. We got a new phone shipped to us and basically got everything done. The wife was a little upset that we got two very different answers from Verizon customer support. However I think a lot of big companies have trouble sometimes with being consistent.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

It's sad that America's cellular providers and internet providers are giant DISASTERS.

They're giant oligopolies that prey on stupid human behavior (carrier exclusive phone, subsidized pricing, horrendous caps, etc).

Edit: I was trying to look up cellular service for my mom and myself, and to get us both smartphones, it would cost something like $150/month. Ridiculous. It seems the larger the family you have though that the pricing becomes more reasonable with family plans.

Also I was trying to look up internet service for my gf and TV. What happened to the old expanded cable being $45/month? Now because its digital they can gouge you like $70/month or something on top of the $45 for internet. Anyway with all the fees, its close to $150/month. I think its a better idea to just get no TV from now on and just rely on Netflix and Hulu for entertainment.

 

[vi edit]

Edit: I was trying to look up cellular service for my mom and myself, and to get us both smartphones, it would cost something like $150/month. Ridiculous. It seems the larger the family you have though that the pricing becomes more reasonable with family plans.

Straight talk for $41/mth each on AT&T network.
Page Plus for $30 a month each on Verizon network.

Have to pay for phones and with Page Plus it's restricted to 3G only phones.

Or there's Ting which uses Sprint that is very reasonably priced too.

Go pre-paid and save. You just have to pay outright for the phones.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Straight talk for $41/mth each on AT&T network.
Page Plus for $30 a month each on Verizon network.

Have to pay for phones and with Page Plus it's restricted to 3G only phones.

Or there's Ting which uses Sprint that is very reasonably priced too.

Go pre-paid and save. You just have to pay outright for the phones.

If you're okay with not having the latest cutting-edge phones, prepaid is awesome.

Ting, unlike other Sprint prepaid carriers, allows you to bring your own device. Once a phone has been available for 18-24 months, prices drop like a rock as all the early adopters upgrade. The Sprint Galaxy Nexus is going for $150 or less on eBay and it's still pretty good.

If you're looking lower end, Windows Phone might be worth considering since it runs well even on low end hardware.

 

[bradly1101]

I got a fairly new phone (S3) back in Jan. prepaid at $30/mo. with MetroPCS. It's not the fastest network, but it works fine for me.

T-Mobile is buying Metro, and switching the network, so I'll have to replace my S3 in 2015. That's well before I was hoping to retire it; remember I'm the guy who would much rather save his money than have the latest thing.

And T-Mobile says they'll honor my $30/mo. price.

 

[ericlp]

Because people put up with their crap and pay out of their asses for it. Plus they have the best coverage.

not true... you can go to wallmart and buy a samsung centura for 100 bucks and 45 straight talk plan all you can use. It uses verizon network.

 

[Belegost]

You know I was with Vzw up until almost 3 years ago, and I think they are vastly overrated on the coverage claims. And the service is awful, with a very customer hostile attitude overall.

About 3 years ago I was on a shared plan with my brother my GF and my sister. At the time I was using a crummy Samsung dumb phone, but was waiting for some new releases before I got a smartphone. Unfortunately the Samsung up and died, but since my brother had upgraded his phone about a month before (replaced a Motorola feature phone, one of those wannabe smartphones) so I took his old phone to the Verizon store (official store mind you, not a kiosk) and requested it be activated on my current number. The rep tells me to start a new contract with that phone it will require a data plan.

Two problems, one I did not want to start a new contract period, and two previously this phone did not require a data plan, and honestly due to limited os would not have benefited from it. When I told the rep this I was rudely told that the phone did require a data plan, and that because I was adding a data plan I must start a new contract. Besides the fact that they retroactively added devices to the required data plan list, I honestly think it's BS to enforce those requirements on a customer bringing a phone they already own (though all the big 4 do it) if I was getting a subsidy that's fine, but I own the damned phone I should decide what service level I want.

I walked out, but decided this was possibly just a bad rep, so I called customer support, twice. And I got the same exact answer, twice.

That was when I decided to leave. At the time there was officially 8 days remaining on my contract, however I had already paid ahead for the months service, so I expected no problems porting my number to T-Mobile. No, even though they already had my money for the last contract month, they would not release my number without a 65 dollar ETF. For 8 bloody days. I got a new number.

Since then I spent 2 happy years with TMo, and never noticed any difference in coverage (So Cal area and NM) Currently I'm with ATT because I really wanted a 920, and I have no coverage issues where I use it. Overall I think the large majority of people in the US would not notice a difference, but Vzw has done a great marketing job and BSd everyone into believing so they feel justified overpaying for inferior customer service.

 

[Fardringle]

Belegost, as many of us have said, if you are in an area that is covered by other carriers, then those carriers may very well be a good option for you. But there are very large portions of the country outside of large metropolitan areas that simply are not covered by any other carrier.

I personally have not ever had poor (or even less than great) customer service at any time from Verizon except when I made the mistake of going in to an independent (non corporate) store to look at a phone. The sales reps there were pushy, annoying, and not very knowledgeable, but that's not Verizon's fault since Verizon doesn't own the store. I'd still prefer to have other options since Verizon can be a bit expensive, but the simple fact is that I have tried phones with other carriers in many of the places that I frequently need to use my phone, and outside of the city, none but my Verizon phone have a signal at all.

 

[openwheel]

Verizon sucks, but my employer is paying for my phone and service, so I chose the unlimited everything on Verizon. So Verizon still gets my business. Company pays for any phone full msrp and pays $110/month for my line. over the US.

No wonder Verizon makes so much money.

If it was my own hard-earned money, I would go with T-Mobile at this time.

 

[you2]

I really can't comment on CAl/NM coverage by various carries but in the north east; i know there are many areas that VZ cover which at&t/tmobile/sprint have no signal. Took a road trip with some friends and we had phones on all the carries; frequently only the VZ (and sprint - roaming on vz) had any sort of signal.
-
It really is regional. The problem is that as far as I can tell none of the 4 big carries are customer oriented; if one of them were then it would be interesting to see the impact (even if they didn't have the best coverage).

Since then I spent 2 happy years with TMo, and never noticed any difference in coverage (So Cal area and NM) Currently I'm with ATT because I really wanted a 920, and I have no coverage issues where I use it. Overall I think the large majority of people in the US would not notice a difference, but Vzw has done a great marketing job and BSd everyone into believing so they feel justified overpaying for inferior customer service.

 

[lothar]

Huh we transferred our upgrades to the feature phone and then swapped the phones to our lnes

Got a gs3,nexus,iPhone 5 and gs4 this way and all at subsidized pricing

I think I'll keep my Verizon plan Lol

And what happens when you run out of feature phones to swap from?
Fact of the matter is, if you don't already have feature phones on your grandfathered plan, you can no longer do that trick.

You mentioned earlier in the thread that you have 4 smartphones and 1 feature phone on your account. That means you only have 1 swap remaining and that's it. And you can't add a line either because that will automatically change your unlimited grandfathered account into a shared data plan.

 

[grkM3]

And what happens when you run out of feature phones to swap from?
Fact of the matter is, if you don't already have feature phones on your grandfathered plan, you can no longer do that trick.

You mentioned earlier in the thread that you have 4 smartphones and 1 feature phone on your account. That means you only have 1 swap remaining and that's it. And you can't add a line either because that will automatically change your unlimited grandfathered account into a shared data plan.

What the heck are you talking about? On our original plan the main line gets an upgrade every year and we transfer upgrades to the cheap phone and sign a 2 year 2gb contract on that line and then change that line back to no data.

Verizon only cares about making new contracts and every time we do it this way it starts a new 2 year on that line.

We have 2 upgrades right now and a gs4,2 gs3s and an iPhone 5 that were all bought at subsidized pricing and ATM are on unlimited unthrottled data plans and we are going to keep doing it this way.

And you are 100% wrong as you can add a line and have it be capped and it won't touch any of the other unlimited lines.