Verizon rawks

[bornl33t]

So I'm not one to comenda cellular provider but as often as I rip on them when one does it right it's only fair I report it.

I do not like verizons cell phone interface. I switched to windows mobile devices almost two years ago and haven't looked back. I bought a Samsung i910 off ebay and got a bad phone. I'll get my money back because it was paid via paypal and a CC so no worries there. I called verizon the first time to help active the phone. That's when I found out that they would not activate it. The second time I wanted to know why it could not be activated to determine if the seller could make it right. Through a miscommunication I hung up and called back. This time I was told not to bother with the phone as the charges agaist it are significant and verizon would require be to accept responcibility for the account in question. I said thank you and was ready to hang up when I was asked why I tried a new phone. Over the next few minutes the rep pulled some strings and get her manager to push me through my contract because of my good payment record and allowed me to buy the phone from verizon with a new contract 8 months early. Not to mension it saved me 280$ on the price of a used phone on ebay and 450$ on a new phone from verizon.
Verizon had done nothing wrong and still provided me with above expected service. If US cellular had only acted this way when they were at foult I would have stayed with them, but I'm happy I didn't.


There's a reason verizon has the lowest churn in the industry.

btw i910 is a freaking awesome phone.

[DevilMan]

At least we know then that you werent' this caller...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNDCLeSfUbw

DM

[Army]

With Verizon, I can talk anywhere at work, including the vault. No other carrier can get through like that. Usually you have to go away from the building, and past the HETs (big-azz trucks) parking area to get a clear signal.

Great deal on the contract too. Two qwerty phones for Chrissy and TSC, and a normal phone for me, free. Monthly charges have not exceeded $85, despite a LOT of talk and text.

[Madmarx]

Well you guys seem to be doing great... wish I could say the same.
Verizon sucks here in NH!

[teufelhunden]

<3 my verizon service. Switched off vzw in summer of 06, got back on a few months ago.


And wait til you get a Blackberry. I had WM phones for a couple of years, thought they were great, but when you get a Berry your perspective changes. Especially if you've a need for email on the go.

[Hilltop Customs]

So I'm not one to comenda cellular provider but as often as I rip on them when one does it right it's only fair I report it.

I do not like verizons cell phone interface. I switched to windows mobile devices almost two years ago and haven't looked back. I bought a Samsung i910 off ebay and got a bad phone. I'll get my money back because it was paid via paypal and a CC so no worries there. I called verizon the first time to help active the phone. That's when I found out that they would not activate it. The second time I wanted to know why it could not be activated to determine if the seller could make it right. Through a miscommunication I hung up and called back. This time I was told not to bother with the phone as the charges agaist it are significant and verizon would require be to accept responcibility for the account in question. I said thank you and was ready to hang up when I was asked why I tried a new phone. Over the next few minutes the rep pulled some strings and get her manager to push me through my contract because of my good payment record and allowed me to buy the phone from verizon with a new contract 8 months early. Not to mension it saved me 280$ on the price of a used phone on ebay and 450$ on a new phone from verizon.
Verizon had done nothing wrong and still provided me with above expected service. If US cellular had only acted this way when they were at foult I would have stayed with them, but I'm happy I didn't.

There's a reason verizon has the lowest churn in the industry.

btw i910 is a freaking awesome phone.

I really wouldnt be surprised if they did this more often....I mean getting a discount when you renew your plan is cool and all, but that means your plan has come to an end. After your plan has ended, your options are now open to switch service with no penalty and get a discount on a new phone from just about any service. Giving you a new phone ahead of time improves your opinion of the service, gives them word of mouth advertising(this thread for instance), and got you to renew your service for another 2 years(?).

Its kind of sad that these types of comments and posts (above expected customer service) are not the norm, as it usually translates to better business.

PS. I have had some bad experience with Verizon. Two separate occasions they have bumped me to full internet access on my Pocket PC. First when the phone was activated; which I clarified with the sales associate "no change in monthly charge, no added services". And a second time, out of the blue about 8 months later.....something like that just should not happen. That doubled my monthly phone bill, which made me instantly notice.....I could just imagine that slipping past someone with a family plan, or someone who uses bill pay or something. It took a half hour of arguing to get credited back the first time, the second time was smooth as silk though.

And Verizon's STUPID limitations on phones piss me off beyond belief....they seem to be backing off on it a bit though.

[psychowarden]

PS. I have had some bad experience with Verizon. Two separate occasions they have bumped me to full internet access on my Pocket PC. First when the phone was activated; which I clarified with the sales associate "no change in monthly charge, no added services". And a second time, out of the blue about 8 months later.....something like that just should not happen. That doubled my monthly phone bill, which made me instantly notice.....I could just imagine that slipping past someone with a family plan, or someone who uses bill pay or something. It took a half hour of arguing to get credited back the first time, the second time was smooth as silk though.

And Verizon's STUPID limitations on phones piss me off beyond belief....they seem to be backing off on it a bit though.

It's your lucky day, I'm a salesman for Verizon Wireless, I may be able to help you out on that and explain why it happened.

There could be a couple of reasons for that internet package. When you add a PDA phone to any kind of VZW plan, it will instantly put on either the $44.99 Corporate Data package (common with most RIM Blackberry devices) or the $29.99 package which is more commonly attached to other smart phones. The Blackberry devices do and always have required at least the $30 internet, which has been kind of a bad thing and a good thing for Verizon. It cuts back the smart phone sales, but it helps, because there is really no point in selling a smart phone without that extra data commission to offset the discount on the price the customers pay. May people do no realize the actual retail price for phones, and many people get really upset and angry about it (especially since it's us salesman's fault that they dropped their phone into the toilet.) For example, the new Blackberry Storm is currently selling for $200 on a 2yr contract. However, when our store buys them, we pay roughly $600 for each one. But, the commission our store makes on the sale of the line, and the same of the data package evens out the other $400, and usually ends up with our store making about $50 on the deal.

But back to the data thing. Since you were using a Pocket PC, you had the option of having the internet or not. Depending on when it occured, there are a couple of things. The time you had it on there right at adding is very understandable, and without a doubt the fault of the salesman that set your line of service up. It is up to the salesman to ask the customer whether they want the internet package, and which level of internet. If the customer clearly states "No internet" then the package should have been removed no questions asked. Another possibility, is there have been a few changes over the past few years to Verizon's internet packages, and there was one more noteable about two years ago, the name and amount allowed of the internet packages were changed, and at this time, there was in error in programming, so thousands of customers that had smart phones that requested no internet, somehow had the internet put on there automatically. Another, more recent but less likely possibility (Just because of the age of the Pocket PC), this last November, it was made mandatory that all smart phones carried by Verizon Wireless have at least a $29.99 internet package.

As for the phones. There are a few networks that will let you transfer their phones to Verizon, but they must be running on the CDMA system. Not sure if your phone is CDMA or GSM, easy, does it have a SIM card? If yes, then it's GSM, if no, it's CDMA. Sprint, Alltell, and Quest phones can all be put on the Verizon network with a bit of work, and there are a few from Alltell from the recent merger than be directly put onto the network with no changes at all.

And @ Madmarx. You know the commercials with the guy going around asking "Can you hear me now?" Even though it's not really him, Verizon has hundreds of teams traveling the country to places customers call and complain about to test the network. If you call to Verizon (1800-922-0204) and say that there is an area that is weak, they will send a team to assess it.

[Hilltop Customs]

now that is some customer service.....a sales rep right on the forum.....love how you came out saying "It's your lucky day" like I just won something.....lol, just bustin your chops

thanks for the clarification about the internet packages. Didnt know the smart phones now required a $29.99 internet package, wow that really cuts back on likelyhood of me upgrading. I tend to type out what I need, save it to word and send it out when I can hop on wifi. IDK, I cant see spending 30+ bucks a month to have internet/email access on the go....which wifi gives me limited access to anyhow. I'm still frugal from the years at college....eventually I'll grow out of it.

About the limitations, I didnt really mean phone choices or switching service while keeping a phone, more the limitations of phone features. I'm not sure about the newer phones that are coming out but my old v710(thing was a tank) had many features that were blocked specifically by Verizon.(not gonna bother listing them) My girl had just picked up a Razr at the time, playing around with it just made the blocked features stand out even more. Eventually I did everything I wanted to the 710, but I just wasnt happy that Verizon blocked so much compared to other carriers. The Pocket PC really has me content, cant see any upgradges for awhile...only thing that I would like is GPS, but I just picked one up anyhow.....a car units easy to share between friends for trips....a phone not so much

[teufelhunden]

Hey, Psycho:

Is there any validity to the rumor that BIS is dropping to $22 soon?

Also, not all phones with SIMs won't run on CDMA; the Storm you mentioned above has a SIM slot and has a CDMA radio... along with a whole complement of GSM/HSDPA radios.

[bornl33t]

<3 my verizon service. Switched off vzw in summer of 06, got back on a few months ago.


And wait til you get a Blackberry. I had WM phones for a couple of years, thought they were great, but when you get a Berry your perspective changes. Especially if you've a need for email on the go.

Ya know when the iphone came out everyone said it was the greatest thing. In the mean time iphone, BB and WM machine are coming together pretty close.

The omnia has a gsensor, acceloramiter, wifi, blutooth, email push, 8gb built in (up to 16gb on a sd card), FM radio, TV out, DIVX support, 5mpixel camera with OCR, video @ up to 120 frames per second, standalone GPS (suposedly verizon is going to unlock this, any truth to this?)

I have a few programs that I'm already use that I'm going to add all of which are free.

Peekpocket (wifi finder with signal strength meter)
WiFiFoFum ( wifi finder with GPS loger)
WiFiRouter (routs traffic from PC through EV-DO, while I don't use it much I have been in a hot spot before so I keep it on)
VNC viewer
gremote
Skype
Skyfire (although the opera brower might cause this one to fail)
Imap email pusher
google maps
SPB or Manila2d shell
Pocket RAR
Pandora (if I can get it to work on the Omnia, it runs on my i760)
Stratagus ( warcraftII)
OTTD (open transport tycoon delux)

I may splurge and get seeqpod mobile and gamertags, only if gamertags adds messaging support.