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Review by rblenkhorn See Profile

  • Location: Bangor, Penobscot, ME, USA
  • Cost: $117 per month (24 month contract)
  • Install: about 4 days
15-20 MB download 5-8 MB upload
6 GIG LIMIT
works very good for what it is, would be super great if higher cap
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Verizon. Its reliable. It works. that is about it. It is expensive, that is a fact. I have never dealt with customer service I pay the bill when it comes. I use the service. that is all

member for 20.7 years, 490 visits, last login: 55 days ago
updated 10.8 years ago







Review by SanAntonioTx See Profile

  • Location: San Antonio, Bexar, TX, USA
  • Cost: $155 per month (2 month contract)
  • Install: about 3 days
Extreme 4G LTE speeds
The price the data caps
Great for wireless data
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The 4g LTE is outstanding sometimes near the tower i get over 60mbps down and 25mbps up *in most 4g lte areas* but for the most part its around 15/20mbps down and 5/15mbps up Great for everything Its very expensive service and the *SHARE EVERYTHING PLANS* are bad how ever ive been able to stream HD videos *netflix and youtube in the past at 1080p while being in the middle of no where in a country field here in South Texas while at the same time allowing 5 other people to be on my phone and streaming and uploading and downloading in the vehicle Set up an HDTV and watched a netflix video in the middle of a country field so yes verizon has great service in remote areas the 3G is also really good up to 2.6mbps down and 1/1.5mbps up in some areas and ping is below 150ms! so thats not bad for basic gaming The price though is whats going to get you. its expensive for my data plan is 22GB with hot spot 69.99 for unlimited talk and text and 10 for 1,000 Text messages but.since i fix extra computers i can afford that but for most people they say they use less then 2 Gigs of data that's a lie.. you pay for what you get but VZW still over charges in my opinion the plus side to all this is with less people on the tower you get more download speed and the upload speed far surpasses ATT 4G LTE upload speed on most speedtests

Verizon is great for wireless data. and the 700mhz spectrum

member for 15.7 years, 358 visits, last login: 5.7 years ago
updated 10.9 years ago


Review by isp10002 See Profile

  • Location: undisclosed location
  • Cost: $65 per month (2 month contract)
Good if you have no wireline alternitives
Crappy Caps, Slow Speeds, High cost
I have nothing really good to say
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NOTE: I dumped Verizon for frontier dsl, Also i do not have Verizon anymore and im writing this review right after i dumped them.

So i signed up for verizons 3g aircard 3+ years ago, It was good for us because back then we dident have dsl. The thing i stress the most about this service is its extremely expensive and has crappy caps. So around 2012 i noticed 3g got alot slower, and had high ping times. from 2010-2011 i noticed good speeds. We got 4g in 2012 (Thats probally why 3g was so slow) but we signed another 2 year contract for something on the account. Playing games was impossible and i was so fed up with verizon. So after we found out we can get dsl we dumped verizons sorry butt, Bye Verizon.

member for 11.4 years, 697 visits, last login: 32 days ago
lodged 10.9 years ago


Review by shakawkaw See Profile

  • Location: Monroe, Snohomish, WA, USA
  • Cost: $128 per month (24 month contract)
  • Install: about 5 days
Speed
Data caps, excessive overage charges
Avoid as a main internet connection
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I used to be a Verizon employee installing FiOS, which I still think is the best thing out there for internet by a mile. Recently I moved to an area where the only options are satellite (no thanks), dial-up (hell no!), or a 4g solution like HomeFusion. I decided to give the HF a try. I am more than happy with the speeds. Often I will test around 27 Mb download over 17 Mb upload. This is awesome. What is not so awesome is a defect in the firmware of the "cantenna" that causes my connection to go down multiple times a day, sometimes for as long as 20 minutes.

Even with that known issue, by far, the worst part is that the highest possible monthly allowance is 30GB. As a main internet connection for two people, this just does NOT cut it. Even with scaling back on streaming there is no way we can stay below this limit, and at $10/GB, once you exceed it, the cost can be atrocious. To make matters worse, because of the great speed, you can literally eat through hundreds of dollars' worth of bandwidth in the span of an hour as I unfortunately just did when I made the mistake of installing a game on Steam that I thought was 1.5GB but was actually 15GB. Next time I opened my email I saw the 15 warnings there waiting for me at $10 a pop. Needless to say, I was NOT happy.

When I called VZ customer service they said there was nothing they were willing/able to do, and that I essentially just need to stay under 30GB to avoid paying any overage.

Bottom line - Avoid HomeFusion as your main source of internet connectivity unless you are seriously ok with using it to do nothing other than web browsing and email! Netflix, Steam, Vudu, Hulu, PlayStation Network or X-Box Live purchases......all of these things will become impossible to do affordably, and if anyone happens to decide to watch an HD movie be ready to shell out up to $50 with no chance of a mulligan.

member for 11 years, 1 visits, last login: 11 years ago
lodged 11 years ago


whocares256
''Hardware Junkie''
Premium Member
join:2002-03-10

whocares256

Premium Member

Verizon wireless

Are you on a grandfathered Verizon wireless cellphone plan with data? Can you get unlimited data on your cellphone?
corvette1963
join:2013-04-30
Everett, WA

corvette1963

Member

Re: Verizon wireless

I Think so

Review by Jeremy1976 See Profile

  • Location: Belfast, Waldo, ME, USA
  • Cost: $85 per month
good bandwidth
go through data cap fast, not very good latency
good if its the only option you have
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I have verizon 4g hotspot enabled on my phone as a backup for when i travel or if i lose my dsl. The bandwidth is pretty good i get 30/15 mbps at my house. I have 10 GB's it eats through it pretty fast depending on what your doing. Browsing internet youd be fine but watching videos ordownloading a game or update for ps3 will really use it up fast. Its pretty expensive. My average ping times were around 90-100 ms. I guess if you cant get dsl or cable it would be good but just watch your data so you dont go over.

member for 12.2 years, 30 visits, last login: 10.4 years ago
lodged 11 years ago


admin123
@myvzw.com

admin123

Anon

wow your pings

My pings are 45/ 55 and gaming is smooth as butter.

Review by RobnLoudoun See Profile

  • Location: 20141-2445
  • Cost: $130 per month (24 month contract)
Fastest connection available since there is no cable or del available locally
Requires constant resets to maintain connection
Not really ready for prime time - good when it works, but annoying when it requires resets
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Only broadband options available in many areas of Western Loudoun are satellite, and wireless broadband. I could have had a cable run to the house for $3,000, but didn't want to spend the money and then be in thrall to one cable company. Verizon Homefusion works nicely when it's connected, but it constantly disconnects and requires resetting the Cantenna.

member for 11.1 years, driveby review (so far)
lodged 11.1 years ago


TucsonOne
@qwest.net

TucsonOne

Anon

HomeFusion Problems

Conclusion: Verizon HomeFusion Problems - Product Inoperable

Observations from 22 Days of Verizon & Homeowner Efforts
Dates: Jan 17- Feb 6, 2013
Location: Tucson, AZ near Prince Rd & Soldier Trail Rd, stated by Verizon to be “in a very good 4G zone for reception, one mile from the cell phone tower supplying the 4G service”

Sales: Verizon store personnel didn’t know how to complete sales documentation, having sold very few units

Installation: well-trained, responsive, polite installer

The Cantenna: four different ones were replaced, all but one failed to maintain an internet connection longer than 12 hours, breaking connection (and failing to reconnect until power cycled via unplugging) up to eight times a day

The Router: twice replaced, no observations

The Tech Support:

- multiple failed attempts stopped cold at the Verizon main phone number (disconnected, wrong extension, Spanish language, etc.)

- first level technical personnel could offer only two interventions: unplug the cantennae or unplug the cable router; they had no other information available of any kind

- second level technical support were surly and had no further assistance

- third level (“trouble ticket”) personnel had access to the network functioning in the area but their interventions were also limited to hardware replacement or rebooting; they pointed towards ‘a drive around’ to access 4G reception in the area but could not schedule same within install time frames, ‘or for several weeks’

- when asked the third time via different technical support personnel, the Company agreed to extend the 14 day window of free use of the product for another 14 days; customer ended effort at 22 days having no confidence in the product nor the technical support and having spent nearly thirty hours trouble-shooting the devices

The Internet Connection:

- speeds as advertised, but wildly variable on ping, download and upload, and showing many spikes on Speedtest.net graphs suggesting poor connections; no Verizon personnel had access to devices nor online data that could pinpoint and remedy the problems

sbken
join:2002-03-09
Etowah, NC

sbken

Member

Re: HomeFusion Problems

In my location AT&T DSL quality is extremely poor and slow. To add to the insult AT&T will not install any new DSL service! If you move into the area there is no AT&T DSL available and, according to AT&T, the reason for my slow/inferior service is that the service had to be "capped" as they are over capacity with no plans to upgrade their equipment. When I was made aware of Verizon's Homefusion I thought I finally had a good broadband option. Was was very wrong!

Starting with an installation scheduling disaster - the installer was not informed of the correct installation time - to technical problems and a gigantic data usage I canceled the service five days after unsuccessfully trying to resolve the issues. Technical support was unable to explain or resolve my problems and when they elevated the problem to the highest tier of Verizon technical support the problems were not even addressed.

Data usage issue: Although my pattern of internet usage remained the same after Homefusion installation my data usage rose from approximately 6BG/month with AT&T to approximately 5 GB in 24 hours! No one at Verizon Tech Support could explain the discrepancy. Since my Homefusion contract allowed 10 GB/month I would have been in deep financial trouble had I continued to use the service. (AT&T has an allowance of 150 GB/month.)

Speed: This is a real puzzler and Verizon Tech Support remained mystified. My download speed rarely exceeded 6 Mb/second and my upload speed was usually GREATER than the download speed.

When I finally called to cancel the service I was told to bring the Router to the Verizon store where I purchased the service. When I arrived at the store, after a considerable wait, I was informed that I had to *send* the Router back to Verizon and that Verizon would send me a prepaid shipping box. Seven days later I'm still waiting for that box.

Finally, I discovered that even though I canceled my service withing the fourteen-day trial period I would be charged a $35 "restocking fee". Oddly, Verizon does not want the large outside antenna "drum" returned, even though it is obviously an expensive item. It will remain a fixture on the outside of my house as a reminder that while Verizon is different from AT&, it is just as inept.






Review by (hidden by request)

  • Location: Fort Wayne, Allen, IN, USA
  • Cost: $170 per month (24 month contract)
Stealing money from you
Stealing money from you
Verizon wireless is just a bunch of thieves
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Beware of this business, no more than a bunch thieves. It took money from
my credit card in Nov 2012. When I complained, they told me the money will
be applied back to my credit card within 24-48 hours, which did not happen.
So far I had to called 16 times and go to the local store 4 times to get my
money back. Most of the time they promised me I would receive the money in
24-48 hours. They acknowledged that they wrongfully took my money, but
hesitated to return it. What a crooked thieves!

(review was emailed from domain gmail.com)
lodged 11.1 years ago


Review by allquixotic See Profile

  • Location: Pasadena, Anne Arundel, MD, USA
  • Cost: $50 per month (24 month contract)
  • Install: about 1 days
Amazing reliability; clarified terms of service
5GB cap is too small compared to transfer speeds
Great if you're on the go, but only for web/email
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I just completed a review of my abysmal Verizon DSL, and thought I should share my polar opposite experience with Verizon Wireless.

In 2006 I was due for a cellphone upgrade as part of my 2 year contract renewal with Verizon. I went to a brick-n-mortar Verizon store in a local mall to check out their offerings.

Then I saw the Samsung SCH-i730. Based on its price, features and the tantalizing prospect of broadband on the go (which I had never heard of before then), I emptied my discretionary spending fund and went for the unlimited data plan, and the phone itself retailed at $699. Whew!

The price sure hurt in those early days -- the service was $44.99 for "unlimited" and there was still the implicit 5GB cut-off if you read the fine print. And the smartphone was a rip-off. Its feature set wasn't worth that price.

Before I knew about the potential ToS violation that is tethering, I used to do it all the time with my SCH-i730 -- this helped me stay connected to the net all the way across the country on a vacation trip via Amtrak train, from Maryland to California. Sure, there were substantial periods of having no coverage (this is to be expected out in the plains of absolutely nowhere), but every major city and even some rural areas had either 1xRTT or EvDO. Cool. 3 years ago, having anything faster than dialup on a dual core ThinkPad, riding a train going 70mph in the plains of Illinois, was pretty amazing. Of course, I was completely oblivious to the fact that this whole time I wasn't supposed to be tethering, and I was probably being monitored closely because of the way I was using the service (i.e. more than just checking email).

Fast forward to 2009. Verizon clarified their TOS, which had always been that you would get cut off if you used over 5GB/month on the "unlimited" plan. Now they no longer call it "unlimited", which is a real drag; but at least now they aren't outright liars. I got a new (and much cheaper) phone, due to the fact that Windows Mobile has advanced to a new major release and Verizon isn't updating the SCH-i730, and because my i730's battery is just about useless, and because the i730 was slowly becoming frail and beaten up with age. Understandable. It was a rugged and useful little device during its time.

My new smartphone is a Verizon SMT5800, a re-branded HTC LIBR100. The capabilities are almost identical to the i730, except that it cuts out some of the features I didn't need of the i730: I hardly ever used the i730's WiFi (802.11b/g), its IrDA (infrared), and the touchscreen didn't make things easier. I like buttons. Other than that, its CPU, RAM and NAND seem comparable to the i730, but this phone only retails at $160. It's also got a standard Mini USB-A hookup, which means that the cable that comes with every MP3 player, camera, or other small miscellaneous digital device will work with my phone just the same. This is huge for the convenience factor.

The SMT5800 has similar software issues to the i730 that I blame on Windows Mobile (I'm a Linux guy primarily), but I can work around them. The important features are still there.

Anyway, the phones are good, but the service itself is infinitely more valuable. If I could somehow get two EvDO Rev. A connections to a single box, I would buy the modem and pay $100 - $120/month to get 2 x Rev.A speeds, and make that my primary home internet connection. But with the current transfer caps at 5GB, I couldn't very well do that, could I?

In its current state, EvDO Rev. A on Verizon's network is an outstanding way to look something up on Google Maps or Skyfire (my mobile browser of choice) while you're driving around looking for somewhere to eat, or a hotel, or whatever. But the bandwidth caps make tethering or any sort of "interesting" uses (even instant messaging apps on the phone) impossible.

I give it two thumbs up because it's just so amazingly reliable, and the coverage of the network is actually quite good, speaking from experience on a round trip cross-country train ride. I hope that someday this kind of reliable, wide-area connectivity will replace land lines that take years to finally get hooked up to your house. And if there's a problem with a cell tower, it affects hundreds of users, not just you, so they prioritize fixing it. That means you won't have to beg Verizon to fix your problem.

UPDATE 2012: The 700 MHz LTE network is incredible, and the devices have advanced by miles since the days when I wrote this review. My current device is a Razr Maxx HD. The devices are great, but the same old data caps are still around. Verizon still wants $10 for every gigabyte that travels over their network. It is highway robbery. While the capabilities of the handsets and network have improved, my opinion of Verizon has languished, as they have failed to price data at a semi-affordable rate.

member for 14.6 years, 154 visits, last login: 1.5 years ago
updated 11.3 years ago


Review by CaptainRR See Profile

  • Location: Blue Rock, Muskingum, OH, USA
  • Cost: $50 per month (20 month contract)
Only alternative when I cant get a dailtone at the house for dialup.
Have to be carfull not to hit the 5 gig cap!
Works fine in a pinch when my landline is dead.
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My Other Reviews

·AT&T Wireless Br..
I have had Verizon Wireless Broadband service for several years now and finally using it at home. I have no other options for broadband were I live and probably never will as long as at&t owns the rotting copper lines around me. Last month Verizon Wireless activated a new cell site a mile from my house finally giving me cellular service and 3g service for my air card. I have tested it in and out for the past couple of weeks and it has been okay. The ping times are between 150-200ms. The speeds are really not that impressing. The best download and upload speeds are not as good as I expected them to be due to the fact that Time Warner cable ran fiber to the cell site and Verizon in my county is on the PCS bands. The best download speed I ever could get is about 900k down and uploads are about the same around 800k. Of course I am also running a CDMA modem that is over two years old and maybe getting tired. The upside of things is that I know the cell site is running on a fiber backbone and hopefully LTE comes in in the next year or so making things brighter around here. Nov. 16, 2012 Verizon Wireless activated the LTE on one of the two cell sites I am in between. My smartphone the LTE comes and goes but my hotspot solid 3-4 bars LTE! The ping times still stink runing between 150-350ms. But speeds are averaging 10mbs down and 5mbs up. Much better than 3g! But my at&t landline well still useless at 24k dialup.

member for 17.9 years, 4120 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 11.3 years ago


CaptainRR
Premium Member
join:2006-04-21
Blue Rock, OH
·AT&T Wireless Br..

CaptainRR

Premium Member

In LTE service area

I am currently working in a LTE area with my new LTE modem. If Verizon Wireless upgrades the whole footprint with this technology I will be a happy camper. The pages are lightning fast and very snappy! I did a speed check on it and my downloads are around 15mbs Down and 4.5mbs up. The latacy is still a little over 100ms but I dont care it is still 3 times faster than what the hotel wi-fi can give me. I will update this posting when I will get this service at home. By the way I am in Borea, OH by Cleveland Int'l airport with this test. The cell site I have in my township were I live in Blue Rock, OH also has Time Warner Cable fiber running into it so when the cell site ever does get upgraded to it I should see the same speed I am getting around Cleveland.

Review by mc1lean See Profile

  • Location: Lincolnton, Lincoln, NC, USA
  • Cost: $70 per month (48 month contract)
  • Install: about 4 days
1.5 years ago was great. Up to 20MB down at times.
Periods of unreliability. Down for the last week!
Not bad when it works.
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The more trouble you have, the more likely VZW is to "let you out of the contract". When did that become an acceptable way to do business?

Had Sprint then Sprint/Millenicom, overlapped with VZW, dumped Sprint, now have VZW and AT&T. Much as I hate the AT&T bureaucracy, at least they work.

member for 16.3 years, 217 visits, last login: 208 days ago
updated 11.5 years ago