Boricua65
join:2002-01-26
Puerto Rico
| The bigger they are
Their arrogance is so unwieldy. They have one of the best networks around and now since J.D. Powers, Consumer Reports and others say they are one of the best, it has now gone to their heads  .
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Yo te digo, el mundo esta jodido |
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anjorusso
@nychhc.org | this idiocy won't last long
as soon as high speed mobile internet from wimax or google (white space broadband) will be available all over, nobody will even bother with any cell phone service....everyone will use mobile voip which will be 20 times cheaper |
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beaups
join:2003-08-11
Hilliard, OH | you are joking, right? |
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NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY
 ·VOIPo
| Believe it or not......
If customers do not select a data plan, they constantly return to the stores complaining about data overages which can get eaten up immediately. I have friends telling me horror stories about getting bills for 200 bucks for data overages because they opted for the cheap plan.
By requiring this, it is full disclosure and protects the customer from overages.
And well, yes - they do have a good network and let's face it - they are a for profit organization.
They will push just up to the limit of what customers will spend and then they usually back off.
What the market will bear....
If they make this change and no one buys a smart phone (just not "gonna" happen") you'll see how fast they reverse their position.
--
Love when you can - cry when you have to, be who you must, that's a part of the plan, await your arrival with simple survival and one day we'll all understand... |
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wildbill
@radford.edu
| VCast is worthless
I cannot believe that I would be forced to signup for that stupid V-Cast package. I have the LG Dare right now, and I get by just fine without the V-cast non-sense. I've been loyal to VZW since the start, but forcing me into paying an extra 15 bucks for something I never use would cause me to consider switching. |
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BuzzDar
join:2006-01-28
West Frankfort, IL | VCast
If you dont want to use the data you dont have to pay for it at all. But if you want to use data then you will have to pay the monthly fee. I think the reason for this too many people going Pay as you go and bitching they get a high bill. |
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BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN | unlimited my ass
"$15/month VCast unlimited data plan for email and web browsing."
Unlimited until you reach 5 GB then $256 per GB overage. |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
 ·North State Commun..
| reply to NY Tel
Re: Believe it or not......
That's a good point NY Tel  . 3 of my 4 phones have a "mysterious" $1.99 data charge every month since they forced me to the new .000000000000001 KB of data is rounded up to 1MB plan. The funny part is that one of my phones is only used when I go running in the early AM. It's never even flipped open and most of the time is off. I wonder how it keeps racking up a $1.99 charge every month. |
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Ankur T
@insideidc.com
| reply to NY Tel
Classic Oligopoly
Its a classic oligopoly, they will coz they can!
Take texting for example it was 10c to send or receive a few years ago across all carriers and now its 15c (I dont want to be on their plan coz i havent ever texted - but i get slammed from time to time for receiving someones text, on which i have little direct control....but anyways i digress). The point being that the national carriers in a month's span increased their pay as you go texting price from 10 to 15.
I thought competition was supposed to bring down prices!?! Now dont tell me it costs them! which all of a sudden all 4 of them realized in one fine month after years of miscalculating the "costs" of texting.
Now coming back to pay as you go data...ATT did something similar with iPhone...verizon will do it and so will t-mobile and sprint.
There are two simple trends here -
1. every carrier wants to get their customers on the monthly play. They need some amount of certainty on how much they will be making at least a quarter down as opposed to staying dependent on the consumer's usage.
2. Carriers have little competition (with possibly an under the table understanding) that they dont want to be "dumb pipes" and one guy waging a price war will bring down everyone elses margin quickly. Its easier to coordinate such price gouging in an oligopoly |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
 ·Comcast
1 edit | reply to Matt
Re: Believe it or not......
said by Matt :I wonder how it keeps racking up a $1.99 charge every month. When I canceled my data plans on my Smartphones I went into the network settings and put the text literal "do_not_use_" in front of the userid and WAP access point name so that it is impossible for either phone to connect to the data service without my intervention.
The only downside is that picture messaging does not work when we have this setting in place. However, it is easy to change that setting temporarily, send/receive the picture message (which is included in our plan), and then turn the data off once again.
Standard text messaging still works regardless of the data connection settings.
--
"At the moment of conception." |
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NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY
·VOIPo
1 edit | reply to Matt
said by Matt :That's a good point NY Tel . 3 of my 4 phones have a "mysterious" $1.99 data charge every month since they forced me to the new .000000000000001 KB of data is rounded up to 1MB plan. The funny part is that one of my phones is only used when I go running in the early AM. It's never even flipped open and most of the time is off. I wonder how it keeps racking up a $1.99 charge every month. Well do you use:
Mobile web
VZ Navigator
Download any ring tones etc?
Use backup assistant?
They sell megabytes now for 1.99 a meg. rounded up from the first kilobyte used. (Text and Pix are exempt) so something is accessing the network as a "data call" and costing you $$.
Call them at *611 (star 611 - free call) and ask them to explain it. If they can't, politely as them to take it off the bill. They usually do. |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Comcast
| reply to Matt
said by Matt :That's a good point NY Tel . 3 of my 4 phones have a "mysterious" $1.99 data charge every month since they forced me to the new .000000000000001 KB of data is rounded up to 1MB plan. The funny part is that one of my phones is only used when I go running in the early AM. It's never even flipped open and most of the time is off. I wonder how it keeps racking up a $1.99 charge every month. Did you sign up for the "backup your address book" feature of the phone. That is $1.99/mo unless you signed up thru their web site after subscribing to the "My Verizon" web site.
Even after I signed up that way, I was charged the $1.99 until I got a Verizon customer service rep to credit me and remove the monthly charge from subsequent bills.
--
My BLOG .. .. Internet News .. .. My Web Page
Ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya punk? |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC | reply to NY Tel
Hrmmm, yep. I use Backup Assistant on all my phones. So when it backs the phone book up, they charge me data? I guess that makes sense. |
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NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY
·VOIPo
1 edit | said by Matt :Hrmmm, yep. I use Backup Assistant on all my phones. So when it backs the phone book up, they charge me data? I guess that makes sense. I believe that if you access your account through the web "My Verizon" at www.verizonwireless.com, you are not supposed to be billed for that. Billing you for kilobytes in addition would be double dipping and I know they don't do that...... 
For the extra6 bucks a month they are charging you, I'd call them and ask them to "splain it to you"..... 
Did you change your name from MattE to Matt ?
--
Love when you can - cry when you have to, be who you must, that's a part of the plan, await your arrival with simple survival and one day we'll all understand... |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
| They don't charge me the $1.99 for the Backup Assistant as I did sign up via the website. There is a $1.99 charge every month on all my phones (that don't have a data plan) listed in the Data Charges section ... but they all use Backup Assistant.
I'll call and ask them to explain it regardless. Who knows, maybe they aren't supposed to charge for Backup Assistant data. |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Comcast
1 edit | reply to Matt
said by Matt :Hrmmm, yep. I use Backup Assistant on all my phones. So when it backs the phone book up, they charge me data? I guess that makes sense. See this web page. If you call Customer Service, you can get this fee waived.
»products.vzw.com/index.aspx?id=f···=2033494
Backup Assistant is free for My Verizon customers. The $1.99 monthly fee that you are asked to accept will be waived as long as you remain a My Verizon customer.
You will not see a charge for this service on your bill. Not a My Verizon customer? Register Now --
My BLOG .. .. Internet News .. .. My Web Page
Ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya punk? |
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Ankur T
@insideidc.com
| Classic Oligopoly
Its a classic oligopoly, they will coz they can!
Take texting for example it was 10c to send or receive a few years ago across all carriers and now its 15c (I dont want to be on their plan coz i havent ever texted - but i get slammed from time to time for receiving someones text, on which i have little direct control....but anyways i digress). The point being that the national carriers in a month's span increased their pay as you go texting price from 10 to 15.
I thought competition was supposed to bring down prices!?! Now dont tell me it costs them! which all of a sudden all 4 of them realized in one fine month after years of miscalculating the "costs" of texting.
Now coming back to pay as you go data...ATT did something similar with iPhone...verizon will do it and so will t-mobile and sprint.
There are two simple trends here -
1. every carrier wants to get their customers on the monthly play. They need some amount of certainty on how much they will be making at least a quarter down as opposed to staying dependent on the consumer's usage.
2. Carriers have little competition (with possibly an under the table understanding) that they dont want to be "dumb pipes" and one guy waging a price war will bring down everyone elses margin quickly. Its easier to coordinate such price gouging in an oligopoly |
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bryandj23
join:2002-08-15
Bay City, MI
| Sticking it to the customer...harder...and deeper..
This is bull. I can get everything I need (web, email, pictures, ringtones, etc) over WiFi. I too have my data connection set so that it will not automatically connect, and will not be used as the default connection to the internet.
The only thing I need their data service for is for Pix/Flix, which I already pay for unlimited. |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC | reply to TKJunkMail
Re: Believe it or not......
It is not a Backup Assistant charge. It's a generic "data" charge for "Pay as you use MB." |
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en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA | reply to bryandj23
Re: Sticking it to the customer...harder...and deeper..
I suspect that AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile will eventually follow this lead. AT&T already has forced data on its iPhone, and has very few devices that are WiFi capable (HTC Tilt).
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Canada = Hollywood North |
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