 New VZW BBs & Open GPS Tomorrow!
Yes, you heard me correctly. Tomorrow marks the day we will be seeing new BBs including the Pearl Flip and Niagara/Tour. The Storm2 will be coming soon, as will an all new iPhone, renamed vPhone to sidestep the exclusive deal with AT&T.
Also on tap. Palm Post, the Pre for Verizon customers that has twice the memory and a faster processor than the Pre and costs less too!
Data plan rates will be reduced to $15 per month with MMS messaging included. Unfortunately, unlimited SMS will be an additional $5/mo.
VZW has also reached an agreement to stop blocking the use of GSM devices on the network, finally admitting that GSM & CDMA are completely interchangeable. The only thing keeping that iPhone from working on VZW is a mean-spirited block placed on the phone by AT&T and Apple. At the current time, there are no reported plans by either AT&T or T-Mobile to relax restrictions on CDMA phones using their network.
Good news! Tethering charges will be reduced to $15/mo. The 5GB ceiling remains in effect. To offset the drop in revenue, VZW is implementing a network change. If you attempt to tether a secondary device through your service without subscribing to tethering, your device will immediately be suspended until the tethering feature is added and a $50 reinstate fee is paid.
Google Maps will be offered with full functionality, as VZW has announced a full leveraged buyout of Google. Garmin mapping software will remain an extra-cost application, as Garmin thwarted a takeover bid by threatening to call mommy.
Customer service performance will see big upgrades as VZW plans to hire on 25,000 new employees to make sure hold times are not just reduced, but eliminated. Stores will appear on every corner, staffed only with people sporting masters degrees who scored 100% on all training classes. The stores will be open 24X7 and will offer concierge service, 30 minute home delivery and have a pizza kitchen for customers who missed lunch.
If you've not heard about these developments, it is because VZW hates you, wants to rip you off and rape you. Only those who VZW loves will get notice of these new developments and will be able to take advantage of the offers. For those of you wondering, VZW hates their CS/Tech Support Reps, so they are also excluded from these offers.
Now for a dose of reality.
1) VZW reps & internet fansite users are not given information about new devices. This isn't a VZW thing. It is a competitive issue that all carriers practice. All you will hear before the device actually is announced, is rumor.
2) Ditto the above on software releases.
3) Read your contract. Nowhere does it say you have unlimited access to the network. Nor does it say you or third-party software apps have carte blanche access to VZW PDEs or other proprietary network features. If you don't like what a carrier does, find another. Say what you want, but the correct reaction to those who go on & on about GPS should be OH WAHHHHH!
4) You cannot use an iPhone or a Bold on a CDMA network. This is NOT a VZW restriction. It is a technological one. Just like you can't run diesel fuel in your gas engine, you cannot run a GSM device on a CDMA network & vice versa. The same thing applies to LTE. The technologies are not compatible in any way, shape of form and none have any backwards compatibility with any other (except, to a certain extent TDMA & GSM). The progression in commercial telecom technologies is roughly TDMA/GSM (1st half 20th Century). CDMA (1990s). LTE (2010). None are compatible with any others, but that doesn't mean that some phones might not have dual-mode capability (8830/Storm or upcoming LTE devices).
5) Phone manufacturers make the devices and offer them to carriers. The carriers request personalization to tested & approved devices. Many times these agreements specify exclusive deals (Storm/Pre/iPhone) which precludes them being offered to other carriers. Sometimes design parameters/restrictions/changes keep some phones from ever being released with other technologies (Bold). Included features must be activated by both the manfacturer and the carrier. If it isn't built in (such as WiFi) or it requires interactivity from the network (such as aGPS) then you aren't getting it. If your phone has WiFi connectivity, it has a WiFi radio. If you don't have WiFi, if you don't have WiFi connectivity, your device doesn't have the capability. In every case over the past couple of years, when given WiFi as an option on a phone, VZW has taken the phone with WiFi - and it works. Do your research before you commit to a contract. If you don't, it is your fault and the OH WAHHHH reaction to your complaint again applies.
6) There are many things smartphones are capable of doing that you do not have access to, either because of carrier, manufacturer or design restrictions. Some of these things include, but are not limited to, VoIP, device tracking, flash capabilities, HTML rendering, GPS, non-GPS locating and access to enhanced AIN features. It doesn't matter if you're running a BlackBerry on VZW, a WinMo device on AT&T, a Palm on Sprint or an Android on T-Mobile. If it is a feature restricted for whatever reason, chances are, it will remain restricted. Your knowledge or lack thereof about the device or technology will not change this, nor will arguing about it on fan sites or calling people names.
7) BlackBerry is not the end all of the mobile world. For some it might be WinMo. For others it might be Palm. Same goes for carriers. VZW works for many, but so does AT&T, Sprint & T-Mobile - or Telus or Rogers or US Cell. Yet I know of no one who wouldn't like something better. In the early days of cell service, sometimes you could talk & sometimes you had to move around until you found a signal. For this privilege, you got to pay as much as $49.95 for 60 min of local service. Complaining about your bill for a 2000 minute plan and data leaves many non-plussed.
8) Go to the carrier site & compare pricing and terms before you run around, sounding follish, saying that Carrier _________ is peeing in my Wheaties & rips everyone off!. You might be surprised at how close some of the carriers are. I always chuckle when an AT&T customer tells me VZW is so much more expensive - they are often neck & neck. Look at the $39.99 plans. VZW gives you 450 minutes plus free anytime calls to 80 million+ numbers. T-Mobile gives you 300 minutes with free calling to five numbers. Pleae go get a reality check before sticking your foot in your mouth, leaving you looking foolish.
9) It might be a good story to tell, but your experience in getting credits/discounts/freebies/special attention on things clearly outside of a stated policy or reasonable practice is not proof of anything anymore than someone with a winning lotto ticket in Florida is proof you will get rich in Wyoming.
10) VZW offers world-class customer service for a cellular service provider. They are not perfect and to top it off, they employ (gasp) human beings - and no, you're not perfect either, so get over yourself. That being said, their CS kudos come from coverage/dropped calls/telephone support, not store or Internet avenues. Coverahe/dropped calls is an objective measure, while telephone support is admitedly a bit more subjective - and what follows pretty much my experiences. When judged against their peers in the mobile phone business, the overall image looks like this:
Telephone sales/support/tech
VZW
T-Mobile
Sprint
AT&T
Internet sales/support/tech
T-Mobile
AT&T/VZW (tie)
Sprint
Store sales/support/tech
T-Mobile
AT&T
Sprint
VZW
These are ratings I've read over the past few years (from trade rags mostly) and, as I said, my experience pretty much validates these. Yes, it is a cross-section of objective/subjective, but who cares? One person's experiences do not make a good cross section of experiences, so your results may vary & you may not agree with the published polls & studies. My personal experiences validate the findings & that is what matters to me. I find VZW store staff to be arrogant & disinterested overall. Note I didn't say every store employee - just most. If you're not arrogant or disinterested, don't get your hackles up - just take an honest assessment of your own effort. And if you are one of the less-that-great staff I've come across, improve yourself, because you don't measure up.
For the record, I feel that when measured against regular brick & mortar or Internet stores like Nordstrom, Costco, Trader Joes, Meijer's & even Kroger, the top four wireless carriers don't even get into the top 250. This is something else backed up in objective ratings - go look it up yourself.
You can scream at the top of your lungs about the virtues of Sprint, the benefits of AT&T, the quality of VZW or the price of T-Mobile - or the lack thereof - if you are one in fifty, no one will believe you anyway. If you agree with 42 of 50, there might be something there. You must remember, though, that extolling the virtues of VZW in the AT&T forums or the wonders of Sprint in the T-Mobile forum, your opinions will probably be in the minority & you should expect people to find you a troublemaker or worse.
You might also refrain from basing your opinions on advertising claims. In the past year, VZW, AT&T & Sprint have all claimed to have the biggest/fastest/most reliable network - which is telling the truth? Reality & ad campaigns mean nothing and the upcoming LTE rollout can and will illustrate each carrier's commitment to network performance & coverage. There was a recent news announcement that Sprint outsourced their network to Erickson. Does this not mean Sprint will now have no network? Maybe, maybe not - what it does mean to me is that now T-Mobile and Sprint networks are under the control of European firms, not North American. Personally, I don't care if the American or the Euro companies have the biggest/fastest/most reliable network - I will choose North America products and labor forces every time I have a chance. It doesn't matter what you think or what you may believe to be true.
So what started off as a spoof piece ends on a serious note. You can find all sorts of rumors on fan sites, but very little news. You can't get your bill fixed here or get your GPS turned on or non-existent WiFi miraculously activated, but the enthusiasts on the sites may be able to point you to some workarounds or alternatives. But you have to be realistic and you must be open-minded. You also must also practice discernment that what you read, your preconception and your claim is valid & factual. Show some humility, even if you have been with a wireless carrier since before the tdays of the first transatlantic FAX transmission (1925). The front-line employees often know less than some enthusiasts & some enthusiasts don't know their **** from a hole in the ground. Then there is the issue that the front-line employees often find out about new services when the ads come out, so cut them (and the people on your favorite fan site) some slack.
And no, folks - I probably won't stick around to debate these points - I present them as issues as I know them. Something of a hit & run post, as there are better balanced sites out there & I have a few personal friends reading/participating who are more than able to comment on their own. And I did not type this all out on my BlackBerry, no matter what the tagline says. You just have to love copy/paste from a laptop file.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
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