Surprised with Verizon's Service

[SwampSurvivor]

About 9 months ago, my Motorola Droid 2 suffered digitizer failure. I had it two years and it was time for an upgrade.

I do use the smartphone for work, GPS, etc so I figured I would stay with it.

I got an LG spectrum.

It was, by far, the WORST phone I have ever had. When I first got it, battery life wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great. It had to be charged every day and using the data plan would really kill the battery.

Verizon forced an update about 3 or 4 months ago and it just rendered the phone useless. Battery life was literally measured in minutes ... and even on the charger the thing would get hot to the touch.

I decided to set it back to factory defaults on saturday. After the reset, it was giving me "Security Error".

Did a bit of research and found out that the phone has a tendency to brick itself during a factory reset?!?!

Brought it to Verizon and they said they were going to send me a free replacement.

The phone is garbage ... but at least a replacement (refurbished) will be a working phone.

I figure once I get it, I'll throw it on Amazon and buy a good, working phone/

Really surprised! The Verizon stores out my way said there was nothing that could be done. When I brought it to the one by my parents ... they replaced it!

Still, when the contract is up, very likely I'll just cancel and go prepaid.

 

[dparm]

This is why I always wait a month once a new phone comes out before buying it. Let the early adopters sort out all the bugs -- and if there's some sort of glaring design flaw, a month is enough time for all the big review sites to point it out and tell me to avoid it.

I'd tell you to move to a Droid 4 or Droid RAZR. If you liked the Droid 2, either of those will feel very familiar. I went from an OG Droid to the Droid RAZR.

BTW, were these Verizon corporate stores or licensed resellers? The corporate stores are generally very good about repair/replacement, but the licensed resellers are typically better for purchasing phones in my experience.

 

[crazyoildude]

Verizon usually has good cellular service But they are the most Expensive and their custoner service is the worst. They also seem to have the most scams! This is in the New York New Jersey area i can't speak for the rest of the country.

When they were the only ones in town we had no choice now there are so many i would never use them, ever !!
I got so many people to switch its not funny...lol

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: dparm
This is why I always wait a month once a new phone comes out before buying it. Let the early adopters sort out all the bugs -- and if there's some sort of glaring design flaw, a month is enough time for all the big review sites to point it out and tell me to avoid it.

I'd tell you to move to a Droid 4 or Droid RAZR. If you liked the Droid 2, either of those will feel very familiar. I went from an OG Droid to the Droid RAZR.

BTW, were these Verizon corporate stores or licensed resellers? The corporate stores are generally very good about repair/replacement, but the licensed resellers are typically better for purchasing phones in my experience.


The Spectrum was already out for 9 months or so and didn't really have any bad reviews.

The first major update that was pushed after I got it made it useless.

These were all actual verizon stores. I try to avoid the authorized resellers. Too gimmiky.

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
Verizon usually has good cellular service But they are the most Expensive and their custoner service is the worst. They also seem to have the most scams! This is in the New York New Jersey area i can't speak for the rest of the country.

When they were the only ones in town we had no choice now there are so many i would never use them, ever !!
I got so many people to switch its not funny...lol



Verizon and Verizon Wireless operate almost entirely independently, so you can't really compare the two. Same for AT&T and AT&T Mobility.

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
Originally Posted By: dparm
This is why I always wait a month once a new phone comes out before buying it. Let the early adopters sort out all the bugs -- and if there's some sort of glaring design flaw, a month is enough time for all the big review sites to point it out and tell me to avoid it.

I'd tell you to move to a Droid 4 or Droid RAZR. If you liked the Droid 2, either of those will feel very familiar. I went from an OG Droid to the Droid RAZR.

BTW, were these Verizon corporate stores or licensed resellers? The corporate stores are generally very good about repair/replacement, but the licensed resellers are typically better for purchasing phones in my experience.


The Spectrum was already out for 9 months or so and didn't really have any bad reviews.

The first major update that was pushed after I got it made it useless.

These were all actual verizon stores. I try to avoid the authorized resellers. Too gimmiky.


The resellers have to offer a lot of deals to stay competitive, but you will get very good sales service (IMO). Whereas a corporate store is more of the big-box store style (like a Best Buy with employees who are simply "bodies"), a reseller is more mom-and-pop with an emphasis on service and building loyalty.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Verizon does have the best service in CNY - that's why we're still with them. Sprint and ATT do not have service at my parents' house. Since I'm on their plan, thats what we're going with for now.

I'll have to check out one of the resellers. Though, I don't think I'll be going with Verizon when my contract is up.

 

[TechnoLoGs]

Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
Verizon usually has good cellular service But they are the most Expensive and their custoner service is the worst. They also seem to have the most scams! This is in the New York New Jersey area i can't speak for the rest of the country.

When they were the only ones in town we had no choice now there are so many i would never use them, ever !!
I got so many people to switch its not funny...lol


+1

Service is CDMA, LIKE SPRINT..

Its not "bad," but is an overpriced, [censored] company.

I use Virgin Mobile and Tracfone. WORKS PERFECT. And I laugh at what others pay...

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: TechnoLoGs
Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
Verizon usually has good cellular service But they are the most Expensive and their custoner service is the worst. They also seem to have the most scams! This is in the New York New Jersey area i can't speak for the rest of the country.

When they were the only ones in town we had no choice now there are so many i would never use them, ever !!
I got so many people to switch its not funny...lol


+1

Service is CDMA, LIKE SPRINT..

Its not "bad," but is an overpriced, [censored] company.

I use Virgin Mobile and Tracfone. WORKS PERFECT. And I laugh at what others pay...



CDMA is not inherently inferior to GSM. Not sure why you have that idea. Both have advantages and disadvantages.

 

[UNC151]

I was equally surprised at how well Verizon works. I was given a MiFi (hotspot device) a few months ago and it **just works** everywhere (US and Europe).

We are currently vetting a new mobile vendor for our North America operations and pricing wise (average per unit) is:

AT&T = $91 (current vendor pricing)
T-M = $84 (current vendor pricing)
Vz = $77 (RFP pricing)
Sprint = $54 (RFP pricing)

 

[Barkleymut]

what is rfp pricing?

 

[UNC151]

Originally Posted By: Barkleymut
what is rfp pricing?

Request for Proposal

 

[TechnoLoGs]

Originally Posted By: dparm
Originally Posted By: TechnoLoGs
Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
Verizon usually has good cellular service But they are the most Expensive and their custoner service is the worst. They also seem to have the most scams! This is in the New York New Jersey area i can't speak for the rest of the country.

When they were the only ones in town we had no choice now there are so many i would never use them, ever !!
I got so many people to switch its not funny...lol


+1

Service is CDMA, LIKE SPRINT..

Its not "bad," but is an overpriced, [censored] company.

I use Virgin Mobile and Tracfone. WORKS PERFECT. And I laugh at what others pay...



CDMA is not inherently inferior to GSM. Not sure why you have that idea. Both have advantages and disadvantages.


I was more or less just saying that Sprint has more in common with Verizon than anyone will ever give it credit for.

I was not trying to suggest that CDMA was "bad;" only, identical to Verizon.

My first mobile phone in 2001 was Sprint PCS, I forget the model number, but I was 19 and it, and mobile phones, were starting to latch on about that time; they were still primitive, and Nintendo Game Boy spinach green. Then, I eventually ended up with a phone identical to what Matt Damon had in the movie The Departed in 2006 (the one he got a text from a Restricted number on; not sure that is possible.)

 

[PandaBear]

the "3G" of GSM provider (WCDMA) is actually not the same as the 2G of GSM. WCDMA is actually similar to CDMA but has higher bandwidth and requires separate voice and data channel (expensive infrastructure).

This is one of the main reason why many users now think "CDMA" is bad because their data speed is slower than WCDMA (what they though was it is slower than GSM). This is the main reason Verizon and Sprint are much more aggressive in their LTE deployment than AT&T or T Mobile.

 

[SteveSRT8]

As long as the providers over sell the network there will always be glitchy service. Virtually every provider sells more phones than they can service at one time if everybody came on at once.

we run T-mobile phones here and all 3 of my personal ones do not cost 200 bucks a month with unlimited everything. I have been to Maine and to Massachusetts lately and had great service anywhere I used the phone.