OT Verizon Smart Phones

[keith smith]

$900 for a cellular bill is a lot.  Next Thursday Verizon's plans change.  There is some good and some bad.  My wife and I have no use for texting or data.  However we are going to move forward and get both next week.

Next week Verizon will charge $40 per phone for UNLIMITED voice and texting.  Since we will not need much data we will go with either 1G ($50) or 2G ($60) of data per month.  Realistically the only reason I want data is for viewing websites to see how they look on a cellular phone.  After I start using it I might enjoy the GPS feature and the ability to use my phone like my computer while away from home.  I rarely leave home though.  

I home office so if I use the phone for data I understand it will be using wifi and not going against my cellular allotment.  Silly though, since I am sitting at my computer and can use it for data......

Data will go the way voice has gone.  In 1992 I bought a brick phone.  I was able to get in on my employer's plan at 25 cents a minute peak and 10 or 15 cents a minute off peak.  The phone was over $300.  About a year and a half later I moved to a flip phone.  It cost close to $300 also.  As I recall I had 4 batteries because the battery life was about 4 hours.  

We have come a long way.  We have turned the corner to UNLIMITED voice.     

Data will go the way voice has gone -->> Hopefully it will not take 20 plus years.

I looked at straight talk.  Very affordable.  I think they limit you to 30MB a month for data.  Might use that by visiting one unoptimized webpage.    

------------------------

Keith Smith

--- On Fri, 6/22/12, Michael Butash <michael at butash.net> wrote:

From: Michael Butash <michael at butash.net>
Subject: Re: OT Verizon Smart Phones
To: plug-discuss at lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
Date: Friday, June 22, 2012, 10:37 PM

I have a galaxy nexus now, and I'm rather torn with it.  It's the second samsung android that has given me nothing but fits, and I'm thoroughly convinced samsung cannot make hardware to save their life.  I suffer from various issues from bluetooth/wifi instability, audio routing issues, simple reboots, you name it.  But the display is friggin' beautiful.  I snubbed a razr maxx because of the display, and cursed motorola for not having a 720p phone to compete at the time, as I'd take a moto phone any day.

I've had a bionic and droidx, and both were good until either getting crashed on concrete or taking a swim inadvertently.  Definitely noticed android usability got well improved with dual core going from dx to bionic, really looking forward to quad's.  Just need to fix the battery life, as my gnex kills me with ~5hr use on charge.

Service wise - I'm shopping right now after getting a +$900 phone bill this month from them.  I've considered for a while, as for 3 phones, 2 with data, one 4g hotspot, I pay almost 250/mo, after a 21% employee discount.  Slapping me upside the face for voice overage charges, even after I upgraded to unlimited minutes this month to avoid it has really been a bit too much.  After years of that, it is starting to hurt just for the absurd cost alone.  This is twice vzw has got me to leave, though first time I came back after sprint proved absolutely horrid both in wireless and customer service.

A buddy went to straight-talk from att, which straight-talk uses att, and actually gets better quality service.  I've noticed just from talking to him and not getting disconnected 3 times on every call. 460/mo I think for voice service is pretty damn reasonable, as I more or less consider voice legacy technology.  I'm not keen on giving up on vzw's 4g service, especially my unlimited data @30/mo, but I know it's only a matter of time before they just screw everyone with it anyways. I've also read Clear Wireless has very reasonable rates, planning to do some more research on them this weekend.

Vzw's new "shared data" is a joke, and more absurd than any of their current pricing.  I was actually looking forward to it, as between my hotspot and phone, I don't really use *that* much data.  Hotspot is more of a backup for work and really rarely used unless im traveling, so shared minutes should be a boon, but I'd pay well more than what I get today.  I'd like a connected tablet too, but can't justify another 40-60/mo for one on a non-shared plan, and doesn't justify their shared at all.

As much as I like vzw's service, it's getting harder to justify their cost, especially when they screw with me with an absurd bill.

-mb


On 06/22/2012 08:45 AM, keith smith wrote:
> 
> 
> Hi,
> 
> This is very OT.
> 
> I have been with verizon for 8 years. Voice only. It has been 4 years
> since I upgraded our phones. It is just my wife and I.
> 
> We are thinking of going with smart phones.
> 
> A friend suggested HTC phones because of the better quality of speaker
> and mic. Voice quality is very important to me.
> 
> As it stands we can get unlimited voice for $120/mo, 1000 texts for
> $10/mo and 2G of data for each phone for $20/ea/mo. Total is about
> $170/mo + tax and fees.
> 
> I like verizon because they have always provided top of the line service.
> 
> I've briefly looked at Straigt-Talk, T-Mobile, and Sprint. My fear with
> these providers is quality of the call, availability, and dropped calls.
> 
> Any suggestions on which phone to get? From prior conversations on this
> list it seems a Droid phone is the way to go. I don't think I will ever
> want to take the time to root my phone, however you never know.
> 
> What about phone apps and other things I might not be thinking about?
> 
> I appreciate all the feedback you will provide!
> 
> Thank you in advance for your help!!
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------
> Keith Smith
> 
> 
> 
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