What is up with Verizon ???

[Abby Normal]

They are bombarding me with phone calls and emails trying to get me to upgrade from my RAZR to a new phone and plan.....

Sorry VZ I am very happy right where I am ,,, Thank You Very Much..

Anyone else getting spammed to death by them ???

 

[Sajo]

I have not....but a friend of mine at work has been getting texts, calls and emails from VZW reminding him that his contract ended a long time ago and they have great new phones and plans. They are trying to sell.

 

[UltraDroid]

I received an email from them yesterday. Since I haven't been a customer of theirs for several years I reported it as spam.

Sent from my Note 3, using magic ...

 

[infantrytrophy]

They are bombarding me with phone calls and emails trying to get me to upgrade from my RAZR to a new phone and plan.....

Sorry VZ I am very happy right where I am ,,, Thank You Very Much..

Anyone else getting spammed to death by them ???

They are bombarding me with phone calls and emails trying to get me to upgrade from my RAZR to a new phone and plan.....

Sorry VZ I am very happy right where I am ,,, Thank You Very Much..

Anyone else getting spammed to death by them ???

This is probably an intense marketing effort by Verizon in response to T-Mobile's and AT&T's very successful new plans that eliminate contracts and separate the cost of the phone subsidy from the price of the cell phone plans. It appears that Verizon is desperately trying to cling to the contract strategy - locking customers into two-year contracts, and locking customers' phones into the Verizon-only CDMA network.

However - notice that whether you you are on-contract or off-contract, you still pay the same monthly plan cost that includes a subsidy for a new phone. Even though you might have "paid off" the cost of your phone after two years, you are still paying for it through the high monthly plan cost.

When I bought my Razr Maxx (and signed onto another Verizon contract) in January 2012, I thought (hoped?) that I could go off-contract after two years and get a lower monthly plan cost. Not with Verizon, but yes with AT&T, T-Mobile or a number of MVNOs.

Don't fall for it. Most of us can get equivalent coverage with another carrier (better coverage with AT&T in my case) at a significantly lower cost, and no contract. You can do much better by buying an unlocked phone (iPhone from Apple, Nexus 5 from Google, etc.) at full price and paying a lower monthly plan cost. If you want a new phone after a year or two, you can sell your old phone to partially subsidize the cost (full price) of the new phone.

If you plan to switch to another carrier at some point, you should choose your phone wisely. I sold my wife's 2-year old iPhone 4s (32 GB, in excellent condition) for $290, since she needed a different phone for AT&T (or any other carrier). My Razr Maxx will not bring anywhere near that price, partly because it is compatible ONLY with Verizon's network. The iPhone commands a higher price because it can be unlocked for overseas use with GSM carriers. If you have any thought of selling the phone at some point, buy an unlocked phone, and don't buy an on-contract phone from Verizon. The Verizon-only phones will have a very low resale value.

I had hoped that Verizon would meet the competition and offer plans similar to AT&T** and T-Mobile. Didn't happen; Verizon's plan prices are still geared to subsidize the phone purchase. A few weeks ago I tested AT&T coverage where I live and travel. Much to my surprise, AT&T's coverage was much better at my home and at least as good on a long trip. Good-bye, Verizon, after 11 years.

** Edited to add: referring here to the family "Mobile Share Value" plan. 2 lines, share 10GB data, unlimited talk & text. I need the extra data allowance for travel - Google Maps, etc.

 

[kodiak799]

I've gotten a few emails and texts...I've been eligible to upgrade for several months, but not real good promotions that would entice me off unlimited.

Thanks to some roms and build.prop tweaks, my Rezound runs well enough that none of current crop of phones out there interests me much. The $60/2gig plan is tempting, but not until I need or want a new phone.

 

[infantrytrophy]

I've gotten a few emails and texts...I've been eligible to upgrade for several months, but not real good promotions that would entice me off unlimited.

Thanks to some roms and build.prop tweaks, my Rezound runs well enough that none of current crop of phones out there interests me much. The $60/2gig plan is tempting, but not until I need or want a new phone.

Are you eligible for some type of discount or company plan? The plan that I see for Verizon for a single line is $60 for 1 GB of data. The single-line plan with 2GB of data is $75. 1GB is not a lot when you travel for a few days. See link:
Single Line Cell Phone Plan from Verizon - Verizon Wireless
Also, what about adding a tablet or two? For the last couple of years my wife and I shared an iPad and signed up for a $30 data plan for the iPad when we traveled. Expensive, if this was only a 3- or 4-day trip for that month. Our new AT&T mobile share plan allows a tablet to share your data pool for $10/month.

You are actually in a good position, since you have a great phone and are willing to keep it. As time goes on, mobile internet access requires more data usage, with all of the ads, flash video an so on. Unlimited data plan is nice. The HTC Rezound is LTE-capable, correct? HTC makes great phones. If that's correct, then you are in a good spot to keep your unlimited data plan as long as your Rezound works. Most older phones tend to get bogged down over time - cache fills up, the RAM and processor speed are limited, etc. Also, operating system updates eventually stop. My old Droid Razr Maxx is a good phone, but it apparently is stuck at Android 4.1. I don't know if the lack of upgrade capability is due to Motorola or Verizon, but it's a moot point - no more upgrades. I bought a Nexus 5 and switched to AT&T. In my case, it was a great move - good reception for me, great phone, essentially unlimited upgrades and no contract so I can switch again or get a new phone any time. Your unlimited data plan is probably a great deal, depending on the monthly cost. Lots of competition out there these days.

The carriers have figured out that the future is all about the data. Most of the new plans are offering unlimited calls and text. Eventually no one will care about calls and text limits - it's all about the data. I think that eventually the calls will morph over to the "data" side, each call minute using a specified amount of data over the LTE networks, so the call and text limits will be meaningless. Notice that the pricing for the new plans is all tiered by data limits, not number of calls and texts.