I can understand the anger and frustration to a certain point, but Verizon requires that in order to purchase the phone you sign a contract stating that you agree to provide them with $30 per month in exchange for them providing you with data service. Unfortunately, Verizon doesn't offer another option. They are perfectly within their rights to refuse service to anyone; up to and including refusing to sell a customer any phone. The Canadian tax is not an accurate analogy. It's frustrating and a drain on the wallet, but it's what Verizon requires for service. There's nothing criminal about it.
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Why has Droid forsaken me?
- Thread starter kiteless
- Start date
to use your jeep analogy, if you buy a four wheel drive vehicle you ae charged more by your insurer b/c your vehicle has the potential to incur more damage from off roading. they really dont care f you never intend to go off road or not.
I guess its the same with the droid... it has the potential to access 3G info so they are gonna charge you for that ability. Maybe the droid snt the best phone for you.
But the cold hard truth is this... cell phone companies are going to make you pay for anything they can.
I guess its the same with the droid... it has the potential to access 3G info so they are gonna charge you for that ability. Maybe the droid snt the best phone for you.
But the cold hard truth is this... cell phone companies are going to make you pay for anything they can.
I've had a lot of different thoughts about this particular subject, and I'm torn between what side I agree with.
What I DO agree with is that the price of cell phone plans is high. 40 for phone service, but 30 for data. Is this ok? In my mind, absolutely, but it is justified because of how much I use the phone, especially the data portion.
On the other hand, look at the price of texting. Unlimited text is 20 dollars a month, but in multiple studies done they've come up with a price tag of (drum roll) zero. Thats right, it essentially costs the cell phone companies ZERO dollars to allow you to text on their network.
Somewhere in between, obviously, there lies the answer. Personally I believe that the cell phone companies could very well charge SIGNIFICANTLY less money and still turn a profit, but i don't have data to back that up. I just have a feeling they do, and they do their best to extract everything they can out of us.
Is 30 dollars a big deal? Not really. but when you think of it as me paying 90 dollars a month for the rest of my life? Well, that puts things into a different perpective, doesnt' it?
Add that to the price of gas, education, housing, cable.. and some people get upset. Stuff is expensive these days.
-Wil
What I DO agree with is that the price of cell phone plans is high. 40 for phone service, but 30 for data. Is this ok? In my mind, absolutely, but it is justified because of how much I use the phone, especially the data portion.
On the other hand, look at the price of texting. Unlimited text is 20 dollars a month, but in multiple studies done they've come up with a price tag of (drum roll) zero. Thats right, it essentially costs the cell phone companies ZERO dollars to allow you to text on their network.
Somewhere in between, obviously, there lies the answer. Personally I believe that the cell phone companies could very well charge SIGNIFICANTLY less money and still turn a profit, but i don't have data to back that up. I just have a feeling they do, and they do their best to extract everything they can out of us.
Is 30 dollars a big deal? Not really. but when you think of it as me paying 90 dollars a month for the rest of my life? Well, that puts things into a different perpective, doesnt' it?
Add that to the price of gas, education, housing, cable.. and some people get upset. Stuff is expensive these days.
-Wil
If you only own one phone the cost seems expensive. I have 5 phones on my plan so the cost is averaged out over all 5 and things seem more reasonable... 
So... if you upset over the phone costing 100 per month, simply get a few more and it will seem like it's less. LOL :icon_eek:
So... if you upset over the phone costing 100 per month, simply get a few more and it will seem like it's less. LOL :icon_eek:
If you only own one phone the cost seems expensive. I have 5 phones on my plan so the cost is averaged out over all 5 and things seem more reasonable...
So... if you upset over the phone costing 100 per month, simply get a few more and it will seem like it's less. LOL :icon_eek:
Lol, nothing like some "dollar cost averaging" philosophy to make people feel better.
(This refers to the idea that if you buy a stock and price starts going down, you can buy more of it at a cheaper price and bringing down your average cost. Never mind the fact you're getting buried.)
-Wil
I agree with you. Although I do not think the Droid is a good example, but you can't actually get any phone with a QWERTY keyboard without being required some data/multimedia plan. EDGE network also gives them more control since you can't just pop in a SIM card and use any phone you like. I wanted to give my wife my old Blackberry Curve even though she has no data plan. Our friends did the same thing and just popped in the SIM on their AT&T device but Verizon does not allow you to use any data capable phone w/o a data plan....
To the OP...Are you in the habit of signing things without reading them? Of entering into a contract blindly? If so, quit whining about the fee and deal with it or return the phone. If you did not do your due diligence then its your fault.
Sounds like a bit of buyers remorse going on here. The only criminality I see here are people who rush into things with their eyes wide shut and then complain about something later. Stupidity or ignorance is not an affirmative defense.
Cheers!
Sounds like a bit of buyers remorse going on here. The only criminality I see here are people who rush into things with their eyes wide shut and then complain about something later. Stupidity or ignorance is not an affirmative defense.
Cheers!
thebourbonnflip
Member
to OP, if you can not pay for the charges of the phone then just return it and get a basic phone and bring your laptop around or something. get a better job maybe
zero7starz
Member
It is a MULTI-CARRIER ISSUE. THIS IS NOT A VERIZON ONLY THING. I'm getting tired of hearing about this every damn day. Every carrier, Spring, Tmobile, AT&T, the oddball ones that are small and local AND VERIZON all charge you to basically CARRY a smart phone. It almost doesn't even make cents to want a smart phone and not to use its data feature, its most of what the phone DOES. And dispite the working off wi-fi capability, the sync feature will also use data and could charge you on a per megabite fee.
BTW, all of Verizon's phones besides the basic flip phones ALL have a data feature that you MUST carry. Every one of their 3G Multimedia devices REQUIRES it, it canNOT be activaited with out it PERIOD. 9.99 or higher.
When you think about this, you are paying 29.99 a month for a device that can download GIGS of data over a carrier's network anywhere, anytime. You can pay the 29.99 a month fee, tether your laptop to it, and use multiple gigs of data without being charged extra a month- Verizon's data cars which are specific for this purpous are at maximum 5gigs for 60 a month, but with your droid you can pay half that and use more. Does that really sound like such a terrible deal? Not to mention you can download hundereads of apps off the Android Marketplace for FREE, instead of paying 2-3$ for each of them. So do that about 15 times a month it'll pay for itself too.
It might not be the fairest deal out there, could they possibly offer it for less? Probably. Could they have included texting into that package? I think they should have, yea. But its like gas or car insurance- if you want to use your car you gotta pay for it no matter what the fricken price is.
Sorry. Its like this with /every/ carrier... the ESN of the phone will alert their system to add it, or the phone will not program/activate on their network. Even the G1 with without the plan attatched to it will not let you set the phone up properly because it cannot connect to the network.
BTW, all of Verizon's phones besides the basic flip phones ALL have a data feature that you MUST carry. Every one of their 3G Multimedia devices REQUIRES it, it canNOT be activaited with out it PERIOD. 9.99 or higher.
When you think about this, you are paying 29.99 a month for a device that can download GIGS of data over a carrier's network anywhere, anytime. You can pay the 29.99 a month fee, tether your laptop to it, and use multiple gigs of data without being charged extra a month- Verizon's data cars which are specific for this purpous are at maximum 5gigs for 60 a month, but with your droid you can pay half that and use more. Does that really sound like such a terrible deal? Not to mention you can download hundereads of apps off the Android Marketplace for FREE, instead of paying 2-3$ for each of them. So do that about 15 times a month it'll pay for itself too.
It might not be the fairest deal out there, could they possibly offer it for less? Probably. Could they have included texting into that package? I think they should have, yea. But its like gas or car insurance- if you want to use your car you gotta pay for it no matter what the fricken price is.
Sorry. Its like this with /every/ carrier... the ESN of the phone will alert their system to add it, or the phone will not program/activate on their network. Even the G1 with without the plan attatched to it will not let you set the phone up properly because it cannot connect to the network.
Ok, I get the point that they cut me a discount to buy the phone, then they ream me so they I can subsidize the improvement of their network. I just think it is not winning me as a customer (not just verizon, all cell companies) when they don't give me the choice to turn down the data plan and I try to wing it WiFi. If I can't do that, then what is the point of having Wifi capabilities? I am a computer professional, I want to use all technologies in the most beneficial ways possible with the least stress on my equipment and my wallet. Some of you can't get behind that? Really?
And for the record, I have not bought the phone yet. All of this is based off my initial research. I was just wowed by the phone but did not look into the specifics of rates until now. Primarily becasue I have had a LG VX3200 and a Samsung Alias to this point. I am new to the smartphone and data plan world. So yes, in a sense I have been living under a rock.
So its not the point of being able to afford it. The point is that I am being charged for something whether or not I use it, which is not criminal or immoral (yeah, you caught me on my hyperbole there), just soaking us for money just because we need the shiny new toy. Some have posted interesting financial figures which have helped, but some just seem happy to throw their money at a company just because they can and HA HA at anyone who can't. Sad.
I have appreciated the feedback as it has been enlightening. On the contrary, the "internet hate machine" showed up as expected as well. So thanks to all who contributed, and to those who just pointed fingers and laughed, do you have nothing else CONSTRUCTIVE to add? I bet you do!
And for the record, I have not bought the phone yet. All of this is based off my initial research. I was just wowed by the phone but did not look into the specifics of rates until now. Primarily becasue I have had a LG VX3200 and a Samsung Alias to this point. I am new to the smartphone and data plan world. So yes, in a sense I have been living under a rock.
So its not the point of being able to afford it. The point is that I am being charged for something whether or not I use it, which is not criminal or immoral (yeah, you caught me on my hyperbole there), just soaking us for money just because we need the shiny new toy. Some have posted interesting financial figures which have helped, but some just seem happy to throw their money at a company just because they can and HA HA at anyone who can't. Sad.
I have appreciated the feedback as it has been enlightening. On the contrary, the "internet hate machine" showed up as expected as well. So thanks to all who contributed, and to those who just pointed fingers and laughed, do you have nothing else CONSTRUCTIVE to add? I bet you do!
IMO requiring data has nothing to do with subsidising the phone and more so with their bottom line. If you bring your own device to their network and they deem it as a smartphone, then you must have a data plan. period. The ETF for the contract is what covers the cost they eat for selling the phone so cheap.
I am one that at one point was just as upset as you are about the $30 a month, but once I started using it, I think its worth it. I went from using 0 data to about 5gb a month or so.
Things I use data for:
-Email anytime, anywhere.
-internet radio while driving, stream my favorite music and pod casts.
-while on the treadmill for the hour, i stream my favorite shows via 3g by using jetflicks
-surf the web while waiting on an appointment or waiting for my wife while she shops
-download stuff
-wifi tether, while my client calls me and needs a quote rightaway and im no in the office
-GPS well that needs 3g, comes in handy if im headed to a new mountain to snowboard.
I had an Ipod touch that I used before because I told my self i would never pay $30 a month for data. The touch did mostly what I needed for biz but I found myself looking for wifi hot spots all the time. I would stop by starbucks and put $5 on their registered gift card and buy at least one coffee a month just to use their quote free hot spot because i needed to get online. anyhow, once you start using it you'll see what im trying to say here.
The Droid kicks butt, so dont delay
Things I use data for:
-Email anytime, anywhere.
-internet radio while driving, stream my favorite music and pod casts.
-while on the treadmill for the hour, i stream my favorite shows via 3g by using jetflicks
-surf the web while waiting on an appointment or waiting for my wife while she shops
-download stuff
-wifi tether, while my client calls me and needs a quote rightaway and im no in the office
-GPS well that needs 3g, comes in handy if im headed to a new mountain to snowboard.
I had an Ipod touch that I used before because I told my self i would never pay $30 a month for data. The touch did mostly what I needed for biz but I found myself looking for wifi hot spots all the time. I would stop by starbucks and put $5 on their registered gift card and buy at least one coffee a month just to use their quote free hot spot because i needed to get online. anyhow, once you start using it you'll see what im trying to say here.
The Droid kicks butt, so dont delay
roflcopters
Member
True, but the ETF only comes in to play if, well, you leave the contract early. Otherwise the cost of the plan/data package does make up for the cheap price of the phone initially. Sure, it WOULD be great to have a few choices for data packages, but in MY opinion the service offered is pretty worth it. Fast, reliable internet/cell coverage almost everywhere in the US? Seems like a decent deal to me. We do understand your reasoning as to why you think it's unfair, but there are a ton of other stuff out there that's a lost more unfair. Hopefully you'll deem it worthy and end up getting the Droid, it's a great phone.
I definitely agree with you on that. I do feel that consumers should be able to pick and choose when it comes to data plans (more choices are always better). The trend with the carriers seems to be the opposite though. At&t used to leave data plans as optional but they're now mandatory. I'm not sure what the consumer can really do. Leaving a carrier is really the most effective way of getting your point across in my experience and even that doesn't do much unless there's enough churn for them to take note.