How expensive is VZW compared to the competition

[pc747]

I'll NEVER go back to AT&T after they screwed me over not once, but twice, in regards to billing. First time they did it on my cell phone. I had to go through threee days of aggravation to get a mistake on their end fixed. After I got it fixed I was so disgusted with how they treated me I decided once my contract was up, I was out. Well it came up and I was out.

The second time I had no other cable provider in my area so I had to use them. Two years no problems, I move, cut service at my old place and transfer it over to my new place. I moved 5 miles away and AT &T was still the only cable/internet provider. Everything is fine then one day no cable or internet. Call in they inform me I haven't paid my bill from my old place in months and would have to pay the full balance and a bunch of other fee's. I calmly explained that I had moved, cut service and transferred the service over months ago. There was a mistake. I was promptly told "Well I don't know what to tell you. Either you pay the full balance and reconnection fees or you won't get your service turned back on"

I went ballistic and spent 6 hours that day talking to various CS reps/managers etc trying to show them where they went wrong. Long story short, they realized their mistake and turned service back on.

Twice I've had to endure their mistakes and piss poor customer service. I get aggravated just thinking about them. I do understand people have great experiences with them, but for me I just can't rationalize going back to them after my experiences.

I guess the point of my op is as much as we like to point to VZW as being expensive compare to everyone else really it is $15 more a month ($60 a year) over att if you have your own phone and about the same if you do not. Having real numbers to compare (as shown in the op) brings to light how much more customers are really paying going from the competition to VZW and when you look at it it's not much.

When it is all said and done we want something that works and when things don't customer service that responds. It really comes down to what we use our devices for and how important having a dependable connection as well as our location.

Like you CK I had a bad experience with AT&T which led me to VZW and the Droid. Personally AT&T cust service has gotten better for me but the real reason I am on AT&T (given that all things were equal in my area between AT&T and Verizon) was the ability to buy an unlocked device. But let's be frank, when we talk about VZW and At&t we are not comparing a Cadi to a Yugo but more like a Cadi to a Lexus or Lincoln where they are on the same playing field with each having their benefits. We do not start talking about the Yugo of the carriers until we get down to Cricket and Metro PCS.

 

[jackiescivic]

It is not fair to compare what you have written for AT&T and Verizon, as you have the no contract for AT&T and contract pricing for Verizon. Also, basic phones have been $20 for a few months, and 6gb is $70 and 10gb is $80, currently

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

[cereal killer]

It really comes down to what we use our devices for and how important having a dependable connection.

How right you are. It's hard to leave your carrier (whatever carrier you are on) when these two things are met....perfectly.

I'd sure love to pay less and have contemplated leaving VZW at least a dozen times, but it all came down to what you said. I depend on my phone for business, and need a reliable connection all the time, every time.

If I didn't rely on my phone so much I could definitely see moving over to T-Mobile. There is no price for reliability though. 10 x out of 10 I'll pay a little more for a better product

 

[FoxKat]

Ways around that.
Grab an old vzw lte phone (ie tbolt, galaxy nexus, etc). Activate it as a place holder, then use a sim cutter and cut the sim to fit the nexus 6.

edit:
I am speaking from experience as I tested the theory out a few months back.

My Turbo sim works perfectly in my Nexus 6 on VZW.

 

[FoxKat]

Or you could simply get a Nexus 6 and pay $20/month for phone and another prorated amount monthly for data from GOOGLE!! OMG, I can't wait.

 

[Ollie]

Or you could simply get a Nexus 6 and pay $20/month for phone and another prorated amount monthly for data from GOOGLE!! OMG, I can't wait.

Did you ever get rid of your Nexus 6 collection?

 

[pc747]

How right you are. It's hard to leave your carrier (whatever carrier you are on) when these two things are met....perfectly.

I'd sure love to pay less and have contemplated leaving VZW at least a dozen times, but it all came down to what you said. I depend on my phone for business, and need a reliable connection all the time, every time.

If I didn't rely on my phone so much I could definitely see moving over to T-Mobile. There is no price for reliability though. 10 x out of 10 I'll pay a little more for a better product

Know the feeling as I am feeling this way now with Comcast. This had been an ongoing saga and cutting the cord may not have been enough. It may be time to cut my ties with Comcast. Poor customer service + poor service= time to give the competition a try. So yeah I hear those who would rather pay knowing something will work vs saving and hoping.

 

[Ollie]

I had a Motorola Xoom on Verizon since they were the only carrier at the time that would carry it with the mobile data option.

I cancelled it last summer and I still get a paper bill for $0.00 .

I finally gave up calling them to stop sending the bill, but I am afraid to toss them out unread just in case it says something other than no balance due.

 

[Rognish]

I'm checked around for better rates, and I just can't get anything better then verizon. I have two lines on my account, 550 mins, on mine unlimited data and 1000 text and DW has 2gb tiered data and 500 text and mine is 140/month.

 

[Mike.757]

Not to mention, does the Yugo constantly break down in your area? (ie. Coverage).

This is the same discussion we had in multiple other threads last week. For me, in my area, the choice is simple based on coverage. And it's only a choice between AT&T & VZW.

Unfortunately, the only choice in my area is VZW

 

[JKZ]

None of the prices look accurate for Verizon in the first post. There is no mention of non contract pricing like you have listed for AT&T. Verizon non contract pricing for smartphone access is $25 per phone if you're on a data plan up to 4GB. 6GB and above the cost drops to $15/phone. Contract pricing is still $40/phone as you have listed.

Also, all the data plan pricing listed in the first post looks wrong too. When I go to Verizon's website it's showing 1GB= $30, 2GB= $40, 3GB= $50, 4GB= $60, 6GB= $70, and 10GB= $80.

Comparing non contract to non contract with AT&T, Verizon is actually cheaper. Of course when you compare Verizon contract to AT&T non contract as the first post does, it is definitely cheaper on AT&T but you could show Verizon cheaper too, if you compared their non contract to AT&T contract. They are two completely different plans.

 

[pc747]

None of the prices look accurate for Verizon in the first post. There is no mention of non contract pricing like you have listed for AT&T. Verizon non contract pricing for smartphone access is $25 per phone if you're on a data plan up to 4GB. 6GB and above the cost drops to $15/phone. Contract pricing is still $40/phone as you have listed.

Also, all the data plan pricing listed in the first post looks wrong too. When I go to Verizon's website it's showing 1GB= $30, 2GB= $40, 3GB= $50, 4GB= $60, 6GB= $70, and 10GB= $80.

Comparing non contract to non contract with AT&T, Verizon is actually cheaper. Of course when you compare Verizon contract to AT&T non contract as the first post does, it is definitely cheaper on AT&T but you could show Verizon cheaper too, if you compared their non contract to AT&T contract. They are two completely different plans.

Sir you are correct, I am chatting with a vzw rep now and will update my op. Thanks

 

[pc747]

OP edited after talking to a vzw rep. Thanks @JKZ and others who have pointed out my error. So now things being equal looks like @cereal killer is not getting the short end of the stick after all especially since I know you moved on from nexus devices.

 

[cereal killer]

Or you could simply get a Nexus 6 and pay $20/month for phone and another prorated amount monthly for data from GOOGLE!! OMG, I can't wait.

Then you'll have to deal with crappy Sprint towers

 

[pc747]

Then you'll have to deal with crappy Sprint towers

I'm all for giving Google Fi a try but not going to give up AT&T just yet. For one, as CK pointed out, it uses Sprint (and T-Mobile) Towers which even combined would not be enough in most areas to be as consistent as VZW or ATT. Also you have to wonder if, like all the non contract carriers that feed off of Sprint's towers like Virgin Mobile, Google Fi customers will be on the lower tier of the towers as I do not see either of them wanting to give Google Fi customers to billing or equal to their own customers.

The other reason is that like anything new there will be hiccups along the way. Google could get those hiccups fixed or abandon the project altogether. Because of that I am not quite ready to give up what I have now. If over time Google fi proves to be a strong option then I may consider a switch but for now I will try it out, give my opinions, and maybe keep it as a backup.