Annoyed with Verizon

[Jim]

They have called me several times. I explain that I do not have cable or a cell phone. Just a land line. They all treat me like the Luddite I am.

[C-MAC]

This is just the beginning.

Apparently Verizon also wants to do away with most aspects of their services that are "unlimited". So for example, if you have kids and a plan with "unlimited" text/pic messaging, they are eventually going to try moving you to other plans with limits for some type of tradeoff. Yeah. Right.

There was also a move by consumers to pressure Verizon into adopting a "family" data plan (instead of charges for individual phones, which is the case even if the minutes are pooled into a family plan). Verizon has largely ignored that request since it actually saves consumers money, meaning it cost them revenue and they don't have the brains or stones to realize they would probably get greater market adoption.

Anyway, the Verizon rep. visited our company to try the 4G "bait and switch" they tried on you. I am pretty sure the guys here are still laughing...

[Steadfast]

My family let me know about the data limits being imposed.

Right now as I did during RR 2011, go on my laptop through my phone with unlimited data and its just as fast as 4G. My contract has been up for awhile but I ain't switching. Fuck 4 G.

I can't use my phone to do Admin duties.

[al_2ndWolfhounds]

My turn to hate Verizon. Just moved to Michigan, Verizon FIOS, Internet and phone service not available at new home location but keeping Wireless account. Whole family uses Verizon, no cost for long distance calls to each other. I did not realize my email account was tied to the Internet account only, I thought it was part of wireless service. Pain in the ass time but not a critical failure.

[K.Ingraham]

They have called me several times. I explain that I do not have cable or a cell phone. Just a land line. They all treat me like the Luddite I am.

I tell sales callers that I am deceased. I always express it in the first person. Funny how few catch on and how long it does for the few that do - usually there's a cry of "hey - wait a minute!" just before the phone hits the cradle.

I'm on the 'no call' list but there's always a few 'leakers' and now that the political "polling" season has begun, I screen all of my calls.

[CloakAndDagger]

I got my monthly bill a couple days ago, and it had label on the outside to encourage people to visit the website and "make sure you're on the right plan". It will probably trick a few of their less astute customers to switching. I switched from AT&T back in April, and got a 4G capable phone (not that there is any 4G in my immediate area... maybe in Seattle or Bellevue) with the unlimited data plan. Nope, not changing plans...ever... (unless they reinstate an unlimited plan).

[CloakAndDagger]

From my understanding, 4G doesn't actually exist. They supposedly have the technology but not enough power to push it from the towers, or something to do with the phones not having the power to push 4G back out to the towers. Can't recall exactly how it was explained to me. I don't really understand what this 4G "LTE" deal is about though...

LTE is one of two standards (the other being WiMAX) that is currently capable of a downlink speed 100 Mb/s or better on mobile devices (latency nonwithstanding) while supposedly maintaining 10 Mb/s or better even under peak use.

Sprint (via MetroPCS) and Verizon started the roll-out of LTE in 2010, AT&T started rolling it out earlier this year. T-Mobile has stuck with HSDPA technology (currently 21 Mb/s max, except for Hong Kong, Australia, and Portugal at 42 Mb/s max) which may or may not catch up to LTE, despite T-Mobile labelling it 4G.

The thresholds of 1 Gb/s max downlink with a fixed location antenna and 100 Mb/s for a mobile antenna are what is generally considered eligible for the 4G "4th Generation" moniker (IEEE never formallized this because T-Mobile beat it to the punch on their marketing; the official IEEE threshold for 3G is 100 Mb/s fix, 10 Mb/s mobile; 2G was any digital data-over-cellphone: my own phone indicates this with "1X" when the 3G goes out of range).

[Silverback]

From my understanding, 4G doesn't actually exist. They supposedly have the technology but not enough power to push it from the towers, or something to do with the phones not having the power to push 4G back out to the towers. Can't recall exactly how it was explained to me. I don't really understand what this 4G "LTE" deal is about though...

LTE is one of two standards (the other being WiMAX) that is currently capable of a downlink speed 100 Mb/s or better on mobile devices (latency nonwithstanding) while supposedly maintaining 10 Mb/s or better even under peak use.

Sprint (via MetroPCS) and Verizon started the roll-out of LTE in 2010, AT&T started rolling it out earlier this year. T-Mobile has stuck with HSDPA technology (currently 21 Mb/s max, except for Hong Kong, Australia, and Portugal at 42 Mb/s max) which may or may not catch up to LTE, despite T-Mobile labelling it 4G.

The thresholds of 1 Gb/s max downlink with a fixed location antenna and 100 Mb/s for a mobile antenna are what is generally considered eligible for the 4G "4th Generation" moniker (IEEE never formallized this because T-Mobile beat it to the punch on their marketing; the official IEEE threshold for 3G is 100 Mb/s fix, 10 Mb/s mobile; 2G was any digital data-over-cellphone: my own phone indicates this with "1X" when the 3G goes out of range).

Thanks for dumbing it down....

[CloakAndDagger]

...something about warp drives and dilithium crystals...

Thanks for dumbing it down....

Sorry (I'm an electrical engineer, so I like this sort of stuff), I'll give it one last shot at dumbing it down:

The are a bunch of different technologies out there for transmitting internet stuff over radio waves. Each uses a different set of frequencies and protocols for "talking" (similar to the differences between using military radio jargon, trucker CB jargon, or Joe Schmoe talking over a little Motorola on the ski lift).

The term 3G stands for "3rd Generation" and 4G for "4th Generation". The difference between the two categories is how fast they "talk" and when they were introduced.

There are two technologies that are definitely fast enough to be called 4G:
1. LTE - used by Verizon, Sprint (and subsidiaries), and AT&T.
2. WiMAX - sometimes called "neighborhood wireless", but not really meant for cellphones.

There is a third one, HSDPA, which is labeled 4G by T-Mobile's marketing department, but it isn't really fast enough to make the 4G cut.

The thing Ranger XCrunner mentioned earlier about the power is an issue with range, but not speed (unless you're at the edge of the range, then a lot gets garbled and has to be sent multiple times to get through, so it seems slow).