Verizon Wireless’ Brenda Raney has issued the following statement via the company’s website:
As the wireless business has evolved, Verizon Wireless has continued to expand its device portfolio, providing customers with more options than ever before. It is not uncommon for customers to have multiple devices such as a smartphone, tablet and Jetpack. In that context, Verizon Wireless is making the following changes to its upgrade practices:
• In alignment with the terms of the contract, customers on a two-year agreement will be eligible for an upgrade at 24 months vs. today’s early upgrade eligibility at 20 months. This change aligns the upgrade date with the contract end date and is consistent with how the majority of customers purchase new phones today. The first customers impacted by this change are customers whose contracts expire in January 2014. As always, customers may purchase a new phone at the full retail price at any time.
• The New Every Two program ended in January of 2011. Verizon Wireless has continued to allow customers to utilize these expired credits. However, as of April 15, these credits will no longer be available.
• Customers may continue to share an upgrade with another person on an account if that customer is upgrading to a device within the same equipment category. Customers can utilize a phone upgrade to purchase a new phone; however, the option to transfer upgrades from non-phone devices (such as a Jetpack or tablet) will no longer be available.
Source: Verizon Wireless
Is there one company that is actually trying to make it better for users not worse? A better deal not a worse. Shorter contracts, not longer? More minutes and data, not less?
Yes. T-Mobile. No contract. Cheap rates, with unlimited everything. They seem to be onto something here.
T-Mobile will let you bring your own compatible iPhone, or they will finance one for you as part of your monthly payment. But service and sale are kept separate and when your phone is paid off your payment DECREASES, unlike Verizon, AT&T, etc. So YOU decide when to upgrade and never feel required to upgrade because you’re already paying for it anyway.
People were lined up for the debut of the T-Mobile iPhone program. I think Verizon really stepped in it here. Why didn’t they just simply send a letter to every Verizon customer inviting them to check out T-Mobile? They would have accomplished the same thing.
I hate all cell phone companies… GREED GREED GREED GREED GREED GREED GREED GREED GREED GREED GREED GREED
and more
GREED GREED GREED
But with that said… I’m very happy with Verizon’s cell service here in New Orleans.. I’ve had to visit a store for some customer service and found everyone friendly and helpful. Just the opposite of ATT, which I will never be a customer of again.
Verizon, once their 4G network was in place, saved us from 25 years AT&T’s false promises of better reception. (We switched last fall to Verizon and it’s been great!) AT&T’s idea of better service was providing a MicroCell WiFi booster but it’s not the same thing as just plain decent reception all around one’s house and property. At last our iPhone 5’s act like they should in our area, without a WiFi boost!
I haven’t had any more or less service problems on AT&T as on Verizon. What I did get when switching was better customer service & better priced plans when going out of the country (not to mention a phone that COULD operate out of country, unlike Verizon until recently).
These days being on either one is a wash IMO. Oh, except for one thing – AT&T employees on the land line side are still unionized (and thus not a**-raped on wages & benefits). It’s a holdover from the old days, as the mobile employees are not unionized, but Verizon employees are all non-union. However much that means to you is up to you, but it is a difference between the two companies.
I think someone once called these guys “an dark orifice through which customers have no choice but to travel” or something like that.
So does that make us turds?
Let’s see. Figure they’re bringing in an extra $25 per month to pay for the subsidy on the phone, which means for the original 20 month deal you actually paid $500 toward the cost of a phone.
I have no idea, but I imagine their wholesale cost of an iPhone is in that neighborhood. Now, they’re not going to charge you any less for the plan for those last four months so they’re going to make an additional $100 off of each of the subscribers who used to be “early” on re-upping their contracts (count me among them most years).
Figure a few million customers at least who signed new contracts early and you’ve got a pretty nice boost to the bottom line. All I can say is that I hope this burns them in bigger markets with lots of options (where I live, if you want service Verizon is pretty much the only game in town).
I don’t have a problem with them changing their renewal date, other than that when anybody who bought their last phone asked they were told they could get a new phone in 20 months and now the deal is being changed mid-contract.
If the company had an sorts of ethics, they would only make the 24-month deal on any contracts signed after TODAY. Retroactive? I don’t care what’s in my contact. I care what your sales people told me!!! Bummer day when you have to read all of the fine print on everything, man.
I am altering the deal. Pray I don’t alter it any further.
I have been using Straighttalk for the past five months – brought over my iPhone 4. Will purchase next iteration and keep my present plan. It works, in some ways, better than ATT. After a while I do not even miss the visual voicemail. What I do like is that I paid for a full year in advance and get unlimited everything for a little over $41 per month. Not trying to start a flame war – just my experience and opinion…
They forgot to start this with “In order to serve you better…”
Is this Verizon’s response to T-Mobile? Trying to punish customers who want to switch??
“…providing customers with more options than ever before. ”
Not.
I am betting AT&T will announce the same thing in a couple of weeks.
Yup. Why not? They will because they can. I have the AT&T unlimited plan from 2008. I’m grandfathered in. The assholes at AT and T still have the ability to throttle me when I exceed a certain limit. I’m sorry, that’s not unlimited!
Jetpacks?
It’s what they call their mobile WiFi hotspots. Stupid choice by a marketing department to use a brand name instead of a generic product category name.