Slight Rant: Verizon
 

Ok I'm just gonna keep this sweet and simple. Basically I am ticked that I got taken over by a new carrier whom I was happy with the old one and don't like the new prices or plans.

The history:

Basically back in 07-08 Verizon was working to jones the FCC for permission to buy Alltel from a group of investors. I had been a loyal Alltel customer and not had one bit of problems from them as a carrier and felt like all my needs were taken care of and I could understand why they did the things they did. Sprint back then sucked for coverage and customer service, and Verizon or the GSM carriers didn't have coverage so that wasn't an option for me anyway.

The FCC approved the buyout except for certain markets and it took the better part of a year for it to completely happen. In that time the customer service felt like it went downhill and Alltel branded phones basically stopped coming (there were a few). For example, they were extending contracts for a year if you did an insurance claim through Asurion which they never used to do before. At least the plans were still cheap and reasonable. Then when the buyout was finished this month, the plans were grandfathered in quite well but now you can't change plans very much except for features.

The rant:

Basically I didn't ask to become a customer of another company, nor did I want to deal with another company. Sure, Verizon has a huge and well established network, but they have crappy plans. I mean for a family share plan I can pay at least ten or twenty dollars more for less minutes it seems like. Plus the Smart Phone charge is $30. Come on! Surely Verizon can give us a break and give us incentive to stay.

What are your thoughts?

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I think it will get better over time but i would give customers a choice of staying or leaving the big a if i were them.

Re: Slight Rant: Verizon
 

I am thinking sprint may be the answer for me. A family plan for the wife and I will basically start at $180 at verizon and $130 at sprint with unlimited messaging. Overall, I will be saving a little by switching to sprint from my Alltel.

Re: Slight Rant: Verizon
 

Yeah. +1 here. I don't need the minutes but it's the fact that I lose the ten Friends and Family numbers if I go to the cheaper plan. The only thing that would convince me to stay is if they get the HD2 and Sprint doesn't.

Re: Slight Rant: Verizon
 

I think that most Alltel people feel jaded about this. We went from having a company that actually cared about us to being just a number in the system. An overpriced system. I think that the winner in this conversion will be sprint and cricket where it has markets. Verizon needs to drop it's $30 dollar smartphone charge because all phones will be smart phones in the near future. It needs to lower it's prices and bring back chad :evil4:

Re: Slight Rant: Verizon
 

Yeah I would stay with Verizon if they didn't have the $30 charge or the 5GB limit. Sprint has the 5GB limit though too I guess.

Re: Slight Rant: Verizon
 

The fact that you have to get a more expensive plan to get the friends and family also adds another negative to the game. Tmobile is starting to look like an option with their $50 unlimited plan. They are slightly better than cricket :)

Re: Slight Rant: Verizon
 

If Sprint's coverage is good...then it's ALMOST a no brainer, at least from a economical point-of-view, especially with AnyTime AnyMobile.

Their CS, has gone through some ups-and-downs, but in the 8 years I have had Sprint, I have never had a real problem.

Re: Slight Rant: Verizon
 

S happens, you need to roll with it and milk your new evil corporate giant for all you can, or move to a TRACFONE

Re: Slight Rant: Verizon
 

yeah i didnt like the merge either. thats why i refused to change my plan when getting a newp hone. i want my night and weekends to start at 7 and i want my 11 my cirlce numbers. also i like my 89.99 plan with 6.99 insurance.