Slight Rant: Verizon

[MrObvious]

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?