Got a call from Verizon prez Dan Mead..sorta

[mulishaman187]

Yesterday I sent a well written, but angry email to Verizon's president Dan Mead concerning the unlimited data plan elimination. Today I got a call, from a guy in his office named Teegan. After just running down the clarification they released to me, I told him it doesn't make it any better and it's wrong to force loyal customers to move onto a plan that is solely designed to increase profit and only benefits a portion of their consumers. I also said a compromise needs to be offered where unlimited data can be kept for people that don't need shared data.

We need to let them know we don't want to lose our plans that many of us have been scared to lose since the first announced tiered data. Email Dan.mead@verizonwireless.com & Daniel.mead@verizonwireless.com (I sent to both and it obviously reached his office). Stay civil, calling him a "greedy corporate scumbag" wont get you far. Just let him know if you plan to look at other options after your contract expires http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v620/mulishaman187/IMAG0051.jpg , and this is the last anti-customer iPhone era policy you will see as a customer. Lets flood his inbox.


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[zorak950]

I sympathize, but mobile data is still young and bandwidth is a real problem. Charging heavy users more isn't just a way to increase profit (though I'd be a fool to say it wasn't a major motive), it's a way to increase revenue which can be reinvested in network improvements.

As consumers we definitely need to guard ourselves against gouging, but we also have to remember that these things cost money, and lots of it. As demand for mobile (and landline, for that matter) broadband continues to increase, we will have to get used to paying more, at least in the medium term.

Those contracts people signed are for a certain length of time, and when they're up Verizon has every right to change the terms and price of your service, just as you have every right to take your business elsewhere. Expecting to have the same service for the same price forever is unrealistic, particularly in an industry evolving as quickly as mobile.

 

[mulishaman187]

That's one way to rationalize it, but bottom line is profit. If you read the statement from Fran Shannon he made it clear the purpose of this was to increase profits. Paraphrasing, "as users realize how powerful LTE is, they will use more data, forcing them to buy more". You are right though, its their product, they can do what they want with the pricing, and we can take out business elsewhere when a company forgets about the most important part of the business equation, the consumer. Just look at the policies enacted since they got the iPhone, elimination of 1yr contracts & annual upgrades for the main line on family plans, tiered data, $30 upgrade fee, $2 bill pay fee(which was later scraped), dropping returns from 30 to 14 days, data throttling, and now forcing shared data on us. You can try to justify it however you want, it doesn't make it all right.

I will either be switching companies or only buying used phones from Craigslist instead of upgrading through Verizon. Everyone can make their own choice, but if the others who are complaining on here send emails showing their dismay, at least they'll see how unpopular a decision is, and like the bill pay fee, re-work the idea.

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[zorak950]

Good luck. Rationalization it may be, but I think mobile broadband pricing is going to continue creeping up for at least the next few years. Eventually as demand levels out a bit and the technologies become better established prices will probably come down, but as long as there's a growing market for their product and the need to expand to capture it, they'll keep taking you for every penny they can get; especially Verizon, which is the premium service provider.

If you want truly unlimited data you can jump to Sprint, but at this point I'd say they have the worst network of the Big Four. The truth is that in a growth industry, investment is everything. Verizon executives and investors line their own pockets with profits, there's no doubt, but they're not stupid; a big chunk of that is going right back to enhancing infrastructure. This seems to be a clear case of getting what you pay for; better service now and in the future.

Personally, I'm a T-Mobile customer; I know the network isn't as extensive, but it's cheaper. I made that choice. Those willing and able to pay a premium for the best network will continue to do so, and ultimately that's the market Verizon has decided to chase. The rest of us, well, we'll find someplace else to be.

 

[3rdpig]

Ask yourselves "Why is Verizon doing this?". There's probably more than one answer, but the overriding one is "To better allocate bandwidth and maximize profits". Not only don't they care if their biggest bandwidth hogs leave, they WANT them to leave. If they can't do it by forcing you to give up subsidized phones, they'll simply start throttling or charging for any data overrun then cancel your contract when you refuse to pay.

 

[Mellimel22]

Good luck. Rationalization it may be, but I think mobile broadband pricing is going to continue creeping up for at least the next few years. Eventually as demand levels out a bit and the technologies become better established prices will probably come down, but as long as there's a growing market for their product and the need to expand to capture it, they'll keep taking you for every penny they can get; especially Verizon, which is the premium service provider.

If you want truly unlimited data you can jump to Sprint, but at this point I'd say they have the worst network of the Big Four. The truth is that in a growth industry, investment is everything. Verizon executives and investors line their own pockets with profits, there's no doubt, but they're not stupid; a big chunk of that is going right back to enhancing infrastructure. This seems to be a clear case of getting what you pay for; better service now and in the future.

Personally, I'm a T-Mobile customer; I know the network isn't as extensive, but it's cheaper. I made that choice. Those willing and able to pay a premium for the best network will continue to do so, and ultimately that's the market Verizon has decided to chase. The rest of us, well, we'll find someplace else to be.

I just had to chime in on the comment about sprint Imho and not because im a sprint customer well kinda is too lol but sprints network is better than tmo

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[zorak950]

I just had to chime in on the comment about sprint Imho and not because im a sprint customer well kinda is too lol but sprints network is better than tmo

I used to think so, too, but T-Mobile's has improved over the past few years while Sprint's, by most accounts, has stagnated since WiMax fizzled. Which is "better" is a matter of location, of course, but I've been hearing a lot more discontented rumbling from Sprint customers lately than from T-Mobile ones, and my limited experiences with Sprint's network have been negative. In general, I would characterize their footprint as bigger, but their network quality (particularly data) inferior. Sprint has all the pieces of the puzzle to be good, no doubt about that, but it has a lot of work to do putting them together- primarily upgrading its 3G and 4G networks, which are both obsolete at this point, and reallocating spectrum.

My assessment (based on my admittedly imperfect knowledge) is this: for now, T-Mobile's 3G (they call it 4G, but it isn't, technically) is faster on average than Sprint's 4G, and far more widely deployed to boot. Sprint, on the other hand, still covers much more area with 2- and 3G, and though its data speeds are inferior a lot of places, you don't get throttled for excessive usage. Sprint has a good turnaround plan, though, so I fully expect them to leapfrog ahead again over the next couple years, assuming they're able to follow through.

Anyway, network coverage and quality vary tremendously from one region to another, and I'm sure you're the better judge of what works where you live for your purposes.

 

[Ry]

Yesterday I sent a well written, but angry email to Verizon's president Dan Mead concerning the unlimited data plan elimination. Today I got a call, from a guy in his office named Teegan. After just running down the clarification they released to me, I told him it doesn't make it any better and it's wrong to force loyal customers to move onto a plan that is solely designed to increase profit and only benefits a portion of their consumers. I also said a compromise needs to be offered where unlimited data can be kept for people that don't need shared data.

We need to let them know we don't want to lose our plans that many of us have been scared to lose since the first announced tiered data. Email Dan.mead@verizonwireless.com & Daniel.mead@verizonwireless.com (I sent to both and it obviously reached his office). Stay civil, calling him a "greedy corporate scumbag" wont get you far. Just let him know if you plan to look at other options after your contract expires http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v620/mulishaman187/IMAG0051.jpg , and this is the last anti-customer iPhone era policy you will see as a customer. Lets flood his inbox.


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There is a comprimise. Don't renew.

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[hazyshd]

I sympathize, but mobile data is still young and bandwidth is a real problem. Charging heavy users more isn't just a way to increase profit (though I'd be a fool to say it wasn't a major motive), it's a way to increase revenue which can be reinvested in network improvements.

As consumers we definitely need to guard ourselves against gouging, but we also have to remember that these things cost money, and lots of it. As demand for mobile (and landline, for that matter) broadband continues to increase, we will have to get used to paying more, at least in the medium term.

Those contracts people signed are for a certain length of time, and when they're up Verizon has every right to change the terms and price of your service, just as you have every right to take your business elsewhere. Expecting to have the same service for the same price forever is unrealistic, particularly in an industry evolving as quickly as mobile.

So in your opinion, is there ever a time that you should contact your preferred business and complain about something that they are doing, or should you just always swap anytime new policies are announced you don't agree on?

I understand raising prices when it's needed, but when companies continue to post constant profit and customer growth every quarter then turn around and want to charge more. That I cannot understand or accept easily. Lol or in this case just swap carriers.

Besides, swapping carriers is soooo expensive :-$

 

[zorak950]

So in your opinion, is there ever a time that you should contact your preferred business and complain about something that they are doing, or should you just always swap anytime new policies are announced you don't agree on?

My opinion is exactly that: an opinion. Just because I wouldn't doesn't mean other people shouldn't. But to answer your question, I would tend to want to contact a company when they did something that I thought I could have an impact on by doing so.

The reason I'm critical of those up in arms in this case is because I see the issue as being generated by market conditions. Thus I see no way Verizon is likely to alter its behavior (it may concede one issue, but it will just charge more elsewhere to get the same revenue increase), nor am I convinced consumers would be happy in the long run if Verizon did meet their demands, as I believe the extra money they make today will translate at least partly to better service tomorrow.

Of course, I'm just a schmo on the street like most people here. I don't know for a fact exactly what Verizon's motives or plans are. I can only make educated guesses. The only point I'm making is that higher profits don't just mean bigger paychecks for those at the top (I'm a left-winger and that bothers me as much as the next guy), in any well-managed business in an evolving industry that hopes to be around in the long term- which I have every reason to believe Verizon is- it means higher investment, and that's important for both the company and its customers.

 

[rbess1965]

That's one way to rationalize it, but bottom line is profit. If you read the statement from Fran Shannon he made it clear the purpose of this was to increase profits. Paraphrasing, "as users realize how powerful LTE is, they will use more data, forcing them to buy more". You are right though, its their product, they can do what they want with the pricing, and we can take out business elsewhere when a company forgets about the most important part of the business equation, the consumer. Just look at the policies enacted since they got the iPhone, elimination of 1yr contracts & annual upgrades for the main line on family plans, tiered data, $30 upgrade fee, $2 bill pay fee(which was later scraped), dropping returns from 30 to 14 days, data throttling, and now forcing shared data on us. You can try to justify it however you want, it doesn't make it all right.

I will either be switching companies or only buying used phones from Craigslist instead of upgrading through Verizon. Everyone can make their own choice, but if the others who are complaining on here send emails showing their dismay, at least they'll see how unpopular a decision is, and like the bill pay fee, re-work the idea.

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Question regarding just purchasing phones from Craigs list. Are you saying that if we keep the phone that we have, or buy used and maintain current contract, and never upgrade thereby not signing any new agreement, that we might avoid loosing the unlimited?

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[PJnc284]

Question regarding just purchasing phones from Craigs list. Are you saying that if we keep the phone that we have, or buy used and maintain current contract, and never upgrade thereby not signing any new agreement, that we might avoid loosing the unlimited?

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Seems that way (at least for the time being). No guarantee on how long though.

 

[Ry]

Question regarding just purchasing phones from Craigs list. Are you saying that if we keep the phone that we have, or buy used and maintain current contract, and never upgrade thereby not signing any new agreement, that we might avoid loosing the unlimited?

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You can also buy new (but the full retail price).

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[paintdrinkingpete]

Ask yourselves "Why is Verizon doing this?". There's probably more than one answer, but the overriding one is "To better allocate bandwidth and maximize profits". Not only don't they care if their biggest bandwidth hogs leave, they WANT them to leave. If they can't do it by forcing you to give up subsidized phones, they'll simply start throttling or charging for any data overrun then cancel your contract when you refuse to pay.

I'd be willing to bet this is true. To an extent, I'm sure they'd love to squeeze some extra $$$ from heavy data users, but given that we're probably talking about a small number of folks (using a large amount of resources), it probably would be more profitable for them to lose the REALLY heavy data users than to try to accommodate them with plans that would be affordable.

Question regarding just purchasing phones from Craigs list. Are you saying that if we keep the phone that we have, or buy used and maintain current contract, and never upgrade thereby not signing any new agreement, that we might avoid loosing the unlimited?

Sent using Droid Razr Maxx

Seems that way (at least for the time being). No guarantee on how long though.

That's what they've said...if you buy a phone off-contract (unsubisidized, full retail), you can keep your current plan. Of course, you'd have to weigh the extra phone costs with your actual data usage to determine if that would be a worthwhile investment. Also, there's the fact that after your contract period is up (2 years), you are essentially month-to-month, and while Verizon has said it won't force you change plans at this time, they would have the right to do so at any time as long as they provide you with advanced notice.

 

[sniffs]

What a lot of these carriers are doing is the same thing Disneyland has done over the last 5 or so years. Doubled and tripled their prices.

While yes it seems like Disneyland is a greedy company that only wants money, they increased the ticket fee simply to try and keep overcrowding down(which leads to long waits to get on rides).. it didn't work and people STILL pay ~$100 dollars per ticket..

The carriers are trying to do the same thing.. increase the fee(essentially) so people stop using a ton of data and/or they leave to a competing carrier.

It works out wonderfully for both companies, they increase the $$ and if you stay, they make more of it.

If you leave, congestion goes down.

In a nutshell, there's too many people on this planet , so let's make them pay!

 

[Ry]

What a lot of these carriers are doing is the same thing Disneyland has done over the last 5 or so years. Doubled and tripled their prices.

While yes it seems like Disneyland is a greedy company that only wants money, they increased the ticket fee simply to try and keep overcrowding down(which leads to long waits to get on rides).. it didn't work and people STILL pay ~$100 dollars per ticket..

The carriers are trying to do the same thing.. increase the fee(essentially) so people stop using a ton of data and/or they leave to a competing carrier.

It works out wonderfully for both companies, they increase the $$ and if you stay, they make more of it.

If you leave, congestion goes down.

In a nutshell, there's too many people on this planet , so let's make them pay!

Sidenote: really loving the amusement park analogy.

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[pkcable]

From what I understand those of us on BlackBerrys get to keep our unlimited plans. So you guys COULD just get BBs. (I kid )