Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

VZW is truly run by squinty-eyed accountants instead of strategic-thinking
businessmen. You can't continue to nickel and dime your customers without
alienating them. VZW does things like starting to charge minutes to call
voice mail, eliminating free call detail on your bill, now raising the cost
of incoming test messages from 2 cents to a dime, etc., etc.

It's short term thinking guys. Sure you generate some extra revenue this
month-- but you're pissing off a customer base that has been pretty loyal.
Unhappy customers means increasing churn and declining revenue long term.

Don't say you weren't warned! Cut it out and give back what you've taken
away!!

Victor

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

I tend to agree. People will go where the best deal is. Perhaps it will take
two years for the full effect to start showing, but as other companies start
to be more customer friendly, and offer better coverage there will be a
shift of Verizon's customer base to the better service. I am hoping that
Cingular and their rollover minutes will be an option the next time my
contract is up. I used to be impressed with Verizons service, but it seems
to be getting more convoluted and and Verizon more greedy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://cherconnection.proboards3.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Victor Henry" <swabbo@seafarer> wrote in message
news:taednZrnnL-e_izfRVn-2w@comcast.com...
> VZW is truly run by squinty-eyed accountants instead of strategic-thinking
> businessmen. You can't continue to nickel and dime your customers without
> alienating them. VZW does things like starting to charge minutes to call
> voice mail, eliminating free call detail on your bill, now raising the
cost
> of incoming test messages from 2 cents to a dime, etc., etc.
>
> It's short term thinking guys. Sure you generate some extra revenue this
> month-- but you're pissing off a customer base that has been pretty loyal.
> Unhappy customers means increasing churn and declining revenue long term.
>
> Don't say you weren't warned! Cut it out and give back what you've taken
> away!!
>
> Victor
>
>

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

"Susan" <susanl@penn.com> wrote in message
news:STfse.5247$eM6.529@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net...
>I tend to agree. People will go where the best deal is. Perhaps it will
>take
> two years for the full effect to start showing, but as other companies
> start
> to be more customer friendly, and offer better coverage there will be a
> shift of Verizon's customer base to the better service. I am hoping that
> Cingular and their rollover minutes will be an option the next time my
> contract is up. I used to be impressed with Verizons service, but it seems
> to be getting more convoluted and and Verizon more greedy.
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> http://cherconnection.proboards3.com/
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The basis of keeping customers is providing "Service Coverage" and a fair
price. Verizon was my second carrier having went with Cellular One Albany
Telephone Company for many years when they started out. Long before any
mergers or extended coverage's. Fancy plans etc. Bottom line is I want to be
able to send and receive calls and to have that ability where I need it.
Coverage has improved greatly over the years. Cellular One (Cingular) had
some pretty good coverage and they were one of the first in this then new
cellular calling. But their customer service was terrible and billing was on
most part shoddy.

Sure when a company offers perks like roll over minutes, walkie talkie
features it is to bring variety to the market place. But lock in your
service for 2 years and then find that the features are not what they are
cracked up to be and then complaints will roll.

For the folks that read about that price increase for Text Messages it is
for persons not on a plan. And my contract states a different price with my
bundle so there is no price increase until the contract period ends. Or you
possibly could break your cellular contract since they changed the terms and
you do not agree to them.

Now looking at the new IN Text plan starting at $5 it seems like a good deal
since it also includes 250 or more in texts to other folks on other
carriers. With the use of text messaging increasing in the US versus the
80%+ in Europe eventually the price will drop again after the initial shock
of how many folks are starting to use it. But that is my opinion

Elector

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

On Thu, 16 Jun 2005 14:19:30 GMT, "Susan" <susanl@penn.com> wrote:

>I tend to agree. People will go where the best deal is. Perhaps it will take
>two years for the full effect to start showing, but as other companies start
>to be more customer friendly, and offer better coverage there will be a
>shift of Verizon's customer base to the better service. I am hoping that
>Cingular and their rollover minutes will be an option the next time my
>contract is up. I used to be impressed with Verizons service, but it seems
>to be getting more convoluted and and Verizon more greedy.
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>http://cherconnection.proboards3.com/
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>"Victor Henry" <swabbo@seafarer> wrote in message
>news:taednZrnnL-e_izfRVn-2w@comcast.com...
>> VZW is truly run by squinty-eyed accountants instead of strategic-thinking
>> businessmen. You can't continue to nickel and dime your customers without
>> alienating them. VZW does things like starting to charge minutes to call
>> voice mail, eliminating free call detail on your bill, now raising the
>cost
>> of incoming test messages from 2 cents to a dime, etc., etc.
>>
>> It's short term thinking guys. Sure you generate some extra revenue this
>> month-- but you're pissing off a customer base that has been pretty loyal.
>> Unhappy customers means increasing churn and declining revenue long term.
>>
>> Don't say you weren't warned! Cut it out and give back what you've taken
>> away!!
>>
>> Victor
>>
>>
>
When the other companies feel that they are playing on the same
playing field as Verizon they probably will not offer rollover minutes
or any other incentives because now they won't have to.

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

Victor Henry wrote:
> VZW is truly run by squinty-eyed accountants instead of strategic-thinking
> businessmen. You can't continue to nickel and dime your customers without
> alienating them. VZW does things like starting to charge minutes to call
> voice mail, eliminating free call detail on your bill, now raising the cost
> of incoming test messages from 2 cents to a dime, etc., etc.

Don't forget, directory assistance is now going up from $1.25 to $1.49
per call.

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c [...] mation.jsp

Not that I use directory assistance all the time, but sometimes you're
stuck and just HAVE to use it. And it'll cost ya.


--
E-mail fudged to thwart spammers.
Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply.

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

TeddeLI wrote:
> On Thu, 16 Jun 2005 14:19:30 GMT, "Susan"
> <susanl@penn.com> wrote:
>
>> I tend to agree. People will go where the best deal is.
>> Perhaps it will take two years for the full effect to
>> start showing, but as other companies start to be more
>> customer friendly, and offer better coverage there will
>> be a shift of Verizon's customer base to the better
>> service. I am hoping that Cingular and their rollover
>> minutes will be an option the next time my contract is
>> up. I used to be impressed with Verizons service, but it
>> seems to be getting more convoluted and and Verizon more
>> greedy.
>>
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> http://cherconnection.proboards3.com/
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> "Victor Henry" <swabbo@seafarer> wrote in message
>> news:taednZrnnL-e_izfRVn-2w@comcast.com...
>>> VZW is truly run by squinty-eyed accountants instead of
>>> strategic-thinking businessmen. You can't continue to
>>> nickel and dime your customers without alienating them.
>>> VZW does things like starting to charge minutes to
>>> call voice mail, eliminating free call detail on your
>>> bill, now raising the cost of incoming test messages
>>> from 2 cents to a dime, etc., etc.
>>>
>>> It's short term thinking guys. Sure you generate some
>>> extra revenue this month-- but you're pissing off a
>>> customer base that has been pretty loyal. Unhappy
>>> customers means increasing churn and declining revenue
>>> long term.
>>>
>>> Don't say you weren't warned! Cut it out and give back
>>> what you've taken away!!
>>>
>>> Victor
>>>
>>>
>>
> When the other companies feel that they are playing on
> the same playing field as Verizon they probably will not
> offer rollover minutes or any other incentives because
> now they won't have to.

There is one other small point. "Don't say you weren't warned!"
kind of implies that they have no clue. Doubious to think that
a company with more than 33 million customers has a marketing
force that is completely clueless. Most of the changes that you
see are in large part a matter of packaging. Some will not like
it others will prefer it. Econ 101: If you have an apartment
complex the most efficient rent is that which will cause a
certain percentage of vacancies.

gotta love the armchair quarterbacks,
-Quick

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

"Victor Henry" <swabbo@seafarer> wrote in message news:taednZrnnL-e_izfRVn-2w@comcast.com...
> VZW is truly run by squinty-eyed accountants instead of strategic-thinking businessmen.

I can explain but not justify their behaviour. Carriers are measured by
their ARPU - average revenue per user, and they need to show it going up
over time. Each user pays a fixed package and then nickels and dimes for
overage, extra services etc. In order for the carrier to get their ARPU
to increase over time from you, they need to increase the nickels and
dimes you are paying.

Ironically VZW has the highest fixed plan prices and the lowest ARPU in
the industry! I think people are very aware that they paying more as
a base and are very wary of the nickel and dime charges. Other carriers
have their fixed bases lower and users are less reluctant to get nickel
and dimed (hence their higher ARPUs).

Put another way, if VZW suddenly halved the amount they charged you for
your plan, how much would the nickel and diming bother you?

One thing I do know for sure is that I really want to pay them less and
less over time, or have increases in service for what I already pay.
VZWs goal is the complete opposite and they don't try to hide it much.
As you point out, it will end up biting them.

Roger

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

Isaiah Beard <sacredpoet@sacredpoet.com> wrote in
news:11b3g3u1omcl99@corp.supernews.com:

> Don't forget, directory assistance is now going up from $1.25 to $1.49
> per call.
>
>

I don't browse the web with a cellphone, which I find hilarious, but what
happens if you access www.switchboard.com from a cellphone browser??

--
Larry

You know you've had a rough night when you wake up and your outlined in
chalk.

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

In news:Xns9677E89B52E1Dw4csc@63.223.7.253,
Larry W4CSC <noone@home.com> typed:
> Isaiah Beard <sacredpoet@sacredpoet.com> wrote in
> news:11b3g3u1omcl99@corp.supernews.com:
>
>> Don't forget, directory assistance is now going up from $1.25 to
>> $1.49 per call.
>>
>>
>
> I don't browse the web with a cellphone, which I find hilarious, but
> what happens if you access www.switchboard.com from a cellphone
> browser??

My LG VX4400 is set up to use free WAP access.
(Don't use it enough to pay VZW to use theirs.)
I have www.switchboard.com set up as a shortcut on my phone.
Other than being all text and displayed on a tiny screen - it gets me the
information I need.

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

"IMHO IIRC" <nospam@nospam.net> wrote in message
news:8Frse.2012$fV.1104@okepread06...
>
> My LG VX4400 is set up to use free WAP access.
> (Don't use it enough to pay VZW to use theirs.)
> I have www.switchboard.com set up as a shortcut on my phone.
> Other than being all text and displayed on a tiny screen - it gets me the
> information I need.

I don't have web or wap access enabled on my phone. But, I do have text
messaging. Is there a place that I can SMS a name and city and get back
somebody's phone number or address?

-Jeff

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

Xman wrote:
> Roll-over will eventually win.

Rollover is a red herring.

Rollover is useful only for a small subset of cellular users.

If you never go over your minutes at all, you'll never use your rollover
minutes.

If you go over practically every month, you'll have no rollover minutes in
the months you go over (and if you go over your allotment that often, you
should be using a plan with more included minutes anyhow).

I like Sprint's Fair & Flexible plan better. If I go over, I get charged $5
for another 100 minutes (I have a 700-minute plan. It's $5/100 minutes for
700-minute-plus plans, $10/100 minutes for 300-500 minute plans). How much
per minute does Cingular charge for overages?


--
JustThe.net - Steve Sobol / sjsobol@JustThe.net / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED
Coming to you from Southern California's High Desert, where the
temperatures are as high as the gas prices! / 888.480.4NET (4638)

"Life's like an hourglass glued to the table" --Anna Nalick, "Breathe"

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

On Thu, 16 Jun 2005 22:43:04 -0500, "IMHO IIRC" <nospam@nospam.net>
wrote:

>My LG VX4400 is set up to use free WAP access.
>(Don't use it enough to pay VZW to use theirs.)
>I have www.switchboard.com set up as a shortcut on my phone.

How does FREE WAP access work on VZW? How'd you get that?

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

In news:v756b1d1u99g15v5s04v2b8sqt3250pbml@4ax.com,
Steevo@my-deja.com <steevo@my-deja.com> typed:
> On Thu, 16 Jun 2005 22:43:04 -0500, "IMHO IIRC" <nospam@nospam.net>
> wrote:
>
>> My LG VX4400 is set up to use free WAP access.
>> (Don't use it enough to pay VZW to use theirs.)
>> I have www.switchboard.com set up as a shortcut on my phone.
>
> How does FREE WAP access work on VZW? How'd you get that?


I changed the WAP IP addreess on my phone to 194.204.012.042 and the port to
9201.
I went to www.winksite.com using my computer and set up my personal phone
home page (FREE).
Still uses minutes during peak time - but no other charges.

Check out the following links for information on how to set up your phone:
http://www.howardforums.com/showth [...] did=273744
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/waptunnel/

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

On Sat, 18 Jun 2005 14:38:56 -0500, "IMHO IIRC" <nospam@nospam.net>
wrote:
>Cell phones are for a block of minutes.
>
>If you do not use 100 of your minutes each month for a year and then go over
>by 99 minutes in the next month the overage costs you $45. The 1200 minutes
>you had available and did not use do not matter.
If you use all your minutes on Cingular and you have no spares, they
will sell you 100 minutes for the same as your first 400 cost you.
Not too great a deal.
>
>Cingular's roll-over avoids this and Sprint sells you 100 more minutes for
>$5.
Now the Sprint deal with them selling you an extra 100 for $5 is the
best deal in Cellular today. Too bad their web access works so
poorly. And I am not talking about the speed. Cingular isn't much
better, and Verizon is much better. Not sure about Tmobile.

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

On Sat, 18 Jun 2005 16:45:10 -0700, "Richard Ness"
<richard.no@gamn.spam.nessnet.com> wrote:

>A sample voice plan has 1000 minutes. I pay for the ABILITY to use up to
>1000 minutes. No matter
>if I do - or not. Someone pays less for the ABILITY to use 600, or 400, or
>whatever minutes. But none
>of us are owed anything if we don't use all of them. The ability didn't go
>away.

That's just silly.
If you have a car with insurance, they don't charge you 3000X as much
if you drive 20% too far. Glad they don't charge for gas that way!

For cellular 450 minutes are $40, 550 minutes are $95. It's
ludicrous. You are just used to it.

How it should be is you should pay about $10 a month which includes no
usage, just a working number. Then you pay for what you use. Maybe
you get a discount if you spend more money.

That is not what we got, the cellular "plans" are a distortion of
logic.

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

Richard Ness wrote:

> HBO on cable - I pay every month for the ABILITY to watch it - if I do, or
> if I don't - doesn't matter.

It's hard to imagine a less relevant analogy.

You don't pay for a certain number of hours of HBO; you pay a flat fee
with the understanding that you can watch it as much or as little as you
like. That's unlike the vast majority of cell phone plans, where you
contract for a certain number of minutes and pay a whopping premium if
you use too many. HBO won't assess you with surcharges for watching too
many shows.

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

Steve Sobol wrote:

> I like Sprint's Fair & Flexible plan better. If I go over, I get charged
> $5 for another 100 minutes (I have a 700-minute plan. It's $5/100
> minutes for 700-minute-plus plans, $10/100 minutes for 300-500 minute
> plans). How much per minute does Cingular charge for overages?

Fair and Flexible might not be best for everyone either. If your
calling patterns are stable and in between the F&F plan base tiers (300
minutes, 800 minutes, 1,0000 minutes), then it's better to stick with
the traditional plans as they'll cost less. And you'll REALLY be losing
money if you just barely go over certain tiers. Say someone has the 300
minute base F&F plan, and uses 302 minutes. They've basically just paid
$2.50 a minute in overages as the billing system bumps them up to the
next 100-minute tier for $5 extra. The F&F plan isn't cost effective
unless you either stay within the base tier and only very occasionally
go over, or if you consistently go over the tier by at least 21 minutes.
That will assure that you're paying $.40 a minute or less for your
overages. (.40 per minute is the traditional overage cost for most
carriers).




--
E-mail fudged to thwart spammers.
Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply.

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

On Sun, 19 Jun 2005 10:30:13 -0400, Isaiah Beard
<sacredpoet@sacredpoet.com> wrote:
>Steve Sobol wrote:
>
>> I like Sprint's Fair & Flexible plan better. If I go over, I get charged
>> $5 for another 100 minutes (I have a 700-minute plan. It's $5/100
>> minutes for 700-minute-plus plans, $10/100 minutes for 300-500 minute
>> plans). How much per minute does Cingular charge for overages?
>
>Fair and Flexible might not be best for everyone either.
No, best would be to stop it with all the scams and come-ons that
cellular service plans are replete with.

>If your
>calling patterns are stable and in between the F&F plan base tiers (300
>minutes, 800 minutes, 1,0000 minutes), then it's better to stick with
>the traditional plans as they'll cost less.
Not much less. You have to dig pretty deep for an instance where any
"traditional" plan would be better. Compare any F&F scenario with
being on the $39.99 Cingular plan which includes 450 minutes and use
550 one month. Discounting the silly "rollover" scam the extra 100
minutes would cost you an extra $45, for a cost of $95 for that 550
minutes. Ridiculous. The first 450 minutes are 9 cents, the extra
100 are 5x that much! On F&F the overage is 5 cents in blocks of 100,
you are talking about a pretty small penalty should you only use 2
extra minutes and have to pay $5. If you use even 10 more than your
plan you are ahead.