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Considering switch, hows service?

S

skep

Well-Known Member
So long story short, I might need to leave Sprint and head elsewhere. My initial go-to was Verizon, as I had them years ago and they were the best. From what I hear now, service is terrible and nobody seems to really be happy with them. A few people have mentioned VZW charging them for services they didnt sign up for and refusing to refund, or taking months to do so.

Also, I will be buying the Note 5, and I see VZW might not be accepting SamsungPay, this might be a factor as well.

Input please? Should I make the switch? Go elsewhere? Stay with Sprint?
(Leaving because I'm losing my employee discount plan).
 
Hi Skep! I am on Verizon and our service area rocks for signal: both voice and 4G LTE. I suggest you go to the Verizon Wireless page, scroll down to "Check Coverage" and put your address in. It will show, on a zoomable map, exactly how the Verizon signal is there. I hope you enjoy the service as much as we do (and as much as it costs)!
 
Verizon here too. I've been very happy with them for years and years (besides the fact that I love to hate them).

My kid travels all over and rarely runs into coverage issues. Of course they aren't going to work everywhere and you definitely need to check as @The_Chief said. Ask neighbors and friends. My next door neighbor has AT&T and can't make calls, I have no issue with calls on Verizon. 4G is a tad weak at the house but I use wifi anyway.

And yeah. They will probably allow Samsung Pay, but may drag their feet about it. They took a really long time to activate/allow Google Wallet a few years ago. And, they are slow on sending updates sometimes. Other times they are decently quick. Stuff like that is maddening about them, hence my love/hate relationship ;)
 
I'm on Verizon. Corporate store and independent in my town. I always go to the independent. The corporate has a bit of an "attitude".

My store allows you to try out a device before committing. If you are in a sketchy area ... take the device of your choice to that area and try it out.

They get a lot of on the fence people to sign up that way.

... Thom
 
thanks for the input everybody! i got some input locally, and coincidentally ran into a friend while at the verizon store! we bit the bullet and went for it.

i must say, anyone CONSIDERING verizon, make sure to ask about the promo for current verizon fios users!!
my rep didnt know this until we were almost doen, but because we were current FIOS customers, we saved $200 PER PHONE! including the iphone for my kid and the Note 5 for myself! between the 4 phones we bought, it was a HUGE savings. So i hope more people get to take advantage!
 
I am a 20 year Verizon customer, and just today I signed up for the T-Shirt plan.

Doubled my data/month, was able to reactivate my "JetPack MiFi" device which provides WiFi direct from the 4g service (it is assigned a phone number).

I have 3 lines, and the new service and turning on the laptop resulted in 2X data, and Zero Change in my monthly fee.

They wanted to charge an "Upgrade fee" of $40 bux to reactivate the JetPack MiFi device.
I said "uh, no I don't think so... I have already paid that fee once, you don't get to charge it again"

and they knocked it off.....
Bottom line, Verizon has the BEST coverage of any carrier period.
I have used them all, and I have a very close friend on AT&T and we compare from time to time....
AT&T likes to drop the call when you cross a state line.... for some reason Verizon phones don't do that.

I have used the VZW Customer Service many times, and they have always been able to satisfy my needs every single time.

but, if you have an "attitude", all bets are off.... I work them like a kid glove.... I have lots of practice being very "Political" when talking to Customer Service departments... in any business.
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2 ea. Verizon Galaxy S5
 
Verizon has mixed reviews:

the pros:
-the very best over-all phone and data service almost everywhere. country or city. i am sure there are exceptions. i just have hit them. the only place i have any problems is at home. they gave me a free network extender ir mini cell tower that hooks up to internet,

-great technical support system through tech coach. there upper level techies have helped with all sorts of tech issues that were only remotely related to the actual opperation of my phone. eg re-configuring my router to improve range and performance. tech coach and a packages of services including the extention of a new phone wanrantee cost something.

-the upper level telephone customer service people are generally well trained and very helpful. the people in the stores are not trained and all there only to sell. the company stores are very disappointing in comparison to the people who work the phone lines.


------------------------------------------------

the megatives
-lower level employees are not well trained and stupid. it is alway necessary to escalate to higher level people to get anything done. the stores are generally the absolute worst. years ago they had techies in my locale company store who were fabulous. the are all gone for years. most of the sales people are ignorant idiots. need a manager to get anything done. if i do not call in to start the research on my own first they will provide misinformation to try to sell you something which generates a commission.
-bloatware is horrible. my number one problem with verizon from my point of view. it would be so easy to design their bloatware to be deactivated by the customer without forcing the to root. just silly. their navigation, video and music app are expensive and mediocre at best[i am trying to use polite language]. the bloat wastes both ram and the limited storage available. this is compounded with newer phone stopping the use of sd cards for extra storage.
-up grade in the operating systems. verizon is very slow and does not seem to have any interest in this aspect of the network functioning as well as is possible.
-teathering from phones. they have to permit it by law, but they throw road blocks to try to sell their $15 per month service. the app are blocked and when the app's get a work round , verizon screws them up again. just not customer friendly. most verizon customer are paying them a large premium for their network and yet they still make you crazy trying to sell through bloatware and screwing with teathering. this attitude is what makes so many hate verizon.
 
I just read the above negatives...
I have two Galaxy S5s, one Lumia Windows phone which was just replaced with a HTC One M9, and a MiFi internet modem.

On the Galaxy S5 phones, I have turned OFF all of the apps I don't want, and that includes all of the VZW bloatware, Amazon bloatware, and other similar stuff. The S5 can take extSDcards which I use a lot. I will NOT buy a phone if it won't take an SDcard so that negative is not valid.

I'm on the T-Shirt XXL plan now, Mobile Hotspot turns on in a Flash with no delay. It is faster than my ADSL by 3 times. I used it to great extent on my 30 day motorcycle vacation last month because most hotels have inadequate WiFi bandwidth.

VZW in the past has been slow to update, but on the S5 they got in front for the last several updates. I don't like Lollipop's color scheme, but found an app to fix that. That is not a VZW problem though.

The Retail Stores: I agree 100%, my few experiences with them have not been satisfactory. Accessories are over priced, I stick with Amazon or eBay.

I always use the 611 CS folks, and if needed they readily allow me to escalate upstairs to more informed techs. I always get good service.

in the old days before I could use the Mobile Hotspot w/o a charge, I simply installed FoxFi and went on about my business. Just a minor bump in the road, glad I don't need that now though.

I just finished up with a big worry trying to validate switching away from VZW to TMO.... after a lot of worry, I just cannot justify the cheaper rate against the severe loss of coverage in just about any area of the USA you want to travel.

right here in Tulsa, Oklahoma where TMO has a Solid Red Footprint according to their own website.... it should be totally blanketed and never miss a beat. right? well, if my research is any good, and I did a lot of it, that is no where near the truth.

Friends report loosing service in Downtown Tulsa when traveling between buildings! uh, that's not good. They report that once they enter a building it is "forget about it" time. I go into hospitals all the time ( wife is diabetic ) and if there is any place that is solid concrete and steel, it is a hospital. VZW pushes a signal right down into the basement where the cafeterias are... good enough that I can follow up on my forums that I like, or read the local newspaper via the web...

So, TMO did not get my dollars, and even though I am paying VZW about $59 more per month for 4 lines, I am sticking with them.
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2 ea. Verizon Galaxy S, 1 ea. HTC One M9, 1 ea. MiFi internet modem
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