Goodbye Incredible (you can blame Verizon for it)

[dm33]

Goodbye. We won't miss you.

If you don't have something nice to say...

 

[Droidboy850]

If you don't have something nice to say...

Just say it anyways?

 

[cwcheese]

Yeah, I guess I was trying to be honest

To c_aus,

Don't sweat it too much, I use pdanet and have never gone over the limit. Been a user of pdanet since my Treo and, for the record, paid the license fee to June Fabrics. Now to all you free-tether folks out there, I paid because I support their product development and as a professional software engineer I want to keep the ecosystem alive. 23 bucks for a permanent license ain't killing me. If you choose to want to be honest then pay for it. If you try it out and feel comfortable with the free version, then don't pay.

I cannot vouch for the other poster who says VZW doesn't check the usage on cellphone data plans, I wouldn't trust that. But you won't exceed 5GB/mon unless you plan to use this as your only connection for all your mobile & home needs. Sure, you will overrun the limit if you stream video or do all your bittorrent with your Incredible, but just be wise about it.

cwcheese
Droid & Eris since Jan 2010

 

[FullMetalMikey]

I've been a longtime Verizon customer. I had a BBStorm before I switched to the DInc. Their tethering/data plans are very simple to understand. $29.99 for unlimited data use. If you want to tether, it's an ADDITIONAL $15.00, meaning your monthly fee increases to $44.99. What's so hard to understand about that?

PDANet never worked that well on my storm, I'm hoping it works better for my DInc.

 

[twospirits]

Love the stereotyping in this thread.

As do I, which is why they get a free infraction card. If it continues, then a free trip to Banlandia will be given out.

Be nice to each other or if you don't have anything nice to say then keep quiet. But to start the racial stereotypical comments will not be tolerated. These posts have been deleted.

TS

 

[Mikerosoftpro]

More or less

I did just download PDAnet and gave it a quick run. It's definitely worth the $25. The speed was not too far off from my home service as far as speed goes...but it is provided by AT&T, so that could explain a lot.

You paid $25 for the PDAnet? Why on earth did you do such a thing when you get it free and only have to worry about the occasional pop up...lol.

Nah but its good you paid $25, developers need some love.

 

[c_aus]

I've been a longtime Verizon customer. I had a BBStorm before I switched to the DInc. Their tethering/data plans are very simple to understand. $29.99 for unlimited data use. If you want to tether, it's an ADDITIONAL $15.00, meaning your monthly fee increases to $44.99. What's so hard to understand about that?

PDANet never worked that well on my storm, I'm hoping it works better for my DInc.

That's exactly what I am arguing! The online sales reps are saying it is $15, but when I call it is $25...did you read my post along with the supporting pictures of the chat?

I haven't yet paid for PDAnet as I want to give it a try to be sure it will do what I want. My plans are just to use this occasionally anyway when I don't have access to wifi. I do some work with students and since I am not one as well, I have no access to their wireless networks while on their campus, so it will be more to do a quick lookup on-site. But if the app is promising, then I will definitely pay the $25 for it. I'm also for supporting the developers. I'm willing to bet that most people who use free versions of an app and never support the developers wouldn't give out anything for free if they created it on their own.

 

[junkdog8]

Actually this sounds very familiar.

I had almost the exact same experience a few years ago when I tried to sign up for Verizon. I wanted to do a little tethering. Not much data. Didn't need high speed.

- I went to the store. They swore I didn't need to sign up for anything.
- I called customer service. They stated categorically that I MUST sign up to get any tethering.
- I went back to the store. They insisted and started practically insulting me that I dared question them.
- So I tried new phone service, went on vacation with the phone. It worked for a day then tethering wouldn't work.
- I called customer service. This time I threw in the towel. I needed tethering, so I said I'd be willing to pay an astronimical $50/mo ADDITIONAL that I had been told by customer service earlier.
It took them 45 minutes on hold various times trying to find this plan.
Because I did NOT have a 3G phone, they decided I could not sign up for the $50/mo plan and my only option was an $80/mo ADDITIONAL plan.

I did not sign up. I could not tether the rest of the vacation. I decided that Verizon was a very screwed up place.

But it got worse. When I went to cancel my $40/mo service after 10 days... I was very surprised and not happy to receive a $300 bill!!

They had charged me termination fee... even after 10 days! And they used creative accounting on minutes, determining I was only entitled to 1/3 of the plan minutes and therefore any additional minutes were $.40/min.

WOW.

That was 3 or 4 years ago. I stayed on Sprint at the time, paying $35/mo for data and tethering. Then I switched to AT&T for the iPhone.

I'm trying the Incredible and Verizon now. I hope I don't have to deal with customer service. I love the coverage compared to AT&T, but I never had a problem with customer service at AT&T.

if you want to get anywhere with a phone provider talk to their Customer relations team, not their Customer care team.

with AT&T CRT gets 4 weeks of initial training and then another training class once a week, CC gets like 2 days of initial training and then a sporadic training class thrown in their somewhere. CRT are the people that fix the mistakes of the store reps, CC and practically every other department. talk to them they know what their talking about.

with store reps they depend solely on commission, with CRT they have commission as well, but if you cancel anyways within two months of when they "saved you" it takes it out of their commission then. so yah talk to CRT they get it f'ing right or they get fired pretty soon.

 

[zemerick]

For the concerns about possibly going over ( Ignoring the whole unlimited thing ) Verizon should send you a text if you are on your way to going over text, mins or data so you know to either cut back, fix a problem, etc.

 

[QrafTee]

*facepalm* All this over tethering when you could get it via PDAnet... Interesting indeed.

 

[TheSultan]

1+ for PDANet. As long as you're not downloading gbs of torrent files or streaming Netflix no flags will go up. If they see you've got 40gbs of data transferred in a month, it's obvious you're not using a phone anymore. Stick to email and websurfering and you will be fine as candy.

 

[levele]

I have to agree with OP here, even though Verizon has better 3G coverage, T-Mobile has much better customer service. Too bad their coverage sucked so much.

 

[civicsisedan]

To the OP:

This is what I gathered from Verizon as I talked to in-store rep and CSR on the phone.

They have a $10 tethering plan that Verizon offers but it is if you have the corporate data plan which is like $44.99 a month

Then they have the $25 tethering plan that is for us normal data plan users that cost $29.99 a month

The rep on the phone told me the price differences is to make it an even playing field where tethering and data cost $54.99 a month.

Ridiculous. I chose EasyTether. One time fee of $10 with speeds almost as good as my home cable modem.

Hope that helps with your confusion. But stick with PDAnet or EasyTether, or Tether

 

[true]

vzw customer service makes me want to die.

but ive made this point elsewhere,
would it not be false advertisement to offer an "UNlimited"
data package, then charge Xamount/mb over 5/10/100 gigs?
by definition, that is a LIMIT.

vzw is FULL of inconsistencies, but i dont need some incompetent
rep, in person or over the phone, trying to explain why i got charged
this much OVER A LIMIT, on my UNLIMITED data package.
they tried pulling that same stunt on me, when i went back into the store
to return the phone (for inconsistencies) the rep had the audacity to tell
me "oh, you just asked if you COULD tether it.. not that you wanted the
tethering package.."
idiot. i ended up keeping the phone after i found out about certain apps.

but i would raise hell.



who is vzw to tell me i cant watch youtube constantly, all day, everyday if i wanted to?
or use any other apps that are bandwidth hogs for that matter.
streaming gigs and gigs of data daily.

i also tether.
wont name my app, but its a good one.
[pdanet didnt work for me.]

 

[Kappen]

But it got worse. When I went to cancel my $40/mo service after 10 days... I was very surprised and not happy to receive a $300 bill!!

They had charged me termination fee... even after 10 days! And they used creative accounting on minutes, determining I was only entitled to 1/3 of the plan minutes and therefore any additional minutes were $.40/min.

.

I can't speak for the tethering part of the story but ETFs and Prorated bills are done by all the carriers. I think the only difference is that now most of them give about 10-30 days to return the phone before your contract kicks in.

 

[junkdog8]

I can't speak for the tethering part of the story but ETFs and Prorated bills are done by all the carriers. I think the only difference is that now most of them give about 10-30 days to return the phone before your contract kicks in.

firstly, prorated charges are only if you cancel during the middle of your billing cycle. as to the thirty days, it is called a Buyers Remorse Period, which is, you have thirty days within which you may cancel for any reason without an Early Termination Fee. almost all carriers have this; but some third party phone retailers, or Etailers have their own policies on this. to name a few there is on one Etailers called Wirefly you cannot have more than an half-hours talking time on the phone. Wirefly return policy. as well as their Instant Discounts, where if you do one of several things you could have to pay that discount back.

almost all third party retailers have these stipulations for their "low prices". so always watch out for these as there is usually nothing that the actual phone carrier can do.


PS: do not call into customer care drunk as it can really mess up your account. just saying it is quite annoying.

 

[Mughato]

vzw customer service makes me want to die.

but ive made this point elsewhere,
would it not be false advertisement to offer an "UNlimited"
data package, then charge Xamount/mb over 5/10/100 gigs?
by definition, that is a LIMIT.

vzw is FULL of inconsistencies, but i dont need some incompetent
rep, in person or over the phone, trying to explain why i got charged
this much OVER A LIMIT, on my UNLIMITED data package.
they tried pulling that same stunt on me, when i went back into the store
to return the phone (for inconsistencies) the rep had the audacity to tell
me "oh, you just asked if you COULD tether it.. not that you wanted the
tethering package.."
idiot. i ended up keeping the phone after i found out about certain apps.

but i would raise hell.



who is vzw to tell me i cant watch youtube constantly, all day, everyday if i wanted to?
or use any other apps that are bandwidth hogs for that matter.
streaming gigs and gigs of data daily.

i also tether.
wont name my app, but its a good one.
[pdanet didnt work for me.]

This is one of the many reasons that after 10 years with VZW, I and my 4 line plan will be leaving next month.

 

[c0wboi]

who is vzw to tell me i cant watch youtube constantly, all day, everyday if i wanted to?
or use any other apps that are bandwidth hogs for that matter.
streaming gigs and gigs of data daily.

i also tether.
wont name my app, but its a good one.
[pdanet didnt work for me.]

Who is VZW? It's their network and their towers and their bandwidth you are using. Unlimited is truly unlimited, ON THE HANDSET. Tendering without a plan is a clear violation ofT&Cs. THAT'S why there are charges.

As to why they can restrict usage? They have 92 million custies. One pulling bandwidth will restrict network and call quality. It's just that simple. You (a general you, not the OP you) are no more Important than any other 92 million. Call quality is the most important thing to VZW, ego anything which reduces that is not allowed. Simple really.

People need to realize the whole world is not about them...

 

[dustin_thewind]

hold out for the HTC EVO on Sprint!!!

then get easytether and no worrying about paying for tether..l

 

[hankhenry87]

Who is VZW? It's their network and their towers and their bandwidth you are using. Unlimited is truly unlimited, ON THE HANDSET. Tendering without a plan is a clear violation ofT&Cs. THAT'S why there are charges.

As to why they can restrict usage? They have 92 million custies. One pulling bandwidth will restrict network and call quality. It's just that simple. You (a general you, not the OP you) are no more Important than any other 92 million. Call quality is the most important thing to VZW, ego anything which reduces that is not allowed. Simple really.

People need to realize the whole world is not about them...

I agree that tethering can cause huge network problems. But numerous verizon managers and reps have suggested programs to download so I can tether for free. So it doesnt seem like they care much. Even if they did, its currently only 10 bucks a month to tether so its not even a big deal. I doubt 120 bucks a year is going to add more towers and help with congestion

 

[zenman]

"I suddenly feel like I'm dealing with AT&T"

Dude, Shaquetta was being really polite with you and you turned into a little bitch out of nowhere.

 

[Tonk]

Calm yourself dude. When the phone is successfully rooted you will be able to tether it for free. Don't get your panties in a bunch. The Incredible is an amazing phone and you will regret getting rid of it.

Dont have to wait to root you can tether for free know, PDANet for Android, Have did it for years with Winmo

 

[Brian_83]

I'll step in here and comment.

All three prices you were told, were actually correct in a way. The $15 quoted was if you're on the $44.95 plan. If they quoted that for the $29.99 data plan, they were wrong. On the $29.99 plan it's normally $30. Right now there is however a fairly new promotion going on where you save $5 and it's only $25. So in a way, all the answers you received were correct, a few of them just either didn't know about the changes or you and them were not quite on the same page. No matter how you look at it with a data plan and tethering you're going to pay $59.99, which is the price for a broadband card. That's how it works. Right now with the special you save $5 on that.

 

[itype2slo]

I'll step in here and comment.

All three prices you were told, were actually correct in a way. The $15 quoted was if you're on the $44.95 plan. If they quoted that for the $29.99 data plan, they were wrong. On the $29.99 plan it's normally $30. Right now there is however a fairly new promotion going on where you save $5 and it's only $25. So in a way, all the answers you received were correct, a few of them just either didn't know about the changes or you and them were not quite on the same page. No matter how you look at it with a data plan and tethering you're going to pay $59.99, which is the price for a broadband card. That's how it works. Right now with the special you save $5 on that.

Agreed... Know what you are buying. Do your research. All the information is readily available online probably just like you found the info on the DI. Just because someone makes a mistake does not make Verizon the devil.

 

[Rubik76]

How does this thread never die?