Hello all, new to the forums here and had a few questions for ya'll, if you can't guess I'm from the south. First off I'm finally able to get out of my Sprint/Nextel contract and looking for a new phone/carrier and I've been leaning towards Verizon and the Droid or Eris. I first looked at an iPhone since I've always had an el-cheapo phone and mp3 player and figured this would be a good fit for me. However, since I don't live in a metropolis AT&T doesn't have 3G here so Verizon seemed to be a better fit. US Cellular also has good service here but not 3G and also only really have Blackberries for smart phones to my knowledge. Just a bit of background on my situation. Since I'm leaning towards the Droid I've been looking into where I could buy it from and Walmart, through LetsTalk.com, and Amazon both have it for $19.99 with a new contract, which I will be getting. I'm a bit leary of this though since its still 199.99 after rebates in store. My concern is that if something goes wrong with the phone I won't be able to take it to the Verizon store as I didn't buy it from them. Considering the expensive plan I'll be going with I'm a little worried about having a problem and having to send it back in to through the on-line company I bought it from and waiting for a replacement/fix. Has anyone had any experience buying through these companies and/or having to return anything? I'm also worried of violated the extra stipulations from buying them from a 3rd party and incurring the $250 fee. Any advice on this issue? I've also heard that Verizon has told people that buying it on-line from certain companies like LetsTalk.com voids the warranty, which seems crazy and could just be rumor. I've heard of a few people on here negotiating deals through Verizon and getting credit for the difference between Best Buy's price of $100, $120 last I checked. Anyone had any luck with this? If so any advice on how to accomplish this? I may try to negotiate with the Verizon store here but I doubt I have any luck. I guess I'm pretty set on the Droid, unless anyone has some reasons I should go a different route, but I'm just torn on how I should buy it. If buying it from the Verizon store will ensure better service then maybe I'm better to fork out a 1000% price difference for piece of mind. Sorry if this seems jumbled or hard to understand, think I'm overloaded from all the searching for answers on this. Two year contracts and sizable investments in the phone and plans are stressing me out so any advice is very welcomed please.
If you're close to a Verizon store it may ultimately be your best choice, if you want guaranteed service once you get it. I haven't heard of any warranties being voided just because you bought it from a different retailer. As long as where ever you get it from is an authorized reseller I don't see an issue there. Just know where ever you decide to get it from you also have to return/exchange it there should anything go wrong. Good luck!
I'm not sure as to what happens if something goes wrong with your phone, but the part about voiding the warranty I call BS. Verizon obviously has agreements with these vendors. If they did not, the vendor would not be able to sell you service plans (which they do). The big sticking point AFIK is that if you cancel your Verizon plan before 2 years, you not only have an ETF with Verizon, but you have to pay regular price for the phone (the vendor charges you.) So basically, you have 2 ETFs. I love Verizon and it's service, so I would buy the phone for $20 if it was me. I have no plans to leave Verizon in the next 2 years. After 2 years, LTE / 4G rollouts will be in full swing and or done. I will make a decision then to see if the other companies can get their crap together...
I saw/heard that Verizon was giving away Droids for adding an extra line to your account. I am sure deals can be made for new customer. Check out Verizons web site for deals. Those techs at the store are just middlemen anyways. Verizon will back their products. You have this forum if you need help with question about Droid.
I would consider something else too: do you consider yourself a techie kind of person, or just like things that are more Point And Shoot? I'm finding that phones under Android are fun for people that love to tinker and modify (whether by simply downloading apps that do what you want because the core apps shipped with the phone are barely useable, or by "rooting" the OS to give you gobs of features that they didn't intend to give you). After reading hundreds and hundreds of threads from a bunch of different forums, the general consensus is that you have to look for apps that do what you like. The OS doesn't have a great version built in, and they are relying on other people to write them. But, if you are a Point And Shoot kind of person, or if looking to get one for a less-than-tech savvy friend/relative, I'd look into something that was more idiot-proof than the Android phones are (presently). To 3G or not... well, the results are in (PC World test of 3G networks: AT&T Roars Back in PCWorld?s Second 3G Wireless Performance Test - PCWorld ) andI would not pick Verizon over AT&T just because of 3G availability. In my area, Chicago, Vzw's 3G is kind of spotty. At my office, I am usually seeing my phone switching between 3G and "1x" quite often.
Thank you all for the advice. I was recently at Sam's Club and they have a kiosk in the store with phones and have the droid for $99. Not sure how much help they would be in case of having trouble with my phone but it would feel better being able to talk to someone in that case. I may still try to talk the guy down at the Verizon store or to someone over the phone at Verizon and see if they will match the price. I'm not confident about the salesman at the store coming off his price but maybe someone at Verizon will give me a credit to my account to match the price. To tjoebjen, the article does seems promising for the near future, but the problem is that they currently have no 3g service in my area. Right now they only have Edge service here because their 3g is only in the metropolitan areas. I usually consider myself a tech savvy person, but not to the point of messing with the operating system. However, I have great faith in the community to produce quality apps in a more open setting than the iPhone community. Again thank you for the responses.
I just made the switch from a Blackberry Curve 2 to the Droid. Build quality on the Curve 2 was awful. The phone was literally falling apart after 3 weeks of ownership. I can't speak for the Droid, as I only have limited hands-on experience. From what I've seen so far, it seems like a solid phone. I don't think the apps are "unusable." I think it's fine the way it is out of the box. Granted, if you want to have a little "more fun", then yes, of course apps needs to be downloaded, or even rooted. Coming from a non-touch screen phone, getting use to the touch screen keyboard will be tricky, but I'm glad I made the switch. I get it on Tuesday, will keep you updated. In regards to the warrenty, I think if you do not buy it from a Verizon store, and something goes wrong, you cannot take it directly to a local store and have it replaced/repaired. You'd have to go via phone support. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is what I heard.
Anyone had any experience buying from a 3rd party? How about if something went wrong, what did you have to do? Could you get any support from the Verizon store? I'm going to talk to the guy at the Sam's Club kiosk and see if they offer any, not sure how honest he'll be but I'll keep my fingers crossed.
Got restless and went ahead and bought it from the Verizon store. Now I get to figure it all out. Going to be searching the forums for some new user guides now and will be up all night . If anyone has some advice or links I'd still welcome it!
if you have obscure questions, feel free to ask, but a lot of it has been answered we are here to help
Looking forward to it, just so much to do...trying to figure out where to start. Plus I've switched to a new carrier so a lot to do with that as well.
