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Verizon $30 fee -- please sign petition

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I got myself and I know of three other people to sign this. ;)

I wonder (Scratches head), if in people's minds if this sort of thing justifies screwing them right back???

Ah, I'll be pretty much threw the internet at some point in the future anyways, I just don't know when! lol

Long as we keep buying from big business they'll keep selling and creating fees. Like the one poster said, they corner you. Verizon is the last man standing with my connection to the web...
 
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Regarding their justification for the fee, I don't know anyone who attends the wireless workshops, uses the online educational tools, or consults with their so-called experts. If Verizon Wireless truly believes these services really are valuable to some, and their cost cannot be absorbed as a cost of doing business, they should charge separate fees for these services. I suspect Verizon will quickly learn how little value their customers place on these services.
 
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Regarding their justification for the fee, I don't know anyone who attends the wireless workshops, uses the online educational tools, or consults with their so-called experts. If Verizon Wireless truly believes these services really are valuable to some, and their cost cannot be absorbed as a cost of doing business, they should charge separate fees for these services. I suspect Verizon will quickly learn how little value their customers place on these services.

While I agree with this - I suspect I know quite a bit more, if not at least as much (probably a lot more), about Android as anybody who teaches these workshops - the only issue with fighting these fees is that, if successful, Verizon will just figure out a way to bump up the cost of their monthly service costs to pay for this crap, and when you multiply the change by 20 months you'll probably end up paying more for it monthly.

It's a bit sad that within 15 months a loyalty discount has turned into an upgrade fee. That said, all of the other postpaid carriers charge an upgrade fee as well. Maybe I'll just jump carriers from now on when the contract is up? Or switch to ting.com and hope that Sprint's service gets better where I live?
 
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Signed. If anything can get me to switch away from Verizon, this is it. Verizon may have better coverage, but when someone doesn't travel a lot, that's not much of a concern. And considering we can keep our phone numbers these days, that's no reason to be tied into one service either.

The reasoning that "well all the other companies do it" is not a good reason. Reeminds me of all the times my mother said "If all your friends were (insert stupid thing here) would you do it too?". The fact that most other companies do it just means that it seems most of the companies no longer want repeat customers.

I read the article on Android Community. I find it funny that they use the free "workshops" as an example of why they need this fee. I went to one of the Android workshops right after I got my Bionic. Not only did they not really get into much more than how to add in a photo into a contact's details, but more than half the "class" was them pushing their accessories. So they want to charge a fee to subsidize their advertising? I guess soon Verizon will go to whatever TV network and ask the network to pay them to place their ad on TV.
 
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I''ll think about switching to any carrier who charges an up-front upgrade fee in exchange for a definitive, monthly in-contract charge for the phone subsidy that gets waived at the end of contract, or if you buy the handset at full price. I think T-Mo may actually do that, but their service stinks around here, so there's that...
 
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I''ll think about switching to any carrier who charges an up-front upgrade fee in exchange for a definitive, monthly in-contract charge for the phone subsidy that gets waived at the end of contract, or if you buy the handset at full price. I think T-Mo may actually do that, but their service stinks around here, so there's that...
That's probably the thinking of these carriers who do this. Discourage upgrades, thus people stay on older phones while still paying the rate that has the built in subsidy for it. Still not smart on their end.

All this is likely to do is make consumers switch carriers every time their contract is up. Of course it's also possible that the carriers know this and are willing to do it knowing the eventually someone will cycle back around to them. While they may lose some, they will also gain some since new customers don't have to pay the loyalty fee.
 
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I don't mind fees if, as a consumer, I feel that the fee is going for improved services -- have never felt that about VZW. Seems the service has gone downhill over the past few years. Corporation more interested in selling hand sets and new accounts than improving its infrastructure for existing customers. How many times do we have no service/slow service? Especially those that jumped for 4G -- what a joke. Consumers need to mount an offensive and let their voices be heard. I gave up my Verizon home phone so I could afford the cell bill. That savings has already been gobbled up. Maybe it's time for a new carrier to break into the market.
 
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I don't mind fees if, as a consumer, I feel that the fee is going for improved services -- have never felt that about VZW. Seems the service has gone downhill over the past few years. Corporation more interested in selling hand sets and new accounts than improving its infrastructure for existing customers. How many times do we have no service/slow service? Especially those that jumped for 4G -- what a joke. Consumers need to mount an offensive and let their voices be heard. I gave up my Verizon home phone so I could afford the cell bill. That savings has already been gobbled up. Maybe it's time for a new carrier to break into the market.

Oh I completely agree. Recently I really became disillusioned with Verizon over the whole mobile hotspot fee though they do absolutely nothing to earn it. None of their resources are even used.

Now to go as Doogald put it, from a loyalty discount to a loyalty penalty seems very ridiculous. Why penalize long term customers? It's almost as if Verizon is saying they don't want anyone to stay with them past 1 contract term.
 
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I don't mind fees if, as a consumer, I feel that the fee is going for improved services -- have never felt that about VZW. Seems the service has gone downhill over the past few years. Corporation more interested in selling hand sets and new accounts than improving its infrastructure for existing customers. How many times do we have no service/slow service? Especially those that jumped for 4G -- what a joke. Consumers need to mount an offensive and let their voices be heard. I gave up my Verizon home phone so I could afford the cell bill. That savings has already been gobbled up. Maybe it's time for a new carrier to break into the market.

I cannot agree with this at all. Verizon clearly spends a lot on infrastructure - they have the best 3G coverage, and best LTE coverage, than anybody else in the US. LTE is very, very new and seems to be rolled out faster on VZW than VZW rolled out EVDO/3G ten years ago or so.

If there is a company that seems to have squandered their network, it is AT&T. Have we all forgotten how terrible AT&T has been in major cities since the iPhone was released (particularly the 3G)? I guess that things are better for them, finally, but it sure took a long time.

This article is a couple of years old: Verizon Leads Att By Billions In Infrastructure Spending - Companies & Execs - Portfolio.com but this one is relatively new, and talks about massive investment in infrastructure by VZW in California: Verizon Wireless invested around $730 million in California | BroadbandExpert

I think that the explanation of providing workshop services, etc., is a smokescreen. I think the truth is that LTE expansion is expensive, the market is becoming both more competitive (so pricing cannot be easily raised) and there is more data being used and fewer talk minutes, and the data is more expensive to service but a smaller monthly revenue for the carriers. The upgrade fee is a way to raise prices without making it look like you are raising prices, and it amounts to about $1.50 a month over the life of the contract (assuming most people upgrade smartphones as soon as they can - every 20 months.)
 
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I cannot agree with this at all. Verizon clearly spends a lot on infrastructure - they have the best 3G coverage, and best LTE coverage, than anybody else in the US. LTE is very, very new and seems to be rolled out faster on VZW than VZW rolled out EVDO/3G ten years ago or so.

If there is a company that seems to have squandered their network, it is AT&T. Have we all forgotten how terrible AT&T has been in major cities since the iPhone was released (particularly the 3G)? I guess that things are better for them, finally, but it sure took a long time.

This article is a couple of years old: Verizon Leads Att By Billions In Infrastructure Spending - Companies & Execs - Portfolio.com but this one is relatively new, and talks about massive investment in infrastructure by VZW in California: Verizon Wireless invested around $730 million in California | BroadbandExpert

I think that the explanation of providing workshop services, etc., is a smokescreen. I think the truth is that LTE expansion is expensive, the market is becoming both more competitive (so pricing cannot be easily raised) and there is more data being used and fewer talk minutes, and the data is more expensive to service but a smaller monthly revenue for the carriers. The upgrade fee is a way to raise prices without making it look like you are raising prices, and it amounts to about $1.50 a month over the life of the contract (assuming most people upgrade smartphones as soon as they can - every 20 months.)

I agree with Verizon having a good quality network, but it seems clear Verizon does not want people to upgrade when they become elegible but keep paying that same monthly phone plan that has the built in subsidy in it which means more money for them if someone does not upgrade.

The only problem with this is, I know I won't be staying with Verizon if this fee is in place in a year and a half. I will go to another carrier that actually seems to respect me as a consumer. I don't think the constant traveler is the vast majority of their customer base. How good Verizon compared to say Sprint doesn't matter to me if I don't go to the Wilderness. I have a feeling a lot more people will not look at how much area Verizon covers and only start looking at the places they go to and see if competitors work there.
 
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if you actually go into a verizon store to buy a phone then you deserve to get reamed with extra charges.....there are plenty of online dealers that sell verizon phones for much less than the store charges

Costco has great deals, a 90 day money-back return policy, price adjustment, and free accessories. wish I bought my phone there as well as my wife's...
 
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What VZW should have done is not create this upgrade charge and just increased the price of the new phones when you upgrade by $30. Instead of paying $199 for phone pay $229. They've been doing this anyhow. A few years ago you would get your new phone for free. Then as phones started getting better you started paying more. You've been paying the fee for years, they're just doing it differently now. And it's the same with all carriers not just VZW.
 
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