I feel really unhappy about my smart phone options right now
I'm exasperated about my smart phone options right now. At CES 2010, Palm announced the Pre Plus as a Verizon exclusive.
I want to leave Verizon for a variety of reasons. They are a very expensive service provider, and they seem to be the absolute worst of the major carriers in terms of their history of poor ethical conduct. It isn't just the "accidental" Internet fees and them essentially telling the FCC to go take a long walk off a short pier, or the doubled cancellation fees for smartphones. They have a history of shady practices (see below):
Additionally, they were one of the companies that just rolled over and said, "How high?" when the Bush administration said, "Jump!" regarding their request for handing over consumers' voice and data information. I'm sure there are numerous other activities in which the company has engaged of which I would disapprove, however, the reasons listed above are more than enough incentive for me to migrate.
So, no Verizon.
I don't want to move to AT&T. They were just as bad on the aforementioned wiretapping issue, they were poorly ranked by JD Power, and, while they are supposed to be getting Web OS devices in 2010 (yep, the CES announcement was that vague), they don't have them now, and I don't want an iPhone.
T-Mobile's coverage sucks. My sister and BiL use them, and they often lose connection when they go home to visit my parents in SC. They don't have any WebOS phones at the time of this writing, either, so they're definitely not a candidate.
Of the majors, that leaves Sprint.
However, they no longer have the newest Pre model, so I'd be stuck getting an outdated version, or ... waiting. Again. Longer.
In short, despite finally being free from my Verizon contract, I have no good options right now. None. Zilcho. Zero. Zip.
I am not happy about this.
I want to leave Verizon for a variety of reasons. They are a very expensive service provider, and they seem to be the absolute worst of the major carriers in terms of their history of poor ethical conduct. It isn't just the "accidental" Internet fees and them essentially telling the FCC to go take a long walk off a short pier, or the doubled cancellation fees for smartphones. They have a history of shady practices (see below):
- Verizon's shady CPNI policy, covered here. I'm a customer, and I would never have known about this were it not for the New York Times. There was no visible notification. I refuse to support a company that engages in such unethical activities.
- The addition of advertising to Mobile Web in the midst of my contract. There were no ads when I signed up, yet I'm still paying the same fee. Again, no notice from the company on this. They've done something similar recently to their smartphone users with Bing. They made an exclusive deal with Microsoft, and now BlackBerry users on Verizon's network have lost options for other browsers on their Start and Go to pages. In other words, Verizon can change things on you at any time with no notice, and you're still stuck in your contract without recourse. More here.
- Verizon has a history of crippling their phones, such as their past treatment of Bluetooth. I will be exceedingly surprised if Pre Plus users don't have to pay extra for VZ Navigator, Verizon's GPS app. Sprint's GPS app is far superior and comes bundled in their Everything plans.
- Neither my friends nor family members are on Verizon now (several were when we started), so I get no benefit from calling in-network.
- I am sick of paying way too much. Were we to go with Sprint, we could get two Pres with full data access for less than we are paying now for one Palm with slow web access and one "dumb" LG on Verizon.
- Verizon's anti-competitive practices in Pennsylvania.
Additionally, they were one of the companies that just rolled over and said, "How high?" when the Bush administration said, "Jump!" regarding their request for handing over consumers' voice and data information. I'm sure there are numerous other activities in which the company has engaged of which I would disapprove, however, the reasons listed above are more than enough incentive for me to migrate.
So, no Verizon.
I don't want to move to AT&T. They were just as bad on the aforementioned wiretapping issue, they were poorly ranked by JD Power, and, while they are supposed to be getting Web OS devices in 2010 (yep, the CES announcement was that vague), they don't have them now, and I don't want an iPhone.
T-Mobile's coverage sucks. My sister and BiL use them, and they often lose connection when they go home to visit my parents in SC. They don't have any WebOS phones at the time of this writing, either, so they're definitely not a candidate.
Of the majors, that leaves Sprint.
However, they no longer have the newest Pre model, so I'd be stuck getting an outdated version, or ... waiting. Again. Longer.
In short, despite finally being free from my Verizon contract, I have no good options right now. None. Zilcho. Zero. Zip.
I am not happy about this.