Gizmodo
Verizon has to be the most bipolar telecom in the US. It's got a great network but won't let anything on it. Its got decent phones, but a lot of 'em are disfigured with that red-stained standardized interface. It was against open networks but now it is all about them. Grading Verizon for the year is hard, like a student who slacks all year then aces the finals on the last day of class.
Verizon's smoking final exam score is its sudden, totally stunning turn to the Light Side of the Force, publicly embracing an "any app, any device" open network as the One True Path. It's like Vader turning at the end of Jedi. Or the Emperor, even. To continuing abusing the SW metaphors, Palpatine only wishes he could've gripped the galaxy as tightly as Verizon gripped its network. The only catch we know of so far is that its own handsets may well continue to be locked tight, but overall it was a huge—possibly the best—twist ending of the year.
We've still gotta dock them for bitterly and persistently trying to mow down the open access provisions Google got the FCC to put in place for the 700MHz auction. It sorta makes us wonder if we're seeing Verizon's Senator Palpatine act. Then again, it did kiss and make up with the Goog, and is going with a more open standard for its 4G network, one that will be shared with (get this!) GSM carriers in the US and abroad.
Speaking of "the network" (sorry), it's been a pretty good one for users. On the mobile front, Verizon upgraded every city to EV-DO Rev. A,which in English means can download stuff over the air fast if you've got the coverage (1.4Mbps, or 8 secs for a 1MB file). We're not down with the flippy-floppiness about data caps though. V CAST Mobile TV also debuted, though the Giz jury is still out on the whole mobile TV concept.
It's easy to forget Verizon is also the provider of landline and broadband services, but on that front, it's done well too. Its FiOS network kept getting more awesome (read: faster) and we got assurances it would just keep making us cable users more and more murderously jealous. Not only did the carrier roll out a torrent-tastic 20Mbps down/20Mbps up symmetrical plan, they brought it to the whole network and offered their speediest service yet, 50Mbps downstream, creeping us ever closer to true Godzilla bandwidth. Negative points: It's probably still not coming to your house.
AT&T may have the iPhone, and there might not be an iPhone killer in sight, but Verizon still has a (usually)solid lineup of gear. More importantly, the phones work well all over the place, so the carrier continues to win JD Power & Associate customer satisfaction awards, soundly beating other networks (*cough*AT&T*cough*Sprint*cough*). We still grimace at the unsightly Verizon standard interface appearing on all too many phones, though openness is the answer. Even now, the Verizon phones we most love don't have a Verizon interface.
The carrier's formerly deathlock contracts are now less constricting, a big win for customer satisfaction, but there's still plenty of reasons to piss and moan about the some aspects of customer service.
Verizon was also a willing hand in the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program, turning over untold amounts of data to help the government spy on Americans. Big thumbs down, even if they probably aren't going to get spanked for it.
Final grade: B- Overall, Verizon can be a mixed bag, but (and it's a pretty big "but") if its moves to be more open are truly in earnest, the carrier might lead the mobile industry down a much more interesting path than it looked to be on even just a few months ago.
Comments
I don't care what anybody says, they should have accepted the iphone offer.
When I canceled my contract with them I was (almost) pleasantly surprised with a $120 early term penalty, as opposed the $175 I was expecting. The guy that owns the store near me was surprised too.
I guess they're not ALL evil?
Gotta go with a "C" straight up. If they hadn't announced the "open network" deal last month, they would have gotten a D.
This is coming from a VZW customer.
I did, however, get an offer for $80 credit if I upped my contract when I went over my bill $150 last month. I thought that was nice and thoughtful.
C+ maybe.
Damn phones work everywhere. Been in metal offices where my coworkers' Sprint and AT&T phones have no signal(can't even send a text), and lo and behold I get a phone call.
I agree with docking them points for the interface, it sucks. But I just want a reliable phone, and they give you that.
They have the better network on the east coast for sure. I dropped them for an iPhone. Never dropped a call or didn't have signal on VZW. I don't get signal in my office inside a glass building with ATT.
@s017jrs: A VZW guy explained to me yesterday that they are deducting $5 from the early termination fee every month you have the service.
Isn't the shiny new open network rules just pre-empting the forced open network rules that the upcoming spectrum auction will have?
Meanwhile, it's Fs all around for their eagerness to help the feds wiretap without warrants. Here's hoping they'll do some hard time in federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison for the felonies they committed. They shouldn't get immunity any more than OJ should.
Are you effing kidding me.. besides the fact that this entire report card thing is retarded.. you give verizon a b-, on account that they claim they want to go open source... the most closed cell company there is.. could this have anything to do with the fact that i've commonly seen them sponsor you.. get your nose out companies asses and give them the rating they deserve.. verizon deserves no better than a c at best.. in my book, an f.. Ill never use their services again.. for good reasons.. but mainly.. because they're partially government owned.
I give them a D. The only reason they don't get an F from me is because the wireless coverage is very good. It's the ONLY reason I stay with them
@Architeuthis:
That must be the number of months in your current contract. I've been with them for the better part of a decade.
Another tick against them has got to be the speed with which they roll out new phones (or lack thereof). Sprint, ATT, and TMobile all had their HTC equivalent of the XV6800 months before ATT rolled out their first WM6 phone (October.)
They have the network, but that can only last so long.
Their service is far better than any I have had experience with on other providers, which gives them an A. The whole wiretapping thing which is somehow for our protection, yeah, not cool.
I agree with the Giz. score.
...I'm very against the government prying into the lives of the citizens ("it's for our protection, not to spy on us"). Cameras, wiretapping, etc. It all needs to be stopped.
@BostonPimpDaddy: Not sure that makes sense. You give a wireless phone carrier a D because they only get "very good" reception? Huh?
although an iphone would be amazing, i care more about the reception than the phones...that's why verizon keeps me happy...as opposed to my other friends who switched to at&t for the iphone and found out they always get dropped calls and people can't hear what they're saying.
@berribrand: Yes, he's mad because he is almost guaranteed to have coverage.
@berribrand:
Yes because
#1 Their phones SUCK
#2 Their plans SUCK
#3 They cripple their phones
#4 Their OS system in the phones suck
Shall I go on?
As of yesterday, my address became eligible for FioS. So I'm going to try and order it as soon as I get some information on Apple compatibility. I heard you have to use their router, which I think is BS.
Umm... you all do know this wasn't just VZW, right? It was Verizon entirely. FiOS is more than enough to bring them up some.
That said, as somebody who has VZW and is going to get FiOS shortly, they deserve a C, C+ tops. The phones don't (BostonPimpDaddy's fervent hatred notwithstanding)The plans are expensive when compared to Sprint, but you need that many minutes with Sprint because of all the dropped calls and time you're going to spend saying "What? What did you say?"
The Bluetooth crippling is a major strike against VZW (and rightfully so), as is the shitacular OS.
Verizon = PMS of the cell phone industry.LOL get it?
They may be open. Their new open policy is like having Bluetooth phones that you can't use the Bluetooth to actually do anything useful?
But for their exorbitant charges for plans, they get a D- from me.
It is a Government mandate that is allowing Verizon Wireless to entertain the use of 'any app', any phone'. Everyone is a freakin critic!!!
I'm like a battered spouse when it comes to VZW. I just can't bring myself to leave it because the network really is that much better than the competition. But how about cutting me some slack on getting better phones out more quickly?
@SirNirian: No, I don't.
Give Verizon an F- for suing the snot out of Vonage.
And another one for blocking me from moving my own pictures and ringtones to and from my PC over the cable that I bought from them.
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