That's cool you found something that worked out for you. Bravo for articulating it well. The state of things on the wireless front is indeed fraught with lots of problems, however. We're the first leg into a whole new battle for the hearts and minds of users. It's hilarious. Lots of people criticised Apple for not releasing its plans earlier, yet I can tell you for certain why they didn't. Verizon carefully constructed a "battle plan" against iDay, that included a laundry list of responses to iPhone's positioning. More time equaled more competition. In response to the iPhone, people have also been saying that if you just wave around the name, and suggest that you may even break your contract (and pay the fee) that mobile carriers have been wiling to even halve your monthly fees and throw in tons of goodies. It's funny.
The serious note I'm struck by, is how little people have compared existing plans across networks. Consumer advocates are only NOW starting to really feel the injustice of manufacturers that establish exclusivity deals with one network (as if this never happened before), and yet people keep staring at the microcosm and TOTALLY missing the big picture.
MY LOOK
I decided to go check this out and kick the tires.
Apple has presented a UNIVERSAL big picture plan. An unmoving target.
http://www.apple.com/iphone/easysetup/rateplans.html
All of these other cell phone networks continue to juggle and bob and weave. I just looked at Verizon and saw the deal that you mention (after entering my zipcode, which confirms I qualify, for now).
"The new chocolate by LG, Sweeter than ever." Includes 4GB memory and Bluetooth stereo headset. $249.99. Then it adds,
"after $50 online discount, and new 2 yr activation". Free shipping with online orders. Great. A 2G Chocolate was also available at $150. The data plan looks like its $59 per month. Which includes the following:
They note that the
"music essentials" kit that you're getting is retail priced at
$199, which includes the 4GB Memory card, Bluetooth Stereo Headset, USB Cable, and Music Software. So, things look like they're pretty good. I scroll down and they look even nicer. Apparently $59 is the 900 minutes plan, includes Unlimited Nights and Weekends (9pm-6am). Then I see the "VCAST" feature. While the phone FULLY SUPPORTS it, it appears clear that the $59/mo. service DOES NOT INCLUDE the VCAST VPack. Verizon describes declining Vpak with the following paragraph:
Sounds like a friend of mine. Without a data plan, he tried to send a movie to his girlfriend once and it end up costing him $10. So, I juggle the plan abit... I set the minutes at 450 (like my iPhone plan, but marked at $39.99) and keep the VCAST on (for dear life). The adjustment sets that plan at 450 minutes, put without anything like rollover minutes, that's not a whole lot (though like AT&T it appears Verizon calls its included mobile-to-mobile "IN" calling).
Activation fees are $35 per line, and early termination is $175 per line (possibly MORE for business users). They rattle off all the regulatory charges and other fees very clearly in the additional information block.
After taking too long to choose however, the page timeouts for the second time, but this time, I can't seem to pull the deal back up again. I search around Verizon's website, and it no longer appears. Going into their standard phone area shows me the same Chocalate phones, for $150. Selecting one, the price then shows at $99 after online discount. I add back in the Music Essentials Kit, with 4GB at $199 - $50 online discount ($149). It it sounds like its back to the $249 deal I saw earlier. --Except that now my plan is $74.95 for the same 450 minutes I'd had earlier! I click around to attempt to change options, but it looks like they're dead set on ONLY showing me $59.99 for 450 minutes, instead of the previous deal.
Annoyed, I decide to duck my current "session" and Firefox, and login under another browser entirely. I fire up Internet Explorer and hit the following URL again:
http://www.verizonwireless.com/
There's the deal again! On the homepage. I click it. Once again, I can subtract $20, for going with 450 minutes and add the VPak for $15, so that I'm not paying for EACH and EVERY text message.
Backing up and confident that I have a path that will work again (even if I need to change computers), I decide to go check out the features.
http://getitnow.vzwshop.com/index.aspx?id=fnd&lid=//global//features+and+downloads
- Ringtones - Standard fare.
- Video Clips - Sports, news and weather information. Seems useful.
- Ringback Tones - Let callers hear your ringtones. Nice idea.
- Mobile TV - It's not "real tv", but its good. For now, its CBS mobile, Comedy Central mobile, ESPN mobile, Fox Mobile, mTV, NBC2G,NBC news 2GO, Nickelodean. A very nice limited selection, but some great stuff. Colbert Report, South Park, Chappelle's Show, 60 minutes, Jericho, Late Night... on and on. Definitely a lot of content to have popping in on your phone in any case. The broadcasting is done to a schedule, and its not clear if any of it is "on demand". I'm assuming not.
- Music - Some nice featured artists and solid features. Looks like a great way to explore and manage music. doesn't look "iPod" nice, but it seems useable.
- Mobile Web & Email - Unfortunately, nothing I'd want on a screen size this small, without a qwerty keyboard (even a virtual one).
- Games - Looks like some solid mobile games are available. Some 3D, others just well known like Monopoly. Crummy screen-size, but solid games.
- Tools & Applications - Most of these looked like the same garbagey mobile lobotomies I always saw. I decided to zip right to VW Navigator, which Anthony mentioned. It confirms "FREE with Amer. Choice Premium Plan", and the right phone, but otherwise $2.99/1 day purchase, or $9.99 monthly. Verizon has a demo page here. It looks nice to do everything from the GPS location, but the interface, as can be expected looks very sucky to me. Claustrophobic and requiring too many button clicks and too much thinking to enter information and read it boxed up and truncated.
- Wallpapers - Seems to be some nice functionality and preset galleries available online.
At the end of the day however... I've decided I've HAD IT with small-screened, lame-ass phones like the LG Chocolate. I don't want to need a separate PDA, so I look into what Verizon can cut me on something like the new Treo 700wx. $399 after $100 online discount. Not bad. Here it is again though. The PLANS. Now, 450 minutes is going to cost me $79.99. It's suddenly jumped $20 for a standard plan. For 900 minutes, its $99. I begin to check details... 15 cents for each message received and/or sent on text messaging. Across the top it says "Email", another tab says "Email & Messaging", and I click on that. I now have NEW options that include UNLIMITED messaging. Great! Only the 450 minute starts at $99. 900 minutes is up to $119. Wow. My iPhone plan is $59 for 450/200 minutes and $79 for 900/unlimited.
Instead of $79, Verizon would charge me $119.99 (clears throat) PER MONTH!!! All of these plans on Verizon include the following:
I switch tracks... I see a Moto Q is also on the menu. How's that go? $229 after $100 online discount, and afterwards, a $50 mail-in rebate. Cool. 450 minutes start at $79 (+$20 than my iPhone plan), and they recommend a $109 per month plan for 1350. Curiously, the included features change:
Where'd "Unlimited Text, Picture, Video & Instant Messaging" go? How odd... I guess that must be "limited" on these Q plans. I back out and choose a Verizon Wireless XV6700, running Windows Mobile. It's $299 after online discount of $100. Same deal as the Motorola. I look at the omission again. Hang on... not just picture and video and instant messaging is gone... but TEXTing too? Not unlimited? So... somehow "text messaging" isn't unlimited on Smartphone plans, its likely PER text again. How under-handed. Nasty, nasty.
It's with a slow, dawning comprehension however, that I realize all the great VCAST features I'd been looking at earlier, aren't in the slightest way available on one of these PDA phones like the Treo or Blackberry. Only the "smallscreen" phones that have driven me nuts for years, offering limited features, and little of the FUN of truly browsing the REAL Internet.
If you really just need a phone with neat "suped-up" features... it sounds like Verizon has some excellent, and somewhat competitive options. If you want something with a larger screen, and more flexibility and freedom, like a PDA or Smartphone... Verizon is a HUGE up-charge in pricing and not much to offer in VALUE, and all the extra CONTENT features of the network go away, except the fast EV-DO speed. Bum-MER.
Again, Anthony... good luck. After looking through all this... the iPhone is definitely MUCH much much much MUCH better for people like me, who really like the idea of having a REAL Internet browser anywhere I go, and full-scale applications that aren't like I'm eating a full course dinner through a straw. I sit my iPhone next to be desk cycling pictures, which look GORGEOUS. Looks like there are some "OK" music playing features in there, but for the most part, they're no where near as flexible in the full RANGE of available titles on iTunes/Audible for music and audiobooks (unless you're willing to go back to CDs).
I mean... really. After this little trip, I'm astonished by what people still consider valuable. I'm not going to compromise big-screen REAL apps and media for the mini-screen again, even if the damn thing can raise the dead. It's nice that people have the option though.
If Verizon can get me a Blackberry Curve, Motorola Q, Treo 700, or iPhone with UNLIMITED Internet at something approaching $59-$79, we'll certainly be in the ballpark of reasonable. Anything higher sounds like its on crack to me.
~ CB
