Verizon is just buying stuff!!

[jamezr]

Verizon just bought Engadget and Tech Crunch and AOL


https://twitter.com/verge/status/598116861973233664


http://www.talkandroid.com/248306-v...Android+-+Android+News,+Rumours,+and+Updates)

 

[I7guy]

I'm sure it will hit the front page at some point.

 

[nviz22]

You've got Verizon Fios Mail?

 

[Robisan]

Now, if they would just buy a 4g tower to service the main shopping streets of my neighborhood in metro Los Angeles County...

 

[gotluck]

some surprising purchases, I wonder what their plans are

 

[lazard]

They're doing what pretty much every tech company is doing now, expanding their "internet of things"

 

[jamezr]

They're doing what pretty much every tech company is doing now, expanding their "internet of things"

yep seems that way. After all the dust settles i wonder about reviews coming from Engadget and TechCrunch for anything concerning VZW. Can they stay impartial?

 

[gibbz]

Since AOL owns those media companies, there is talk that AOL will spinoff some of its media branches as part of the Verizon acquisition to avoid any conflicts.

 

[MasterRyu2011]

some surprising purchases, I wonder what their plans are

I think it's more or less just one purchase. Verizon is buying AOL; AOL just happens to be the parent company of Tech Crunch and Engadget.

 

[Lloydbm41]

All I know is, if Verizon owns it, I won't use it. Verizon is a complete and utter bag of sh.... of a company.

 

[gotluck]

I think it's more or less just one purchase. Verizon is buying AOL; AOL just happens to be the parent company of Tech Crunch and Engadget.

yah indeed, i r not read good

 

[C DM]

All I know is, if Verizon owns it, I won't use it. Verizon is a complete and utter bag of sh.... of a company.

How so? Realistically any company, and especially big ones, and in particular those that provide ongoing services to people, will have a group that dislikes them for all kinds of reasons.

 

[Lloydbm41]

How so? Realistically any company, and especially big ones, and in particular those that provide ongoing services to people, will have a group that dislikes them for all kinds of reasons.

Let me list just a few reasons why Verizon is the worst carrier in the nation:

1. Buy exclusivity for phone like the Lumia Icon, then abandon the phone 7 months later and still prevent the sale of the phone to other carriers. Link: http://www.phonearena.com/news/We-hardly-knew-ye-Verizon-retires-the-Lumia-Icon-seven-months-after-launch_id61567

2. Block activation to LTE tablets (Nexus 7) in order to push out their own 7" craptastic tablet. Link: http://www.extremetech.com/mobile/166763-verizon-pleads-incompetence-skirts-illegality-by-refusing-to-activate-nexus-7-on-its-lte-network

3. Part of the coalition to block Google Wallet for over 3 years while they screwed up ISIS aka SoftCard or whatever it was called. An epic failure from the beginning. They also forced their employees to use ISIS in an attmept to get traction.

4. Verizon illegally blocked the use of 700mhz spectrum that was specifically slotted by the FCC for use by any interested parties.

5. Having a CFO say this at the latest earnings call, shows that customers needs and wants aren't a priority to Verizon, just their money:
"If the customer who is just price-sensitive and does not care about the quality of the network—or is sufficient with just paying a lower price—that’s probably the customer we’re not going to be able to keep,” he said in the company’s quarterly earnings call"

6. Customer service is rated the worst for a reason. In person or on a call, these guys make it seems like you are just there to bother them. Once Verizon starts losing more and more customers to the likes of T-Mobile, consider the customer always wrong.

 

[C DM]

Let me list just a few reasons why Verizon is the worst carrier in the nation:

1. Buy exclusivity for phone like the Lumia Icon, then abandon the phone 7 months later and still prevent the sale of the phone to other carriers. Link: http://www.phonearena.com/news/We-hardly-knew-ye-Verizon-retires-the-Lumia-Icon-seven-months-after-launch_id61567

2. Block activation to LTE tablets (Nexus 7) in order to push out their own 7" craptastic tablet. Link: http://www.extremetech.com/mobile/166763-verizon-pleads-incompetence-skirts-illegality-by-refusing-to-activate-nexus-7-on-its-lte-network

3. Part of the coalition to block Google Wallet for over 3 years while they screwed up ISIS aka SoftCard or whatever it was called. An epic failure from the beginning. They also forced their employees to use ISIS in an attmept to get traction.

4. Verizon illegally blocked the use of 700mhz spectrum that was specifically slotted by the FCC for use by any interested parties.

5. Having a CFO say this at the latest earnings call, shows that customers needs and wants aren't a priority to Verizon, just their money:
"If the customer who is just price-sensitive and does not care about the quality of the network—or is sufficient with just paying a lower price—that’s probably the customer we’re not going to be able to keep,” he said in the company’s quarterly earnings call"

6. Customer service is rated the worst for a reason. In person or on a call, these guys make it seems like you are just there to bother them. Once Verizon starts losing more and more customers to the likes of T-Mobile, consider the customer always wrong.

So basically mostly the "dirty tricks" that most companies (in particular large ones) engage in and have been forever. Of course that's not to say it's good or right, but realistically there isn't a large company out there that hasn't been pulling one thing or another here or there (otherwise they simply wouldn't stay in business, given that the whole business ecosystem, similar to the political ecosystem, unfortunately, runs like that).

 

[Lloydbm41]

So basically mostly the "dirty tricks" that most companies (in particular large ones) engage in and have been forever. Of course that's not to say it's good or right, but realistically there isn't a large company out there that hasn't been pulling one thing or another here or there (otherwise they simply wouldn't stay in business, given that the whole business ecosystem, similar to the political ecosystem, unfortunately, runs like that).

Being under investigation by the FCC for illegal activity isn't usually a staple for most companies business model, nor would I consider it common practice by many companies. Verizon meanwhile has been under FCC investigation at least 3 times in the last 5 years for cramming charges into customers bills, for privacy issues related to supercookies, and for failing to meet obligations set forth in spectrum auctions.

 

[C DM]

Being under investigation by the FCC for illegal activity isn't usually a staple for most companies business model, nor would I consider it common practice by many companies. Verizon meanwhile has been under FCC investigation at least 3 times in the last 5 years for cramming charges into customers bills, for privacy issues related to supercookies, and for failing to meet obligations set forth in spectrum auctions.

And AT&T has been broken up by government regulations because of all kinds of things. Companies like Google or Microsoft have been investigated many times in various parts of the world for all kinds of things. Many more similar examples. As a consumer, I agree that it's not good, and would love for things to be better, but at the same time I also understand that reality is reality and unless there's a whole huge change on a sociological type of level made throughout the world basically, things will pretty much be like that in one way or another, as they have been throughout history.

That said, some companies/people can certainly be worse than others in various ways and for different people. So of course everyone can decide for themselves who they want to be involved with or not.

 

[Lloydbm41]

And AT&T has been broken up by government regulations because of all kinds of things. Companies like Google or Microsoft have been investigated many times in various parts of the world for all kinds of things. Many more similar examples. As a consumer, I agree that it's not good, and would love for things to be better, but at the same time I also understand that reality is reality and unless there's a whole huge change on a sociological type of level made throughout the world basically, things will pretty much be like that in one way or another, as they have been throughout history.

That said, some companies/people can certainly be worse than others in various ways and for different people. So of course everyone can decide for themselves who they want to be involved with or not.

Good points and I agree with everything you have said. Which is why I am choosing to boycott all known Verizon services and companies. While I'm a single person, and it won't mean didly squat to Verizon, if more people do what I am doing, eventually they will change their ways.

 

[jamezr]

And AT&T has been broken up by government regulations because of all kinds of things. Companies like Google or Microsoft have been investigated many times in various parts of the world for all kinds of things. Many more similar examples. As a consumer, I agree that it's not good, and would love for things to be better, but at the same time I also understand that reality is reality and unless there's a whole huge change on a sociological type of level made throughout the world basically, things will pretty much be like that in one way or another, as they have been throughout history.

That said, some companies/people can certainly be worse than others in various ways and for different people. So of course everyone can decide for themselves who they want to be involved with or not.

a lot of the big players in technology have been investigated and found guilty of a lot of different things. Apple recently with ebooks and price fixing. I don't think anyone can blindly trust any of the super big companies.

 

[I7guy]

To me it's not a matter of trusting or not trusting big companies. They provide a service, you decide if you like their service. Some people go deeper and look at company mores.

All big companies to some extent have been involved in some type of behavior where the government has stepped in; wall street, cars, drug manufacturers, Telco providers, Enron, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC etc.

As far as Verizon goes, I've never had an issue with their service or customer service. Unless you have your money with companies, such as two notables named above, I don't really care about company misdeeds. They all have done it to some extent.

 

[Vegastouch]

yep seems that way. After all the dust settles i wonder about reviews coming from Engadget and TechCrunch for anything concerning VZW. Can they stay impartial?

They will mess it up. I dont care about things coming from Verizon and i subscribe to Engadget and Techcruch using the app Pulse. If it sucks when they take over(if they change things up) its easy enough to just delete them from Pulse and find another. I also use TechRadar, Android Central and Gizmoto.

LOL, thats probably enough as far as Tech apps.

----------

So basically mostly the "dirty tricks" that most companies (in particular large ones) engage in and have been forever. Of course that's not to say it's good or right, but realistically there isn't a large company out there that hasn't been pulling one thing or another here or there (otherwise they simply wouldn't stay in business, given that the whole business ecosystem, similar to the political ecosystem, unfortunately, runs like that).

Lets not forget Verizon also messed around with the Nexus devices with demands of branding to name one and screwed it up somehow and made it so customers couldnt get those for two or three years. I guess they finally have a Nexus 6. Not sure.

I dont like Verizon and will never use them. They do not care about customer service and are just too expensive.

 

[Technarchy]

They're doing what pretty much every tech company is doing now, expanding their "internet of things"

Probably the most idiotic term ever to hit tech.