The Verizon Debacle

Nov 20, 2012
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Personally, I'd feel bad for anyone who had to settle for Non-lumia windows phone when it is obvious that is what their first choice/preference would be. is a Lumia windows phone. Which is of course reasonable.

After all, I do sell/work with Microsoft products and I can't tell you how many times I had someone on Verizon who upgraded to the M8 come in disappointed because it wasn't a Lumia phone and they weren't happy. You can also see posts like this on WC forums.

You know something is wrong when people will bypass the only flagship available OR even more surprisingly go from an M8 windows to something like a 640 XL.....They don't want to settle.

So i'd encourage people not to settle for whatever Android OEM turned Windows Phone is thrown out at you. Instead, I encourage these readers to start looking at other carriers. I realized today that many people have an outdated bit of information when it comes to carriers.

Att generally speaking is on par with Verizon in most places. We did a cross country trip and for the most part, I couldn't complain about lack of coverage/low coverage. Compared to my Verizon friends...Sprint and tmobile are a bit shaky. If you do switch to other carriers, Att does offer Microcell and Tmobile with their signal booster as well as wifi calling for those who may need that extra boost.

It should be no surprise really that Lumias are going to Att because that is where they have always done best at....

That being said considering the complaints I've heard/read about the HTC M9 I wouldn't suggest it and I heard some issues with the LG G4 as well.

Not to mention, you have to realize you are essentially getting leftovers because if this phone comes out in October-November...the M10 and LG G4 will be announced less than 6 months later.

It'd be pointless to me to get a 'new' windows phone that is likely to be forgotten and unsupported.
Okay, Verizon Doom and Gloom people, have a read back in this thread again of Mr. MacPhisto's post. It will tell you more of the real story on what's going on.

Verizon isn't really giving up on Windows. Just Lumias, apparently. We'll call it rumor for now, but it seems pretty plausible to me at least.

The LG G4 hinted at in Mr. MacPhisto's post could interest me. Would miss wireless charging though. Could get used to the extra size. Will probably hold on to my Icon as long as possible to see what happens.

Will say that I've been looking at the LG G4 and the camera is quite good on that handset. We'll see what happens with the Moto X and if that even gets a Windows version. HTC and LG are certainties. The Moto was pegged at being around 60% likely. Samsung was around 20% likely. All were just estimates on limited knowledge. Samsung may deliver another Windows handset, but it may not be the S6. The key with the S6 is that sales have been dropping on it much more quickly than expected, so Samsung wants to do something to give them a kick in the pants. Not sure announcing a Windows variant would do it. That would give Windows a huge boost.

But the main thrust is that Verizon is not ditching Windows. They mutually agreed with Microsoft on the Lumias. The door is not shut on them coming in the future, but Verizon is not in the habit of brand building if they don't have to be and even then it has to be Verizon focused, like the Droid branding.

Hmmm... I would possibly go with the G4. It does RAW capture, and it looks like it is 4K video capable too. Although the screen is a leeetle big for my taste.

The HTC One M9 looks nice too. It has a higher resolution camera (20MP) and can do 4K video as well.

We'll see.

If both were offered with Windows 10, I think I would go with either of those. This fits in nicely with Nadella's strategy. Let OEM's produce Windows Mobile devices and we will fill in the gaps.

Like I said, I love my Icon and if Verizon were to offer a new flagship Lumia, then I'd go for it. If not, and somebody like LG or HTC offers a flagship Windows Mobile device on Verizon, that is comparable to Lumia, then I could see my self jumping to a new OEM. I still get to stay in the Microsoft ecosystem and get a really good device to boot. So I think that would be a win-win.

Microsoft is not losing out by not making a new Lumia for Verizon. They still benefit significantly, with other OEMs producing Windows Mobile devices. It fits in with its strategy...AND it is really going back to its core. Providing an excellent OS for other OEMs to incorporate into their devices. Something that Microsoft is REALLY good at doing. Something that both Bill Gates understood and Satya Nadella understands, but Ballmer didn't really grasp.

In a nutshell. Does it matter WHO makes flagship Windows Mobile devices? Not really, no. It's about the Windows ecosystem as a whole.

In the '90's and early 2000's, it was all about Dell, HP, Gateway, Acer, Toshiba, and numerous other desktop/laptop OEMs. Now in the 21st Century it's about all of those plus HTC, LG, Samsung, Microsoft, and other tablet/phone OEMs.
 

anon(7901790)

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This may be true, but WCDMA and CDMA are 2 different things, despite they being a related technology. In fact, AT&T and T-Mobile used WCDMA for 3G. Verizon, Sprint, and US Cellular still use CDMA for voice calls as far as I know. This is where the issue is.

Yes. That is true. WCDMA is different from CDMA.

The version of CDMA I was talking about is CDMA2000 the 3rd generation of CDMA; a.k.a. EV-DO. WCDMA or wideband code division multiple access is used in GSM networks and though the technologies are similar, they are incompatible with each other.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_division_multiple_access
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W-CDMA_(UMTS)
Difference Between CDMA and WCDMA | Difference Between | CDMA vs WCDMA
 

anon(7901790)

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Does part of Verizon's network run off GSM? I keep seeing that they "are moving over" and CDMA is "phasing out", or even that Verizon's LTE network is GSM. If that's the case, would the unlocked phone work in some markets in limited circumstances (gradually expanding those market and circumstances)?

Yes, they are phasing out CDMA, but they are not replacing it with GSM. They are moving to voice over LTE (VoLTE) which is an adoption of voice over IP (VoIP) for wireless networks. All four US carriers are moving in that direction. Both GSM (WCDMA or UTMS) and CDMA (EV-DO) are being phased out. Eventually, it will be all data and the 3G voice networks will just be there as a back up.
 

Laura Knotek

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No worries. CDMA is actually more widely used worldwide that people think. The reason why the US and the other places world wide, mostly South America, Japan, and India, is that CDMA allowed for more secure communications and because of its better range and ability to penetrate walls. Therefore, they needed less towers and had better call quality in built up areas. GSM was good for other areas because it was cheaper to implement and easier to maintain. Especially in areas such as China, Central and Southwest Asia. CDMA technology has been around since before WWII.
CDMA has its roots in technology developed by Hedy Lamarr during World War II. Hedy Lamarr - Brains & Beauty http://www.crackberry.com/hedy-lamarr-brains-beauty

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anon(7901790)

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That being said considering the complaints I've heard/read about the HTC M9 I wouldn't suggest it and I heard some issues with the LG G4 as well.

What kind of issues are you talking about? Are they OS or hardware related? If the former, then the Windows version won't (or at least shouldn't) have those same issues. If the latter, then that's on the OEM for shoddy workmanship.

Based on the specs by themselves though, both the M9 and G4 look like beasts when it comes to outright performance. Add the svelte efficient Windows OS and you have the potential for some real heavy hitters in the smartphone market. I would almost guarantee the Windows version of the G4 would outperform its Android brother.
 
Nov 20, 2012
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What kind of issues are you talking about? Are they OS or hardware related? If the former, then the Windows version won't (or at least shouldn't) have those same issues. If the latter, then that's on the OEM for shoddy workmanship.

Based on the specs by themselves though, both the M9 and G4 look like beasts when it comes to outright performance. Add the svelte efficient Windows OS and you have the potential for some real heavy hitters in the smartphone market. I would almost guarantee the Windows version of the G4 would outperform its Android brother.

I mainly heard the m9 camera is poor and shoddy compared to the completion and desire software updates the camera still is not impressive.

As far as other issues I heard there are connectivity issues for wifi and mobile connection as well as some even potential hardware defects such as the phone overheating as well as the camera housing seeming to crack easily with no actual major damage being done to it. Of course htc has that uh oh protection but still I shouldn't need to replace a phone that breaks easily due to me not doing anything wrong. It's just way too fragile.

Lg G4 had some reported touch screen issues that were supposedly fixed but some presently say they still have issues. Not to mention there are Charging and performance issues as well as connectivity with wifi and random reboots. I frequent a few android sites so I have heard a bit.

I have no doubt they will perform better in windows phone than they do on android. Android is a bloated os.

That being said usually the issues that are present in the android model will be issues you see in the windows phone version. And if htc follows suit they will neuter the m9 windows version like they did the m8 windows. From what I understand for the most part they are the same phones but the windows phone version doesn't necessarily have every features it android brother has either


sent from my iPhone...asking myself why I own one
 

anon(7901790)

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Ok. So definitely some shoddy workmanship issues, especially with the M9. WiFi issues, touch screen, and random reboots can be fixed via OS/firmware.

The "neutering" of the M8...was that necessarily HTC's fault? Although, WP8.1 is an excellent OS, there are features that Android has that WP8.1 doesn't have. So did HTC do it deliberately, or is just because certain features were not built into WP8.1? Especially when compared to a Lumia which has goodies that non-Lumia phones don't get. Like Lumia Camera 5 for example. And the M8, and every other non-Lumia phone will never get the cool update that Lumia phones got with Cyan and then Denim.

And for the record, it is the Lumia only features I would miss the most if I were to go with the G4 or M9.
 
Nov 20, 2012
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Ok. So definitely some shoddy workmanship issues, especially with the M9. WiFi issues, touch screen, and random reboots can be fixed via OS/firmware.

The "neutering" of the M8...was that necessarily HTC's fault? Although, WP8.1 is an excellent OS, there are features that Android has that WP8.1 doesn't have. So did HTC do it deliberately, or is just because certain features were not built into WP8.1? Especially when compared to a Lumia which has goodies that non-Lumia phones don't get. Like Lumia Camera 5 for example. And the M8, and every other non-Lumia phone will never get the cool update that Lumia phones got with Cyan and then Denim.

And for the record, it is the Lumia only features I would miss the most if I were to go with the G4 or M9.


I hope lumia will continue having exclusive features. Only because it is so disappointing ppl want Microsoft to neuter their own phones to convince OEMs to make phones which isn't fair to the bulk of Lumia owners or should I say windows phone owners.

It apparently lacks the Zoe feature and some of the camera features.

I personally doubt that Microsoft would have denied HTC the access they need seeing as they made it possible to use that god awful dot view case in windows phone 8.1.1 so I do believe it was intentionally left out.
 

Charles Brown8

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If only.... It must be nice to live where the carrier doesn't make a difference in the coverage. No. There is nothing good about this.


Ditto. I'm going to jump ship, but I already know that I'm going to have to give up coverage to do so.


Same here.


I live an hour from Atlanta and the difference is big. Everyone at my church who has ATT has to step out into the parking lot to talk on the phone. I don't on Verizon. An insurance lady came to my house, and sitting in my kitchen couldn't use her ATT enabled laptop, and wasn't allowed to connect to my WiFi. I sat there with 4 bars of LTE on my Icon. The entire southeast is not wrapped up in ATT's coverage. It all depends on where you are. Wherever you are is what determines who has the best coverage. If I do switch to ATT, I'll have to get two of their network extenders (the ones that connect to your internet) to cover my house, and then the rest of my half acre of paradise won't be covered. Hopefully I won't have to make that sacrifice, but it may come to it to stick with Windows Phone.


Ditto..
I live on the county line between Washington county and bay county florida. In bay county for most part att / Verizon are comparable until you hit the back 40 and two rut roads going to the fishing holes. U discover Verizon is king then.

Check att's coverage map for Washington county and boy all that orange looks good, that is until you hit Washington county with a att phone. 0 to 2 bars signal anywhere outside and in a structure u are dead in the water unless you set your phone by a window facing the right direction. Verizon for sure has that county wrapped up an att has not made one move to improve this. So no att does not have solid coverage in the southeast that everyone is led to believe or has been stated in this thread.. Ask any country boy down here what service they use.. Verizon, and it ain't cuz they like them but because it works.
If Verizon does not pick up the new win10 flagships I will use my icon till it dies. I'm not jumping ship.
 

tgp

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Ditto..
I live on the county line between Washington county and bay county florida. In bay county for most part att / Verizon are comparable until you hit the back 40 and two rut roads going to the fishing holes. U discover Verizon is king then.

Check att's coverage map for Washington county and boy all that orange looks good, that is until you hit Washington county with a att phone. 0 to 2 bars signal anywhere outside and in a structure u are dead in the water unless you set your phone by a window facing the right direction. Verizon for sure has that county wrapped up an att has not made one move to improve this. So no att does not have solid coverage in the southeast that everyone is led to believe or has been stated in this thread.. Ask any country boy down here what service they use.. Verizon, and it ain't cuz they like them but because it works.
If Verizon does not pick up the new win10 flagships I will use my icon till it dies. I'm not jumping ship.

I also get the same results as you and hopmedic. I live in a rural area, but very heavily populated. Sprint and T-Mobile are worthless here unless you're in town; even then it's a crapshoot.

Verizon and AT&T are both good. However, AT&T has a lot more dead pockets than Verizon. Sometimes at the bottom of a hill or inside a building, AT&T service will drop significantly. Usually what happens is that data will drop from LTE to 3G or less, and/or there is not enough signal to place a call reliably.

Verizon is very consistent. The signal strength will of course drop in some places, but not nearly to the point of AT&T. I do not recall finding a place yet within probably 25 miles of my house where voice and/or data were unusable.

I realize that this all varies on where you live. If you live in a city you probably get acceptable service from any of the 4 largest US carriers, and switching carriers to get the phone you want is a viable option. It's usually rural people who don't have the options.
 

dkediger

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Yeah, ATT's coverage maps also show solid orange at my location when in reality it is very polka-dot with no recep areas. Verizon's coverage is truly solid - I even use fixed LTE routers with Verizon service for a critical failover connection for a hosted application we use. Coincidentally, that's because I can get better speed out of those than I can with ATT DSL service - just have to pay through the nose for usage charges if they activate for extended usage. I get solid Verizon recep in my basement at home as well as at work, which is in a pretty substantial building.

And I live/work in central freakin' Kansas. Its not like we have geographical obstructions here.
 

Doctor_Who

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AT&T was the first to carry the iPhone. Verizon didn't want it, because Verizon couldn't set the terms. Apple wanted to send updates directly to the iPhone, Verizon wanted to control them, so it was 2011 until Verizon caved under the popularity of the iPhone and outrage of the customers who couldn't get it.

Now, Microsoft has set terms that MICROSOFT, not the carrier, will handle updates on new Windows 10 devices. It is of no surprise to me that Verizon has refused to play ball with that. It's their way of doing things.

It will probably take a few years, like it did with the iPhone. However, I believe that phones like the Cityman and Talkman and the docking, pen support, and gorgeous design, will get people wanting Windows based phones who never even knew they existed. Design is something that iPhone people care deeply about. I've heard some say that they almost switched to a Windows device, but the aesthetics of the iPhone was superior. ?!? Yeah, that's what I thought, too. But that's a large part of the population that feels that way. It's the way Hollywood has trained us to feel. It's all about looks, whether it's a person, a new pair of shoes, or a phone.

Give it a few years. Windows 10 will start bringing enough converts that we'll not only have the apps, but Verizon will be willing to cut a deal and place Windows in a premium spot the way they do for Apple now. Come back to this thread in 4 years and see that I'm right.

Yeah, my opinion, but my opinion is worth something. At least that's what my wife wants me to believe before she changes my mind. ;)

I believe you nailed it. The issue, for Verizon, is control. They want totally control. They don't want to let the manufacturer have any control. They didn't want Apple to have any control and they certainly won't want Microsoft to have any control. The phrase "not beneficial" == "we don't have control".
 

Doctor_Who

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I don't think it's good if Verizon won't carry these devices. I know a lot of people who use Verizon because they can't get decent coverage on any other carriers. Those folks would have no choice but to get Android or iOS, since they can't leave Verizon.

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This is the main issue/problem for me, Laura. I live in NM. I have to take a train to work on a very long commute. Unfortunately Verizon is the only carrier that covers most (not all, just most) of that distance. Going to AT&T, or any other carrier other than Big Red, means I sacrifice coverage.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do. l My 2-year control has run out, so I've got options now.

Oh and BTW, where is the link to the article that Daniel referred to by Nadella saying the relationship between Microsoft and Verizon was dead and over with?
 

rhapdog

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Ditto..
I live on the county line between Washington county and bay county florida. ...
Check att's coverage map for Washington county and boy all that orange looks good, that is until you hit Washington county with a att phone. 0 to 2 bars signal anywhere outside and in a structure u are dead in the water unless you set your phone by a window facing the right direction.
Hmm... my Dad lives in a rural area an hour or so from Tampa. He never has a problem with dropped calls and he uses AT&T. .... .... wait... that's home phone line service, not cellular. Nevermind.

I also get the same results as you and hopmedic. I live in a rural area, but very heavily populated. Sprint and T-Mobile are worthless here unless you're in town; even then it's a crapshoot.

Verizon and AT&T are both good. However, AT&T has a lot more dead pockets than Verizon.
Yeah, it all depends on where you live. Rural isn't necessarily it, but has AT&T decided to invest in rural in your area. They have in my area, but that doesn't mean squat for your area. I live WAY out of town. Far enough out that AT&T is the only one I get a reliable signal from. I'm actually at one of those rare places where Verizon's signal is spotty. No one on my street can us Verizon (only 3 houses within 1.5 miles out here) because of either weak or no signal. AT&T is strong, though. Maps for both companies show strong signal throughout, but Verizon's map will lie as well as AT&T's map on that, I'm afraid.

Bottom line is this: You have to check and see what's best for YOU with a carrier. If all things are equal as far as reception, then we could all choose a carrier based on the phone we want or price we want. Unfortunately, we don't have that.


I believe you nailed it. The issue, for Verizon, is control. They want totally control. They don't want to let the manufacturer have any control. They didn't want Apple to have any control and they certainly won't want Microsoft to have any control. The phrase "not beneficial" == "we don't have control".
Remind me never to vote for the Verizon CEO should that person ever run for president. ;)

BTW, Doctor_Who, is your phone bigger on the inside than on the outside?
 

tgp

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Bottom line is this: You have to check and see what's best for YOU with a carrier. If all things are equal as far as reception, then we could all choose a carrier based on the phone we want or price we want. Unfortunately, we don't have that.

You nailed it right here. And I'm not saying AT&T is bad here. It isn't. It's actually very good. Lots of people here use it, and I did myself until 8 months or so ago when I switched to Verizon. I didn't switch because of service either. I switched because I had the opportunity to get a Verizon plan with unlimited data. But comparing AT&T to Verizon, Verizon is better.

A lot of rural dwelling folks need to choose the carrier first and the device second, but you as a WP fan are fortunate to be in a strong AT&T area!
 

Charles Brown8

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Hmm... my Dad lives in a rural area an hour or so from Tampa. He never has a problem with dropped calls and he uses AT&T. .... .... wait... that's home phone line service, not cellular. Nevermind.


Yeah, it all depends on where you live. Rural isn't necessarily it, but has AT&T decided to invest in rural in your area. They have in my area, but that doesn't mean squat for your area. I live WAY out of town. Far enough out that AT&T is the only one I get a reliable signal from. I'm actually at one of those rare places where Verizon's signal is spotty. No one on my street can us Verizon (only 3 houses within 1.5 miles out here) because of either weak or no signal. AT&T is strong, though. Maps for both companies show strong signal throughout, but Verizon's map will lie as well as AT&T's map on that, I'm afraid.

Bottom line is this: You have to check and see what's best for YOU with a carrier. If all things are equal as far as reception, then we could all choose a carrier based on the phone we want or price we want. Unfortunately, we don't have that.



Remind me never to vote for the Verizon CEO should that person ever run for president. ;)

BTW, Doctor_Who, is your phone bigger on the inside than on the outside?


And that is spot on, you never know until you actually have service with a provider and see if it meets your needs. I do alot of fishing here in the back woods and do some computer maintenance for people living in areas that you cant even classify as back woods let say hillbilly style lol.. Verizon is the only service that cuts it for me and my needs. I've been on att and as far as a company they are great and I much preferred dealing with att's support personnel than Verizon. That area is night and day between the two companies.
 

xPutNameHerex

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Yes, they are phasing out CDMA, but they are not replacing it with GSM. They are moving to voice over LTE (VoLTE) which is an adoption of voice over IP (VoIP) for wireless networks. All four US carriers are moving in that direction. Both GSM (WCDMA or UTMS) and CDMA (EV-DO) are being phased out. Eventually, it will be all data and the 3G voice networks will just be there as a back up.
So would the rumored specs of Cityman and Talkman work on their new LTE network, or still a no go?
 

realwarder

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The iPhone uses a Qualcomm chipset that covers Verizon and the world in GSM. So its possible.

Certification on Verizon then costs $50-100k. At that point Microsoft can sell without Verizon pushing the phone.

Time will tell whether they support Verizon or not.
 

anon(7901790)

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So would the rumored specs of Cityman and Talkman work on their new LTE network, or still a no go?

Probably not. Because for now, voice and text (SMS not MMS) are handled over CDMA. Even though it started rolling out VoLTE last year, I'm not sure which phones are VoLTE enabled. I know the Icon is VoLTE capable, but I don't think it's been enabled.

Edit: iPhones and certain Android phones are VoLTE enabled, and are capable of "Advanced Calling" as Verizon calls it.

The problem is that both the caller and the recipient must have Advanced Calling enabled, and provisioned for it to work.
 
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