Verizon Customers: What's next?

[FXi2]

Special VZ version of the 950 and XL? Leave for ATT. Don't trust VZ enough long term given what's happened, to be buying special versions anymore.
No 950 or XL on VZ at all? Leave for ATT. I have a lot of family in several parts of the country who are quite satisfied with their product. If anything I've been the holdout and flag bearer for VZ up till now. When no 1520 VZ version materialized and the Icon got next to no shelf life I think we all should have seen the writing on the wall. Many coworkers (we can choose either carrier at work) have ATT and have zero issues. International travelling is easier with GSM. And further, VZ is likely to face some turbulence as they phase out CDMA. That is highly likely to downgrade their level of wide availability, although they are desperately working to avoid it while still upgrading the services and network to more advanced universal technologies. The 950/XL were already made with Qi wireless so ATT which hates that tech has already made a compromise. VZ should also compromise and use the same model, just with their logo. It is no different than Apple or Samsung. Since VZ has failed to do this on behalf of their customers who use Windows phone, then it's clear they will be more satisfied if I utilize another carrier. Remember how they failed to deliver a WP update because it fouled up VZ Navigator? VZ is stuck in the 1990's, in technology and in how they plan to market their stuff. I should have moved a year ago when I saw the signs. Enough is enough.

 

[Lumious]

As painful and freeing as it is going to be i have made the choice to leave VZW for AT&T. I just chatted with an AT&T rep on their website and asked every question i could think of. I will be looking at 45$/month (~49$ with taxes) for 1.5GB data and unlimited talk/text. I have unlimited now but only use 1-2gb a month. So i think i can work with it and use WiFi when possible. Also i wont have to deal with a contract and just go month to month. AT&T has similar coverage where i am in CT i think so that should be fine.

I am on a family plan so i think i could just be dropped from the family plan while still keeping the contract and just paying my own separate AT&T bill.

I am going to wait until the 950 and 950XL is officially released though, no reason to do it now.

 

[Generalheed]

Unfortunately I can't leave Verizon because im on a business line. So all I can do is just upgrade to a Lumia Icon or something similar and wait for Verizon to hopefully change their minds in the future.

 

[Indistinguishable]

AT&T.

AT&T is next.

 

[Lumious]

Is cricket a better choice than AT&T? I hear it is cheaper but will both phones work and how is the coverage? I am in the northeast united states, Connecticut.

 

[Lumious]

I am looking for any alternative to Verizon right now that will work with both the 950 and 950XL. I think AT&T is a decent choice but am open to any alternatives.

 

[realwarder]

Is cricket a better choice than AT&T? I hear it is cheaper but will both phones work and how is the coverage? I am in the northeast united states, Connecticut.

Coverage is the same as AT&T. Same network. Should work. Cricket typically throttles data and disables Hotspot to be cheaper than AT&T.

 

[Br1t]

Coverage is the same as AT&T. Same network. Should work. Cricket typically throttles data and disables Hotspot to be cheaper than AT&T.

Actually coverage isn't quite the same, AT&T does have some roaming agreements that don't extend to cricket. You should always check their coverage map, but it's mostly west of the Mississippi. LTE is capped at 8Mbps and HSPA at 4Mbps.

 

[Tyrion L]

Actually coverage isn't quite the same, AT&T does have some roaming agreements that don't extend to cricket. You should always check their coverage map, but it's mostly west of the Mississippi. LTE is capped at 8Mbps and HSPA at 4Mbps.

For someone who does not play games much on their smartphone and does not watch much video on it either, is there any reason that 8Mbps LTE and 4 Mbps HSPA should not be more than sufficient?

 

[920Walker]

For someone who does not play games much on their smartphone and does not watch much video on it either, is there any reason that 8Mbps LTE and 4 Mbps HSPA should not be more than sufficient?

I'm coming up on two months with Cricket in the Boston area. I see no difference than prior with AT&T, except halving my bill. I am on WiFi most of the time and never use the phone to watch real movies and limited gaming in WiFi. Streaming music, using metrotube occasionally, Edge browser, mail and OneDrive, all as fast on data as WiFi or before with AT&T. No baked in visual voice mail (for unlocked BYOD, Cricket Lumias with VVM will work, per Cricket's site) is the only caveat, and the MMS APN must be setup manually whenever hard resetting the phone and initial SIM transfer.

 

[Tyrion L]

I'm coming up on two months with Cricket in the Boston area. I see no difference than prior with AT&T, except halving my bill. I am on WiFi most of the time and never use the phone to watch real movies and limited gaming in WiFi. Streaming music, using metrotube occasionally, Edge browser, mail and OneDrive, all as fast on data as WiFi or before with AT&T. No baked in visual voice mail (for unlocked BYOD, Cricket Lumias with VVM will work, per Cricket's site) is the only caveat, and the MMS APN must be setup manually whenever hard resetting the phone and initial SIM transfer.

Thanks for your reply. That is very helpful.

On the Visual Voice Mail, how do you access voice mail then using Cricket as your service provider? Do you have to call into your voice mail box and listen to it? I prefer having the voice mails sent to my phone and then being able to click on them and listen, which I believe is the VVM function you are referring to.

 

[920Walker]

Thanks for your reply. That is very helpful.

On the Visual Voice Mail, how do you access voice mail then using Cricket as your service provider? Do you have to call into your voice mail box and listen to it? I prefer having the voice mails sent to my phone and then being able to click on them and listen, which I believe is the VVM function you are referring to.

Yes, the voicemail VHS tape sort of looking button still exists on the Phone app and pressing it calls your voicemail where the phone dialer pad is needed to enter a pin number, then forced to listen to the time and date stamp details, call number details and finally the message. Supposedly there are Visual voicemail apps that work with email. Info can be found on this site searching Cricket voicemail, but I've yet to try such apps or services. I'm weary of using a 3rd party for voicemail is all but will eventually try it out as after only two months the old school voicemail way is not much fun.

 

[Br1t]

On Android cricket does vvm with a separate app you can get from the play store, for the life of me I have no idea why they can't do that for windows phone.

 

[wayn1ak]

I went to the Microsoft Store the other day and they were selling the Icon for $249 unlocked and 735 for $199 unlocked. I was surprised because back in June when my 928 crapped out, they said they stopped selling the Icon and only had the HTC One M8 available as a replacement (I had Microsoft Assure).

Anyway, right now I'm going to wait and see when the 950XL officially releases and decide whether to go to T-Mobile or buy an Icon outright.

 

[dbam987]

I'll be sticking with Verizon... entirely because of the good coverage in my area. Of course I'll be on the Windows Phone / Mobile platform for as long as they carry a supported model. Here's hoping the 950 XL indeed is supported on Verizon's network even though many are saying it isn't, and rumors are that Verizon isn't granting permission of the device IDs to run on their network (yet) either.

The bands of the Lumia 735 pretty much match those listed for the Lumia 950 XL, so me thinks it will run fine... so long as Verizon enters the device IDs into their system.

I would go with the Jade Primo if that shows up on Verizon's network too. That package apparently ships with a dock thing for Continuum support alongside a Bluetooth mouse / keyboard. But release date is sometime next year...

So much promise, yet so many barriers that Microsoft has to cross here...

 

[jmagwp]

Do you get that for free or this that part of Apple Care, which is an additional cost? I can't imagine they'd replace a broken screen for free by giving you a completely new phone. The broken camera I can see as covered under warranty.

 

[MiloTheOne]

Jump ship! ATT will give you $300.00 credit towards a new device!

 

[nmercy]

I went to the Microsoft Store the other day and they were selling the Icon for $249 unlocked and 735 for $199 unlocked. I was surprised because back in June when my 928 crapped out, they said they stopped selling the Icon and only had the HTC One M8 available as a replacement (I had Microsoft Assure).

Anyway, right now I'm going to wait and see when the 950XL officially releases and decide whether to go to T-Mobile or buy an Icon outright.

Yeah, I had heard everywhere that the icon was discontinued, my 8x nearly died so I ended up getting the 735 not realizing the icon was an option

 

[etphoto]

I was just looking at the Verizon community forum for this exact same question. The forums there suck btw. Anyways, I've been with Verizon ever since I had my first mobile phone, probably late 90s. I'm currently using a HTC M8 and have no problem and like 8.1 so I'll stay with that for the short term. Once I get the bug and want to get a new phone, sadly, I'll probably be heading toward AT&T. Verizon has always been good to me but their lack of interest in WP is causing me to look elsewhere.

Any math geniuses out there want to do the number? I am curious the number of WP users on Verizon. I know the percentage is low, but 1% of the total number of Verizon users can't be a low number. Just wondering what kind of voice we have? lol

 

[Generalheed]

Yeah, I had heard everywhere that the icon was discontinued, my 8x nearly died so I ended up getting the 735 not realizing the icon was an option

You can always buy a new Icon off of sites like eBay or Amazon. In light of situation with Verizon and the Lumia 950, I'm currently deciding about switching to either an Icon or a Samsung ATIV SE. Both are nice phones and have their ups and downs. But yeah, whichever phone I go with, I'll have to buy it off of ebay or amazon.