Mobile Phone Bitterness

[bjarvis]

My current phone has always been a little sluggish. It's a Motorola Droid Bionic, one of the first dual-core phones Verizon Wireless had offered and, when purchased, it was the top of the line. Alas, I do have 2800 address book entries, a number of regularly used apps and four email accounts with significant traffic: once it decides to sync email, performance nose-dives for 2-3 solid minutes, enough to render it unusable.

I had hoped the OS upgrade to Jellybean would help, but it's really no better. If there's an advantage to having two cores, it's not obvious, especially if key components of the OS are at least acting single-threaded if indeed they are multi.

My contract allows me a new phone so perhaps something with more RAM and faster CPUs would at least minimize the problems with the user experience. Oh, look... the Samsung Galaxy S4 is available! I'll go take a look!

Of course, Verizon Wireless doesn't have any in stock. I'm not surprised at that: it's a new phone with hot demand and rides nicely on the coattails of the Galaxy S III model. I was surprised that they didn't even have a demo model so we could see how it feels in one's hand or against one's ear. I was further surprised and annoyed to learn that the only way I could get the phone for the advertised $250 pricetag is to ditch my existing data & voice plans for a greatly more limited version --at the same price as I'm paying for my currently adequate plans. If I want to keep my existing plan, I'll need to purchase the phone for $650.

At the moment, I'm so annoyed & frustrated with Verizon Wireless' uttery disdain for its existing customers that I'd rather ditch them than upgrade, especially if it means locking in for another two years. I'd be willing to switch carriers but Sprint's coverage is hideous and AT&T already burned me years ago so I'm not inclined to give them a shot at a repeat. Verizon Wireless' coverage is good --very spotty in western Maryland and West Virginia-- but generally covers the areas where I regularly travel. I'd be happy to pay the regular $250 rate for a new 2yr contract, but not if it means either dramatically increasing my monthly rates or crippling the phone's abilities.

Comments

[cuyahogarvr.livejournal.com]

Not sure if you remember, but when I changed phones a couple of years ago, I ran into a similar situation with Sprint, so I called and spent much time on the phone with an operator who ended up giving me a new phone at a reduced rate, with the same plan AND she found me a couple of additional discounts to level my monthly bill to the point where me monthly charge didn't change.

Not saying you should switch to Sprint, but it might be worth a phone call to Verizon customer service so that you can spell out your loyalty and what you expect for it.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm going to make a phone call or two to see how inflexible they're going to be on this issue. If they can't/won't give me the model I was looking at, I'll find something/someone else.