MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Streamed media to force higher Verizon rate tiers

wdhvnguy · 11-17-2006, 04:49 PM

I agree with everything you said Bob.

I was caught in the Verizon "TOS" (terms of service) trap myself untill recently.

I got my first aircard from them in 2002 and used it for streaming audio, video and just about everything else when traveling. Back then it was 1xrtt network (not much faster than dialup). But at that time they measured their usage in Min not kilobytes. Therefore since it was "unlimited" min, you could surf all day long. I was never challanged on this at all. I could use the aircard in my laptop and also my PDA (at the time was a compaq Ipaq).

Then when my contract expired, I received a call from a sales rep from Verizon asking me to switch to Broadband (evdo) service. I had already looked into this and explained to him that their new aircards would not work with my Compaq Ipaq, and their PDA's would not work with my laptop. Therefore I'd be giving up the flexibility my aircard offered.

However, I did go back into the nearest Verizon store and was shown an Audiovox PPC(something I don't remember the exact model num). I was told that it could be teathered to my laptop and used to connect to the internet at broadband speeds. Longstory short, I purchased the device and was put on the PDA Smartphone "Unlimited" plan. It cost 49.99 a month. I was never told I couldn't use it for streaming audio or video, in fact the first thing I did to "test" the device was launch a streaming radio station I love in London.

Anyway, When I got to work the next day I showed the device to my supervisor. His wife works for Verizon (hight up in the customer service food chain). Anyway, he informed me that he thought my using it for streaming audio might violate their TOS. I checked this out (no easy task I assure you, it's burried deep in their website) and he was correct. To say I was angry would be an understatement.

Anyway, found many forums about this problem and most seemed to think as long as you keep the usage under about 10 gig a month you'll not trip their "excessive use" detector. So I went with that for a while.

Anyway, without going into detail, I had another problem with Verizon and decided to use my contact to see if I could get out of my contract. I was put in touch with the "executive" customer service area and spoke to someone that let me out of my contract with Verizon and refunded me all the money I had spent on the device.

By this time I learned that Sprint didn't have such restrictions on their service. So I went with them. True enough, when I get my bill each month, it shows no "measurement" of bandwith for the month. I pay a flat rate and that's it.

I think if Verizon doesn't change their tune soon, they may face some serious reprecussion. People will eventually get fed up with the deceptive advertising and switch to someone else.

11-17-2006, 04:49 PM	#2
wdhvnguy Wdhvnguy Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Atlanta Georgia	I agree with everything you said Bob. I was caught in the Verizon "TOS" (terms of service) trap myself untill recently. I got my first aircard from them in 2002 and used it for streaming audio, video and just about everything else when traveling. Back then it was 1xrtt network (not much faster than dialup). But at that time they measured their usage in Min not kilobytes. Therefore since it was "unlimited" min, you could surf all day long. I was never challanged on this at all. I could use the aircard in my laptop and also my PDA (at the time was a compaq Ipaq). Then when my contract expired, I received a call from a sales rep from Verizon asking me to switch to Broadband (evdo) service. I had already looked into this and explained to him that their new aircards would not work with my Compaq Ipaq, and their PDA's would not work with my laptop. Therefore I'd be giving up the flexibility my aircard offered. However, I did go back into the nearest Verizon store and was shown an Audiovox PPC(something I don't remember the exact model num). I was told that it could be teathered to my laptop and used to connect to the internet at broadband speeds. Longstory short, I purchased the device and was put on the PDA Smartphone "Unlimited" plan. It cost 49.99 a month. I was never told I couldn't use it for streaming audio or video, in fact the first thing I did to "test" the device was launch a streaming radio station I love in London. Anyway, When I got to work the next day I showed the device to my supervisor. His wife works for Verizon (hight up in the customer service food chain). Anyway, he informed me that he thought my using it for streaming audio might violate their TOS. I checked this out (no easy task I assure you, it's burried deep in their website) and he was correct. To say I was angry would be an understatement. Anyway, found many forums about this problem and most seemed to think as long as you keep the usage under about 10 gig a month you'll not trip their "excessive use" detector. So I went with that for a while. Anyway, without going into detail, I had another problem with Verizon and decided to use my contact to see if I could get out of my contract. I was put in touch with the "executive" customer service area and spoke to someone that let me out of my contract with Verizon and refunded me all the money I had spent on the device. By this time I learned that Sprint didn't have such restrictions on their service. So I went with them. True enough, when I get my bill each month, it shows no "measurement" of bandwith for the month. I pay a flat rate and that's it. I think if Verizon doesn't change their tune soon, they may face some serious reprecussion. People will eventually get fed up with the deceptive advertising and switch to someone else.