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Verizon Blesses Phone-As-Modem Plans
DigitalDame2 writes "PC Magazine reports that Verizon Wireless has decided to let its subscribers use their cell phones as high-speed modems for their laptops. For $59.99 per month, users of the LG VX9800, Motorola RAZR V3c, Motorola E815, and LG VX8100 phones will connect to Verizon's BroadbandAccess EV-DO network." From the article: "For a while now, Verizon subscribers have illicitly used their phones as modems; various Web sites have information on how to do so. But up until now, doing so has violated service contracts, leaving users open to Verizon cutting off their service or charging high per-kilobyte fees."
I have an N-Gage QD with T-Mobile and use the phone as a modem for my laptop for $20/month. I had to get a little bluetooth adapter for about $20 from Fry's and it works really well. It's about two to three times faster than a normal modem it seems but not as fast as DSL. Still it works almost anywhere my phone works, is an unlimited plan, and I can even use my phone as a phone even while using it as a modem. Overall, I like it a lot.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
For $59.99 per month
For more than the price of cable or DSL, you can get a modem! Wow, what a deal!
"Your old world is rapidly aaaaging. Please get out of the new one if you can't lend a haaaaand, for the times, they are a chaaaaangin'!"
Maybe I don't want to spend $60/month - My old Nokia 6340i had an IR port that I could use and get 9600 easily. Slow? Sure. Free data access? You betcha. For the money they're asking, it's probably better to get tmobile hotspot access at Starbucks, or get NetStumbler and an Orinoco card.
Greedy
Use a bluetooth or cable connection?
Now I just need a laptop and a steady $60!
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
Watch out, I got their pcmcia card, download was 361kbps (out of 400-700 promised), but upload was about 7kbps only (checked at different times of the day and different places, on www.dslreports.com)
I have been a Verizon Wireless customer for six or seven years. In that time I have had six or seven verizon phones (I only do one-year contracts). Each time I go to the Verizon store, and buy the current usb to phone interface cable and the new sofware that lets me use it as such. So if I was violating my terms of service, I suppose that Verizon was complicit in it.
Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies.
Never forget: 2 + 2 = 5 for extremely large values of 2.
If you had the contract (and the money) you could use the high speed network using Verizons buisness plan, you got a USB cable and some software and you where good to go, if you just used your phone as a modem though without the plan, you where limited to 14.4 but it was free and NOT against contract. Infact I used it all the time when I lived in a apartment and couldnt use the modem because I needed the phone, but ALSO needed to go online. I even have the booklet FROM Verizon that says I could do this.
it seems all this is, is that Verizon now ungimps their bluetooth modem ability, nothing more.
"Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."
I don't care about those phones or that data network. When will they sanction my Treo 650 on the 1xRTT network? I don't think they'll have EV-DO where I'm at (Montana) for a long long time.
"You never know when some crazed rodent with cold feet might be running loose in your pants."
-Calvin
1. Get your cell customers to depend on their cell phones for internet access.
2. Introduce tiered internet.
3. [left as an excercise for the reader]
With Verizon's 1xRTT network, you can get up to 144 kbps (in practice, more like 80-100 kbps) even without a data plan. In most of the country, this is still the best you can get; EVDO is only available in the biggest markets.
Most if not all America's Choice plans include "NationalAccess MOU", which lets you use 1xRTT data connections at the same rates as voice calls--i.e., free at night and on weekends. Officially, you're not supposed to use it for anything but Mobile Web and Get It Now, which are features built into the phone, but they never seem to enforce that rule. The latency on 1xRTT sucks, but it's fast enough for checking your email, trolling Slashdot, or even playing slow-paced games like Puzzle Pirates.
BTW, to use it, set your PPP software to dial #777 with the username "(your 10 digit phone number)@vzw3g.com" and the password "vzw".
Visual IRC: Fast. Powerful. Free.
Now that my phone number is allegedly portable, I like the false sense of freedom to change carriers if I ever need to.
Phones will always be free, they will be more feature-laden every few months, and I feel guilty throwing away a perfectly functional phone. (although they have to recycle them here, it just makes them angry when you insist they do so)
I'll probably use this one until it dies/gets lost. Unless I'm offered an mp3 player phone that I can load from my personal collection for free. I'd be all over that.
Man, you really need that seminar!
Check your monthly statement to confirm the total cost of $59.99. If
.10 .55
you see something like the following, be sure to question it:
Verizon Wireless surcharges
Fed Universal Service Charge $.50
Regulatory Charge
Administrative Charge
FCC Modem Tax (Bill 602P) 44.95
Subtotal 46.10
Total Verizon Wireless surcharges $46.10
To whit:
- Instead of Java, Verizon has insisted that its phone manufacturers install Qualcomm's noxious "BREW" standard, with its awful GUI and lack of portability. You cannot make a free BREW app. If you want to distribute an app for your company to run on its cell phones, for example, you have to pay Qualcomm and Verizon some serious money.
- Various phones Verizon sells can run Java fine before Verizon tinkers with them. But in order to enforce its BREW money-maker, Verizon disables the Java and requires the manufacturer to run BREW instead.
- Verizon is also careful to make certain that users cannot add their own ringtones. All ringtones must go through "Get It Now!", Verizon's BREW-based profit center.
- Likewise for wallpapers on many (but not all) of the phones.
- Verizon has intentionally disabled Bluetooth on a number of phones (like the Motorola v710 and E815). The one phone Verizon has which has full Bluetooth capability (the Nokia 6256i) Verizon refuses to sell in their stores or to repair. Verizon also deleted the Nokia's media player feature and arranged it that the 6256i can upload MP3 files but cannot play them as ringtones. The company has an open policy of refusing to allow perfectly good CDMA phones on its network if they are not broken in these regards.
- The article is incorrect. Verizon has always allowed EVDO and RX1TT phones to use its data network. But to do so requires paying Verizon 1.5 cents per KILOBYTE. For those paying attention, that's $15 for a 1MB file. They offer various "plans", stuff like 10MB for $50, and now unlimited for $60. On top of your phone plan: verizon's minimum plan is $40 so you're talking $100 a month for the "faster" cellular data rates. Verizon still offers a 14.4Kbps modem option (actually about 10K) that just uses up your minutes. But it may be phased out.
- And the Verizon UI. What can I say? Verizon is trying to force all its phone manufacturers to offer the same BREW-based UI, one which appears to have been invented by chimpanzees.
The reason for all of this is that Verizon wants the phones to be an extension of its cellular service. You must use their phone to use their plan, and thus must pay extra $$$ (big-time) for features that ordinarily you would have free for your phone. Many onI purchased the E815 the weekend of release. I was warned in-store that using this phone as a modem with the VCast service was going to get me kicked off the network.
:-).
So I did the right thing... I didn't purchase VCast (it's a pointless service for me as it is)
I called customer service to see how I could get this setup with their "Unlimited" (quite limited) Wireless Broadband plan. Of course, the first three tries netted very confused operators who ended up making my phone unable to connect to Mobile Web and at one point actually preventing me from placing calls.
But after a few tries I managed to get someone on the phone who was able to set the unit up with this "phone as a modem" plan at $59.99.
I explained that I had purchased a USB cable to connect my phone to my laptop. They used to offer this as a "Mobile Office" Kit, but there was no such thing for the E815. The operator didn't know that.
The kit wasn't offered specifically because pairing it with VCast essentially gave you their full Wireless Internet for $15.00. So instead of giving honest customers an option to "pay up" for the full Wireless plan, they decided to offer this useless VCast plan and *ban* the "Mobile Office" in their highly-restrictive TOS.
I am *not* a VCAST target customer. I need my battery power to go to receiving/sending phone calls and I need my phone for business.
In the end, someone was able to get my account configured with the $59.00 wireless internet, mobile web (which I don't use), and my normal phone service. And with the simple ##DIALUP command, I was able to use my laptop and PDA via bluetooth to enable me to post silly messages on Slashdot
Glad to know they're blessing something I've had configured for the last several months. I love the phone, I love the wireless internet service, I just wish those Verizon folks would get a clue. It would have been nice to not have to "socially engineer" my way to becoming a happy customer.
"God is dead!" - Nietzsche
"Nietzsche is dead!" - God
I admit I don't know how long it's been this way, I just got sprint service about 10 days ago. Mobile internet with unlimited data is a $15/month addon to my plan. I finally got it working with my laptop 3 days ago and have been using it like crazy, it's great. I went to dslreports.com yesterday and ran a speed test:
2006-02-02 15:29:00 EST: 594 / 93
Your download speed : 594 kbps or 74.3 KB/sec.
Your upload speed : 93 kbps or 11.7 KB/sec.
Sure, my upload isn't too great, but i'm not wanting to run a server off my cellphone. Also, theres a bit of a latency issue compared to my normal dsl, ping times seem to have jumped from 20-30 ms to about 200-240 ms; but whatever, it's a mobile connection. I wouldn't suggest trying to game over the connection, but streaming video works rather well.
They screw the customer, they force you to use BREW, they disable bluetooth, they force you to buy ringtones through them, they force you to use the crappy verizon UI, you cant even transfer pictures taken with the phone camera unless you pay them.
Why are they still in business? Why do people put up with all this crap instead of finding a better provider?
Because, when it comes right down to it, nobody's network works as well as Verizon.
In the last three years, I've had cell phones from AT&T's GSM network (now part of Cingular), Nextel, T-Mobile, and now Verizon. AT&T's GSM service was awesome when it was new, but when they started loading GoPhone subscribers on the network quality went to hell in a handbasket. Additionally, customer support sucked ass.. and only got worse during the Cingular transition (which is why I left.. I wanted a 503 phone number, and was told that I would have to disconnect my AT&T service and purchase a NEW PHONE from Cingular to get a new phone number: they couldn't just issue me a new number on my six-month-old phone. "Oh, but we'll waive the early termination fee." "Yeah, but you're asking me to spend $99 on a new phone." When my contract was up, I left).
Nextel's service is pretty good when you have coverage, but coverage often lacks in rural areas, and since there's no "fallback" or roaming (for the most part), once you leave Nextel's network your phone is crap. Add to that fact that Nextel's equipment sucks, and is usually about two years behind (feature-wise) what you can get from anybody else. The UI on the phones is.. icky. Push-to-talk is a neat feature for business, but unless you got lots of friends there (or on Boost), it's not very useful.
T-Mobile I was perfectly happy with, up until about mid-last year when they unceremoniously just dropped support for Treos. I think they were afraid that the Treo was cannabalizing the Sidekick's business, personally. Additionally, while T-Mobile's service was awesome, I kept having this persistent problem of my phone dropping its "registration" off the network.. and incoming calls would go directly to voicemail even though I had full coverage. I would have to reset my phone to get back on the network. I'd have to do this every four or five days. Oh, and I had this problem not only on Treo, but on a "normal" Nokia phone as well. T-Mobile could never solve this problem.
When my T-Mobile contract expired, I wanted to upgrade to a Treo 650, and had a choice between basically Cingular and Verizon. For whatever reason, I chose Verizon.. even though the price was higher.
The results? So far, I've never had a dropped call, I always have coverage (even in the middle of nowhere, and in the basement of my house). My Treo stays registered on the network. Call quality is generally excellent.. rarely are there dropouts and audio problems. Customer service is pretty good: they actually have a person at the local Verizon store who knows Treo well enough to provide real support for the product.
Strangely enough, I have a cell phone to communicate with people. Verizon's cell phones work. Maybe that's the reason they're in business: the fact of the matter is, everything else about my cell phone is just butter. I have a cell phone to make phone calls.. and in my case, I have a Treo because I'd be carrying a PalmOS machine anyway. If it doesn't work as a phone.. if it's unreliable, or spotty, or difficult to use, it isn't worth a cent.