Comments on: Verizon edges closer toward open network

Company says it has certified the first device for its new open network initiative, but offers no details about the new handset.

[tux_warrior]

Am I missing something?
For how many years now has Verizon been the most proprietary network on the planet? Now all of the sudden they want to allow fair play......I'm confused. Why all of the sudden do they care about consumers?

What's next, Microsoft building an OS with a Linux kernel at its core.

[pjk0]

@tux_warrior: You haven't been paying attention. Verizon announced plans to open their network to customer-provided equipment last year.

As for Verizon "not caring about consumers", I disagree wholeheartedly. Right now, Verizon treats their customers like royalty. Yes, they have a tendency to be higher-priced than their competition, and to disable certain (ie bluetooth) features as a tactic to try to increase their external service revenues, but then again their service works better, and their customer service is better, than any of their major competitors right now.

Some people used to ***** at the fact that they made no bones about their restrictions for data usage (ie their 5GB per month cap on EVDO usage) but this was just good network management. ATT now does the same thing. Sprint doesn't yet, but is moving in that direction - they've needed all the incentives possible to attract business lately, and they are still losing customers by the millions. T-Mobile doesn't even have a 3G network.

[savedR]

I'm a Verizon customer right now, and I have a Windows Mobile device. I love to grouse about Verizon's killer data prices, mostly because I don't make enough money to really be able to afford another $50 a month on my cell bill just for unlimited data.

But I will say this, with 100% confidence: Verizon has absolutely the best 3G high-speed service area of any American carrier.

We just got their EVDO high-speed service in our town, and our town has a population of about 19,000. That's SMALL, for high-speed. Cingular covers St. Louis and no other area of Missouri at all; with Verizon, you can drive from the bootheel up through St. Louis all the way to Lake of the Ozarks on the other side of the state, and have EVDO coverage the ENTIRE way. Last year, we drove from the bootheel to Florida, and I'm not kidding, through Tenessee to Nashville, south through Alabama, through a bit of Georgia, through Florida, and all the way to the coast of the private beach house we stayed at, we had EVDO service THE ENTIRE TIME.

No other carrier can match that. If you want high speed, you want Verizon, pure and simple.

Or maybe Sprint, I hear their data is fast, and unlimited data's $15 a month, so go figure. :D