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Why You Can’t Get a Good Phone With Verizon

17 points by mjfern 17y ago

arithmetic 17y ago
That's what happens when you stop innovating (and looking around at competition) and start competing on price. When all you have to offer is lower price, you're already halfway downhill.
- jdagostino 17y ago
  I thought the conclusion was the fact they have a CDMA network rather than a GSM?
- joezydeco 17y ago
  Remember that 700 Mhz auction? Verizon bought big and is using it to quietly build LTE all over the place. So what happens next year when they offer data service that is a order of magnitude faster than 3G? Are they still not innovating? LTE is promising 50-60 mbps, but field trials are showing 8 to 10. Would you drop your AT&T iPhone for that?
  - mmt 17y ago
    Would you drop your AT&T iPhone for that? Aren't iPhone users already selected for data rate insensitivity, considering the history of both the hardware product and AT&T's data performance?
  - roc 17y ago
    No. I wouldn't even consider it. I wouldn't replace my PC with a glorified set-top box just to get FiOS service either.
- brown9-2 17y ago
  Except... Verizon is the #1 US cellular carrier. So even though they don't seem to be innovating or seem cool to hackers, and that from our perspective they are heading "downhill" ... from a pure business perspective, they are succeeding, aren't they?
nobody_nowhere 17y ago
Someone please explain to me why this article doesn't start and end with one word (well, acronym): CDMA. Sure, the US is the biggest smartphone market in the world, and VZW has a huge share, but look who else uses CDMA extensively aside from VZW -- China Telecom. Two giant, conservative bureaucratic entities, one state owned, one who used to be. Compare that to a more dynamic and competitive GSM marketplace. More phones, more compeition, more flexibility.
- Maciek416 17y ago
  Good point. Note that this is also the reason why they're so close with RIM at the moment: More than one of Canada's major telcos (RIM is Canadian) is on CDMA, so they continue to produce phones for that standard.
  - halostatue 17y ago
    That number will be dropping to one (Bell) after this year when Telus switches to GSM; the CDMA/GSM switch for Telus is supposed to happen in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics (and they'll probably run parallel networks for a little while like Rogers did with its GSM/TDMA switchover a decade ago).
- old-gregg 17y ago
  Sprint is on CDMA as well. AFAIK Jpananese providers use it too. CDMA is generally quite popular in Asia. Besides, it doesn't really cost that much to have GSM/CDMA versions of the same phone. GSM is mostly a European phenomena which is unfortunate since it is vastly inferior to CDMA. I used to be on Sprint and Verizon for years and got used to crystal clear sound. Now, even after 3 years with AT&T and T-Mobile, I still cannot get used to the pathetic voice call quality of GSM handsets (I tried Motorola, Nokia, Blackberry and Apple). Verizon doesn't have the latest phones because they never allow customers too much freedom at exchanging data. Even their basic phones come with crippled Bluetooth (so you can't upload your own MP3 - have to pay Verizon for that) and disabled tethering. With something like iPhone they'd have to disable most of the phone to make it fit their corporate dogma of controlling everything users do.
yason 17y ago
I really can' t imagine why this forcefully pre-segmented market exists at all -- except for to keep the carriers from beating themselves to death. Then again, completely free markets rarely exist but this is bordering a cartel. "Psst! Hey, I won't sell X and will offer only Y, if only you won't sell Y and offer only X." I like to buy the best phone that suits my needs, and choose the best carrier that suits my needs. If those two are coupled, I am given suboptimal selection of choices as soon as I want a phone I can't get from one carrier or I want a certain carrier that doesn't deliver the phone of my choice.
dreaming 17y ago
Time for them to build their own android phone...

17 points by mjfern 17y ago

That's what happens when you stop innovating (and looking around at competition) and start competing on price. When all you have to offer is lower price, you're already halfway downhill.

jdagostino 17y ago
I thought the conclusion was the fact they have a CDMA network rather than a GSM?
joezydeco 17y ago
Remember that 700 Mhz auction? Verizon bought big and is using it to quietly build LTE all over the place. So what happens next year when they offer data service that is a order of magnitude faster than 3G? Are they still not innovating? LTE is promising 50-60 mbps, but field trials are showing 8 to 10. Would you drop your AT&T iPhone for that?
- mmt 17y ago
  Would you drop your AT&T iPhone for that? Aren't iPhone users already selected for data rate insensitivity, considering the history of both the hardware product and AT&T's data performance?
- roc 17y ago
  No. I wouldn't even consider it. I wouldn't replace my PC with a glorified set-top box just to get FiOS service either.
brown9-2 17y ago
Except... Verizon is the #1 US cellular carrier. So even though they don't seem to be innovating or seem cool to hackers, and that from our perspective they are heading "downhill" ... from a pure business perspective, they are succeeding, aren't they?

nobody_nowhere 17y ago

Someone please explain to me why this article doesn't start and end with one word (well, acronym): CDMA. Sure, the US is the biggest smartphone market in the world, and VZW has a huge share, but look who else uses CDMA extensively aside from VZW -- China Telecom. Two giant, conservative bureaucratic entities, one state owned, one who used to be. Compare that to a more dynamic and competitive GSM marketplace. More phones, more compeition, more flexibility.

Maciek416 17y ago
Good point. Note that this is also the reason why they're so close with RIM at the moment: More than one of Canada's major telcos (RIM is Canadian) is on CDMA, so they continue to produce phones for that standard.
- halostatue 17y ago
  That number will be dropping to one (Bell) after this year when Telus switches to GSM; the CDMA/GSM switch for Telus is supposed to happen in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics (and they'll probably run parallel networks for a little while like Rogers did with its GSM/TDMA switchover a decade ago).
old-gregg 17y ago
Sprint is on CDMA as well. AFAIK Jpananese providers use it too. CDMA is generally quite popular in Asia. Besides, it doesn't really cost that much to have GSM/CDMA versions of the same phone. GSM is mostly a European phenomena which is unfortunate since it is vastly inferior to CDMA. I used to be on Sprint and Verizon for years and got used to crystal clear sound. Now, even after 3 years with AT&T and T-Mobile, I still cannot get used to the pathetic voice call quality of GSM handsets (I tried Motorola, Nokia, Blackberry and Apple). Verizon doesn't have the latest phones because they never allow customers too much freedom at exchanging data. Even their basic phones come with crippled Bluetooth (so you can't upload your own MP3 - have to pay Verizon for that) and disabled tethering. With something like iPhone they'd have to disable most of the phone to make it fit their corporate dogma of controlling everything users do.

yason 17y ago

I really can' t imagine why this forcefully pre-segmented market exists at all -- except for to keep the carriers from beating themselves to death. Then again, completely free markets rarely exist but this is bordering a cartel. "Psst! Hey, I won't sell X and will offer only Y, if only you won't sell Y and offer only X." I like to buy the best phone that suits my needs, and choose the best carrier that suits my needs. If those two are coupled, I am given suboptimal selection of choices as soon as I want a phone I can't get from one carrier or I want a certain carrier that doesn't deliver the phone of my choice.

dreaming 17y ago

Time for them to build their own android phone...