I've been with Verizon over six years and I listened to their marketing of how they're the best and how the fees are higher but "we have better service". Now that I left? Noooooo greater feeling. I know, I know... the fanboys will be all over me on this one... they certainly were when I brought up the topic of the price comparisons. Now that I'm on Sprint, let me talk about the differences;
First of all, Sprint's plan is legit, but it's $79/month (but they'll give you at least 20% off of that!!). It's UNLIMITED data (AT&T has a 2gb cap on all of my friends' plans and Verizon is going to cap it as well) and unlimited texting. AND!!!! The 450 minutes? No minutes are counted when you call ANY cell phone. Yes, you can call ANYONE for free... any company. The only minutes that count against you are calls to landlines. Verizon tried to "warn" me about their "roaming" charges. Total lie. If you are in the middle of nowhere, where they don't have towers, you then 'roam' which only means they borrow another tower and, in that case, the minutes go against your 450, but not "extra" charge. Big whoop. Verizon goes against your minutes no matter who you call (if it's out of 'network'), so it would be like 'roaming' charges with them.
Now, the price... Verizon's same plan for 3G is $59 unlimited data and texting, and $39 for 450 minutes... that's $98. With my 22% discount, I'm paying roughly $64 a month now. Even straight up, $79 vs. $98? Really? That's basically $20 a month... or in my case, $35 of savings a month; $420 a year.
Customer service. Sprint wants to overtake Verizon (good luck with that) so they're desperate to make you happy. Sprint's people in the store were AMAZING. No [removal required by the Verizon Wireless Terms of Service] , no putting down Verizon. They just explained the different options and pricing. NO FEES for "activation". No fees for porting the number over. No fees for bringing all of your contacts in. And... my company discount expired but they hooked me up with another one anyway... they're willing to work with you. I begged and begged and begged Verizon for almost six months to do SOMETHING to keep me because there was no way I was gonna pay almost $100 for one cell phone (if I got 3G).
Service. I know Verizon busts its [removed] to have good service and all of that... but I dunno what it was, but I got ONE BAR at home... and nothing at work. Now? Four bars at home, three bars at work. So... yeah. Verizon's still great but when their customer service people were putting down Sprint, saying, "You'll be back, their coverage is terrible," that was not the case.
Freedom. I got tired of the [removed] fees and overages. Even now, Verizon's customer service person emailed and said, "If you come back within 90 days, we'll wave the port fees." Oh yeah? Woooooowwwww, gee, thanks Verizon. That email literally made me 100% comfortable with my choice to leave. Now I can text and not have to call DAT to see if I'm close to going over. I can call people and not have to call MIN to see if I'm about to get overages... I can have super fast internet at 10x the speed that Verizon has available to its phone.
Overall... when I joined Verizon, I left AT&T because they were terrible and couldn't give a [removed] less about their customers... couldn't have been happier with Verizon at thte time. Verizon was the 'good guy' back then, a growing company with great deals, wanting to please their would-be customers. Now? They're "Big Red"; arrogant, wanting to gouge you for even nickle and dime they can. Heck, although my service was shut off after five days into the month, they informed me that they were billing me for the whole month... sucking every last penny out of me even though I have been without a contract for almost a year. Maybe Sprint will become the same thing, who knows, but right now, they've been nothing but amazing.
I'm telling you guys... if you were as [removed] as I was and hoping for some change, just go to a Sprint store and get the Evo... it's faaaaaar better than the iPhone 4 on so many levels... knowing that and knowing I'm paying about 2/3 of what Verizon was going to charge me leaves a smile on my face and money in my pocket - for BETTER service (in my case at least). Verizon is an abusive relationship where you keep getting punched in the face with fees... but, for some reason, you still love them. Marketing maybe? They couldn't tell us when 4G was coming... they won't tell us about the phones... they won't tell us about the fees... but that sense of freedom and using my phone for its full potential is amazing.
Telling you guys... I thought Sprint was going to be terrible but the service is great and the price is ridiculous. It's a no-brainer.
