My reply from VZW to the BBB.

[Deamorei]

Here is a letter i received after filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.  My complaint was about them not providing accurate usage reports to consumers This letter was from Verizon Wireless to the Better Business Bureau of New Jersey.

Dear Ms.  *insert name here*

Thank you for contacting Verizon Wireless (VZW). This letter is response to the above referenced complaint for Mr. *insert name here*.  Mr. **k expressed concern regarding the 5GB allowance associated with his Mobile Broadband account and the tools to track usage. Please accept this letter as confirmation of VZW’s resolution to his concerns. Mr. ***k  subscribes to a $59.95 Mobile Broadband plan that includes an allowance of 5GB. I sincerely regret his dissatisfaction with his allowance and the tools available to track usage. I forwarded this feedback to appropriate parties and it will be taken into consideration for future enhancements.

In light of Mr. ***k  concern, she he wish to change his plan, I can offer him an alternative Mobile Broadband plan for $199.99 for a 10GB allowance. Should he wish to pursue this option, he should contact me directly within 30 days of receipt of this letter. Otherwise the plan may not be available. Should Mr *** k have any questions i can be reached at  *insert phone* numbers here.

Sincerely

*insert name here*

Executive Relations Coordinator

So they are willing to give me an extra 5GB a month allowance for $140.00 a month.  That comes out to be around 28 dollars per gigabyte after 5GB which is cheaper then the overage charge of 50 dollars per gigabyte. None the less something is horribly wrong when a mobile broadband bill for such limited use can cost me about 60% of my home mortage payment for so little use *10GB per month*. They never really answered as to why we the customer cant get up to date usage reports now did they? I don’t think they can accurately track usage real time in relation to users. Thats why we don’t get an update for several days sometimes.

Keep an eye on all wireless companies not just Verizon. They are raking us over the coals right now . VZW has no reason to be competitive. They own the market pretty much right now.  I do have excellant performance from VZW thats not a complaint.

[#2]

You can accurately track your usage with NetMeter.

[Deamorei]

Verizon Access Manager is designed to monitor usage. I shouldn't have to download additional software since it's already provided. This site isn't even up to data on usage. My data was supposed to be reset yesterday yet the data usage screen shows old data . It's VZW responsibility when setting limits to provide accurate usage readings whenever we so desire to check them.

[#4]

That may be true, but we all know the Verizon data lags a couple days.  So, you can either fly blind, or download NetMeter or some other program and stop wasting your 5GB complaining about it.

[Doodle]

Deamorie I agree with you we should not have to download another software. That would just take more of our 5GB of usage that's never up to date.

[#6]

I agree, you shouldn't have to download another software.  However, it you want a solution to your problem, that's it.  Otherwise, you can continue to run the risk of exceeding your 5 GB allocation while you sit here complaining.  Verizon is well aware of the problem, but it still exist.

[reallyniceguy]

JESUS ! what are you downloading to go voer the 5 gig cap? as per the terms and conditions you cant download movies or mp3s and it should be for casual net surfing. You are runing the risk of getting audited.

[Doodle]

No one said anything about downloading anything that makes you go over the 5 gig limit. The discussion is about not wanting to download a program that Verizon should provide.

[Deamorei]

Actually you can go through 50-75MB of data in a surfing session 2-3 hours and that's just one person using the connection. Flash adds like this website uses are pretty heavy. Regardless of what Verizon wireless thinks, Mobile/Wireless broadband is the future of most all connectivity to the internet. Why do they even have a MIFI that I use that 5 users can connect simultaneously to the VZW wireless network for. How about mobile collaboration, etc, etc,.

 Yesterday my usage jumped from 17MB to 578 MB just over night. In fact it actually in the past 3 reading went from 47MB rolled back to 17 then jumped forward to 578, That's only 144MB over 4 days so its not as outrageous as it may seem.  On 5GB you can use 166MB per day again which really isn't much. Its just me and the spouse. Imagine if we had 4 kids in school. The majority who benefit from this service aren't travelers or city folk but us urban dwellers who live in the outskirts with no high speed broadband available. Ever try to surf on an iphone? Its about worthless.  Same on a Blackberry. ala Netbook now that's where its at.

Though the price for 5GB is outlandish its for me to do whatever I want to use it for. My main use is for surfing and playing a MMO. Checking email. I've never went over but I've been close. Users are not allowed simply by the cap to enjoy the internet for all it has to offer. Wireless companies are like oil companies trying to squeeze the market for all they can get.. Last quarter VZW added 1.3 million NEW wireless customers excluding acquisitions compared to roughly 300k wired subscribers so tell me where the market is. Yeah wireless internet! Do some research mobile broadband is really the cash cow for wireless providers.

Oh btw Jim. If a customer goes over without knowledge that's a potential lawsuit for VZW. It's not an acceptable problem for the consumer to have to deal with. Not even this website is up to date on data use but its sure up to date in taking our money on auto pay isn't it? I've never had my bill rolled back or paid late. I suggest people that want to do away with caps and are for net neutrality to stay on their elected leaders rear ends. Wireless companies need to pass the buck on to where it belongs. The providers of things such as Netflix or Itunes and not the consumers who pay for their services. People need do drop the assumption that mobile broadband is used primarily by phones, berrys etc, etc.. It's not.

[#10]

I agree Verizon should provide accurate, up-to-date usage data.  However, they don't.  As a customer, you can run the risk or going over your 5 GB, or you can be proactive and download NetMeter or some other software and solve the problem.  Not to do so seems silly to me, but that's your decision.

Personally, I would never use Verizon wireless broadband as my primary ISP.  To me, 5 GB is not enough capacity.  I use it for travel and as a failback for when my Charter cable internet goes out.  If you're trying to use it as your only source, I think you're not going to be happy with it.  If you live where Verizon is your only option, that's your decision, but Verizon is under no obligation to tailor their business model to fit your needs.  That's a business decision for them to make.

[Darnstrat]

You miss the point.  For MANY of us who live in rural areas, wireless is the only viable alternative.  Verizon provides the POTS lines around here and the service has been getting worse and worse over the past two years.  Our phone lines were getting so noisy and unusable for dial-up that I had to call their service department 9 times in six months.  Still, the service degraded to the point where my BEST dial-up connection was 9.8 kb/S.  That's right, 9800.   But you say, get DSL instead... NOT available as they won't locate a substation close enough for DSL to function.  All of our neighbors have the same issue.  Some have switched to satellite (unreliable and expensive), some have switched to wireless (when it rains, might as well have dial up).. and some of us have switched to 3G through Verizon.

Granted, the VZW service is pretty good, but as has been pointed out, the 5G cap is ridiculous in today's environment.  And yes, I have netmeter... but VZW still has the responsibility for providing accurate and timely usage information to its customers. 

[J_Shook]

Verizon is also the only choice for me as well. Unless I want to pay Comcast $25,000 -- $30,000 (US) to lay a cable to my house. The point isn't the price. The point isn't the specific data limit. The point is that Verizon does and will not provide an accurate reckoning of data used so far. I too have a desk utility to track my actual usage. When Verizon arbitrarily bumps up my "usage" to over 5GB I suspect they will not find the output of my independent utility showing otherwise compelling. This month has been so crazy (negative usage charges, big jumps, etc.) I have assurances from a customer rep that I will not have any overage charges. We'll see. But calling every few days to complain about this is a waste of everyone's time. Verizon tech know their data usage reporting is **bleep**. They cannot do anything about this under their own initiative. Or so I'm told. One tech told me that somewhere on this site is something called "Voice of the customer" and I should use that to complain about the data reporting. I cannot find this.

If anyone knows where "Voice of the customer" is, please lead me to it. And we should all complain loudly and often there about this. Here we're just talking to each other.

[cnotp1]

I never use verizon as my primary isp because how much it cost and only 5gb.I wait until about the last 10 days then I use it.

I got comcast as the primary isp.

[Doodle]

If it was your only option, you would. Read Darnstrat's post above. We just got the Verzion tower in March, before that we had no service for cell phones of any kind.

[Doodle]

The point is still, providing accurate usage reports. 

[#16]

Yes, I agree with this.  Evidently, they don't have the capability to provide accurate, up-to-date usage data.  It's hard to see how they can charge for usage over 5 GB if they can't provide the information in a timely manner.

[#17]

No, I understand your point.  The Verizon product does not meet your needs so you are complaining to the BBB.  It is up to Verizon to decide what product they want to offer and at what price.  It is up to you to decide to buy it or not buy it.  It's a simple concept actually.

[J_Shook]

jimfitgerald: "No, I understand your point.  The Verizon product does not meet your needs so you are complaining to the BBB.  It is up to Verizon to decide what product they want to offer and at what price.  It is up to you to decide to buy it or not buy it.  It's a simple concept actually"

If this were a simple case of "This shirt costs $50, take it or leave it," you would be correct. It's your decision and there's no grounds for complaining that the shirt is too expensive. You made the decision. You have only yourself to blame if you feel you buy it and feel you paid too much, or it was unsatisfactory in some other way you could have determined before buying it.

But the situation here is "This shirt is about $50, but we won't tell you how much it costs exactly until after you have agreed to buy it. The actual price depends on a lot of things over which we say we have no control, and we decide the actual price based on total sales estimates, delayed supply data from our manufacturers and any number of other things. We provide information in several formats for you to anticipate what the price we will ultimately charge you for the shirt will be, but they are all inaccurate, often wildly so. And we know you have no other place to buy shirts."

It isn't a matter of making a bad decision while knowing the complete terms of the agreement and regretting the consequences later. If it were, this would indeed be a "simple concept." I was sold a service and told there would be tools to track my usage so I could stay within my "budget." This was a false representation, since the tools provide are defective, as Verizon itself admits.

[#19]

If you will download and install NetMeter, the usage problem will become a non-issue.  Other than that, I believe the service is great, although a little expensive.

[J_Shook]

I have SurplusMeter (Macintosh) which I assume is similar. But if my locally-gathered usage data differs from Verizon's, do you think Verizon will accept my version of what my usage really is? From their point of view, why should they? The thing they sold did not include a provision for self-reporting data usage. They sold a thing where they determine data usage, and the false promise that they had tools to track this accurately.

Yes, if I think they are way out of line I will of course report what SurplusMeter says, but I see no incentive for Verizon to honor that information.

I graph my daily usage as reported by Verizon and it is quite hilarious, especially when it goes negative. But I won't be laughing if they claim I have gone over my budget and I know I haven't.

[Doodle]

J Shook, I called Verizon Monday to get my account credited for the overages. After 7 months of using Verizon suddenly my usage amounts doubled. Since then I have been keeping notes, making screen shots of their usage amounts, etc. I questioned them about the negative usage they told me that I must have written it down wrong. I told them I had screen shots of it. Then he said I'll credit your account now. They claimed I had used 5389MB according to my calculations I used 2715. My amount is more in line with what I was using before they started doubling it.

When the amount first double after many calls to Verizon I was told it was a tower problem. Mulitple lighting strikes I was told. They now tell me the tower has been repaired. Last night my brother and I was coming home in a thunder storm, at the same time we said tower strike. I can see the tower from my window. One night I was standing in the kitchen saw it hit the tower and it shook my house.

My advice to any one using Verizon is to keep good notes and call every month.