Verizon sold me (and my D2) to ATT, UGH!

[belome]

So, as many of you know, with the merger agreements put into place for Verizon to aquire Alltel, some of us were sold to ATT like cattle.  I could on and on about what a really feel about the situation but I just have to get one thing off my chest.

AT&T is providing me with a 'comparable' phone.  The comparable phone is the HTC Aria, a bottom of the line Andriod phone that isn't even running 2.2.  What a slap in the face.  I've talked to them till I'm blue in the face and they just don't care.

I realize I have little to gain by complaining here, but I thought at least some of my fellow D2 owners would get a kick out of their 'comparable' phone.  When I asked about the Samsung Captivate, they informed me that it was a much better phone than my current D2 and that I would have to pay to get it and sign a 2 year contract.

Am I the only one that smells a rat?

PS - Rumor has it that Verizon is the one that setup the comparable phones, but I have no way of confirming that.

[Ann154]

And my Droid Eris. Double ugh.

Belome, welcome.

[Tidbits]

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belome wrote:

So, as many of you know, with the merger agreements put into place for Verizon to aquire Alltel, some of us were sold to ATT like cattle.  I could on and on about what a really feel about the situation but I just have to get one thing off my chest.

 Can't blame Verizon for this.  Blame the FCC on this one, if you search the deal on the web or ask for documentation you will find out in order for the deal to go through Verizon has to sell parts of Alltel.  Any carrier that purchased the company would have done the same thing when purchasing Alltell.

AT&T is providing me with a 'comparable' phone.  The comparable phone is the HTC Aria, a bottom of the line Andriod phone that isn't even running 2.2.  What a slap in the face.  I've talked to them till I'm blue in the face and they just don't care.

 I didn't know AT&T had ANY phone that has 2.2.  I could be wrong as I haven't checked their devices recently. So it is comparable unless you want an iPhone.

I realize I have little to gain by complaining here, but I thought at least some of my fellow D2 owners would get a kick out of their 'comparable' phone.  When I asked about the Samsung Captivate, they informed me that it was a much better phone than my current D2 and that I would have to pay to get it and sign a 2 year contract.

 Honestly I do find the Galaxy S devices better than the D2 even if it is on 2.1.  That's my personal opinion I would have gotten a Fascinate if it was available when I chose my plan.  It was release a few weeks after I started my plan.  You know what you could do is sell your D2 sign a contract and use the money from your D2 to get the Captivate. 

Am I the only one that smells a rat?

 AT&T doesn't owe you a new phone and yet they are willing to give you a phone.  Sure it's not a phone you want, but seriously do you think any company out their will take a large loss giving phones away?  Of course they are going to want to minimize this.

PS - Rumor has it that Verizon is the one that setup the comparable phones, but I have no way of confirming that.

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[Ann154]

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Tidbits wrote:

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belome wrote:

So, as many of you know, with the merger agreements put into place for Verizon to aquire Alltel, some of us were sold to ATT like cattle.  I could on and on about what a really feel about the situation but I just have to get one thing off my chest.

 Can't blame Verizon for this.  Blame the FCC on this one, if you search the deal on the web or ask for documentation you will find out in order for the deal to go through Verizon has to sell parts of Alltel.  Any carrier that purchased the company would have done the same thing when purchasing Alltel.

You did realize that Verizon sold some Verizon markets and customers just to get the current Alltel towers and customers from that same area, right?

AT&T is providing me with a 'comparable' phone.  The comparable phone is the HTC Aria, a bottom of the line Android phone that isn't even running 2.2.  What a slap in the face.  I've talked to them till I'm blue in the face and they just don't care.

 I didn't know AT&T had ANY phone that has 2.2.  I could be wrong as I haven't checked their devices recently. So it is comparable unless you want an iPhone.

I realize I have little to gain by complaining here, but I thought at least some of my fellow D2 owners would get a kick out of their 'comparable' phone.  When I asked about the Samsung Captivate, they informed me that it was a much better phone than my current D2 and that I would have to pay to get it and sign a 2 year contract.

 Honestly I do find the Galaxy S devices better than the D2 even if it is on 2.1.  That's my personal opinion I would have gotten a Fascinate if it was available when I chose my plan.  It was release a few weeks after I started my plan.  You know what you could do is sell your D2 sign a contract and use the money from your D2 to get the Captivate. 

Actually I have been following belome's post in the AT&T wireless community.  Short version:  He emailed the CEO, got a phone call back and now himself and the other customers in the affected market with the Droid 2 (and hopefully those with the Droid X) will be getting the Samsung Captivate as their free comparable phone without the 2-year contract commitment.

Am I the only one that smells a rat?

 AT&T doesn't owe you a new phone and yet they are willing to give you a phone.  Sure it's not a phone you want, but seriously do you think any company out their will take a large loss giving phones away?  Of course they are going to want to minimize this.

Because the cell technologies are different (CDMA vs. GSM), we can't keep using our current phones.  Therefore they need to give us different phones.  I am not sure if this was a requirement of the FCC.  All that documentation is much to dry for me to get completely through it.  Beside that website is confusing as heck to even find the right document.

PS - Rumor has it that Verizon is the one that setup the comparable phones, but I have no way of confirming that.

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The divestment website for the Verizon customers affected

http://www.att.com/mergers/divestverizon/

As a side note, I have the added bonus of having a phone number that should have been safe.  Just because I got Verizon's service before they had "home coverage" where I moved to in Nebraska back in 2003 from Colorado.  I had just got a new phone in January of the year with a new 2 year contract and didn't want to pay the termination fee then to get a Nebraska phone number.  So for a about a 1 year most of my cell coverage was in the extended network and I would have to go to Omaha to get native coverage before Verizon expanded into my hometown.  In the Omaha, Alltel and Verizon numbers completely merged, but nope my Omaha number wasn't one of them.  Verizon, FCC, whomever chose my billing address has where the basis to put me in their "Trust Network". Even though for at least the past two years I have had a job in Omaha and where most of my minutes, messaging and data have occurred.

[Tidbits]

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Ann154 wrote:

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Tidbits wrote:

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belome wrote:

So, as many of you know, with the merger agreements put into place for Verizon to aquire Alltel, some of us were sold to ATT like cattle.  I could on and on about what a really feel about the situation but I just have to get one thing off my chest.

 Can't blame Verizon for this.  Blame the FCC on this one, if you search the deal on the web or ask for documentation you will find out in order for the deal to go through Verizon has to sell parts of Alltel.  Any carrier that purchased the company would have done the same thing when purchasing Alltel.

You did realize that Verizon sold some Verizon markets and customers just to get the current Alltel towers and customers from that same area, right?

It still comes down to the fact the FCC forced Verizon to sell sections off of Alltel.  They could NOT keep 100% of the company.  That in on itself is what caused your dilema.  It wasn't because Verizon wanted to.  In order for the deal to go through Verizon had to sell off some parts.

AT&T is providing me with a 'comparable' phone.  The comparable phone is the HTC Aria, a bottom of the line Android phone that isn't even running 2.2.  What a slap in the face.  I've talked to them till I'm blue in the face and they just don't care.

 I didn't know AT&T had ANY phone that has 2.2.  I could be wrong as I haven't checked their devices recently. So it is comparable unless you want an iPhone.

I realize I have little to gain by complaining here, but I thought at least some of my fellow D2 owners would get a kick out of their 'comparable' phone.  When I asked about the Samsung Captivate, they informed me that it was a much better phone than my current D2 and that I would have to pay to get it and sign a 2 year contract.

 Honestly I do find the Galaxy S devices better than the D2 even if it is on 2.1.  That's my personal opinion I would have gotten a Fascinate if it was available when I chose my plan.  It was release a few weeks after I started my plan.  You know what you could do is sell your D2 sign a contract and use the money from your D2 to get the Captivate. 

Actually I have been following belome's post in the AT&T wireless community.  Short version:  He emailed the CEO, got a phone call back and now himself and the other customers in the affected market with the Droid 2 (and hopefully those with the Droid X) will be getting the Samsung Captivate as their free comparable phone without the 2-year contract commitment.

I call fibs on it.  He probably signed a 2 year deal and probably got a larger discount, but something will come out of pocket other than just signing a 2 year deal.  They have to recoup monies especially when they know that probably 30-40% will not stay longer than a year.  I bet what the guy above did was sell his device and signed a two year and got his Captivate for free, and telling others he got it for free.

Am I the only one that smells a rat?

 AT&T doesn't owe you a new phone and yet they are willing to give you a phone.  Sure it's not a phone you want, but seriously do you think any company out their will take a large loss giving phones away?  Of course they are going to want to minimize this.

Because the cell technologies are different (CDMA vs. GSM), we can't keep using our current phones.  Therefore they need to give us different phones.  I am not sure if this was a requirement of the FCC.  All that documentation is much to dry for me to get completely through it.  Beside that website is confusing as heck to even find the right document.

AT&T still doesn't owe you a phone.  They will give you a "free" phone to work with this difference, but they don't have to give you their top notch phones for free in order to do so.

PS - Rumor has it that Verizon is the one that setup the comparable phones, but I have no way of confirming that.

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The divestment website for the Verizon customers affected

http://www.att.com/mergers/divestverizon/

As a side note, I have the added bonus of having a phone number that should have been safe.  Just because I got Verizon's service before they had "home coverage" where I moved to in Nebraska back in 2003 from Colorado.  I had just got a new phone in January of the year with a new 2 year contract and didn't want to pay the termination fee then to get a Nebraska phone number.  So for a about a 1 year most of my cell coverage was in the extended network and I would have to go to Omaha to get native coverage before Verizon expanded into my hometown.  In the Omaha, Alltel and Verizon numbers completely merged, but nope my Omaha number wasn't one of them.  Verizon, FCC, whomever chose my billing address has where the basis to put me in their "Trust Network". Even though for at least the past two years I have had a job in Omaha and where most of my minutes, messaging and data have occurred.

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[Ann154]

Fine Whatever. Believe me or not that it is your choice.  I have no reason to lie.

[Tidbits]

Yes you have no reason to lie, but the other guy who made the statement may lie to get what he wants.  That's all I am saying.

[arichard21]

generally when there your contract is sold to another provider, they offer you to use your existing equiptment and go month to month, or they treat you like a new customer offering phones at a 2 yr contract price (of course with the 2 year contract). thats how it went when we were with unicel and was sold to ATT.

[Ann154]

Huh, tidbits, were you planning on saying something?

Since I am in the same boat as belome, I hope to heaven that that those other guy's network fails to deliver in the first 30 days. Then I can cancel them, mail their replacement and gladly pay any restocking fee just so I can come back to the Big Red.

[Tidbits]

Read the Dark Green text

[Ann154]

Ah! I couldn't see it against the yellow background of a new post in mobile view.

Now to go back and read that post...

[Ann154]

Well this time we can't use our existing equipment because the CDMA phone from Verizon is incompatible with AT&T's GSM network.

[Tidbits]

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Ann154 wrote:
Well this time we can't use our existing equipment because the CDMA phone from Verizon is incompatible with AT&T's GSM network.

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Sell your device which you can keep...  Sign the 2 year and get whatever you want and have money left over in your pocket...  All your problems solved.

[Ann154]

You mean someone would pay good money for my baby Droid?

1) I refuse to buy a new phone and a two year contract from a company that I have repeatedly rejected as possible receiver of my business over the last ten years. They never had coverage where I live. With this sale, they might accomplish it. At the moment I have selected their designated "comparable" phone with no additional contract commitment. If the network meets the coverage of the Verizon network I get now, I will survive with that phone until my current contract end date which will be less than a year from when I get the AT&T phone. What happens at that point is yet to be determined.

2) Or I can try the free phone from AT&T for 2-25 days. Decide the network is whack and walk into a Verizon store say that I have a Droid Eris and I want to start a new monthly service, port my number back to Verizon, and cancel the AT&T and mail their inferior locked down phone back to them. I would gladly pay the restocking fee. Then whenever Verizon decides to release their LTE phones, I will be on a month to month and can get a new phone, maybe.

[budone]

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Ann154 wrote:
You mean someone would pay good money for my baby Droid?

1) I refuse to buy a new phone and a two year contract from a company that I have repeatedly rejected as possible receiver of my business over the last ten years. They never had coverage where I live. With this sale, they might accomplish it. At the moment I have selected their designated "comparable" phone with no additional contract commitment. If the network meets the coverage of the Verizon network I get now, I will survive with that phone until my current contract end date which will be less than a year from when I get the AT&T phone. What happens at that point is yet to be determined.

2) Or I can try the free phone from AT&T for 2-25 days. Decide the network is whack and walk into a Verizon store say that I have a Droid Eris and I want to start a new monthly service, port my number back to Verizon, and cancel the AT&T and mail their inferior locked down phone back to them. I would gladly pay the restocking fee. Then whenever Verizon decides to release their LTE phones, I will be on a month to month and can get a new phone, maybe.As much as I dislike ATT, I do give them credit for this clause. Now will they send techs out and say, 'Hey you have one bar in the yard, sorry". The way I read it, no. There are many upset people near me, even my neighbor. He has an Alltel phone with a Muskegon exchange he is going to ATT. I have a Grand Rapids number, and was switched to Verizon a year ago.

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[Tidbits]

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Ann154 wrote:
You mean someone would pay good money for my baby Droid?

1) I refuse to buy a new phone and a two year contract from a company that I have repeatedly rejected as possible receiver of my business over the last ten years. They never had coverage where I live. With this sale, they might accomplish it. At the moment I have selected their designated "comparable" phone with no additional contract commitment. If the network meets the coverage of the Verizon network I get now, I will survive with that phone until my current contract end date which will be less than a year from when I get the AT&T phone. What happens at that point is yet to be determined.

2) Or I can try the free phone from AT&T for 2-25 days. Decide the network is whack and walk into a Verizon store say that I have a Droid Eris and I want to start a new monthly service, port my number back to Verizon, and cancel the AT&T and mail their inferior locked down phone back to them. I would gladly pay the restocking fee. Then whenever Verizon decides to release their LTE phones, I will be on a month to month and can get a new phone, maybe.

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SO you finally calmed down and thought things rationally...  You finally figured you are in a great position, and you could actually have more money on top in the end with a little work.  I would have jumped on a chance to be sold like that as that's at least $300 in my pocket for doing nothing hahaha.

[Ann154]

What??? Those choices have been the plan since July. I have just been waiting for the details to know how viable they could be.

As for selling my baby Droid, nah! I'm thinking February will be a good time to figure out how to get Amazon MP3 and a few other programs off it.

[Tidbits]

Then what's the purpose of this thread?

[Tidbits]

I stand corrected It wasn't you who started the thread.  I hope the guy who did post the thread read what was discussed between you and I and find out he's not in a bad position like he thinks he is in.

[Ann154]

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Tidbits wrote:

I stand corrected It wasn't you who started the thread.  I hope the guy who did post the thread read what was discussed between you and I and find out he's not in a bad position like he thinks he is in.

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I think he might have figured it out.  I knew earlier that he posts to another website.  Here is the link to that thread since I can't use the link from the AT&T forums. That thread is in an area where you have to be registered to see.  Very weird IMHO.

http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-general-discussions/92637-my-open-letter-t-regarding-merger.h...

[reallyniceguy]

Megers can get ugly. Its because uncle sam thinks its a monopoly for verizon to buy all of alltel. They had to shop some parts of it and sell it to other companies. Verizon has no control over it. My alltel became verizon which Im glad because att in my area just doesnt cut it.