For almost the past two years I've been a reluctant Verizon customer. I chose the service based on a device (the Galaxy Nexus) and I'm leaving the service behind as soon as I get my hands on a new Nexus 5. I wanted to post my reasons why I willingly will pay to end my contract a month and a half early because I feel every Verizon subscriber deserves to know my rationale.
First and foremost, Verizon provides a service to connect to a cellular data and voice network (CDMA/LTE). It is just that a "service". I really encourage Verizon to recognize that is your business, to provide your consumers a service. While I've been quite pleased with my service (great voice coverage, fast LTE speeds), I have not at all been pleased with the support of my device. As stated, I own a Galaxy Nexus which is a Google branded device, manufactured by Samsung, and sold to work on Verizon's network. All very basic things, however Verizon at no point intended this to be a Nexus device because they insisted on retesting all of Google's updates because apparently they have zero trust in the testing Google does. Excuse me, Google is not a fly by night, ma and pop operation. They are very thorough in their testing and would never send a device or update that hasn't been through rounds of testing. Verizon allows Apple to own their devices and does not get in the way of timely updates to iOS, however a Nexus device is somehow different? Well Verizon, you're wrong.
I will be taking my business to AT&T because they have a model where unlocked phones can be brought onto their network and have no issues with Google owning the Nexus ecosystem. AT&T merely will be selling me a service, not hindering my device from updates.
While it would be great if Verizon would embrace a open handset model, I just don't see it happening and it became clear with the recent Nexus 7 that was announced to work on your network, when in fact you wouldn't allow it. Many reports note people swapped their SIM card in and it worked just fine, but you continue to spin your wheels and fail to fully support Android.
Finally, I am somewhat sad to leave given the service has been outstanding, but I encourage you to reconsider what a Nexus device means and the hands off approach by a provider it entails. Maybe one day I will be back, but for now I'm not looking back on my decision. I feel many other customers feel the way I do and once the Nexus 5 is available you may see a dip in your business.
Edited for rooting discussion as required by the Terms of Service.
Message was edited by: Admin Moderator
