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WP 8.1 Bait & Switch

I bought the Icon because of this article (All-new Windows Phone experience: Lumia Cyan update - Conversations : now part of Microsoft) & the promise of Windows 8.1. My Contract was ending 8/8/14 & was looking to trade in my Android phone. I really did like my HTC Incredible 4g LTE but was enticed with Cortana & the Windows 8 platform. My wife has the iPhone 5 but I am not an Apple guy but I did like Siri. Cortana just sounded so much cooler.

It has been a month & no update to their "flagship" windows phone but instead release an HTC with 8.1 pre-installed. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

T-Mobile & AT&T has offered to pay my ETF; I am thinking about switching.

Verizon, what say you?!

Comments

ynggrsshppr91

>> Comments removed to comply with the Verizon Wireless Terms of Service <<

Edited by: Verizon Moderator

havermeyer

Nice post. Others will enter and tell you a bunch of crap, but continuing to expose verizon on this is welcome.

ynggrsshppr91

Expose what, that all the Windows phone people are entiled to something they never signed up for?

jnetSYNATK1

Actually expose the fact that their employees are lying to customers to sell phones. When I bought my Icon, the manager at the Verizon store - the face of Verizon that interacts with the consumer - explicitly said Icon would be receiving the WP 8.1 by the end of Summer at the latest.

AT&T also contacted me yesterday and offered to buy out my ETF. ....Verizon has become a running joke in wireless service and FiOS. Already cut the cable cord - no sense in paying for commercials.

havermeyer

>> Comments removed to comply with the Verizon Wireless Terms of Service <<

Edited by: Verizon Moderator

AZSALUKI

the article doesn't say anything about when verizon will push the update. i'm not defending verizon, but you should all know that they are notorious for pushing the software updates out later than the other carriers. that being said, at&t might push it before sprint. t-mobile might push it before at&t. you can jump carriers, but that's not going to prevent this from happening again until ALL carriers stop putting their own junk on the OS. you'll never know which carrier is going to push any update first on windows or android. apple is the only OS that will do it at the same time, regardless of carrier.

rjlevine105

Seriously? Bait and switch? Do you even know what that means?

Bait and switch is getting you into a store by advertising an item with a low price and then doing everything to sell you something more expensive. That is not the case here at all.

Look, I want that Cyan update as much as anyone else, but as a VZW subscriber I went into this knowing we'd be last to get any updates at all. Been through it with Android, too.

Sign up for the Developer Preview and you'll have at least 90% of what's coming, including Cortana...and yes, it's coming. So, relax, you can enjoy Windows Phone 8.1 update 1 right now if you want it, and no, it won't void your warranty, contrary to what some would have you believe.

rjlevine105

jnetSYNATK wrote:

Actually expose the fact that their employees are lying to customers to sell phones. When I bought my Icon, the manager at the Verizon store - the face of Verizon that interacts with the consumer - explicitly said Icon would be receiving the WP 8.1 by the end of Summer at the latest.

Summer hasn't ended yet. You've got more than three weeks until it does.

It certainly wouldn't shock me to see this stretch out into autumn, but really, shouldn't this rant wait until that's actually happened?

Wanderist

This is typical marketing. VZW NEVER releases an update at the same time they are releasing a new phone with that very update. They want people to upgrade phones to get the new OS. Its one of the reasons I left Android, I didn't think they would pull the same crap with Windows Phones because Microsoft (and Lumia) released the update to all services for all phones. Kinda like IPhone does. Except that Verizon phones are specific to Verizon so they have to add their gobledy-gook and make sure the update works with the gobledy-gook they already tagged the phones with.

So..I'd say after they hit their sales target with the new M8, THEN they will release the update.

Wanderist

Oh and an added note: We got the new M8 as a new phone for my SO. It is NOT the phone the Icon is. If you're thinking of switching from Icon to the HTC M8 to get the new OS, don't do it. Lumia has call filtering that HTC and other WP phones does not offer, just for one. The camera quality is nothing near the Icon and I don't think the screen is as nice either.

DJBlizz525

I've been using Windows Phone since April 2011 and updates have always been problematic on all carriers. I'm in the process of switching from AT&T to Verizon for network reasons, but I'm staying with Windows Phone. Windows Phone 7's update rollout was extremely slow, if memory serves it took months to get the update to all devices. Windows Phone 8's update rollout has been a little better in comparison. The "Black" update came out fairly quickly on AT&T's phones. "Cyan" and WP 8.1's rollout is more similar to WP7's rollout with staggered releases on most networks. On AT&T, the most recent phones are getting it first with older devices going last, including the flagship Lumia 920. This is a problem because many of the platform's biggest fans bought the first WP8 devices and they are essentially left out until almost every other device has it.

The update to the Lumia Icon will come eventually. Alternatively, you can also use their Developer Preview to get 8.1.

MrGecko

Bait and switch advertising is when a company offers consumers an appealing deal and then changes the deal when consumers make direct inquiries. At the time I purchased the Icon, WP 8.1 was in the process of roll-out. The Verizon company man said "buy the Flagship Icon & the update will come out soon. I wait and wait and low & behold HTC One comes out with 8.1. A big slap in the face if you ask me. This clearly looks to be an advertising ploy to sell more HTC One Phones than to make their existing customers happy because they are lock into a 2 year contract.

Now you say: "but as a VZW subscriber I went into this knowing we'd be last to get any updates at all. Been through it with Android, too." You sound like a defeated guy that is willing to accept the ho hum. I expect more from Verizon since they talk as the premier wireless provider in the US.

You expect mediocrity.

AZSALUKI

it's got nothing to do with accepting the ho hum or being defeated. it's accepting reality. updates take a long time to push on verizon. always have. and newer models always have the newer software on them, and they also tend to get updates first. that's just how it is. apple offers updates at the same time, regardless of carriers. the nexus line of android does the same. anything else is a crap shoot when it comes to who will get updates first and how long you'll have to wait. you linked an article in your original post that made no mention of verizon and you stated that you bought the device based on that article. this is why we all said that's not really bait and switch. bait and switch is going in to buy one device, and being sold a different one. when you went in there, you bought a phone at the advertised price, with the advertised OS on it. sure, the sales guy shouldn't have made any promises about the update, but if he said it will come out "soon," then he used a subjective term. a major OS update that gets pushed in 2-3 months is "soon" in my opinion. we don't expect mediocrity. we are realistic. i use android and buy devices that i can alter myself and do whatever i want with the OS. that's your best bet if you want an update the day it's available. i didn't want to accept verizon's time frame, so i did something about it.

rjlevine105

An you apparently expect too much. You want to be first to get the update without understanding that while someone will always be first, someone will also be last.

And again, you still haven't shown me how this is bait and switch. Yes, I want the update to cyan, but until Verizon tells me I'm not getting it, and until the Icon is the only device without it, I'm not going get all that upset.

jharris326

I hate to point out the obvious to you but officially summer ended yesterday! Labor Day has always been, well since it was created anyway, the official end to summer.

47seijar

Bottom line: Verizon is way late getting Cyan out to all their WP8 customers. And their communication to their customers is poor on this one.

But c'mon folks, a lot of you are acting like Verizon has committed high treason. They're late with an update. So what? Happens all the time, with all the carriers. Cyan is not addressing critical flaws - everybody's phone is working just fine right now with Lumia Black. So chill, and stop the hyperventilating, claims of fraud, and calls for a blue ribbon Congressional panel to investigate! You'll get it when you get it. And it will NOT be because somebody got the FCC to step in.

jharris326

Personally I would like to see the FCC force the equal treatment of updates across all hardware lines. If Apple gets to push their updates as soon as they are ready then Google and Microsoft should get the same treatment. If it is found, and I personally believe this is true, that a company is with holding or delaying an update to sell new phones with that update included then I would hope the FCC would fine the tar out of the company to the tune of 25% of the gross profits for the entire company for the time period they delayed the update. Since I doubt the current FCC will do that I am not going to hold my breath. Since I have seen how the US AG takes care of us consumers in relation to the Banks, I know not to even dream the FCC will do much if anything.

Tidbits

Apple doesn't push updates as soon as they are ready. They WAIT for all devices to be ready before pushing them out. Get an iDevice and join ADC($99) and you'll see what happens.

The difference between Apple and other manufacturers. Apple waits to update all their devices at the same time while other manufacturers choose to update as soon as they are finished per device.

MrGecko

Expecting to much, hmmm. AT&T has all but one Nokia phone on 8.1.

Obviously I'm not the first, such a blow to my ego. HeavySarcasm.

I am only looking for a date from Verizon when to expect the update. Verizon has been curiously silent on this which only feeds the notion of conspiracy & the heated debates on this forum. A Verizon store manager told me a lie. I would like to hear from Verizon Corporate on an update timeframe, but I am beginning to think it won't happen because the money is bigger with HTC & Apple.

I was sold a line. My error. Buyer beware.

When the update doesn't happen then maybe we will get to see you angry, then I can copy quotes from you and remind you that you expected less.

AZSALUKI

jharris326 wrote:

I hate to point out the obvious to you but officially summer ended yesterday! Labor Day has always been, well since it was created anyway, the official end to summer.

not sure where you get labor day from? September 22 is the last day of summer this year, if we are going to nit pick about it. labor day isn't the last day of summer. it's just when pools close and fashion no no's begin.

rcschnoor

jharris326 wrote:

I hate to point out the obvious to you but officially summer ended yesterday! Labor Day has always been, well since it was created anyway, the official end to summer.

Possibly you mean the "unofficial" end of summer. Since the holidays Memorial Day and Labor Day were created, they have been known as the "unofficial" beginning and end of summer IN THE UNITED STATES since these are strictly US holidays. The "official" beginning and end of summer have always been according to the astronomical conditions known as the "summer solstice" and "fall equinox", at least in the northern hemisphere.:smileyhappy:

Changing seasons...

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