I made one final attempt to transfer my contacts by taking my old phone and the Exalt to the local Verizon franchise store and asking them to do it hardwire. They were unable to comply because my old phone is so old they don't have software that will read it. They also tried accessing BA on the Exalt and had exactly the same problems I did. Ditto with trying to transfer the contacts via an SD microchip, which just causes the Exalt to shut down and reboot without copying the contacts.
Having heard nothing from Verizon and my 14-day free trial ticking away, the second phone went back and I have returned to using my old phone. A few days after I returned the second Exalt I got an email saying there is a new version of BA and asking me to try it but it was too late. Based on Gfrazer's comments it probably was not going to work anyway, and I would have been stuck with a phone that was about as useful as a paperweight. I anticipate a fight in the near future over whether I will have to pay a re-stocking fee for returning two phones. These phones should not be re-stocked, they should not even be sold - they DON'T WORK.
Looking at the lousy reviews of the other Basic Phones available from Verizon and the fact that the only Basic Phone with good reviews doesn't work properly, it's pretty clear that they are abandoning the Basic Phone market. For those of us not interested in paying for bells and whistles, who don't care about having the latest greatest model, and who just want to be able make a simple phone call, well Verizon just can't be bothered to try and satisfy us.
