Verizon and their "required" data package!

[Sweet_Southern_Mama]

I just wanted everyone to know that when Verizon says you HAVE to have a data package for a certain phone, its not true.

I knew that my mom had cancelled it on my sister's phone that was the same one that I had. So I called to cancel our internet since we never use it. The guy said "It looks like the devices you have require a data package."

I said "I know that it says that, but I know that my sister had the same phone and my mom cancelled hers and it is 1.99/mb if she uses the internet now. "

Then he says: "That's what I was just about to tell you."
Yeah right!

Anyway, the moral of the story is: you can cancel it, but you have to tell them you know you can because they won't be straight with you.

btw the 1.99/mb is called the "pay as you go."

They rip so many people off by doing this! I used my internet about 1 a month at most and DH never used his.

[Smee]

Don't you hate deceptive advertising of services? I'm holding a huge grudge for AT&T for that "we cover 97% of the United States" thing. Yeah, that may be technically true, but it doesn't mean specifically 3G coverage which is pretty spotty and definitely doesn't cover anywhere close to 97% of the country.

Could you still access the Internet from your smart phone anywhere you have wifi coverage (if you wanted to?). On mine, when AT&T coverage is out, I can still get on wifi. I'm considering a switch to Verizon in the future now that they have the iPhone unless AT&T picks up their slack. Your post makes me think of questions to ask. I'd guess that about 95% of the time I'm on the internet is on my phone, though.

[Spanelli8706]

At&t told us that the "new smart phones" can detect when a sim card is in them...and will relay that to the company, thus requiring you pay for an internet plan. I called it total BS.

But my FIL bought me the new Blackberry for my Bday. He paid the sticker price, as it was a gift and didn't get any discounts on the phone...no upgrades, etc. He didn't even tell them the phone number he was buying it for. He just purchased the phone as a gift. The next month, I notice a $25 internet fee on my bill. I called At&t and they said that my SIM card detected it was now in the new Blackberry phone and I was automatically charged. I couldn't even block the internet...if I kept the phone, I paid the monthly fee. I returned the phone the following day.

[Smee]

Interesting. I'm going to find my little iPhone SIM card getter outer thingy tomorrow and see what happens when I take out the SIM card. I wonder if it'll disable the whole phone or if it'll still run on wifi. I guess I'll find out.

[jen276here]

Don’t forget to ask them to block all internet services too so you don’t accidentally get on the internet - they can do that too - but obviously don’t tell you because they want you to make those oopsies.

Texting can be blocked too - and depending on your carrier and how they do things, you can have texting blocked for time periods - like while they are in school, etc.

They can also block just incoming/outgoing short code texts - this is valuable w/ the younger kids who have phones and are tempted to text something not realizing they are signing you up for a monthly plan (like the free ring tone things they advertise that are actually signing you up for a service) or the unknown short code texts you receive that if you just open it, you are signing up - yes this happened to DH who had no clue it happened - the carrier explained what happened that caused the (3) $9.95/mo charges on our plan…

[Spanelli8706]

No clue. I didn't access the internet the entire 2 weeks that I had the phone, yet At&t knew I had it. I guess it's possible they could have looked at my FIL's last name and found us by our last name...seems like too much work to me. Or he could have told them our name but not our phone number and just not realized he did that. Or it could just be a Blackberry thinng, not ALL smartphones, like At&t claims. I honestly have no idea how they knew. But I can't justify paying for the internet on a cell phone when I am a SAHM and only leave my house like twice a week...we have home internet, just seems like overkill in my situation. I'm interested to see how your trial goes Smee... report back please! :)

Oh and to comment on Jen's post, we asked them to block the internet on our cells before...but in doing so, you also were blocked from sending pics via a text message. They couldn't fix it to let us still text a small sized picture, in a simple text message AND block the internet access. Something about the MBs I think. And I do know there is a class action lawsuit against them now for random internet usage charges for pennies to dollars on people's accounts... We received a notice a few months ago.

[CW&M Mom]

I think blackberry's are different. If I recall right you actually have to have the data package...because they (blackberry)...is owned by the company RIM in Canada.

We won't be getting a data plan any time soon. What I would use it for would be directions..and my Garmin works perfectly and much cheaper. I can also look up restaurants and such on it.

[FlashForward]

I have Verizon coverage but don't pay their high price. I get 1,200 minutes/2,000 texts and 100mb of web for $29.95.

Same company has Unlimited Talk & Text plus 20mb of web for $44.95.

They also have just texting options and standard minutes / cards.

[Sweet_Southern_Mama]

Wow! What company do you go through to get that? Feel free to PM me w/ info if you'd like :)

[mdbudgetmom]

My friend just switched to straight talk from verizon and cut her and her husbands cell bills in half. i can't wait til our contract runs out so I can switch ours over.