I had two pieces of simple business to transact with Verizon this
morning.
Actually, neither had to do with cellular, but it's a piece with all
Verizon's customer service and I wanted to share. (vent)
1. I had closed out my parents' phone number after they had passed
away and the house was sold. I received a Verizon notice that there
was a balance due to me, and they said I could credit it to another
Verizon account. I called to do that. But the old account was in my
father's name, and they have ALREADY issued the check, so they now say
they cannot do a damn thing about it. (I called the next day after
getting the notice, but it had been forwarded by the post office, the
date printed on the notice was 7/22, less than two weeks ago. They
also claim this was the SECOND notice, but I do not recall receiving
any previous, service was cancelled about June 1) Getting to this
point took about four different calls to Verizon, hangups, and
transfers, about twenty minutes.
2. I wanted to change the services on my landline to (finally!)
including caller ID, and to turn off an old "evalue" bundle for local
calling I haven't used for years, since getting a cell phone. It was
going pretty well with the first agent - and while the agent was doing
whatever the **** it is they do that involves putting the customer on
hold for many minutes, it finally hung up on me, apparently aborting
the transaction. Fifteen minutes lost. I called back, the new agent
had no record of any recent transaction so we started over, and I was
on the phone with her for over an hour, mostly sitting while she did
whatever the **** SHE was doing, apparently generating error messages
and backing out stuff and starting over.
--
Could I have done any of this online? Dunno. The couple of times
I've tried using the Verizon online site, it wasn't any better than
this, incomprehensible screens and options no mere human could
possibly understand or deal with. No doubt it gets better if you
spend hours on it. But why should it be any faster for me online than
it was for their own "customer service" reps with local access?
On Fri, 03 Aug 2012 11:17:04 -0700, JRStern <JRStern@foobar.invalid>
wrote:
>I had two pieces of simple business to transact with Verizon this
>morning.
>
>Actually, neither had to do with cellular, but it's a piece with all
>Verizon's customer service and I wanted to share. (vent)
>
>1. I had closed out my parents' phone number after they had passed
>away and the house was sold. I received a Verizon notice that there
>was a balance due to me, and they said I could credit it to another
>Verizon account. I called to do that. But the old account was in my
>father's name, and they have ALREADY issued the check, so they now say
>they cannot do a damn thing about it. (I called the next day after
>getting the notice, but it had been forwarded by the post office, the
>date printed on the notice was 7/22, less than two weeks ago. They
>also claim this was the SECOND notice, but I do not recall receiving
>any previous, service was cancelled about June 1) Getting to this
>point took about four different calls to Verizon, hangups, and
>transfers, about twenty minutes.
>
>2. I wanted to change the services on my landline to (finally!)
>including caller ID, and to turn off an old "evalue" bundle for local
>calling I haven't used for years, since getting a cell phone. It was
>going pretty well with the first agent - and while the agent was doing
>whatever the **** it is they do that involves putting the customer on
>hold for many minutes, it finally hung up on me, apparently aborting
>the transaction. Fifteen minutes lost. I called back, the new agent
>had no record of any recent transaction so we started over, and I was
>on the phone with her for over an hour, mostly sitting while she did
>whatever the **** SHE was doing, apparently generating error messages
>and backing out stuff and starting over.
.... and now I've just gotten an email confirming the WRONG SERVICE.
When I call to ask about this, they SWEAR the email is bogus.
We shall see.
I fully expect to have both voice and dsl non-functional by next week,
and a month to untangle it all.
On Fri, 03 Aug 2012 11:57:07 -0700, JRStern <JRStern@foobar.invalid>
wrote:
>On Fri, 03 Aug 2012 11:17:04 -0700, JRStern <JRStern@foobar.invalid>
>wrote:
>
>>I had two pieces of simple business to transact with Verizon this
>>morning.
>>
>>Actually, neither had to do with cellular, but it's a piece with all
>>Verizon's customer service and I wanted to share. (vent)
>>
Verizon Wireless and the landline concerns are kept pretty much
separate insofar as customer service.
On 8/3/2012 2:17 PM, JRStern wrote:
> I had two pieces of simple business to transact with Verizon this
> morning.
>
> Actually, neither had to do with cellular, but it's a piece with all
> Verizon's customer service and I wanted to share. (vent)
>
> 1. I had closed out my parents' phone number after they had passed
> away and the house was sold. I received a Verizon notice that there
> was a balance due to me, and they said I could credit it to another
> Verizon account. I called to do that. But the old account was in my
> father's name, and they have ALREADY issued the check, so they now say
> they cannot do a damn thing about it. (I called the next day after
> getting the notice, but it had been forwarded by the post office, the
> date printed on the notice was 7/22, less than two weeks ago. They
> also claim this was the SECOND notice, but I do not recall receiving
> any previous, service was cancelled about June 1) Getting to this
> point took about four different calls to Verizon, hangups, and
> transfers, about twenty minutes.
>
> 2. I wanted to change the services on my landline to (finally!)
> including caller ID, and to turn off an old "evalue" bundle for local
> calling I haven't used for years, since getting a cell phone. It was
> going pretty well with the first agent - and while the agent was doing
> whatever the **** it is they do that involves putting the customer on
> hold for many minutes, it finally hung up on me, apparently aborting
> the transaction. Fifteen minutes lost. I called back, the new agent
> had no record of any recent transaction so we started over, and I was
> on the phone with her for over an hour, mostly sitting while she did
> whatever the **** SHE was doing, apparently generating error messages
> and backing out stuff and starting over.
>
> --
>
> Could I have done any of this online? Dunno. The couple of times
> I've tried using the Verizon online site, it wasn't any better than
> this, incomprehensible screens and options no mere human could
> possibly understand or deal with. No doubt it gets better if you
> spend hours on it. But why should it be any faster for me online than
> it was for their own "customer service" reps with local access?
>
> Un be ****ing lievable.
>
> J.
>
Do you want to guess what those people are paid? Consider yourself lucky!
"JRStern" <JRStern@foobar.invalid> wrote in message
news:6q4o18lg65vlljqg66si1pmkhjiu8fgi5b@4ax.com...
>I had two pieces of simple business to transact with Verizon this
> morning.
>
> Actually, neither had to do with cellular, but it's a piece with all
> Verizon's customer service and I wanted to share. (vent)
>
> 1. I had closed out my parents' phone number after they had passed
> away and the house was sold. I received a Verizon notice that there
> was a balance due to me, and they said I could credit it to another
> Verizon account. I called to do that. But the old account was in my
> father's name, and they have ALREADY issued the check, so they now say
> they cannot do a damn thing about it. (I called the next day after
> getting the notice, but it had been forwarded by the post office, the
> date printed on the notice was 7/22, less than two weeks ago. They
> also claim this was the SECOND notice, but I do not recall receiving
> any previous, service was cancelled about June 1) Getting to this
> point took about four different calls to Verizon, hangups, and
> transfers, about twenty minutes.
>
> 2. I wanted to change the services on my landline to (finally!)
> including caller ID, and to turn off an old "evalue" bundle for local
> calling I haven't used for years, since getting a cell phone. It was
> going pretty well with the first agent - and while the agent was doing
> whatever the **** it is they do that involves putting the customer on
> hold for many minutes, it finally hung up on me, apparently aborting
> the transaction. Fifteen minutes lost. I called back, the new agent
> had no record of any recent transaction so we started over, and I was
> on the phone with her for over an hour, mostly sitting while she did
> whatever the **** SHE was doing, apparently generating error messages
> and backing out stuff and starting over.
>
> --
>
> Could I have done any of this online? Dunno. The couple of times
> I've tried using the Verizon online site, it wasn't any better than
> this, incomprehensible screens and options no mere human could
> possibly understand or deal with. No doubt it gets better if you
> spend hours on it. But why should it be any faster for me online than
> it was for their own "customer service" reps with local access?
>
> Un be ****ing lievable.
>
> J.
>
My experience with Verizon has been pretty good over all, but every time I
have to call, I get the distinct impression that they don't actually use a
phone unless I am calling them. It does not help that I cannot understand
the heavy accent that is obviously from Mumbai, but they claim is from
Chicago.
On Fri, 3 Aug 2012 18:28:04 -0700, "Jeff Strickland"
<crwlrjeff@yahoo.com> wrote:
>My experience with Verizon has been pretty good over all, but every time I
>have to call, I get the distinct impression that they don't actually use a
>phone unless I am calling them. It does not help that I cannot understand
>the heavy accent that is obviously from Mumbai, but they claim is from
>Chicago.
FWIW of four main people I spoke with all four were American accents,
if you count the one fairly heavy Hispanic.
On 8/4/2012 12:14 PM, JRStern wrote:
> On Fri, 3 Aug 2012 18:28:04 -0700, "Jeff Strickland"
> <crwlrjeff@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> My experience with Verizon has been pretty good over all, but every time I
>> have to call, I get the distinct impression that they don't actually use a
>> phone unless I am calling them. It does not help that I cannot understand
>> the heavy accent that is obviously from Mumbai, but they claim is from
>> Chicago.
>
> FWIW of four main people I spoke with all four were American accents,
> if you count the one fairly heavy Hispanic.
>
> J.
>
If I want something from VZW, there are two VZW stores within moderate
driving distance. One is in a large shopping mall, the other is on a
major highway. I don't go to either very often. Every one I've spoken
with at either store has spoken without a noticeable accent. YMMV!
I once visited their website to make a service change to my landline. I
quickly decided it was designed to always take you nowhere, so I called
them. I spent 1 hour and 45 minutes apx on the phone wading through their
auto attendant and was never able to speak to a human being. I did get to a
message that said I should visit their website to resolve my issues. I then
spent another 30 minutes wading through their website to finally reach a
page that said I would need to call customer service to resolve my issue.
When I finally figured out the solution it took me about 5 minutes. I
called another copper line phone service provider and had them take over my
service.
> Just be glad it wasn't AT&T.
>
> I once visited their website to make a service change to my landline. I
> quickly decided it was designed to always take you nowhere, so I called
> them. I spent 1 hour and 45 minutes apx on the phone wading through
> their auto attendant and was never able to speak to a human being.
Calling 1-800-VERIZON I've never had to wait more than a couple of minutes
for a Verizon human. Better yet, I told the guy I wanted to add a feature to
my landline, and that I knew I had to pay for it. (Oh, woe is me!) He looked
at my account and told me if I went to a different package I could not only
get that feature included, but the overall cost would be less per month than
I was paying at the time. So we added a feature and the price went down.
On Thu, 16 Aug 2012 18:25:36 -0400, "Howard Lester"
<howardxtlester@verizon.net> wrote:
>Calling 1-800-VERIZON I've never had to wait more than a couple of minutes
>for a Verizon human. Better yet, I told the guy I wanted to add a feature to
>my landline, and that I knew I had to pay for it. (Oh, woe is me!) He looked
>at my account and told me if I went to a different package I could not only
>get that feature included, but the overall cost would be less per month than
>I was paying at the time. So we added a feature and the price went down.
>
>They've been good to me.
Price reductions are nice, but one wonders how much more the price
would have to come down before it would be in the neighborhood of the
other carriers. ;-)
> Price reductions are nice, but one wonders how much more the price
> would have to come down before it would be in the neighborhood of the
> other carriers. ;-)
I don't get a choice; Verizon's the only landline that serves my road.
On Thu, 16 Aug 2012 19:54:28 -0400, "Howard Lester"
<howardxtlester@verizon.net> wrote:
>"Paul Miner" wrote
>
>> Price reductions are nice, but one wonders how much more the price
>> would have to come down before it would be in the neighborhood of the
>> other carriers. ;-)
>
>I don't get a choice; Verizon's the only landline that serves my road.
On 8/16/2012 1:59 PM, Bob La Londe wrote:
> Just be glad it wasn't AT&T.
>
> I once visited their website to make a service change to my landline. I
> quickly decided it was designed to always take you nowhere, so I called
> them. I spent 1 hour and 45 minutes apx on the phone wading through
> their auto attendant and was never able to speak to a human being. I
> did get to a message that said I should visit their website to resolve
> my issues. I then spent another 30 minutes wading through their website
> to finally reach a page that said I would need to call customer service
> to resolve my issue.
>
> When I finally figured out the solution it took me about 5 minutes. I
> called another copper line phone service provider and had them take over
> my service.
>
>
>
Try pressing '0' Always works for me
On Thu, 16 Aug 2012 20:20:03 -0500, Janet Wilder sagely advised:
>> ...
> Try pressing '0' Always works for me
Usually works for me too, but for the occasional wise-@$$ IVR-unit
programmer who sticks in the retort, "That is not a valid option: please
listen carefully, and choose ... ." Rarely, yes. But not (alas) never :-) .
Cheers, -- tlvp
--
Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP.
Howard Lester wrote on [Thu, 16 Aug 2012 19:54:28 -0400]:
> "Paul Miner" wrote
>
>> Price reductions are nice, but one wonders how much more the price
>> would have to come down before it would be in the neighborhood of the
>> other carriers. ;-)
>
> I don't get a choice; Verizon's the only landline that serves my road.
Considering this is verizon wireless, then you do have a choice.
Janet Wilder wrote on [Thu, 16 Aug 2012 20:20:03 -0500]:
> On 8/16/2012 1:59 PM, Bob La Londe wrote:
>> Just be glad it wasn't AT&T.
>>
>> I once visited their website to make a service change to my landline. I
>> quickly decided it was designed to always take you nowhere, so I called
>> them. I spent 1 hour and 45 minutes apx on the phone wading through
>> their auto attendant and was never able to speak to a human being. I
>> did get to a message that said I should visit their website to resolve
>> my issues. I then spent another 30 minutes wading through their website
>> to finally reach a page that said I would need to call customer service
>> to resolve my issue.
>>
>> When I finally figured out the solution it took me about 5 minutes. I
>> called another copper line phone service provider and had them take over
>> my service.
>>
>>
>>
> Try pressing '0' Always works for me
0 doesn't always work, and hasn't for a long time.
>> I don't get a choice; Verizon's the only landline that serves my road.
> Considering this is verizon wireless, then you do have a choice.
The OP cited his issue with landline service, and that is what I have been
commenting on. I do not have any other landline choices, and I'm happy with
my service. Even when service has gone out, tech support has been helpful
and knowledgeable.
As far as "Pressing '0'" is concerned, it almost always works. In some cases
the system says "That is not a valid response," and pressing 0 again and
again will often break through. Some systems will even tell you which button
to push, if not 0, to speak with an agent.
Howard Lester wrote on [Fri, 17 Aug 2012 14:41:01 -0400]:
> "Justin" wrote
>
>>> I don't get a choice; Verizon's the only landline that serves my road.
>
>> Considering this is verizon wireless, then you do have a choice.
>
> The OP cited his issue with landline service, and that is what I have been
> commenting on. I do not have any other landline choices, and I'm happy with
> my service. Even when service has gone out, tech support has been helpful
> and knowledgeable.
You do have a choice. You don't have to have landline service. You can have
wireless service instead.
> As far as "Pressing '0'" is concerned, it almost always works. In some cases
> the system says "That is not a valid response," and pressing 0 again and
> again will often break through. Some systems will even tell you which button
> to push, if not 0, to speak with an agent.
On Fri, 17 Aug 2012 18:55:58 +0000 (UTC), Justin
<nospam@insightbb.com> wrote:
>Howard Lester wrote on [Fri, 17 Aug 2012 14:41:01 -0400]:
>> "Justin" wrote
>>
>>>> I don't get a choice; Verizon's the only landline that serves my road.
>>
>>> Considering this is verizon wireless, then you do have a choice.
>>
>> The OP cited his issue with landline service, and that is what I have been
>> commenting on. I do not have any other landline choices, and I'm happy with
>> my service. Even when service has gone out, tech support has been helpful
>> and knowledgeable.
>
>You do have a choice. You don't have to have landline service. You can have
>wireless service instead.
Assuming you have wireless coverage at home. If you don't, but have
broadband, Verizon will happily *sell* you a network extender.
And VOIP is always an option with its own set of drawbacks.
"Paul Miner" <pminer@elrancho.invalid> wrote in message
news:cu2r28puqhemm8bet1qnk4ajk511ibd64p@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 16 Aug 2012 19:54:28 -0400, "Howard Lester"
> <howardxtlester@verizon.net> wrote:
>
>>"Paul Miner" wrote
>>
>>> Price reductions are nice, but one wonders how much more the price
>>> would have to come down before it would be in the neighborhood of the
>>> other carriers. ;-)
>>
>>I don't get a choice; Verizon's the only landline that serves my road.
>
> There are (almost) always choices...
Once succulently explained to me by an attorney for one of the local
carriers at a state utility commission hearing, basically "Slim and none"
On Sat, 18 Aug 2012 20:45:01 -0500, "NotMe" <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>"Paul Miner" <pminer@elrancho.invalid> wrote in message
>news:cu2r28puqhemm8bet1qnk4ajk511ibd64p@4ax.com.. .
>> On Thu, 16 Aug 2012 19:54:28 -0400, "Howard Lester"
>> <howardxtlester@verizon.net> wrote:
>>
>>>"Paul Miner" wrote
>>>
>>>> Price reductions are nice, but one wonders how much more the price
>>>> would have to come down before it would be in the neighborhood of the
>>>> other carriers. ;-)
>>>
>>>I don't get a choice; Verizon's the only landline that serves my road.
>>
>> There are (almost) always choices...
>
>Once succulently explained to me by an attorney for one of the local
>carriers at a state utility commission hearing, basically "Slim and none"
I suppose it's obvious why an attorney for a local carrier would say
that, and just as obvious why the explanation should be ignored.
To: Justin
Re: Re: TWO HOURS on phone with Verizon
By: Justin to alt.cellular.verizon on Fri Aug 17 2012 06:55 pm
> From Newsgroup: alt.cellular.verizon
>
> Howard Lester wrote on [Fri, 17 Aug 2012 14:41:01 -0400]:
> > "Justin" wrote
> >
> >>> I don't get a choice; Verizon's the only landline that serves my road.
> >
> >> Considering this is verizon wireless, then you do have a choice.
> >
> > The OP cited his issue with landline service, and that is what I have been
> > commenting on. I do not have any other landline choices, and I'm happy wit
> > my service. Even when service has gone out, tech support has been helpful
> > and knowledgeable.
>
> You do have a choice. You don't have to have landline service. You can have
> wireless service instead.
Right, and if you need a landline, Google Voice can easily synthesize that
for you. I have an Asterisk installation running on an old desktop machine
with a few port forwards to it for the actual backend, then I purchased a
Grandstream HT-286 ATA unit so I could plug a real phone into it, and now we
have our own home phone for free (beyond the initial investment). It can be
done.
> > You do have a choice. You don't have to have landline service. You can
> > have
> > wireless service instead.
> Right, and if you need a landline, Google Voice can easily synthesize that
> for you. I have an Asterisk installation running on an old desktop machine
> with a few port forwards to it for the actual backend, then I purchased a
> Grandstream HT-286 ATA unit so I could plug a real phone into it, and now
> we
> have our own home phone for free (beyond the initial investment). It can
> be
> done.
I looked up this device and it says to hook it up to your PC, then connect
the device to... a router or modem. OK, to what does the router/modem
connect? I assume it's the internet! And how does one have internet without
a landline? Cable! What if cable isn't available on my road? (It isn't.)
What else can I use to connect to the internet? Satellite? Way too expensive
and I've heard nothing good about it. My cell phone? Well, that requires
another doo-hickey to attach to the PC, plus gigabytes extra of service. ?
And the speed through the cell service doo-hickey? I read it's pretty slow
and unreliable. And, it appears to be a lot more money per month than I'm
paying now for my reliable landline that has vastly superior voice quality
over my cell phone. And, I don't have to worry about "minutes," or if the
cell phone breaks or gets lost somewhere, or the contract, etc. etc....
So of course I have choices, but one must choose wisely and sanely according
to the conditions and needs.
"Paul Miner" <pminer@elrancho.invalid> wrote in message
news:m6i038hgidv7e711gifj4c07jgk32qie40@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 18 Aug 2012 20:45:01 -0500, "NotMe" <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>
>>"Paul Miner" <pminer@elrancho.invalid> wrote in message
>>news:cu2r28puqhemm8bet1qnk4ajk511ibd64p@4ax.com. ..
>>> On Thu, 16 Aug 2012 19:54:28 -0400, "Howard Lester"
>>> <howardxtlester@verizon.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>>"Paul Miner" wrote
>>>>
>>>>> Price reductions are nice, but one wonders how much more the price
>>>>> would have to come down before it would be in the neighborhood of the
>>>>> other carriers. ;-)
>>>>
>>>>I don't get a choice; Verizon's the only landline that serves my road.
>>>
>>> There are (almost) always choices...
>>
>>Once succulently explained to me by an attorney for one of the local
>>carriers at a state utility commission hearing, basically "Slim and none"
>
> I suppose it's obvious why an attorney for a local carrier would say
> that, and just as obvious why the explanation should be ignored.
I've had business with carries, the PUC and the FCC going on 50 years.
ignore such statements if you wish but a reality check can be a bear
especially when it bounces.
On 8/19/2012 11:40 AM, Howard Lester wrote:
> "The Dark Rider" wrote
>
>> > You do have a choice. You don't have to have landline service. You
>> can > have
>> > wireless service instead.
>
>> Right, and if you need a landline, Google Voice can easily synthesize
>> that
>> for you. I have an Asterisk installation running on an old desktop
>> machine
>> with a few port forwards to it for the actual backend, then I purchased a
>> Grandstream HT-286 ATA unit so I could plug a real phone into it, and
>> now we
>> have our own home phone for free (beyond the initial investment). It
>> can be
>> done.
>
> I looked up this device and it says to hook it up to your PC, then
> connect the device to... a router or modem. OK, to what does the
> router/modem connect? I assume it's the internet! And how does one have
> internet without a landline? Cable! What if cable isn't available on my
> road? (It isn't.) What else can I use to connect to the internet?
> Satellite? Way too expensive and I've heard nothing good about it. My
> cell phone? Well, that requires another doo-hickey to attach to the PC,
> plus gigabytes extra of service. ? And the speed through the cell
> service doo-hickey? I read it's pretty slow and unreliable. And, it
> appears to be a lot more money per month than I'm paying now for my
> reliable landline that has vastly superior voice quality over my cell
> phone. And, I don't have to worry about "minutes," or if the cell phone
> breaks or gets lost somewhere, or the contract, etc. etc....
>
> So of course I have choices, but one must choose wisely and sanely
> according to the conditions and needs.
I don't have the choice of a land line unless I want 1990, 2880 on a
good day. That's pre-historic baud rate!
There is no DSL service on my land line (see above) There is no cable.
Satellite is too expensive and I don't like the latency factor.
I use a broadband connection provided via radio waves. There are lots
of companies that provide this service in our area which is very rural.
There is no limit on my usage. The company I'm with is more expensive,
but they have 24/7 support and are part of a phone co-op (which,
unfortunately does not serve my house) and are always available.
The service is great and the speed I pay for is adequate for you tube
and videos.
Look in your yellow pages for broadband service and maybe you can find
one of these companies in your area.
To: Howard Lester
Re: Re: TWO HOURS on phone with Verizon
By: Howard Lester to alt.cellular.verizon on Sun Aug 19 2012 12:40 pm
> > Right, and if you need a landline, Google Voice can easily synthesize that
> > for you. I have an Asterisk installation running on an old desktop machine
> > with a few port forwards to it for the actual backend, then I purchased a
> > Grandstream HT-286 ATA unit so I could plug a real phone into it, and now
> > we
> > have our own home phone for free (beyond the initial investment). It can
> > be
> > done.
>
> I looked up this device and it says to hook it up to your PC, then connect
> the device to... a router or modem. OK, to what does the router/modem
> connect? I assume it's the internet! And how does one have internet without
> a landline? Cable! What if cable isn't available on my road? (It isn't.)
> What else can I use to connect to the internet? Satellite? Way too expensive
> and I've heard nothing good about it. My cell phone? Well, that requires
> another doo-hickey to attach to the PC, plus gigabytes extra of service. ?
> And the speed through the cell service doo-hickey? I read it's pretty slow
> and unreliable. And, it appears to be a lot more money per month than I'm
> paying now for my reliable landline that has vastly superior voice quality
> over my cell phone. And, I don't have to worry about "minutes," or if the
> cell phone breaks or gets lost somewhere, or the contract, etc. etc....
You can also have services outages with anything, so I don't know that this
would be a valid metric.
Mobile data does sound like it would be best for you if you are mobile a lot.
I also have a 4G LTE capable mobile phone that I tether with all the time. I
guess I'm lucky, as I switched to it right before Verizon dropped the hammer
on unlimited data, so I have unlimited 4G, which is pretty nice. Average ping
times on that are usually in the 10-20 ms range in most areas, maybe more
like 25-35 ms if I'm in a moving car. I used to have a SIP client installed
on it so I could call from my GV number through my home Asterisk machine. If
you're worried about bandwidth, I wouldn't be. Voice traffic will not reach
into the gigabyte range unless you are on the phone all the time.
Satellite isn't worth the airwaves it uses.
> So of course I have choices, but one must choose wisely and sanely according
> to the conditions and needs.
> You can also have services outages with anything, so I don't know that
> this
> would be a valid metric.
>
> Mobile data does sound like it would be best for you if you are mobile a
> lot.
> I also have a 4G LTE capable mobile phone that I tether with all the time.
> I
> guess I'm lucky, as I switched to it right before Verizon dropped the
> hammer
> on unlimited data, so I have unlimited 4G, which is pretty nice. Average
> ping
> times on that are usually in the 10-20 ms range in most areas, maybe more
> like 25-35 ms if I'm in a moving car. I used to have a SIP client
> installed
> on it so I could call from my GV number through my home Asterisk machine.
> If
> you're worried about bandwidth, I wouldn't be. Voice traffic will not
> reach
> into the gigabyte range unless you are on the phone all the time.
>
> Satellite isn't worth the airwaves it uses.
> > So of course I have choices, but one must choose wisely and sanely
> > according
> > to the conditions and needs.
> Agreed, actually
Thank you and Janet, for letting me know the possibilities. I had only
momentarily explored internet via "the airwaves," and that was only on the
Verizon site. Anyway, I'm retired, my cell phone is used sparingly, I like
my DSL for my laptops, and I like Verizon landline service, so this
arrangement is what I will continue to use until...?
In an outage of any kind, I not only have a propane-powered standby 10kw
generator, I have Amateur ("ham") Radio. As the saying goes, "When all else
fails, there's Amateur Radio." :-)
On 8/20/2012 7:10 AM, Howard Lester wrote:
>
>
> "The Dark Rider" wrote
> In an outage of any kind, I not only have a propane-powered standby 10kw
> generator, I have Amateur ("ham") Radio. As the saying goes, "When all
> else fails, there's Amateur Radio." :-)
My cousin is a long-time Ham operator. He has a station at the Broward
County, FL emergency management station where he goes to operate the Ham
radio when all else has failed.
--
Janet Wilder
Way-the-heck-south Texas
Spelling doesn't count. Cooking does.
TWO HOURS on phone with Verizon 
Linear Mode
