Verizon phone restrictions

I've currently got VZW service (contract expired) and am looking at
upgrading to smartphones (1 iPhone and 1 Android) on a family plan.
I've been considering moving to AT&T to save some money, about $30/
month total based on the total plan cost. Phone costs would be about
the same.

What I'm wondering is, do Verizon still restrict any phone
capabilities these days? I know they used to disable Bluetooth and a
bunch of other things. I think sideloading onto smartphones was also
disabled at one point? Is any of this still the case, or are all
phone capabilities allowed?

I'd hate to stick with Verizon and upgrade my phones only to find out
half of the features are forcibly disabled.

Thanks.

Jim wrote on [Wed, 8 Feb 2012 20:42:58 -0800 (PST)]:
> I've currently got VZW service (contract expired) and am looking at
> upgrading to smartphones (1 iPhone and 1 Android) on a family plan.
> I've been considering moving to AT&T to save some money, about $30/
> month total based on the total plan cost. Phone costs would be about
> the same.
>
> What I'm wondering is, do Verizon still restrict any phone
> capabilities these days? I know they used to disable Bluetooth and a
> bunch of other things. I think sideloading onto smartphones was also
> disabled at one point? Is any of this still the case, or are all
> phone capabilities allowed?

Nah, they have relaxed a lot on that. About all they do is
install their contact backup manager on android phones

On Feb 9, 6:23*am, "Elmo P. Shagnasty" <el...@nastydesigns.com> wrote:
> In the end, you won't save a dime.
>
> AT&T's marketing department has done their job, and you're being fooled.

How is that exactly? The prices are what they are, it's $10 cheaper
per line (so $20 total) for the minimum data rate available, and it's
$10 cheaper for the minimum shared minutes plan.

You may very well be right but do you have some helpful information to
provide? I'd like to base my decision on facts and not conjecture,
that's why I came here.

On Thu, 9 Feb 2012 04:59:21 -0800 (PST), Jim wrote:

> On Feb 9, 6:23Â*am, "Elmo P. Shagnasty" <el...@nastydesigns.com> wrote:
>> In the end, you won't save a dime.
>>
>> AT&T's marketing department has done their job, and you're being fooled.
>
> How is that exactly? The prices are what they are, it's $10 cheaper
> per line (so $20 total) for the minimum data rate available, and it's
> $10 cheaper for the minimum shared minutes plan.

Have you gotten quotes for all the State, local, Federal, and
carrier-imposed taxes, fees, and surcharges? That is:

State sales tax
local sales tax
Federal Universal Service Fund
State TRS Surcharge
State 911
carrier's Regulatory Programs Fee
carrier's Free Nights and Weekends Fee
carrier's Free Wireless-to-Wireless Fee
carrier's Franchise-Related Cost Recovery Fee

and the like? Those can be quite unpredictable :-) .
And they'll certainly affect your bill's bottom line.

Cheers, -- tlvp
--
Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP.

On 2/9/2012 3:23 AM, Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
> In article
> <c76d40a4-240e-492d-bb2a-def9d95aa922@l16g2000vbl.googlegroups.com>,
> Jim<gunmetalx@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I've currently got VZW service (contract expired) and am looking at
>> upgrading to smartphones (1 iPhone and 1 Android) on a family plan.
>> I've been considering moving to AT&T to save some money, about $30/
>> month total based on the total plan cost.
>
> In the end, you won't save a dime.
>
> AT&T's marketing department has done their job, and you're being fooled.

If I wanted a subsidized iPhone and didn't care about coverage all that
much I'd go with Sprint rather than AT&T. At least you can roam onto
Verizon for voice.

If I was willing to pay for an unsubsidized iPhone I'd put it on
StraightTalk as many people have done, for as little as $42.50 per month
<http://tinyurl.com/straighttalkiphone> or
<http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/1691930-HowTo-StraightTalk-and-iPhone!-Everything-you-need-to-know-to-make-it-work!>.

On 2/9/2012 3:24 AM, Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
> In article<5bs6j7l92gr29uf7c9j4lrhhq92sa82t38@4ax.com >,
> meh<you@mouse-potato.com> wrote:
>
>>> What I'm wondering is, do Verizon still restrict any phone
>>> capabilities these days? I know they used to disable Bluetooth
>>
>> WHY, and HOW, would they do that??
>
> They've done it for eons. They do it so they can sell you that
> "feature" for five bucks a month.
>
> If you want *not* to deal with AT&T *******s and their bad coverage, you
> end up dealing with Verizon *******s and business policies like this.

I remember doing SEEM edits on my Motorola V325 phones to restore
functionality that Motorola put in but that Verizon removed. It was
insane. Now you get around restrictions on Android phones by rooting them.

On 2/9/2012 4:59 AM, Jim wrote:
> On Feb 9, 6:23 am, "Elmo P. Shagnasty"<el...@nastydesigns.com> wrote:
>> In the end, you won't save a dime.
>>
>> AT&T's marketing department has done their job, and you're being fooled.
>
> How is that exactly? The prices are what they are, it's $10 cheaper
> per line (so $20 total) for the minimum data rate available, and it's
> $10 cheaper for the minimum shared minutes plan.
>
> You may very well be right but do you have some helpful information to
> provide? I'd like to base my decision on facts and not conjecture,
> that's why I came here.

If you're willing to use the AT&T network then you're better off on
StraightTalk. For an iPhone on StraightTalk there's a significant
initial expense but the savings in monthly cost cover that expense in
6-12 months depending on the iPhone you get, and whether you buy a new
or used one.

Also remember to take texting into account if you text since AT&T now
only sells unlimited texting.

If you're not using lots of data you're better off on Pageplus on either
the $30 or $55 plan. But you bring the Verizon compatible smart phone(s)
and no iPhones, at least officially.

On Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:43:10 -0800, SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com>
wrote:

>On 2/9/2012 3:24 AM, Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
>> In article<5bs6j7l92gr29uf7c9j4lrhhq92sa82t38@4ax.com >,
>> meh<you@mouse-potato.com> wrote:
>>
>>>> What I'm wondering is, do Verizon still restrict any phone
>>>> capabilities these days? I know they used to disable Bluetooth
>>>
>>> WHY, and HOW, would they do that??
>>
>> They've done it for eons. They do it so they can sell you that
>> "feature" for five bucks a month.
>>
>> If you want *not* to deal with AT&T *******s and their bad coverage, you
>> end up dealing with Verizon *******s and business policies like this.
>
>I remember doing SEEM edits on my Motorola V325 phones to restore
>functionality that Motorola put in but that Verizon removed. It was
>insane. Now you get around restrictions on Android phones by rooting them.


VZW also made it so you had to pay to get photos off the phone. No
direct connection to a computer.

On Thu, 9 Feb 2012 11:41:28 -0500, tlvp <mPiOsUcB.EtLlLvEp@att.net>
wrote:

>On Thu, 9 Feb 2012 04:59:21 -0800 (PST), Jim wrote:
>
>> On Feb 9, 6:23šam, "Elmo P. Shagnasty" <el...@nastydesigns.com> wrote:
>>> In the end, you won't save a dime.
>>>
>>> AT&T's marketing department has done their job, and you're being fooled.
>>
>> How is that exactly? The prices are what they are, it's $10 cheaper
>> per line (so $20 total) for the minimum data rate available, and it's
>> $10 cheaper for the minimum shared minutes plan.
>
>Have you gotten quotes for all the State, local, Federal, and
>carrier-imposed taxes, fees, and surcharges? That is:
>
>State sales tax
>local sales tax
>Federal Universal Service Fund
>State TRS Surcharge
>State 911
>carrier's Regulatory Programs Fee
>carrier's Free Nights and Weekends Fee
>carrier's Free Wireless-to-Wireless Fee
>carrier's Franchise-Related Cost Recovery Fee
>
>and the like? Those can be quite unpredictable :-) .
>And they'll certainly affect your bill's bottom line.
>
>Cheers, -- tlvp

And with prepaid plans, they are probably buried in the costs
somewhere, but not hidden from the customer. We've moved to preaid
plans, one android smartphone and one dumb phone annd are saving about
$70 a month from what it would cost on a VZW plan which actually gave
less service.

On 2/9/2012 1:15 PM, nobody@nada.com wrote:

> VZW also made it so you had to pay to get photos off the phone. No
> direct connection to a computer.

That's what the SEEM edit did, it allowed Motorola Phone Tools to use
all the functionality including the photo transfer.

So it's true then that all of these cripplings no longer exist, right?

I may yet end up sticking with VZW, there seems to be a pretty strong
feeling here that ATT reliability is generally not very good.

Appreciate all the responses.