Knew phone I wanted; visited store to switch from AT&T. As of 1/18/10 Verizon GOUGES CUSTOMERS to add monthly $10 data fee for middle of road cell phones. I do not need data service as I have a blackberry from work & never access the internet anyway. My first & last trip to the Verizon Wireless store encountered employees who didn't listen, had to be prompted to get to the next step (even to look at phones). Employees were less than professional; one customer service rep blamed sales rep (to me, the customer) when a mistake was made. I told them they'd have a sale if someone in authority could waive the data fee that I do not need. Employee acted helpless (said "computer" was programmed to do it). Manager simply shrugged shoulders & blamed corporate. Horrible policy; poor service. Verizon lost a customer due to this ridiculous policy & money grab. And I'm telling everyone unless something's done about it.

The following is an active complaint with the NC Atty General and the FCC regarding Verizon Wireless deliberately crippling the connectivity of customers who elected to stay on Alltel data plans. This would mostly affect people in fringe areas (though advertised as full coverage areas) An update to this complaint is that Verizon is retaliating by removing credits that we had been given because of previous service failures. Please spread this information around, especially to any Verizon customers you know who may be having connectivity problems. It COULD be deliberate.

FTC complaint # 25257585 NCDOJ Complaint # 1001670 FCC complaint 10-C00194123

This may need a technical person to understand the details.

Verizon Wireless bought Alltel and the Alltel customers could remain on Alltel plans. Verizon is now deliberately crippling the connectivity of smart phones that are on the Alltel plan instead of the more expensive Verizon plan.

We came over to Verizon Wireless when they purchased Alltel. We were/are on a data plan with one "smartphone" and the rest regular phones.

I was expecting to get better phone reception once the transition was done to merge Alltel etc. Instead I found that my phone (the smartphone) would not work well as a phone. I was advised that the smartphones don't get as good of reception (why don't they advertise that, eh?)

I have endured months of poor phone service and have gone through several phone changes (which meant wasting hundreds of dollars in accessories that I had purchased for my original smart phone).

The event that prompted me to change phones and lose my investment in accessories was an event where my wife was desperately trying to call me because our grandson was bleeding and it would not stop. My son was with me and she was able to call him to contact me, but what if he had not been there? (I thought).

For months we would be in the same car and she would be unable to call me but his phone would work just fine (same plan but his is not a data phone).

Verizon tech support suggested going to another brand of phone and one on the Verizon system so that I could get a "hybrid" PRL (preferred roaming list) so that I could get phone reception. After several more phone swaps and wasted time I was finally advised of the cause.

Verizon Wireless is deliberatly crippling the smart phones which are on an Alltel plan instead of the more expensive Verizon plan. This is only the smart phones that are being crippled. My phone has a PRL of 40059 which deliberately limits my connectivity even though I am in the advertised full coverage area. You can imagine my anger at discovering that all these months Verizon had been deliberately crippling my connectivity to try to get me to move to their more expensive plan. The Verizon plan data PRL starts with a 6

I believe that their actions may well be criminal as they are discriminating against former Alltel data phone customers.

It was a tech support manager who revealed this to me because they are very frustrated in trying to give support to people whose phones are being deliberately disabled by a crippled PRL.

This deliberate crippling of smartphones that are still on Alltel plans could cause public safety issues such as the incident when my grandson was bleeding. Imagine when I discovered that my phones failures and poor reception was a DELIBERATE marketing strategy by Verizon.

Update 2/17/2010 I was contacted by one Karen Milbrodt from the Verizon Wireless President's office stating that because I was on an Alltel plan that I was not entitled to the same connectivity that I would have if I was on a Verizon plan. She basically confirmed my allegations. Also she advised me that I was not entitled to the credits that had been applied to my account by an earlier customer service manager and that they were going to remove the credits. I had been concerned about this retaliation by Verizon Wireless.

If you are a smart phone customer who is on an Alltel plan with Verizon wireless and you are having connectivity problems please note the complaint numbers at the beginning.

Steve Winter

Igot a new phone on 11 20 09 the battery would not stay chg.so got new battery.still would not stay chg. called Verizon they sent me a new one it would not program they sent me another could not hear nothing on it so they sent me another this on some times you can hear on it it changes volume while you talk I would like a new phone i looked at one that is water proof or cancel my 2 yrs contract with verizon for free I have a mot vu204 dig phone four phones in less than two months

have gotten 3 charges for 9.99 each on my bill for premium texting. Called and was told how to cancel them, but I never ordered any of them, and they can't even tell me what they're for. The numbers are 41933, 44674, 23687. Can they legally do this? Would have been on my bill every month if I hadn't caught it.

I worked for Verizon and before that Bell of Pa.I That Verizon...I retired after 31 years with respect for the phone company, It referred to Bell tel ad MY company. I purchased my cell cell phone wirh Verizon. I made a big bit mistake. Every month I mention wo Verizon people bill me once a month, , , , that never happened. I was I was tole to the bill in half and sent that in.NO good. I got two bills to replace tghat one. I wanted to leave Verizob, the girl shouted I could not leave. I said you watch, , , O I left and went with AT&T who does send ma montly till and minutes are shared.