Verizon Expects You to Bend Over and Take It

I bet you still can’t wait to drop AT&T, citing reasons such as “lousy coverage,” or “slow downloads”, or “screw you, Ma Bell.” But you know what? These decisions are all trade-offs. There’s no magical carrier that offers excellent coverage everywhere you need it, and supports your favorite phone, and offers reasonable pricing. You make a choice based on which network meets most of your requirements.

Of course the recently publicized news about Verizon’s charging for accidental data use shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. In fact, I’m surprised that there isn’t news about more wireless providers employing the same tactics. [UPDATE: Seems like AT&T does the same thing. As an iPhone customer, I wouldn’t have noticed.] It’s well established that carriers charge a 4900% markup on text-message costs. Until there was a huge public outcry, every carrier regularly ate up an additional fifteen seconds of your voice minutes with redundant voicemail instructions.

We know the carriers are money-grabbing robber barons that treat customers with hostility and contempt. Stop whining about wanting to switch to the carrier that supports the right handset or has the best coverage. Voting with your wallet in this case is pointless because some greedy carrier is going to have their hand in it no matter what. The carriers won’t change for anything short of a revolution.