I just hung up the phone with Rose Garavaglia, who works in product development at Verizon. (Sorry, I do not know her exact title.) According to Ms. Garavaglia, Verizon will have at least one Bluetooth offering by the end of the year. Initially she stated it would be out in the second half of 2004, and when I asked if she thought it would be closer to July or December she said that they were targeting the 3rd quarter.

She would not tell me the phone manyfacturer, but did say that it would be a clamshell-type phone.

This sounds at least somewhat promising.
Andy W.

 

A whole year w/o using my HFL...not sure I can wait

 

and how did you get in contact with this Ms. Garavaglia? if this was 3 weeks ago and you said end of the year i'd be pretty excited haha, but since the year just started... seems like its about time to move to a different provider for me. if its actually accurate, thanks for the update.

 

Thanks, Andy,

Sounds good to me. My current contract will expire at the end of 04, and I should be able to strike a great transferring deal with the same phone number if Verizon has some decent plan for free-roaming/free-long-distance plan.

I always heard the good thing about Verizon in NYC area.

 

As for how I got in touch with Ms. Garavaglia...

I had seen her name and number posted on the Temple Of Vtec site several months ago. We had exchanged phone messages at that time, and she had given me similar, though less specific information then. In light of some recent discussions on here, I thought it was time to try her again. This morning I was lucky enough to actually reach her.
Andy W.

 

wow, very nice detective work. we appreciate the efforts since its so hard to get any solid info out of that situation. all these little bits and pieces i've been picking up recently seem to be leading me to a switch from verizon within the next month. i wanna use the damn car i bought thanks again

 

i wonder if its gonna be this phone since its cdma

Motorola v880

who knows if it is even real or in the plans to be released

 

Rets,

Take it from someone who switched from AT&T to Verizon here in the Big Apple a year ago. Verizon is superior to all the others hands down in both coverage and customer service. In fact, everyone should pick up the February 2004 issue of Consumer Reports. This issue has both the TL review and their annual Cell Phone and Cellular Providers ratings. Verizon was rated the best EVERYWHERE in the USA.

 

Thanks, DMZ,

My current T-Mobile will expire in October/04. I'll like to keep my number and switch to Verizon as long as Bluetooth phone comes out. I know how good Verizon Cell will be.

However, since I do travel to other cities, T-Mobile's national plan $39.99 seems pretty good to me. No roaming & no long-distance charges.

I hope Verizon would provide the similar options at that time. Otherwise, I may try to look for the better Bluetooth flip phone with other mediocre carriers (AT&T or T-Mobile)...

 

Verizon's Americas Choice plans include roaming and long distance across the USA. Go to both T-Mobile's and Verizon's web sites and look at the coverage maps. You'll see there is no comparison. With Verizon, you'll pay a little more, but you get what you pay for. Consumer Reports does not like the coverage of GSM systems here in the US.

 

I've been a Verizon customer for over 10 years (back when it was GTE) and after buying a 04 TL over the weekend, I went in to an AT&T store and bought a T616 and haven't looked back. Yes, the service has its weak spots but the bluetooth/car integration more than made up for it. At least for me.

Also, I ended up paying an ETF for $175 to Verizon.

 

im about to do what you just did. what metro area are you located in?

 

SF Bay Area.

I actually wanted bluetooth over a year ago when the other cell carriers started coming out with them. I liked Verizon enough to give them a little time to catch up. But its been over 12 months and they want another 10 months to only have one phone? And a clamshell one at that? That's ridiculous.

The T606 should have come out for Verizon (like Sprint) but it didn't. AT&T will have the 6320 out soon. BT and high-speed data EDGE that is faster than Verizon Express. Not as fast as EV-DO but I couldn't afford that now anyway.

BTW, I also synched between my phone and Outlook on my PC for the first time through BT. Wow, is this simple or what??

Deepak

 

Bradjs,

Don't make the switch we are in Verizon Wireless home turf. If I was in Seattle I would switch to AT&T in a minute. However, inLivingston, NJ only VZW will do. My two cents.

 

Do you mind explaining a little more for me? In about $35-45 range, if I need to use my cell from Miami to call back to NYC, will I get the free call?I check the plans of Verizon, and they seem to charge you roaming rate for sure. (I checked National Plans-America's Choice)

Just got confused with the rate/charge/fee.

Thanks.

 

I wish there was another provider that was as good as Verizon for coverage. I carry a phone provided by work once in a while and it is Alltel. I can't tell you how many times I've been able to call back to the office with my personal Verizon phone and can't get a signal at all on the Alltel phone. Verizon even works on the water inside the Chesapeake Bay and at the surrounding anchorages.

 

Interesting. I have Sprint, and the coverage in Livingston is indeed pretty poor. But despite the low signal, I don't think I could give up Sprint. I have 2000 AT + 3000 N/W starting @ 8pm, shared over two lines with unlimited Vision on both phones (one of which is a T608 ) for $65/month. The price is so good, I'm not even bothered by the occasional dropped call or loss of reception.

Once Verizon gets a bluetooth phone and rolls out their EV-DO network, I'll consider switching (assuming the price is halfway decent)...

 

I'm not happy but I think I can wait until this summer/fall for Verizon to get their act together. If they don't have Bluetooth by October, I'm switching. Even though Verizon has an awesome network.

 

im gonna try it out with at&t and i have 30 days to return if it doesnt work decently. i can also do the same with cingular. i really want bluetooth and im willing to sacrifice some quality of service for it. i wont cancel my verizon service until im convinced, and if its so bad, then ill just return both and keep my verizon. im too itchy to get bluetooth and dont want to wait.:p

 

Ditto what everyone said about Verizon. I had Sprint for a year and couldn't wait to get rid of it. I had to stand in the corner of my living room near the window to make any calls from my apartment. I switched to Verizon and have used it in several cities without any problems.

rets, here's the description of Verizon's America's Choice Plan for NYC: Call anywhere coast to coast from anywhere on the America's Choice network with no roaming or long distance charges.

Rates start at $34.99 for 300 minutes w/unlimited nights and weekends.

 

Verizon if you're listening the F#@k up. I wanna blue tooth phone already.

 

I have been a happy Verizon user for years. Prior to that Cingular, terrible. I pick up my TL tomorrow and have been looking at other services. I have come to the conclusion that I will wait and hope that Verizon soon adds bluetooth. I live in a rural area and travel a fair amount over the SE and mid-west. In the past 2 years I have probably used my phone in at least 12 to 15 states from Montana to Florida. I have NEVER paid a roaming charge and almost never been without service but there is a fairly large area of KY which does not have Verizon service.

Please Verizon.... hear our cries....

 

whats your defintion of soon?

 

The Verizon/Sprint Bluetooth problem is apparently a CDMA Qualcomm problem. Qualcomm is slow as (word of your choice) in providing the technology. Everyone involved--service providers, phone manufacturers--is stuck. And so are we.

The ONLY solution is to switch to one of the GSM providers: AT&T, Cingular, T-Mobile.

 

In my case and with my needs, "soon" in indefinate. Unless the other providers which have bluetooth improve their coverage & service, I will be staying with Verizon. Let's face it, bluetooth and the TL's great interface is useless without service in the areas you travel.....

Ideally, "soon" would be tomorrow , but in real life I would be very happy if Verizon offers bluetooth within six month.

 

That's not entirely true. Qualcomm has been shipping a single chip CDMA/BT solution for some time now. The fact that Verizon doesn't even offer IR on their phones and Sprint changed their unlimited data policy specifically for the T608 tells me that these guys are worried about the data usage a fast BT phone would bring.

 

Thanks, narnia, this is the plan I'm looking for, but I also notice that customer information says
'When the roaming indicator light is solid and/or the banner display reads "Roaming", roaming rates apply.

There may be times when you are roaming on another carrier s network. The billing for roaming minutes used on another carrier s network and related long distance charges (if applicable) may be delayed depending on when Verizon Wireless is billed by the other carrier. These roaming minutes may be applied against your monthly airtime allowance in the month they appear on your bill and not during the month of usage and may result in phone charges in addition to your monthly access charge. Automatic roaming may not be available in all areas."

Out of my curiosity, do you just pay exactly $34.99 if using in other cities? Thanks.


I know how good Verizon is, but there is no Bluetooth for it yet...

 

I hate that Verizon doesn't have Bluetooth, but you have to weight that against the convenience of cellphone service that you can actually make and receive calls on. I use my cellphone much more outside my car than in my car.

As for the Roaming fees, why don't you call Customer Service and talk to them about this. Tell them where you'll be using your phone and see if the Roaming rates will apply to you. I've used my phone in Boston, several cities upstate NY, several cities in Florida, NJ, LI, etc. without a Roaming fee. FYI your phone will indicate you're in "Roaming mode" when you turn it on in the areas where it applies. I think it's only applicable in areas Verizon doesn't provide Nationwide service, and if you look at their coverage map you'll see they have an extensive network.

 

I can understand the motivation to pay less, but when you get really poor service why have a cell at all?? If you are so concerned about price and not concerned about the inability to call someone during an important moment or emergency, I feel there is a need to prioritize wants vs. needs. I want to pay less than I do with Verizon and I want a bluetooth phone but I need a service I can rely on, otherwise the good money I am spending is being thrown away. Just my .02

 

I appreciate the news of a potential VZW Bluetooth product. I have been a Verizon customer since 1994 (it was Airtouch then) and have never had problems with coverage. I will therefore wait it out....my StarTac 7868 will continue to suffice as it has been flawless other than a broken antenna endpiece--a minor inconvenience.