i'd agree.
i JUST switched to verizon.. although I need the connection that only verizon's network seems to offer in my immediate area... i was disappointed to find out many of the customer "bonus" features offered by the sprint service, are not offered by verizon... or if they are, they are so poorly organized, I just cant find them. LOL

eg - content manager - what have i purchsed via my phone -- sprint offers that both online and via phone. verizon.. nope. and its even difficult to hunt down everything just on the phone.

I'm leaving Verizon because of this practice (and paying the $175 ETF to do so)....

Another problem I see with this, is the fact that on thier website they say nothing about the bluetooth being crippled on this phone in the "Basic Features" it does however say...

"Connectivity via Bluetooth®" but notthing about the crippliing.

Also a few searches on thier site "bluetooth" "bluetooth crippling" "bluetooth restricions" yeilds nothing about it. All thier data about it says nothing.

It does however say...

" Verizon Wireless does NOT provide technical support for setting up any Bluetooth accessories, other than headsets. For additional Bluetooth support related to Motorola handsets, please contact Motorola."

which skirts the is...
(continues)

Where are you going? Sprint? As far as I know Sprint is the closest to coverage as Verizon.
If I we get a tri-mode phone is Sprint as reliable as Verizon as coverage yet?

If so, I would be happy to pay the disconnection fee and leave Verizon.

I want coverage from LA, To Baker, to Boston. My brother has Sprint and has pretty good coverage recently. I think they me be comperable to Verizon.

Im going to Cingular, for rollover and the abiltiy to have my nights start at 7. Cingular gets the coverage I need here (Albany, NY) as well as where I travel (NYC, Boston, Syracuse, Buffalo and some other odds and ends) Biggest plus is that it gets reception where I hunt, on top of a mountain 30 mins from Albany... so I have no need to stay on Verizon.

Also my phone is really crapping out, so I can either re-up with Verizon and pay for a new phone or just pay the ETF and switch and buy a new phone. Seem drasctic? You betcha, but I will not sit back and support a company that uses these practices.

Also I cant go to Sprint because it does not work near may house (I know this) What I dont know is if it is because I live near a hellipad (...
(continues)

So a company making money is wrong? A company protecting its investments in network and expecting a return on those investments is wrong? You are leaving, sorry to hear that, but that is your choice. Really want to see something change? Send a feedback on http://www.verizonwireless.com instead of flaming a company for making money on a internet forum. Believe it or not they do read their emails. If enough people holler do you seriously think that a company that wants to make money isn't going to listen?

People wanted bluetooth to work with their computers and cars, fine VZW provided a bluetooth capable phone. Now that it isn't allowing them to buck they system and get services like ringtones and picture messaging for free you complain. Do...
(continues)

Everyone else who carries blutooth phones "gives away thier services for free"

I have sent both and email and a written (typed) letter to Verizon wireless, have gotten nothing but an automated response from thier email, and still waiting on the written letter.
Am I mad? yes, and I am not just bad mouthing them, I am telling it like it is. Without providing information about the phone they offer they are using really, in my opinion "sleazy" business tactics.

EXactly!!!

ninethreeeleven said:
Everyone else who carries blutooth phones "gives away thier services for free"

And that is their choice to do so. As I said if VZW didn't think it was feasible to do so they wouldn't do it. Also, if enough people complain about something it will get changed. I have seen it happen.

ninethreeeleven said:
I have sent both and email and a written (typed) letter to Verizon wireless, have gotten nothing but an automated response from thier email, and still waiting on the written letter.

GREAT! Exactly what you should do. Again if enough people do this things will change, it has happened before on different issues.

ninethreeeleven said

...
(continues)

no something like...

"In order to protect your security we have disabled the Bluetooth technology for all uses except a Bluetooth enabled headset"

While I dont believe that line personally, that would be fair in my opinon, not asking them for much.

B S!!!!

To enable more income is the truth.

The "security" reason really is BS... assuming you were walking around using your bluetooth headset (so the bluetooth was powered on), and somebody searched for local bluetooth devices (within those 30 feet), the only thing they could pull off your phone is the bluetooth ID number. You'd have to open your phone and click accept before any connection could be made. A lot of people are probably dumb enough to do that, but they should probably just get a different phone since they very likely wouldn't be using the rest of the phone's features either.

www.bluestumbler.org

Fear for your life -- even if the device is not visible it's VULNERABLE ... p.s. there are such things as bluetooth guns which can have a 1 mile range...

Verizon is a wireless network operator - not the device manufacturer. Just because MOT, or any other manufacturer, includes certain features in a handset that does not require the carrier to provide the service for that feature.

Yes, you are right, but when you do research on a product you assume that the advanced technology that is advertised is available and not retarded.

When I purchased my Panasonic HD TV from Circuit City they didn't cripple it's HD making use their HD reciever.

Ummm I dont really see how the phone is so crippled...The bluetooth allows you to connect to a BT headset, BT in a car, BT modem for PDAs. The TF card allows you to take the pics off of the phone and to the computer and vice versa. You can also use the TF card for ringstones, flix, or whatever else you want to transfer to/from the phone...Just because you cant do it wirelessly doesnt mean the phone is crippled. NOW, if they do disable the TF transfer ability, i will be highly pissed and this whole post will be irrelevant.

Yeah, TF is nice if I could afford to spend an additional 30 for the card, 30 for the reader, on top of the 250 for the phone and 75 for the headset. The phone has Bluetooth that should allow me to sync my phone with my computer WIRELESSLY...

You're completely right...If someone actually wanted to take this to court all VZW and Motorola would say would be that they disabled it for security reasons because if anyone in close range had a bluetooth device they could get into your phone and mess it up. Even though we all know it is a cover up so people will spend the extra money for the TF card and to use Get It Now, thats all that would happen in a court case. Then someone would say false advertising but they would shoot back and say that it does have bluetooth and never specified which aspect it would have but it does include bluetooth. So all this ranting a raving is not going to solve anything...For the one person that switches carriers because of this then they made $175 from y...
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Think of it like this...The movie industry wanted everyone to switch over to DVDs. So what do they do?...Start delivering less and less VHS and more and more DVDs to rental places and retail stores. Soo people were forced to buy DVD players. So how does all this make sense? Well its the same thing VZW is doing...They disabled the file transfer capability so you would spend the money on the TF cards and use Get It Now...If you were on the Moto or VZW staff this would make complete sense. Its all about the benjamins and will always be like that so would may as well suck it up... 😉

But if you look at it like the movie industry did with the introduction of VHS, they fought tooth and nail, turned out to be Hugely profitable for them. VZW is not allowing technolgy to be used to protect current revenue, and they do not see the future of what technolgy can do or the types of revenue it can create.

The only way they would profit from allowing bluetooth file transfers would be if they made their own bluetooth USB connector (you know, the blue thing that hangs out the computer to allow bluetooth) that they offered for an additional charge. But that still wouldn't make as much as disabling the bluetooth file transfer. Think about it...they are making money by users upgrading their plans by allowing pix/flix messaging which is residual income every month and by charging for Get It Now...Its just like toll booths, do you think it makes sense to have to pay on something that it already there? No, you just take another route that you dont have to pay...BUT if thats the only route then you are forced to pay the toll...

By the way, I still t...
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uNt0uChAbLe I agree with you 100%, but the point is that they do not have long term vision. The movie companies thought that they would go bankrupt with the introduction of VHS, yet they found a way to make money off of it eventually.

Maybe if VZW had some vision, they can think of other ways to make money while making the customer happy. How about introducing a suped up contact manager for the computer that works with BT while offering other bells and whistles, or a program that mirrors your phone on the computer to manage ringtones and the like. I would buy that.

Hell, I would buy that too...That is a good idea, but that would still be a one time income that they would receive. Any business prefers to have residual income rather then getting a lump sum. Would you rather receive $1 million over 3 years or $500,000 at one time? Would you as part of the VZW corporation rather receive $30-$40 one time (price the software would probably cost) or $10 every month for pix/flix messaging to your online gallery?

Maybe you should be contacting Motorola instead of Verizon about this.

I have a Nokia for T-Mobile with bluetooth and all I had to do was go to www.nokiausa.com and download a free program called nokia PC suite. I helps convert mp3's to different, smaller files to use as ring tones. You can sync you phone with you computer with this program using the bluetooth functionality of the phone.

Best part is that it has nothing to do with the carrier. T-mobile doesn't offer this, but Nokia does. Maybe Motorola could do something like this too. Do it for free or charge, doesn't matter as long as it wasn't carrier dependent people would line up to get it.

I would think that most people would be made happy if vzw would let you transfer pix to your own pc for nothing... but if you want to send them to someone else then you would have to pay the 25 cent fee. (suppose if someone was with you w/bt then you could send to them too, but how often do you send a pic to someone in the same room?)

You're right. No more complaining. Lets hittem where they can feel it.

Tell all your friends, no one use GIN or text message any pictures on October 29th. The supposed release date of the fixed v710 (camera fix that is). Lets see if we can make a dent!!

Or just buy a TF card for $30 from ebay and a reader for under $20 off of ebay and you can do all the file transferring you want...

Doing that for 1 day will do nothing. Get everyone together and do no get it now, picture messaging or text messaging for a whole month might get some people's attention.

Where I live, there was an effort to get most of the people in town to not go to the gas station for 1 day. So the gas stations just lowered their prices for that day and gave discounts on drinks. If it had been a week or a month, then this would have had an actual effect on their business.

thatguy_overthere said:
Doing that for 1 day will do nothing. Get everyone together and do no get it now, picture messaging or text messaging for a whole month might get some people's attention.

Where I live, there was an effort to get most of the people in town to not go to the gas station for 1 day. So the gas stations just lowered their prices for that day and gave discounts on drinks. If it had been a week or a month, then this would have had an actual effect on their business.

Hey, if it could be done, I'm all for it. I personally made a decision not to use it out of protest, so I don't send pics or txt messages. If enough people were involved, then i would say it would work, but it ain't gonna...
(continues)

Verizon as a corporation has teh right to do what they want with regards to their network and plans. The problem is Bluetooth is supposed to connect to the computer, and the phone was advertised to do so.

What makes this country great is that as consumers we have the ablity to make the company do what we want. We just don't buy the phone or service and they will have to accomodate our needs. And eventually when the other carriers catch up as far as call quality, Verizon will have a huge PR issue on their hand in trying to shed the image of GREEDY!!!

The best way to show them we are un happy is to have some no picture sending days. If we can rally enough people to not use their service it will make them take notice. A lot of pe...
(continues)

Send that in a feedback. I like it. 🙂

Ringtones and photos aren't a service, they're features. Making a ringtone or a graphic would be a service. If a customer makes the ringtones or graphics themselves and wants to upload them, why should they be charged?

They're not if you transfer them with the TF card...

It would be like buying a digital camera from Kodak adn Kodak charging you .25 cents to get "your" pictures out of the camera. Can they do it? Yes, will anyone buy their camera? No.

If you want "your" pictures printed then yeah you'll pay the 25 cents but if you just want to keep them on your phone to look at then feel free...

Oh yeah and another huge point...Grab the offical bluetooth definition and see if it says anything about what bluetooth SHOULD do. The definition of bluetooth is a wireless connectivity between 2 or more devices of up to 10 yards. So the v710 has bluetooth...

whoever said it doesn't have bluetooth is mistaken (including my self if I said it)....

its crippled bluetooth.

I've sent them several e-mails and got no response.

I spoke with customer service yesterday and got transferred several times.

Of course they deny this fact. However the customer service agents in the store admit the facts that I have stated.

dakz said:
So a company making money is wrong? A company protecting its investments in network and expecting a return on those investments is wrong? You are leaving, sorry to hear that, but that is your choice. Really want to see something change? Send a feedback on http://www.verizonwireless.com instead of flaming a company for making money on a internet forum. Believe it or not they do read their emails. If enough people holler do you seriously think that a company that wants to make money isn't going to listen?

People wanted bluetooth to work with their computers and cars, fine VZW provided a bluetooth capable phone. Now that it isn't allowing them to buck they system and get services like ringtones and picture mess

...
(continues)

Thats why VZW has more money that ATT and Cingular combined. But you are right, I would have more of an argument with you if VZW did offer better phones. But they are behind in the technology...The Razr V3 will be a nice phone...I hope no one around me gets it so I dont get tempted to switch when I play with it... 😕

It's not Verizon's fault for the bluetooth, it's that Motorola is the first to make it work for CDMA technology. Motorola wants customers to purchase their Phonetools to make the phones work with the computers or make you purchase the TRANS-FLASH memory chip and move the data that way.

Does the V600 or the V505 have expansion slots? NO, which means you'll have to keep going back to the computer ten more times than the V710.

Maarek, the v600 nor the v505 have TF slots but they do have bluetooth to transfer stuff. But Cing/ATT isnt making money from that...which is the point I am trying to make. So you are right...but for clarification VZW is the one that crippled the bluetooth...Moto sent it to them all out bluetooth enabled but VZW crippled it to make money...

I still like Verizon as a company, yes I would like connection to my computer, but I'm happy with the fact that it'll connect to my PDA. Verizon is being cautious and I think the V710 will be reflashed for the computer access.

Sprint will charge you for not using their service. So Verizon is not the first to do this. The Vision service for Sprint is $15 per month for unlimited usage. What customers decided to do was to purchase a cable and use the cell with their laptop and use it for 144kbps internet connections after 7 and on weekends. What Sprint did was monitor these connections and put tags on ISP phone numbers charging users for their internet usage.

this was my point exactly. its all about making money.. and making money is all in the marketing (presentation of what one has to offer)...
its not wrong in the slightest for a company to strive to make money... may be unethical, dishonest or outright rude.. but that doesnt make them wrong. It makes them worth questioning as a provider of services according to the consumer's principles and values.

SO.. my comment before... you dont buy from a company you have a problem with.. -- which in turn they lose money. if a company continues to make money, why should they care how they make it?

I commented before i finished reading all of the others posts for this thread...

bottom line is money.
people keep posting their experience and knowledge of a poor product.. those looking to gather info BEFORE buying the product.. will find a different solution.

so.. you write to verizon, you post reviews, you let those you know.. and the company loses sales on a bad product.
i for one, just yesterday.. avoided the moto photo.. 1 due to cost (but I was willing to spend the cash if i found it to be the best option).. and 2. because the reviews i read threw up a few red flags.

SOOOO don sit and bitch and moan about something looking for sympathy and understanding. bitch and moan load enough so those who are unaware.. gain the inform...
(continues)

let me get this straight...if i buy a cam/phone from verizon with bluetooth built-in....i'm not gonna be able to transfer my pictures via BT to my pc or anything else?

correct. Via Bluetooth that is, the flash card will allow you to transfer stuff.

"So basically your paying extra for a feature your not allowed to use. Its like buying a Corvette and Chevy putting a restrictor on it that says you cant go abouve 70mph, if that was the case you would be asking yourself "why did I just spend 50K on a V8? When a Malibu yeilds the same preformance?"

Not to diminish from your point, but Chevy does in fact do exactly that. Most cars todays come with Rev-limiters that will not allow you to drive it faster than 130. The only way around it is to have the CPU reprogrammed or replaced.

130, geez, thats like bluetooth connectivity 13 blocks away! I would be happy if the 710's bluetooth capability did 35!

I knew that was a bad example, but realistically a malibu cant go 130 so I thought it had some merit. 130 is pretty f'in fast, and as far as I know illegal on every public road in the US.

EXCEPT in Montana, from what I hear. I read a while back that on certain roads in Montana, there are no speed limits at night. The only law is "Reasonable and Prudent" and the article focused on some writer that was brought to court for doing about 150. But he successfully argued that at no time was he out of control, and his car, a GT2, I believe (don't quote me), was capable of so much more that it was not near its limit.

WOW!

That was very good.

I totally agree with the Corvette analogy. Read my post and find similarities 😁

Wish I can bail Verizon. But where I live Verizon is the only provider with good coverage. What a shame!

SpecialEd said:
Thanks for the opinion. The fact of the matter is on Motorola's website it stated the technological specifications of the V710. Since then they have changed the info because verizon has crippled some of the pre advertised phone features.

Here's where you went wrong. Yes, it's a Motorola phone, but you should look at VERIZON'S site to find out what you're getting when you buy through them. That V710 came out over a year ago and you're JUST NOW complaining? The class-action suit has been filed and ruled on, troll. Verizon clearly indicates what features are available on the phone on their site.

As a tech for verizon, I'm glad they did this. Imagine the customer traffic for people who could not get this uploaded graphic or ringer to work and them getting mad cause we couldn't fix it. The short list of what the BT will work on is because its guaranteed and warrantied to work.

I disagree, it probably isn't any harder than a customer having to learn to use GIN. Plus, those people with bluetooth on their computer that are likely to pair their phone is poabably a much more tech savvy customer anyway.

The truth is that Verizon would loose some revenue from the GIN and MPT. (although if you really think about it, what percentage of their customer base has the 710, then on top of that how many of those have their computers BT enabled)

Another reason is warranty issues. People like to transfer midi tones, graphics etc to their cellphones. There's a very reasonable concern about the security of these downloaded programs being manipulated, and, to a worse extent people trying to replace their phone's OS with one they prefer. Yes, customization seems like a nice potential feature, but when you realize the reality of being told "I'm sorry, you've uploaded software that materially affects the functionality of your V710 so the warranty is void" you get an idea of why it might actually be a good idea.

Another option might be for VZW to allow full functionality on some of the other V710s with the implicit understanding that they are NOT warrantied, and have the ESNs locked a...
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Verizon opened up the Bluetooth file transfer to the RAZR in December 2005, and shut it down again just a few weeks ago, with the release of the latest firmware.

Do you know why they did that?

yes

I sure the hell care! I hate not being able to do what others can!

chocolateman85006 said:
I sure the hell care! I hate not being able to do what others can!

Great. Then do something about it:

http://www.canyouhearusnow.net/action/ »

Will they hear just one person's voice?

chocolateman85006 said:
Will they hear just one person's voice?

No, Consumers Union, Consumer's Electronic Association, and the Congressman from Bedminster, along with about of 25 bedfellows!

Thanks.

Thank you for the information.

chocolateman85006 said:
Thank you for the information.

You are welcome. I'll try to tame down the rants this year. I think technology and consumers demand will set the tone. Feel free to slap me around if I get too worked up!

Thanks for you interest!

Do you know how annoying it is to have to swich memory cards back and forth between cards because of damn Verizon & their damn bluetooth locking? If they'd loosen the grip or add V cast, it'd be all gravy.

chocolateman85006 said:
Do you know how annoying it is to have to swich memory cards back and forth between cards because of damn Verizon & their damn bluetooth locking? If they'd loosen the grip or add V cast, it'd be all gravy.

Yes. The GSM customers have it made. Unfortunately the R-UIM Removable User Identity Module got blocked by the US CDMA carriers.

Sprint phones can transfer files back and forth! Unless you weren't talking about that!

Sure wasn't, but thanks for the info.

wombough said:
Sprint phones can transfer files back and forth! Unless you weren't talking about that!

Yes, I was. I thought Sprint and verizon had pretty much the same policies on restricting Bluetooth.

You can send a picture between two phones and upload your contacts to a PC with Sprint?

yes I just transfered a pic from my wifes fusic to my M1 Via blue tooth. You can send a contact via bluetooth but not all at once at least I haven't found that option yet. When you go to a contact on the fusi the las option is send contact via bluetooth!

I don't know what other bluetooth options there is in the world but I can pretty much do anything with the two sprint phones I have either between them or with my laptop!