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User: vikes0115

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These are the most recent forum messages posted by vikes0115:

Re: 100GB Per Month
Jul 22, 2016, 12:52 PM
in the Article: Verizon to Cut Off Certain Customers Who Exceed 100GB Per Month forum

The article says they stopped offering unlimited plans in 2011, that's 5 years ago. The longest contracts Verizon has offered were 2 year contracts, so there's no breach of contact since the contract period has ended. Once the contract ends Verizon is under no obligation to continue to offer a plan or continue with the same price. The obligation for both the user and Verizon is just a month-to-month arrangement.

Re: Not really about the encryption argument, but...
Feb 15, 2016, 3:11 PM
in the Article: ENCRYPT Act Aims to Stop States from Banning Encryption forum

If only every carrier could agree on what bands, etc were allowed and it could be that easy on the device manufacturers. In reality it wouldn't be 51, try 204. 51 different devices for Verizon, 51 versions for AT&T, 51 Sprint versions, and 51 T-Mobile versions. If you think they're having trouble making money now, trying managing production/inventory on that mess and turning a profit!

Re: it' for dumb people
Dec 9, 2015, 11:39 AM
in the Article: Consumer Advocates Lodge Complaint Against T-Mobile forum

"It's a paperwork loophole essentially, you may not like it but legally it's not a contract." Not true, the payment plan is a purchase installment contract; which is a contract... just a different kind of contract. Personally I think the installment purchase contract is better since it's a more transparent way to do things; however fundamentally and legally whether the contract is for service or for the device there is no meaningful difference. The deceptive advertising claims are not as serious as ...

Re: Ummmm
Nov 4, 2015, 12:20 PM
in the Article: AT&T's Latest GoPhone Runs On AA Batteries forum

Exactly, this is a great idea that I thought they should have done years ago. I've always been amazed some phone manufacturer didn't make a cheap, no frills, basic phone that in an emergency a person could put their SIM card in and run for a short period on AA batteries. I've known a lot of people over the years who would have bought one to stick in the glove box as a back up.

Re: Apple All But Gives Up on Smartphones
Jul 24, 2015, 2:03 PM
in the Article: BlackBerry All But Gives Up On Smartphones forum

I think when John Chen said "We make four phones a year." he was talking about their production volume not the number of models :wink:

Beg to differ
Jun 12, 2015, 4:08 PM
in the Article: Review: LG G4 for Verizon Wireless forum

Eric, there is one point you keep hammering that I beg to differ with you on. I understand you HATE plastic, but that doesn't mean "there's no point to buying the plastic version". I ALWAYS put my phone in a case to protect it. Once its in an Otterbox or something similar you can't tell if its plastic or leather (or if its plastic or a metal/glass phone for that matter really). So one could argue as ...

Re: In other words...
Apr 22, 2015, 10:49 AM
in the Article: Google Wallet Funds to Be FDIC Insured forum

That's INCREDIBLY unlikely right now. Banks can borrow from the Fed at essentially no cost, which is why interest rates have been driven down to practically nothing on deposits. As someone who has to find banks to place CD's for a non-profit organization; its become very difficult to find a bank even willing to take a large deposit unless you have other business with that bank that is profitable enough to offset the cost of them taking ...

Re: Raise Prices, Lock Out Small Carriers
Feb 6, 2015, 3:15 PM
in the Article: FCC's 2016 Reverse Auction Sees Opening Bids Set forum

Not exactly, this isn't the purchase price for the wireless companies. That will be determined by auction and as usual the big carrier will bid the price up which will shut out the small carriers from being able to purchase spectrum (especially this highly desirable spectrum). What is being raised is the starting price offered as an incentive to the TV companies to agree to sell all or parts of their frequency allotments. The government will then keep ...

Re: Upgrade cycle
Feb 4, 2015, 11:05 AM
in the Article: HTC Says Lollipop Rollout Going Slower Than Hoped forum

They may also start upgrading less often. Now if they don't upgrade their bill will eventually go down. The fact that you were paying for a new phone as part of your service plan anyway even if you didn't upgrade caused some to upgrade who might otherwise have made their old phone work longer to cut costs.

Re: Throttled is still unlimited
Jan 29, 2015, 10:18 AM
in the Article: FTC Nails TracFone for $40M Over False Advertising forum

That asterix was put on their packaging, web site, etc. after this became an issue. On the earlier packaging (probably up until some time in 2013 or 2014) didn't include any of that wording. It also wasn't in the terms of service, nor was there any defined cap after which "throttling" would occur. I had a kid get "throttled" after 500 mb one month (checked this using the text based data usage tool they provide). ...

Re: Gov now telling businesses how to spend their money?
Jan 26, 2015, 5:36 PM
in the Article: FCC Fines Verizon $5 Million for Failed Rural Calls forum

I've seen this reported in a few other media outlets and it appears the crux of the government's argument is that its related to Verizon's use of Universal Service Fund dollars for rural coverage costs in these areas. Along with this come certain obligations of the provider, which Verizon didn't live up to. Had they used another source of capital they would not be obligated (other than from a customer service stand point) to deal with this ...

Re: There You Have It
Jan 23, 2015, 11:01 AM
in the Article: Verizon Says No Data Rollover Programs In Its Future forum

There's a considerable amount of risk and potential cost to a 12 month roll over, so I can't blast AT&T for not doing that. With the 12 mo roll over someone could just dramatically up their plan for one month (to get the lowest cost per GB) then drop down to a minimal amount for the next 11 months while burning off the banked data. This would lower the APU and if enough customers got wise to ...

Re: Talk about sheeple.
Jan 23, 2015, 10:53 AM
in the Article: Verizon Says No Data Rollover Programs In Its Future forum

You've actually just given the argument why carriers have decided to implement this. Because in practice it is something that is rarely used. It allows them to give the customer some piece of mind at very little cost to the carrier. That's why Verizon's attitude towards this is so puzzling. It only costs them money in the rare occasion a customer exceeds what they usually use. In my own personal experience this frequently happens either due ...

Re: Would Open Source Solve this Problem?
Jan 22, 2015, 10:42 AM
in the Article: BlackBerry CEO Weighs In On Net and App Neutrality forum

Exactly. He's smart enough to know its not practical to develop every app for every platform. If somehow this idea became regulation it would eliminate every small independent developer overnight and would grind the big guys to a halt as well. It's simply not feasible to say every app has to be ported to iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry, Tinzen, Firefox OS, Ubuntu, MeeGo, etc. Plus what about the forked versions of Android (such as ...

Re: Interesting
Jan 14, 2015, 5:15 PM
in the Article: Samsung Weighing BlackBerry Acquisition forum

After accounting for the company's debt, its more like $14 a share. BlackBerry should probably jump at this as they're burning through cash and are unlikely to get any other significant offers. I'm pretty surprised Samsung was willing to offer this much for it. My guess is that BlackBerry becomes one of Samsung's brands, along side their Galaxy branding, allowing them to make a line of corporate focused Android devices. That's been a very neglected market niche. ...

Re: Can't... swipe... any longer...
Jan 9, 2015, 3:36 PM
in the Article: Synaptics Shrinks Fingerprint Sensors forum

I haven't tried a swipe sensor lately, so hopefully they've advanced some, BUT I used to have to use one on a corporate laptop and I tried using one on an android phone I had several years ago. It was always an incredibly frustrating exercise. I'd compare it to trying to feed an old dollar bill into a vending machine. If you kept trying, over and over and over again, eventually you'll get it just right ...

Re: Followed your link: Price $449.00
Jan 8, 2015, 10:06 AM
in the Article: Amazon Cuts Unlocked Fire Phone to $189 with Prime forum

It was an Amazon Daily Deal yesterday. I don't think $189 is the new permanent price. Probably should be though, because they didn't sell out of the deal yesterday even at that price.

Re: You Tube Music Key +Google Play Music
Nov 13, 2014, 5:30 PM
in the Article: YouTube Launches Music Service for Android and iOS forum

I got an email this afternoon saying: "Starting next week, as a Google Play Music subscriber, you'll get free and complete access to the YouTube Music Key beta, a new service from YouTube where you can watch ad-free music videos, and keep the music playing in the background or when you're offline. The Google Play Music app will also include ad-free music videos alongside select tracks. Stay tuned for more information."

Re: Hmmm...
Oct 31, 2014, 8:58 AM
in the Article: MCX Goes On the Defensive, Offers New Details forum

MCX appears to be under the delusion that eventually they'll sign up a few major credit card issuing banks to be part of the system. However, since the system is geared towards avoiding interchange fees completely I don't see what's in it for any credit card issuing bank to join. Those fees are their greatest source of revenues. Without them it simply isn't economical for them to issue credit cards at all. The merchants I'm ...

Re: Hmmm...
Oct 29, 2014, 3:19 PM
in the Article: MCX Goes On the Defensive, Offers New Details forum

CVS and RiteAid bought their hardware from a different vendor than MCX. MCX didn't sell them something with NFC. I've used some of the new terminals that some of these merchants have recently upgraded to accept chip cards, etc. and many of them don't have NFC. The death of this system is going to come from the lack of having either NFC or a scanner on the terminal to scan the QR code. I think when you ...

Bluetooth?!?
Oct 29, 2014, 3:13 PM
in the Article: MCX Goes On the Defensive, Offers New Details forum

How would that work? If you think checkout lines move slow now, wait until everyone has to pair their phone to the Bluetooth terminal in that line of that store. Although, with all this talk of QR codes and Bluetooth as the backbone of the system, maybe they're going to announce its backward compatible to an old Motorola RAZR flip phones.

Two Different Systems
Oct 27, 2014, 10:31 AM
in the Article: CVS, Rite Aid Shut Out Apple Pay forum

Part of the problem that has gone unreported is that these MCX has a critical difference from Apple Pay and Google Wallet. MCX is for store credit cards only. To date no banks have signed on, no major credit card labels have signed on, and it is unable to initiate any transactions with a Visa, Mastercard, AmEx, Discover, etc. If you go into Target and use the MCX system you will ONLY be able to pay with your ...

Re: Factual Reporting: All NFC, Not Just Apple Pay
Oct 27, 2014, 10:23 AM
in the Article: CVS, Rite Aid Shut Out Apple Pay forum

For some reason I haven't ever been able to get an answer to; the interchange fee is almost double. This is despite the risk of fraud for the issuing bank being significantly less than with a magnetic swipe transaction.

Re: Why can't they use the Nokia name?
Oct 21, 2014, 11:44 AM
in the Article: Microsoft to Drop Nokia Brand from Smartphones forum

They can't use the name because Nokia is the name of another company (one that makes the infrastructure hardware for telecommunications and some apps like HERE - as stated in the article). Microsoft bought a division of Nokia, not the whole company. This is like when Lenovo bought the PC line from IBM. They could continue to use "ThinkPad", etc. because they were unique to that line that was purchased (much like Lumia is unique to ...

That's the point!
Oct 16, 2014, 12:21 PM
in the Article: Facebook Debuts 'Im Safe' Tool for Natural Disasters forum

That's exactly the point and the reason why they developed this. While physical damage to infrastructure can cause problems, the vast majority of problems encountered during a natural disaster aren't due to that at all. The major thing that tends to bring cellular networks and the internet to their collective knees after a disaster is the incredible amount of network traffic. With everyone trying to notify everyone they know that they survived and are ok; you have far ...

Re: interesting
Oct 10, 2014, 1:02 PM
in the Article: Nokia HERE Maps Now Available to Samsung Galaxy Phones forum

"HERE Maps can be found in the Samsung Galaxy Apps Store" The Samsung Galaxy Apps Store is not accessible from or available on any other brand of handset. This is different from the Google Play Store. Also if you go to the HERE website it in the Android section it is very clear it's only on Android on Samsung phones. That its available on Windows phones is irrelevant because the poster said it was Samsung making its Android phones ...

Re: second time
Oct 7, 2014, 1:14 PM
in the Article: AT&T Admits Employee Accessed Customer Data forum

You're missing the real question here. Is this just an AT&T problem, and only AT&T employees are doing this, or is this occurring on a much wider scale among employees of all carriers and only these two got caught? With individual employees acting on their own this is likely either a case where 1) AT&T is doing a poor job of screening applicants/hiring employees and is letting more people like this slip through and get hired or ...

Re: Apples and Oranges
Jul 29, 2014, 2:16 PM
in the Article: Verizon to Restrict Heaviest 'Unlimited' LTE Users forum

Zpike said: >> Not so. I was a Verizon customer for over 10 years and my rates never went down even though the network had long since been paid for. Verizon justified the exorbitantly high rates because they were developing new network assets. My continuously high rates paid for the new network, and so it is reasonable to expect access to that network at the same price, since Verizon never lowered their rates in the first place. So what if your ...

Re: What people don't realize
Jul 28, 2014, 12:39 PM
in the Article: Verizon to Restrict Heaviest 'Unlimited' LTE Users forum

The other thing people aren't acknowledging (or aren't wiling to acknowledge) is that when they started getting unlimited data they could only receive 3G speeds (at best). So they did agree to a Kia Spectra (3G) not the Mercedes Benz (LTE). That Verizon lets them drive the LTE network at all is above and beyond what was agreed upon in their contract. If they wanted to strictly abide by the terms of the now completed contract ...

Re: Apples and Oranges
Jul 28, 2014, 12:32 PM
in the Article: Verizon to Restrict Heaviest 'Unlimited' LTE Users forum

The problem with your comment about the price decreasing as the capital investment is fully depreciated is that you are now able to use newly deployed assets (the LTE network) that did not even exist when you started on your unlimited data plan. So the only way this argument holds water is if you had access to unlimited 3G data (which is what you had at the start of the plan) and no access to the LTE network ...

Re: Dumb
Apr 2, 2014, 10:08 AM
in the Article: BlackBerry Hangs Up On T-Mobile forum

I think it could have much more significant consequences to BB than people have yet realized. While BB has a very small customer base, it does still have some customers loyal to it who see it as a viable, and in their minds better, platform. This move creates the expectation that BB will be able to take customers from T-Mobile and move them to other BB friendly carriers. I don't see this happening. Once this ...

Re: Confused with new pricing
Dec 5, 2013, 10:15 AM
in the Article: AT&T Intros Mobile Share Value Plans for Less Green forum

Actually even the prices on those 1 GB and 2 GB plans are lower if you add it up. Smartphones on those two plans were $45 per phone, where they were $40 on all of the plans higher than that. While the price of the data bucket on each of those two does go up $5, The price of each smartphone you add drops by $5 PER LINE to $40 from $45. So if you have only one line, you ...

Re: Hmmmm....
May 30, 2013, 10:48 AM
in the Article: Dish Increases Clearwire Bid to $4.40 Per Share forum

No, there is no legitimate reason for Clear to turn it down. Its a cash offer, so it doesn't matter to the Clear shareholders or members of the board of directors how Dish gets the money, or what the long-term ramifications are for Dish. They're cashed out. If it were a cash and stock offer that would come into play, but as an all cash offer it just doesn't matter. Clear's board of directors actually has a ...

Re: Faulty Assumption
Mar 20, 2013, 11:24 AM
in the Article: The Phone You're Paying For But Not Getting forum

I think the prepaid providers are how the issue of the lack of competition in the market, and the issue of pricing collusion, is going to end up being addressed. Short of denying all new mergers and force the break up of the large national carriers, there are very few ways to increase the level of competition in the market. In fact these methods would likely result in relatively little additional competition due to the limited number of competitors ...

Re: Faulty Assumption
Mar 20, 2013, 11:18 AM
in the Article: The Phone You're Paying For But Not Getting forum

There is not a faulty assumption on the author's part. The subsidy is part of the carrier's costs and thus part of the cost of providing the service, so it does in fact go into the service plan costs. I do, however, agree with you that the plans would cost exactly the same even if subsidies were abolished. That is because we have allowed an oligopoly to form in the US cellular market.

Re: Why the Calendar?
Dec 14, 2012, 4:01 PM
in the Article: Google Killing Off More Mobile Services, Including Sync forum

Probably because they had to pay a licensing fee to Microsoft for the use of ActiveSync. This also gives people another incentive to move to an Android phone since Android doesn't use Google Sync and thus their calendars, etc. will still update automatically.

Re: Good
Oct 18, 2012, 3:59 PM
in the Article: AT&T Uneasy with Clearwire Portion of Sprint-Softbank Deal forum

newfonguy... you missed the point of his comment completely. It was not a pro-Verizon swipe at AT&T, rather it was regarding the current state of the wireless industry in the US and the pricing power jointly exerted by AT&T and Verizion. I believe that you must understand this as the only portion of the comment you elected to not quote was the following portion which made this clear: stevelvl said: The duopoly of ATT-Verizon sets the stage of the entire US ...

Re: Sprint = $12.8 Billion T-Mobile = $39 Billion What's up with that?
Oct 11, 2012, 10:42 AM
in the Article: Japan's Softbank May Acquire Sprint forum

There are a couple of key differences which prevent you from directly comparing those two figures. First, the way the press release and corresponding news article are worded it appears that the $12.8 billion figure is what Softbank is expecting to pay to purchase the stock associated with this transaction. As such that figure would not include any of Sprint's debt. The T-Mobile debt that would have been assumed by AT&T is included in that $39 Billion price ...

Re: Uh oh...
Oct 4, 2012, 2:15 PM
in the Article: T-Mobile to Sunset MetroPCS's CDMA Network by 2015 forum

I doubt there will be much alienation of the customer base. Your average customer doesn't care if they're using VoLTE, CDMA, GSM, HSPA, or magic... if the call goes through, its clear, and they can get service where ever they want to use their phone, that's the extent of what the average person cares about their voice calls. Only people interested in the intricate technical aspects care about it being VoLTE, and frankly those people are about as far ...

Re: A very good thing
Oct 4, 2012, 10:59 AM
in the Article: T-Mobile to Sunset MetroPCS's CDMA Network by 2015 forum

It would create a lot less hassles... for their customers. The carriers, on the other hand, loved not having SIM cards. The harder it is for you to take your phone from one carrier and go to another, the better hold they had on you. The bigger hold the carriers have on their customers, the more profitable they are.

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