My Verizon-free Life

Scott Manning
September 7, 2005 | Comments (4)

I can finally say with pride that my household is free of anything related to Verizon.

When I first moved to the Philadelphia area five years ago, the phone company in the area was Verizon. From that time, I slowly bought into all the services that Verizon offered: Local Phone, Long Distance, Mobile Phone, and Internet Connection.

It was great having everything on one bill until I had my first problem with the company. I realized that James Earl Jones may not be smoking the product he's selling.

It all started when Verizon's mobile service worked in most areas except remote places like Target.

But it wasn't until several horrendous calls with service reps that yielded no results and wasted hours of my time that I made a commitment to God. I promised to rid my life of Verizon. I owed it to myself, my wife, and to my legacy.

Let my tombstone say: "This man live a fulfilled life without Verizon."

Internet
I've had my Internet service through Comcast for almost two years now. The service has been exceptional and the few problems I've had were solved very quickly.

Mobile Phones
As soon as I was out of the two-year plan with Verizon Wireless, I switched to Cingular. The main reason for Cingular was to get a reception at my workplace. At the time, it was the only service provider that could do it.

It's been a year now and service is still working great.

Phone & Long Distance
For whatever reason, I couldn't get my Verizon phone bills below 60 bucks when we had the bare minimum of their services. After countless calls, I eventually gave up and was going to cancel the service completely.

After being pushed by several friends to try out an Internet phone service like Vonage, I finally caved at the thought of only 25 bucks a month for unlimited long distance.

Vonage was officially switched last night and the last piece of Verizon is gone.

People deserve better
My childhood is filled with memories of my Texan father arguing on the phone and in stores about crappy service or misrepresentation. Occasionally, we'd have story time to hear the latest letter my dad sent to some company and the response he got back.

There's a certain breed of people you don't screw over and they are known as Texans.

My father taught me that when you get crappy service from a company that you don't have to put up with it. If pushing to get better service doesn't work, then that company doesn't deserve your money.

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Comments (4):

1) Posted by: herm
October 26, 2005 10:45 PM

I know how you feel. I have a very similar problem. My dsl speed is so low... I was suppose to get 3.0mbps but only getting 1.5mpbs. And i cam charged with full price. It been like 3 years. When i notice i didn't get the speed. I called. And called and called.. just like you wasting time. Transfering from billign to tech support and back and ford. I never get the speed...... every time i call... i need to make a summary adding more every new call... so annoying.... until now they tell me i am too far fromt he building and i cant get the speed and down grade it to 765kbps and full price until i call for the change for 14.95.... sigh.. i hate verizon..... i wish i can get eartlink.. but i cant afford it.... wasted my money and sooo much valuable time.

2) Posted by: DAVE
March 2, 2006 8:26 PM

help stop VerizaRape

http://VerizaRape.com

3) Posted by: Kevin
March 17, 2006 2:33 PM

My wife and I are going through Verizon Hell right now! Since moving out here (VA) from an SBC/ATT state, we've had nothing but problems. The DSL is spotty at best, the wireless coverage is as strong as wet single-ply toilet paper and the customer servive reps...where are they? I've done the same research on Vonage and alternatives like Comcast and DirecWay. See ya later Verizon.

4) Posted by: aleeya
June 13, 2006 4:32 PM

i was told that verizon dsl would cast only 14.95 but now since ive started using verizon dsl ive been getting charged 17.99 can you tell me what the deal is with this??