Verizon Wireless

Pros: extensive and excellent network

Cons: limited and crippled bluetooth, phone and smartphone selection limited but growing, customer service can be great but often average or worse

Summary: For the New York City/Long Island metro area market, that Verizon's network coverage is hard to top can't be denied. Their plans are on par but not necessarily more attractively priced than competitors, as is the case with services such as text/pic/video messaging or data. I haven't investigated or used multimedia services such as downloading video or music, so I can't comment on that, but other's I have talked to have been satisfied. However, attempting to force customers to buy messaging service packages by raising the price of individual messages is not cool, as is the case with forcing customers to use those services by disabling full capabilities of Bluetooth. I currently have the LG Vx 9800 and it's great for text messaging and as a music phone with its miniSD compatibility. I would love to upgrade to a smartphone if Verizon offered a smartphone worth upgrading to. However, prohibitive prices for non-subsidized phones and a generally less than stellar-rated Windows Mobile 5 phone (non-smartphone edition) keep me from doing so. It seems that Verizon is adding better and sleeker phones to their line-up but when compared to the selection offered by Cingular, T-Mobile or even Sprint/Nextel, they've got some catching up to do. Upgrading to a new phone or replacing a lost or damaged phone while under service contract is very pricey. You would think that Verizon would offer under-contract customers, especially those that have renewed multiple times, a discount when upgrading or replacing a phone between New-Every-2 periods but that would cut into Verizon's bottom line and we certainly can't have that! I guess every other cell phone company does the same thing, so, why should Verizon be special? While Verizon's customer service has a few beacons of light that have kept me from leaving them after other reps got me to the point of steaming and feeling the $175 early termination wasn't a fee but a blessing, most of the other customer service reps that I've encountered were either average or below average. Overall, the strength of their network is the best thing Verizon has going for them and is what keeps me tethered to them. I remain hopeful with Windows Mobile 6 being released that better smartphone offerings from Verizon are on the horizon but based on past experience, I'm not holding my breath, especially if Verizon tampers with non-cell phone wireless communications on these phones (such as bluetooth or wi-fi).