ΨευδΩρίγενης

Some background. I'm currently on a three-line plan with my wife and mother-in-law. I had started considering the switch when it came time to buy a new phone: Verizon's removal of subsidies, plus an “upgrade fee” (i.e. I have to pay them for the privilege of using a new phone that I've paid full price for), were already annoying me, and then of course I couldn't find a phone that doesn't have a locked bootloader. No other carrier does this.

I called customer service today to make sure that my leaving wasn't going to play hell with my wife and MIL's bill. As I expected, the rep asked why I was leaving. I gave him three reasons: (1) cost, (2) the locked bootloaders, and (3) Verizon's concerted efforts to undo Net Neutrality.

For cost, he asked where I was looking at, and I told him Google Fi. He looked it up, and we got to talking about the price calculator. He said that based on our plan, it'd cost $110 on Google Fi. But he conceded that this would still be cheaper than what we're paying Verizon. But this is also inaccurate: Google Fi would only cost that much if we used 6GB of data (our cap with Verizon). With our actual data usage, Fi would be $85, which is just over half of our current Verizon bill (and since Fi is month-to-month, if we use less we pay less). So strike one. (I'm not shilling for Fi, and don't know for sure that I'm going there, but I needed to give numbers to show why I was being given wrong information.)

The locked bootloaders thing he just acknowledged and didn't try to argue, because it is what it is. I appreciate that he didn't give me some nonsense about why it's a good thing, or why I shouldn't care.

But then for the Net Neutrality piece, he said that it was his understanding that Verizon favored it. I'm sure this is line he was given, but the problem is that it's wildly inaccurate. Like, so boldfaced that I legit didn't know how to respond. Verizon has been a leading force in undermining and ultimately killing Net Neutrality. They were the ones who sued over the rules in the first place (and did so twice, in 2010 and 2014). They have consistently made incorrect statements, violated net neutrality even when it was a rule, and has lobbied aggressively in favor of federal overriding of state open network laws. The list goes on, so this attempt to re-write history is just insulting.

I was on the fence on leaving and only gathering information prior to the call. But after being lied to (by the company, if not the individual), I am definitely done. Good job, Verizon!