# Verizon Wireless, Air Card



## monkeyman1 (Dec 30, 2007)

for those of you whose contract is about to be up with vzw and thinking of switching to at&t, beware - vzw stuck it to us when we switched.

we had vzw wireless service since they were gte wireless, about 16 years or so. since there's a vzw dead spot between high island and gilchrist, we switched to at&t. according to the people and their computer at the local vzw store, our contract would be up in june '08, so we patiently waited to july '08, then bought new at&t phones/service, dropped our vzw service and all was well. or so we thought.

then, i get a bill from vzw for $732. i call and ask them what's up with the bill. they tell me that i incurred early termination fees for our 2 cell phones and vzw card, plus there was an unpaid bill from june. also, we bought a vzw air card for the computer and there was an early termination fee for that too. i didn't know we had a contract on the air card, so we decided to keep it.

after 2 hours on the phone with vzw, they agreed that yes, we had paid our bill. and they said that although their computer system shows our contract expiring in june when it's really october, they'd credit us for the early termination fees on the cells because the data in one location on their computer system was in error. so the last thing to resolve is the air card issue, which i assumed as a rightful charge and was willing to keep the air card for the duration of the contract.

so, wife buys a new laptop computer...and lo and behold, the old air card won't fit in the air card slot. vzw says sorry, you have 1.5 years left on the contract with the old one...YOU'LL HAVE TO BUY A NEW ONE! and by the way, you'll still have the contract on the old one (that won't fit the laptop mind you).

so now, we're stuck...wife can't use the old vzw air card and can't just buy a new one without incurring yet another contract...and we can't use the old one (either pay early termination fee or pay out the contract). stupidest thing you ever heard of, right?

we have collectively spent about 6 hours either on the phone with vzw or in the local vzw store trying to sort this out.

so, beware if you buy a vzw air card that you're under contract and if you get a new computer and it doesn't work with it, oh well...sorry, but they can't help it. and we had been a customer for a very long time.

if this isn't resolved next week, i'll pay the early termination fee for the air card and tell them to stick it where the sun don't shine. i still can't believe what they've put us through when we cancelled their service. amazing... 

mm1


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## DEG (May 29, 2006)

Luckily when I bought my At&t card the salesperson warned me about buying a pci card. I bought a usb card and shouldn't have a problem with a new computer as long as comps. come with usb ports. I red on a post yesterday here where someone said DO NOT buy a usb card....looks to me like this is a very good reason TO buy a usb card.


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## gregr1971 (Oct 28, 2005)

i posted the "steer clear" of the usb, i was able to try one, it was WAY slower than the pci card, also the signal was no where near as strong.
BUT they do work.


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## Too Tall (May 21, 2004)

There was an article on Yahoo news yesterday or the day before about a judge ruling that it is illegal for them to charge early termination fees. You may want to look it up and see if it applies in your case.


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## monkeyman1 (Dec 30, 2007)

DEG said:


> Luckily when I bought my At&t card the salesperson warned me about buying a pci card. I bought a usb card and shouldn't have a problem with a new computer as long as comps. come with usb ports. I red on a post yesterday here where someone said DO NOT buy a usb card....looks to me like this is a very good reason TO buy a usb card.


we had purchased a usb card when we switched to at&t, but it didn't work very well for some reason...kept losing the signal. at&t let us return their wireless card and didn't hold us hostage to a contract. in the middle of trying to get the at&t pci card, we found out we were still under contract with vzw on their pci card...the one that wouldn't go in the laptop.

i'm ready to pay the $175 early termination fee to vzw just to put this behind us. but my "strong-willed" wife said NO WAY!


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## gregr1971 (Oct 28, 2005)

i have had my wifes cell phone with verizon for 6-7 years, 4-5 of those have been month to month, same with my aircard, 2-yr contract was up, i chose to stay month to month. 
Mind you Verizon has called, offered me the world to "upgrade" and sign another contract. Well, to beat that when my wife's phone goes bad, i will get on craigslist or ebay and buy a "verizon" phone, i call and tell them "i lost my phone, but i have an extra", i tell them the # under the battery, and were done. 
I have 2- spare pc card for that same reason.


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## Goatis (Jun 13, 2007)

I had the same exact thing happen to me with Verizon about 4 years ago. They stated that I had not cancelled my contract when in fact i had done so over the phone as well as in writing. It was not until I sent a certified letter which I copied to the State Attorney General's office demanding an investigation into what I felt was an unfair/fraudulent trade practice, that I recieved a call from a "manager" dropping all of the charges. There is no more customer service with any of these companies and dont expect legislation to change regarding these giants any time soon. Usury laws (which mainly affect credit card companies...not sure about utility companies) are very favorable to these large companies in Texas.

Hope you can get everything worked out. Send a letter to the AG office asking for someone to contact you on the issue. Dont give up as this is not fair.

Good luck


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## BlueWaveEd (Jan 3, 2007)

Too Tall - I am pretty sure that the article to which you refer was a judgement against Sprint and only in California. It involved many millions of collected fees and more in uncollected fees that were in default.

I hate those early termination fees also. The threat from the cellular companies is that the phones will many several hundred instead of almost given away. I believe that was an ok sales model when Cell Phones first came out(early 90's?), but is strictly a way to hold people hostage now.

Competition will force the price of the phones down to reasonable levels and also force the companies to have networks that work if the phones are unlocked and you can activate with any company that provides better service.


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## monkeyman1 (Dec 30, 2007)

BlueWaveEd said:


> Too Tall - I am pretty sure that the article to which you refer was a judgement against Sprint and only in California. It involved many millions of collected fees and more in uncollected fees that were in default.
> 
> I hate those early termination fees also. The threat from the cellular companies is that the phones will many several hundred instead of almost given away. I believe that was an ok sales model when Cell Phones first came out(early 90's?), but is strictly a way to hold people hostage now.
> 
> Competition will force the price of the phones down to reasonable levels and also force the companies to have networks that work if the phones are unlocked and you can activate with any company that provides better service.


right, ruling was against sprint in california.

i understand early termination fees from the phone companie's perspective. they practically give away some of their non-premier phones/accessories and intend to recoup the cover over the life of the contract.

i guess it doesn't matter that their accessory/product (old pci card) won't work with my new laptop. just seems that i've NEVER had problems with verizon...that is until i cancelled my service with them. then had a multitude of problems.


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