PSA - Verizon isn't that bad and getting better

I figure I make a post about Verizon doing good things since all we see usually is bad things. I've been a Verizon customer for 12+ years and here are my thoughts. I'll try not to make it to long but it may end up being.

Scroll Down for TL/DR bullet point summary.

Verizon isn't the company or good as it used to be and most of us know why, so I won't bore with those details for non technical people etc. Instead I just want to summarize my experience which has overall been good.

First a little background. I used to travel quite extensively over the years in the US, so I can compare against AT&T and T-mobile. Over the last 3 to 4 years, I've been taking advantage of my dual-sim phone using prepaid t-mobile connect and prepaid t-mobile on the backup sim with Verizon post pay as my primary. Up until recently, I've used prepaid t-mobile on my iPad for the past year or two. Just recently added to my Verizon plan. I went from Shared GB plans to unlimited plans. I typically change plans when new plans come out after a few months to take advantage of the new offers and features. Finally, I like perks and although great to have, I'd rather have good quality service. Hence why I'm glad to see AT&T go back to their roots and hope Verizon does at some point too. Perks are just a bonus, not a requirement for me.

First and foremost, Verizon used to be rock solid, the king with good uploads and low ping and latency. Those features were key for me since I was on the road alot and not only needed good download speed but good upload speed. As we know, latency and ping are important to a good experience too.

Nowadays for the past couple of years, I don't travel as much as I used to but still enough to warrant a need for good service.

At the house, AT&T sucks balls BUT I get AT&T Fiber, go figure. Verizon used to be #1 at the house but now t-mobile is. Verizon still is serviceable with good speeds. My small town won't let Verizon put a tower in downtown but let AT&T and T-mobile,.which sucks. My new job where I work is a bigger city and Verizon sucks on one half of the town while T-mobile and AT&T rock. on the other side, Verizon is good.

Having said all of that, over the past year, Verizon is finally getting better with their c-band rollout. The couple of years prior, I had to flip to my t-mobile backup and on my iPad since more often than not, t-mobile was better. Now verizon is finally catching up.

TL/DR

  • Verizon is getting better with c-band rollout.
  • Verizon is becoming more reliable when traveling with their data
  • Verizon is still good with road trips
  • My t-mobile has dropped out on a few lengthly road trips but they are getting better
  • Verizon has great connected device discounts with the right plans which I have used over the years with SmartWatch, JetPack Hotspot and now iPad. Currently 2 smart watches and iPad.
  • Connected devices and hotspot streams at a higher quality based on my research against t-mobile
  • The +play perks aren't that bad. I save money on a few perks that I was paying for like Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and continue to save on Disney+ Bundle
  • I like the additional add-ons that you can add like travel pass, 100GB hotspot which weren't perks I used before or needed
  • The new Unlimited Ulimtate plan is awesome for those international Travelers now, high quality streaming and 2 devices off of 50% connected devices!! Finally we have a good international plan to compete with AT&T and T-mobile
  • The Mexico/Canada add/upgrade a few years ago was a much needed one
  • I used to laugh at the Verizon Visa and didn't want - I signed up early last year and get those benefits
  • Verizon is reliable and rarely, if ever goes down for me
  • Ping and latency, although not as good as it used to be, still good
  • Loyalty Discount
  • Combine loyally discount with 50% off connected devices, it would cost more to switch
  • Still have to go to my backup t-mobile sometimes but not as often as I used to
  • Phone unlocks after 60 days regardless if device is paid off or not, something that AT&T and T-mobile don't do unless you buy direct from Manufacturer
  • Over the years, Verizon customer service has been good to me with online chat being real good
  • Finally good streaming quality on plans
  • Streaming music on short and long road trips have always been solid over the years with no buffering or dropping
  • Call quality and reliability has been solid over the years on long and short road trips

Anything else I'm missing?

Finally, Verizon still has some things to work on to improve their network but they have the capability to do it. I still think Hans needs to go but here we are.

Edit

Forgot One
- One of the big 3 to not get hacked yet (Not including the Verizon small 3rd party hack)