In the beginning of July '00, I decided to switch my current cell provider (Sprint) to Verizon's service. The reasons that compelled me to switch from Sprint were obvious to me: Sprint was absolutely horrible. Every time I would call Sprint's customer service line, my hold time would be at least 30 minutes, and to make matters worse, Sprint's hold system does not tell you how long your expected hold time would be. That, combined with the fact that Sprint's customer service reps are ill-informed and the service in general (in the LA area) is horrendous made Sprint a bad choice for me... which is why I decided to go with Verizon.

I joined Verizon thru my work, where Verizon offered 150 anytime minutes, 500 night/weekend minutes and unlimited mobile-mobile minutes (all w/ 1st incoming minute free) for $22.50. That price was absolutely unbeatable, so I decided to sign up. My service initially was wonderful. Then, I started noticing a lot of dropped calls in my area (Irvine, CA - UCI campus). The areas not in Irvine were great, no complains, but unfortunately, my signal at home suffered. After a call to Verizon (who's hold times have been around 2 minutes, average, a godsend compared to Sprint) and a talk with their curteous service reps revealed the problem: the cell site in my area was way oversubscribed. The rep went on to say that they had a new cell site planned for the area and appologized for the inconvenience. He then also gave me a huge service credit without my asking for it! What service!

Overall, I would have to rate Verizon's service as good to very good, and their customer service as the "best". Their staff seems to be very knowledgeable and curteous. The only qualms I have right now is my excessive dropped calls in the UCI area. Even though a cell site is planned for the immediate future, that really doesn't help me at the present. I narrowed the problem down to being the oversubscription of the cell. Late at night, my calls almost never get dropped, while during the day, I will be dropped at least three times in every conversation. This is, mind you, just around the UCI campus (in my experience). I'm just waiting for the new cell to be built. Verizon's service in the general LA area, however, has been great. Compared to Sprint, Verizon is like a walk in the clouds.



Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 22.50