I'm a big user of mobile internet applications (I'm a WAP developer), and I've found that the mobile internet service provided by Verizon Wireless is almost unusable.

First of all, about 50% of the time you'll get a "data service unavailable" error. This basicaly means "sorry, the service is overloaded, but we'll charge you for the airtime anyway". My last bill had over 50 minutes worth of these calls, causing me to go over my alloted plan minutes. 45mins worth of arguing with customer service got me a credit, but why should I have to do this?

Verizon's implementation of WAP is rather non-standard, which makes certain features of the phones not work. I don't want to get too technical here, but there's a major problem with storing bookmarks on a website, rather than on the gateway. What this does, is make a nearly impossible to bookmark a site. My phone (Kyocera 2035a) has a nice feature that allows you to bookmark a page, but the bass-akwards way that verizon has their network set up make this feature not work. In order to add a bookmark, you need to go through about 5 steps and then manually type in the bookmark (or add it from a web page on a desktop computer). Entering in long, complex URLs that contain parameters this way is almost impossible.

Verizon has very few phones that work well with the mobile internet service. My Kyocera 2035a is OK, but does not display images, even though the specs on the phone use the term "full bitmap display". The Audiovox 9000 is pretty much useless to view the mobile internet because of the small screen size, too-large fonts, and horrible navigation. The Samsung SCH-850 is half decent, but that phone will set you back at least $150 (for that price you can buy a Palm Pilot or Handspring and hook it to your cheaper phone and get a real browser). If you want to see a phone that works well with Mobile Internet, take a look at Sprint's Touchpoint series. Those phones work quite well for browsing the web. Unfortunatly, they won't work on the Verizon system.

Compared to SprintPCS, verizon has far fewer partnerships with content providers. This puts SprintPCS lightyears ahead of Verizon in the mobile web arena. For example, driving directions are only a couple clicks away on SprintPCS, but a major pain on Verizon.


In short, if you're looking to get into Wireless Internet, stay away from Verizon and go with SprintPCS (and get the touchpoint phone). If you're in a service area that doesn't get SprintPCS and only gets Verizon service (I'm in such a situation) be prepared for a lot of frustration.





Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 35/month