Verizon: Not A Heaping Pile of Shit

So, I was just thinking about the iPhone and AT&T, and how it’s sad that Apple’s product is greater in quality than AT&T’s product, which reminded me of an exchange of tweets I had with John Gormly (@jgormlyjr) a few months back. John suggested that people are more likely to let others know when they are displeased or unhappy, as opposed to when they are satisfied and content. He was, of course, speaking about mobile phone providers as well as mobile devices themselves, and John has it completely correct. Most people are definitely more likely to speak up when they are displeased. I can distinctly remember way back in elementary school, a teacher had called my parents to tell them I was doing great in school, and that she was impressed. When I got home that day, I remember my parents being in awe, not that I was doing well in my studies, but that a teacher had actually called with something other than bad news.

Okay, so, how does this relate to my train of thought about AT&T, and more importantly, the title subject, Verizon? It’s quite simple, really. Proving John right, many are tapping away at their keyboards complaining about AT&T’s service, whether it be via blogs, tweets, comments or statuses. As I can’t recall having heard any one praise their service, I’ve automatically just assumed that, yes, case closed, AT&T has some horrible service. But then, I remembered John, and our conversation, and realized I am really only hearing half of the story. There are undoubtedly just as many consumers out there happy with their mobile service provided by AT&T, as there are those unhappy. The difference is that they’re just not bothering to write anything about it. And that brings us to the title of this entry: Verizon.

There have been a number of occasions I’ve taken the opportunity to, briefly, mention that I am fond of Verizon’s services. Yes, services. I decided in an effort to encourage more positive discussions about products used, even though knowingly in vain, I would take the time to go into more detail about my satisfaction with VZ.

Firstly, as I already noted, I said “Verizon’s services,” up there. As far as I know, I’m using all they have to offer. I suppose the love affair started early. We had Bell Atlantic landline telephone service in our home from the earliest I can remember. Bell Atlantic, of course, merged with GTE in 2000 to form Verizon Communications. We still have Verizon Voice in our home, although, admittedly, its soul purpose is for bill collectors (usually calling the wrong number) to call, not be answered, and leave voicemails, which are listened to, and, subsequently, deleted. It’s likely that once our contract is up, that we will cancel Voice to save a few dollars monthly, but it’s of no fault to VZ, just the fault of lack of use/necessity. I cannot recall at any time having been displeased with the connection and having service unexpectedly cut.

Years ago we had AOL and dial-up to connect to the Internets. And we all know that dial-up eventually finds itself to be not enough and burdensome. Initially, we made the switch from dial-up to Comcast Cable. We kept this for a few years, but no one was really satisfied with the service. Finally, in 2006, we cut Comcast Cable internet and moved up in the world to Verizon DSL. I do not miss having to constantly unplug a modem and wait, no, hope, that when it is plugged back in, finally powered up, it’d be connected and working. I also do not miss having to call a 800 number to find out why the Internets was broken (lol) and being told to unplug/plug back in [again] as a non-solution-solution. VZ DSL stayed connected, with no down time. Last year, Verizon finally rolled out FiOS in our area. And we were in the first dozen of residents in the area to adopt it. I can’t recall exact numbers, but I do know that there was a significantly great change in up/download speeds.

We now have FiOS for our phone, Internet and cable. I would obviously like the FiOS cable, considering I can have widgets on my TV screen. I love anything that isn’t just the way the makers want it, but customizable to the way I want it. Verizon just recently added a Twitter and Facebook widget, and although right now, they’re pretty primitive compared to what one would expect from a Twitter or Facebook widget, how cool is it that I can have Twitter and Facebook on my TV? Picture quality is great, and I have more channels to choose from than I even know about. Importantly, there have been no service interruptions to our cable.

Finally, VZ Wireless, AT&T’s biggest competition. I first started using VZW three years ago. Originally, I was using their prepaid service. (Prior to this, I has been using Tracfone prepaid wireless.) Having never lost signal or dropped calls, I decided in 2007 to go contract. I have been with VZW since, first with a Motorola w385 handset, and now with the Blackberry Storm. I still have not had any problems whatsoever with my mobile service. I am quite certain that I will be with them for very long time. No, AT&T, you cannot lure me over to you, no matter how many new iPhones Apple gives you.

So, here’s a question for all: are you happy with your providers?

(I guess I ought to throw a bit of a disclaimer up. I do own stock in Verizon Communications, as I have that much confidence in the products they offer and the company. One could probably suggest this blog has motivations because of my owning stock in VZ. It’s not the case, but you’re more than welcome to your suspicions.)

Ahh, Blogging On The Move

Basically, I’m simply trying out the beta WordPress for Blackberry app on my 9530 Storm. Sure, it works, but this is sp not optimized for the Storm. I’m stuck using the keyboard I hate and in portrait view. I’ll add a screenshot later. This will probably just take up space, unused.

Update: The screen shot app I have on my phone can’t capture the keyboard (for some reason.) Instead of a screenshot, here’s a real picture of my phone with the WordPress App opened up.

Review: Wakoopa.com

Not too long ago, I had dedicated one week to writing down where I went on the web. By the third day, I had started getting discouraged when I found out that there was a website, with download-able software, that could save me the trouble of writing out “12:40am Yahoo! mail. 12:45am Twitter.” I trucked on, but I also started using that software on the side. I’m talking about Wakoopa, of course. Wakoopa provides a tracker to download that will monitor the programs your computer uses, whatever it may be, from your browser to install prompts. It even monitors the websites you go to (don’t worry about those dirty sites. Wakoopa doesn’t track those, and if by some rare occurrence it did, not likely but if, you can make your usage of any particular program/website private to your connections or just yourself.)

There are really three ways to use Wakoopa. The first, most obvious, is time management. How much time are you wasting spending at your computer? What are you doing while at your computer? What should you be giving more attention to [while at your computer?] There are all kinds of charts mapping out your computer use: most used software; use of the last six weeks; individually listed programs use; lists of what you use in the background. You can even grab widgets to share on other sites what you use most in specific categories, such as gaming or design, etc. Second, Wakoopa is a social network that revolves around software use. Each program/website has a page where users can review and rate them. Love it or hate it, you can let others know about it. Lastly, it’s a suggestions network. As you let the Wakoopa tracker run in the background of your computer, Wakoopa learns more about you and the kind of programs you would be interested in. On the homepage, referred to as the dashboard, you’re given two separate suggestions. One list of suggestions contains other Wakoopa users with similar program use as you. The big suggestion list, though, provides you with links to other programs that you’re likely to be interested in, based on your current program usage.

Overall: I haven’t uninstalled the Wakoopa tracker yet, which says quite a bit, as I often go through and clean out programs from my computer. I’m not so sure it’s for every one. I suppose you do need a bit of nerdiness to want to keep track of usage and look over charts, but I do like Wakoopa and think if it sounds even kind of interesting, you ought to give it a go.