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Earlier this month I decided it was time to get a new cell phone, since I was tired of hauling around my relatively massive LG VX7000.  That phone came in at a whopping 2 inches thick and a hefty 4 ounces in weight…  clearly this would not do.  Of course, my first thoughts of a new phone were centered around the iPhone, but it was not to be.  Aside from the price tag, Cingular/AT&T’s reception in my area has always sucked compared to Verizon.  So another two years with Verizon it would have to be, and after much thought I settled with the sleek yet poorly named Motorola RIZR Z6tv. 

This phone has all the latest capabilities and really should be able to compete with the iPhone.  The ‘tv’ designation of course means that this is one of Verizon’s first VCast TV capable phones… something the iPhone definitely can’t do.  It has e-mail, IM, web browsing, weather, maps, music, everything.  With an iPhone you can pay $60 a month for these features.  When the iPhone launched with those great plans I hoped that other carriers would hop on the bandwagon to try and compete.  Verizon hasn’t. 

AT&T’s $60 a month iPhone plan gives you 450 minutes a month, 5000 night and weekend minutes, unlimited data, and 200 text messages, plus rollover minutes and unlimited mobile-to-mobile calls.  An equivalent plan on Verizon is the PDA/Smartphone America’s Choice Email & Messaging plan, which runs $100 a month.  However, this does not include VZW Navigator, their maps application, so add another $10 a month for that, since you know Google Maps isn’t going to work on their lousy mobile web browser.  Sure, they throw in unlimited texting, but I don’t think I could send more than 200 texts in a month if I tried.  Oh and if you want that iPhone-killing VCast TV… that’s another $15 a month (and it only works in 4 major cities on the east coast).

Now admittedly, I am on the cheapest plan that Verizon offers, which at $47 a month after fees still feels pretty expensive for a goddamn phone.  I get 450 minutes a month, of which I am lucky to use 100, since mostly everyone I talk to on a regular basis is on Verizon as well.  As you have probably gathered by now, I’m not exactly happy about this situation, but I need a cell phone so I have to deal.  But Verizon could do just one of the following things and it would make me that much less angry at them…

1.  Free texting!   Let’s get serious for a second… there is NO way that a text message costs Verizon 15 cents to send.  There’s no way it even costs them 1 cent!  Since the typical text message is probably 30 characters long, that’s a mere 30 bytes of data to transmit.  Now I’m not asking for unlimited free texting because I know that’s not gonna fly with the bigshot execs at Verizon HQ, but how about 100 a month?  How about even 50? 

2.  Free basic apps!  They’ve got the Navigator app and the Weather app and a few other nice ones, but the subscription fees are exorbitant!  Who’s going to pay $10 a month for Navigator?!?  The typical person would probably use it maybe 3 or 4 times a month, so make it free to use, even if you have to limit the monthly usage.  Weather should be unlimited free usage and it should be included on the goddamn phone when you buy it.  How much can it cost you to show me a picture of a sun and 2 f’ing numbers?!?

3.  Free my data!  So I’ve got the great new Motorola phone with a mini-USB connection, and there’s the not-so-bad Motorola Phone Tools software for your PC to manage your phone’s music, photos, contacts, etc.  Except with Verizon, that software can only access your contact information, and nothing else!  And yet the Verizon store charges $15 for it, which really is just adding insult to injury.  Yes, you can add music to your phone via Windows Media Player, in a kludgy, unintuitive sort of way.  But I can’t get my pictures off my phone using the data cable!  I can email them to myself (for 25 cents a piece), or maybe do something with the Pix Place website, but there’s no easy way to get at the photos.  Good thing my phone has a 2 megapixel camera then!