| Message-ID: <h3T6M.3356869$GNG9.2674959@fx18.iad>
Date: 10 May 2023 16:23:45 -0400
From: "Michael Trew" <michael.trew@att.net>
Subject: Re: Verizon Adds New, Low-Cost 5G Phone for $120
On 5/10/2023 12:54, The Telecom Digest Moderator wrote:
> The TCL 40 XE 5G is now available at a super-low price point.
>
> **********************************************************************
> Moderator's Note
> When Verizon sent me a letter that said the "4G" phone my wife had
> been using wasn't "4G" enough for their network, they offered to
> sell me a new, improved, and more sexy instrument that was
> guaranteed to solve the problem - for about $240 dollars. The fact
> that the "new" instrument was *ALSO* "4G" was, AFAICT, supposed to
> serve as a lesson to junior executives-in-traning that the lower
> classes will believe anything: a party favor they could joke about
> while swilling their "Stirred but not Shaken" martinis and laughing
> themselves to sleep every night for a few months.
I understand what you are saying, and feeling, but I'd have to believe
that your wife's former 4G phone was 4G capable in cellular data only.
There are a number of 4G phones which are not VoLTE (Voice over LTE/4G)
compatible -- as in, the voice/text aspect of the phone will only work
over the old CDMA 2/3G networks -- which Verizon is shutting down.
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| Message-ID: <20230511005955.GA259692@telecomdigest.us>
Date: 10 May 2023 20:59:55 -0400
From: "The Telecom Digest" <submissions@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: TCPA Tracker - February And March 2023
by Kelley Drye & Warren LLP
RECENT NEWS
FCC Issues Report and Order Aimed at Unlawful Texting
Rule and Order Summary
Specifically, the Order requires that mobile wireless providers (i)
compile a Do Not Originate ("DNO") list that includes "invalid,
unallocated, or unused phone numbers," as well as numbers "for which
the subscriber to the number has requested that texts purporting to be
from that number be blocked" and (ii) block all calls on that DNO list
at the network level. The FCC determined that no reasonable consumer
would want to receive text messages that spoof a number that is not in
operation, or worse that purports to be from a well-known or trusted
organization. However, the requirement to block numbers on a
reasonable DNO list does not apply to texts messages from valid short
codes. Blocking texts on a DNO list is similar to the existing
requirements for blocking of unwanted voice calls by gateway
providers, and is consistent with many of the voluntary measures many
providers already have in place.
https://www.mondaq.com/article/news/1310464?q=1803232&n=778&tp=2&tlk=10&lk=31
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| Message-ID: <20230511194843.GA265651@telecomdigest.us>
Date: 11 May 2023 15:48:43 -0400
From: "Bill Horne" <td-posts@telecomdigest.net>
Subject: Re: Verizon Adds New, Low-Cost 5G Phone for $120
On Wed, May 10, 2023 at 04:23:45PM -0400, Michael Trew wrote:
> On 5/10/2023 12:54, The Telecom Digest Moderator wrote:
>> The TCL 40 XE 5G is now available at a super-low price point.
>>
>> **********************************************************************
>> Moderator's Note
>>
>> When Verizon sent me a letter that said the "4G" phone my wife had
>> been using wasn't "4G" enough for their network, they offered to
>> sell me a new, improved, and more sexy instrument that was
>> guaranteed to solve the problem - for about $240 dollars. The fact
>> that the "new" instrument was *ALSO* "4G" was, AFAICT, supposed to
>> serve as a lesson to junior executives-in-traning that the lower
>> classes will believe anything: a party favor they could joke about
>> while swilling their "Stirred but not Shaken" martinis and laughing
>> themselves to sleep every night for a few months.
>
> I understand what you are saying, and feeling, but I'd have to believe that
> your wife's former 4G phone was 4G capable in cellular data only. There are
> a number of 4G phones which are not VoLTE (Voice over LTE/4G) compatible --
> as in, the voice/text aspect of the phone will only work over the old CDMA
> 2/3G networks -- which Verizon is shutting down.
On one hand, that makes sense: the phone wasn't "4g" in the sense that
it didn't have "5G" audio transmission capability. But, on the other
hand, Verizontal conducted a heavy-handed, brazen, fear-based
marketing campaing that ignored their customers' previous investments,
the brand loyalty they could have been building, and the added expense
that I and other customers suffered to buy "range extenders" while
Verizontal took its time figuring out how to extract millions of
dollars in profit from us by dictating a change to a more delicate and
less reliable technology.
Why, I ask, wasn't my wife's phone allowed to continue working through
the "range extender" which I paid them for? Even if only useful as an
in-house phone, it would have taken some of the sting out of the switch.
Why, I ask, wasn't there any explanation of the reason for the order
that I spend hundreds of dollars to replace a useful instrument?
Beyond saying that something called "VOLTE" was involved, Verizontal's
explanation boiled down to saying "You have to buy a new phone."
When, I ask, was Verizontal aware of the number of users that
possessed "CDMA-only" phones, and why didn't it act more quickly to
allow it's customers to prepare for the change? Was the company
betting on a second term for the now Ex-president Trump? Did they hope
to avoid any political interference on behalf of the unions that it is
so afraid of?
That the change to "5G-or else" service was handled in a crude,
arrogant, and dictatorial way is obvious. That Verizontal hopes to
break all the unions and turn their former members into fearful and
maleable task-trained menials is equally obvious.
But, what galls me more than all those things is the way that the best
Congress money can buy went along and allowed it to happen - neither
overseeing the FCC's performance nor intervening to stop such a
vicious and transparent con game.
Bill Horne
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