why does verizon wirless take so long to release new phones?

Verizon love's to test and test and test and test their phones to make sure that they don't have any software problems like the great 8900 that was pulled from the shelves only days after it's released.

 

Sprint also takes a lot longer now than they used to to release new phones. CDMA carriers seem to be bogged down with phones that have software problems and have to test them a lot more now. It sucks.

 

Verizon says testing and testing is why. But I don't know of any big wireless company that has dropped phones like they have like in the past year or so like:
Sharp Z-800
Audiovox 9500
Ericsson T61c
They should have dropped Motorola T720c sooner "I have heard tons of problems with this phone and many complains also on this board about a year ago."
I know their are others out their

 

Since CDMA manufacturers are few. CDMA Phones have to check what GSM Phones have and then try to COPY them.

 

Most of the manufacturers are the same, Samsung, Motorola, Nokia to name a few.

Sprint just released the AVX 9950. If Sprint can release it, why must VZW take so much longer?

Bottom line is they lag big time in their phones. Regardless of their superior reception, they do lose customers because of this.

 

Verizon has the slowest bunch of testers known to man. I am always waiting for that cool phone on I saw on Sprint to make its way over to Verizon. Or I drool over the the Korean phones just waiting for a cooler phone. At least phone works everywhere I go, while I am waiting.

 

Teh fact that they claim to test them so much makes things like the first release of the a530 and the 8900 as well as the entire t720 inexcusable.

 

I take exception to this Rasputin. My grandfather is one of the Verizon testers, and so are some of his buds from the assisted living center. They are all over 90 years of age, and are testing as fast as they can.

 

Can you speed them up? A multi-vitamin perhaps?

 

your grandfather would be way faster

 

Do Verizon employees read these posts? I would love to hear their side...

 

If I were a Verizon employee who did anything besides handset testing, I would be more pissed than anyone else about the lack of good phones.

 

No....my grandfather does not read these posts. Font is too small.

 

But my Grannny Does, from Her WiFi ...

 

I personally think the phone selection is fine... the Samsung a610 is set to released on the 10th. In fact, I just visited all of the homepages of carriers in my area and this is what I've found in order by # of handsets offered:

Verizon Wireless 19
Cingular 19
Suncom 16
Sprint 14
Alltel 10
Nextel 8

?

 

come on jayc. give it a rest here. admit that verizon has the worst phone line up, its really not good. ill admit they have the best network, great network, but they really do not have a good handset lineup. great the a610 is coming out, how long after sprint released the same phone? 4 months? 5 months?

 

Sorry edited my post while u were replying please refer up...

 

I prefer quality over quantity. The A610 should have been released months ago. The A610 is already technologically inferior to the other carrier's phones, even phones that have been out for months such as Samsungs E715 and VGA1000.

 

Umm, I gotta say that Nextel's is by far the worst. Ugh and their network....go to hofo and see how everyone is having problems with network errors. Ouch. I do wish Verizon would get something new, and price it decently. I am a poor college student. I like my rateplan, but I cannot afford 200$ cell phones, when something similar on Cingular is like 50$ (just made that up). Don't give me the "network is better" BS, Verizon should competatively price better IMO. (and no this was not directed at anyone in particular)

 

Why don't VZW send the"CAN U HEAR ME NOW" Guy Phone shopping as His new Assignment.

He has done enough Network Testing, he may be tired walking around. Their network is Fine, it has to be matched with Great phones.

I think our old cordless phone is quality too, it still works after 5 years

 

Alright jayc, heres the deal.

In my market (20816), verizon offers 19 devices correct. Of these, 3 are over $400. Two are PC cards. That leaves 14 phones in all reality. Of these, the motov60p sucks, no one wants it. the nokia 2285 and the lg 3100's, who wants these? the moto c343 and nokia 3589i and kx414 are fine for entry level phones, unfortunately, they were released about a year later than similar products by other carriers. The Motorola T730 and vx4400 are outdated, way outdated and there is really no reason to buy these. The 8600 is just not a good phone. The 4500 and 6000 are nice phones, verizon took way too long with the 6000 but its a nice phone. the a530 is a great little phone, but its been out for a year. the 8900 is nice looking, no experience using it though. while they have plenty of phones, i dont consider it a "good" selection.

 

I tired Audiovox 8900 and I don't like it, and I am sending it back to Verizon Wireless Kiosk.
It is in analog 50% of the time so the battery goes down fast and being color faster. lot more static and I can hear more background noise on it.
I sure it will work well for other people. So on feb 11th I go back to using my Timeport270c .

 

a few of my college buddies who want a free phone with a new 2 year agreement
I think if you are going to buy a new phone it should be a good one.

That is why I going back to using my Timeport 270c for now.

 

All I have to say, is despite lousy phones, I am still the only one in our golf outing that will have a solid signal. out of the 12 of us that go on this outing, the people with Nextel and Cingular will not get a signal (and their phones are really cool) at one of the courses. However, the "lousy" phone on Verizon's network will....I think we could all agree that's what really matters !!!! A cool looking phone is neat, but does not mean "crap" if you do not have a good provider. I would assume that Verizon spends more time, money and effort expanding their system and not the handsets. If I had my choice better handset or better reception, I would choose the reception. I guess in life there is always a trade off....

 

Same old song and dance I hear in all of these discussions. Verizon is too darn slow, end of story. I still haven't seen an area where everyone is dead and Verizon is so great...

 

Several areas around here... Cingular is by far the only real competitor in east TN.

 

I have a different opinion on this. I would choose the better handset over better reception because I can. Of course I don't have any complaints about my reception. In many markets reception is already very good among most of the carriers so then it comes down to other factors such as who has the best data, plans, customer service, and of course phone selection. I'm not even satisfied with Sprint's current selection either. Too many lookalike flips. I wish they could offer smaller and better looking phones like the GSM carriers do.

I think what would be good for Verizon is the addition of Sanyo to their lineup. What happened? They used to offer a Sanyo model a few years back.

 

1.) As far as network versus handset is concerned some people i travel with are amazed with the fact that I have yet to have any problems with dead zones or realy weak areas while traveling and for them that matters more than anything.

2.) Whatever did happen between Sanyo and Verizon were Sanyo won't carry there phones. So they have some exclusive deal with Sprint or something?

 

I think #2 is right. Boo. Sanyo's sound bad IMO....at least the 8100's I have been on the phone with. I still think Verizon and Sprint need more candybar phones. I don't like flips and many people do not.

!!!Offtopic!!! I talked to my friend for a long time today (she has the 6340i), it sounded GREAT! I fiddled with the phone the other night, and I think I somehow turned GSM on haha. Now, the phone all of a sudden sounds awesome. I really would not have known she was on a cell! Too bad GSM gets "staticy", or at least Cingular GSM does.