Switching Mobile Phone Carriers

I recently upgraded my iPhone 6 Plus to an iPhone 12 Pro Max. Although I’ve generally been happy with Verizon Wireless for many years, yesterday I activated my new phone on Visible Wireless because of their competitive rates, unlimited data, and rebate for new phone purchases. It makes sense that if you keep your phone number when you activate your phone on your new carrier, your new carrier will notify your old carrier, and it should automatically cancel your old account. Based on many sources I’ve read, it is still a good idea to contact your old phone carrier. This is what Verizon recommends as well.

Ironically, I found it very difficult to contact Verizon. First I tried to login to my Verizon account. However, I was unable to login because my account had presumably been disconnected. That was a good sign that my account was terminated, but I also wanted to verify that I had a $0 balance. So I tried the online chat feature. While it lets you ask any question, it then proceeds to ask you to login before it connects you to a chat agent. My last resort was to call Verizon to speak to a live customer service representative. On my first 2 attempts, I was on hold for 20 and 45 minutes respectively, and in both instances I had other obligations to attend to so had to hang up. On my third attempt, a representative answered my call after about 30 minutes. He was able to verify that my phone service was successfully disconnected yesterday and that there were no outstanding charges on my account.

I asked the Verizon agent if he could generate an email stating that my phone service was disconnected and that I had a $0 balance. I was told that there was no email template for this kind of communication, so he was unable to do it, but he verbally reassured me that everything was OK. I had no reason not to believe him, but I think it would have been nice if Verizon automatically generated an email to acknowledge my account transition and to confirm my account balance. It felt to me that the second I was no longer a customer, I was not worthy of their attention. I think it is not unreasonable for me to expect better, and I believe Verizon could do better. However, I do understand that this is probably par for the course.

UPDATE: After switching from Verizon Wireless to Visible Wireless on December 1, today (December 5) I received the following email entitled, “Your wireless bill is available on My Verizon”:

When I read the subject line, I thought Verizon was billing me for some kind of termination fee. However, upon reading the body of the email, it does acknowledge that all my lines are disconnected and that I have a small credit balance. Perhaps “wireless statement” would be a better phrase than “wireless bill” but at least Verizon eventually followed through with written confirmation.

Technology Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Given that the world is now sheltering at home to reduce transmission of COVID-19, we have become more reliant on technology to get us through our daily rituals.

Video Streaming

Given that schools around the nation have temporarily closed, video streaming has become more popular than ever before. Many working parents like me have probably thrown screen time recommendations out the window to let our mobile devices babysit our children while we work. Therefore, it was not surprising that when I tried to launch a movie on Disney+ on my Apple TV the other day, I was greeted with the following message:

It is well known that Disney+ ran into bandwidth issues with its November 2019 launch. This week, Disney+ reduced bandwidth for its Europe launch in an effort to reduce strain on infrastructure. I suspect that similar supply-demand issues are causing connection problems nowadays. Did you know that you can check Downdetector to see if others are having the same problem?

Video Conferencing

Many workplaces have transitioned to remote work where possible, and this has driven a tremendous increase in demand for video conferencing. Zoom has capitalized on this opportunity, but it has not yet overtaken some of the incumbents in the video conferencing space. We use both Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex at my workplace, where Teams had traditionally been used more for internal collaboration, and Webex had been used for external calls. In retrospect, it is fortunate that we have 2 video conferencing services. The day after Microsoft aired a Super Bowl commercial for Teams, most of us were unable to connect to Teams meetings and switched on the fly to Webex. This past week, many of us were able to connect to Webex but unable to get the computer audio to work, so we switched on the fly to Teams. I don’t know the root cause of these issues, but it would not surprise me if their connections were overloaded due to a surge in demand.

Mobile Communication

Finally, with businesses transitioning to remote work, mobile device usage has been rising. Wireless service providers are recognizing the need for increased communication during the pandemic, and I was pleasantly surprised to receive the following notification from Verizon Wireless:

What other ways have you leveraged technology to get through your day, and what kinds of unintended consequences have you witnessed? Regardless, I hope you stay safe, productive, and connected (at a distance, of course).

Verizon Wireless Safety Mode

Our family doesn’t usually consume a large amount of wireless data. While we often use our desktop and mobile devices to stream music and video content through our wifi connection at home, we generally use our cellular data sparingly while on the road. Therefore, we subscribe to a 2 GB data plan through Verizon Wireless.

About a year ago, I activated a complimentary Safety Mode option that allows users to continue using cellular data at reduced speeds if they run out of data before the end of their billing cycle. This past month, we vacationed in Maui and also took a road trip to Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas to visit some national park service sites. We used up our 2 GB allowance of data several days before the end of our billing cycle, so Safety Mode kicked in.

According to Verizon Wireless, data speeds in Safety Mode are reduced to 128 Kbps. I wanted to verify for myself, so I installed Speedtest for iOS and checked for myself. Here’s my result:

A download speed of 0.05 Mbps x 1024 = 51.2 Kbps, about half of the advertised speed. For comparison, I checked the speed of my Spectrum wifi connection:

As a final comparison, at the start of my new billing cycle, I checked the normal speed of my Verizon Wireless connection:

From this I can conclude that (1) at least relatively speaking, the results of Speedtest seem to be on target; and (2) my Safety Mode data speed appears to be slower than advertised. Despite this finding, I think it is fantastic that I have a way to get cellular data beyond my monthly allowance without being charged overages or being required to upgrade my plan.

Delayed Voice Messages

It happened again today. I received a notification that I had received a voice message on my iPhone 6 Plus running on the Verizon Wireless network. Strange, I thought, since I was using the phone at the time, and it did not ring, nor was it silenced. Looking at my voice messages, there were 3 new messages. One message was recorded right at that time, but the other 2 had been recorded in the past, one as early as January 4, 2019 (17 days ago).

Something similar also happened to me in December 2018 after an airplane flight from Los Angeles to Indianapolis. I thought at the time that maybe switching time zones and synchronizing with another Verizon tower might have triggered the display of several voice messages, some of which were recorded weeks prior.

This forum appears to address an issue that sounds similar to mine. The user's issue was resolved by resetting the network settings. I reset the network settings on my phone, and after a short pause, it force-restarted the phone. FYI that it had also erased my WiFi networks and passwords, so don't do this unless you have to. Fingers crossed that I'll be receiving my voice messages in a timely manner. If I haven't responded to one of your voice messages, please text me or call me again!