Back in August, Verizon made a play to expand it’s network coverage by acquiring Ramcell, a regional service provider. Ramcell owns Unicel, which is Verizon’s main competitor in Vermont. The union would mean a virtual monopoly in the state, and as we found out last week, that’s probably not going to fly. So Vermont senator Bernie Sanders is on the task, speaking out against the deal as-is. He wants a few conditions met before approval, some of which could be deal breakers.
He wants Verizon to provide 100 percent coverage throughout the state. He says Unicel customers should get a free exchange of their phones for an equivalent Verizon phone. He says Verizon should maintain the existing Unicel network, using Unicel’s technology. And Sanders wants Verizon’s commitment to provide roaming services at reasonable rates to other phone customers.To be fair, Verizon didn’t buy Unicel so it could go ahead using the old technology. Verizon, as much as we rail against them at times, are high on the technology update. To leave things the way they are would be to halt progress. Now, the free exchange we can get on board with. If people are going to be forced out of their cell phone coverage and have only one option to turn to, they shouldn’t be penalized by having to buy a new phone. We’re sure supplying all Unicel subscribers with a new phone wasn’t in Verizon’s plans, but it’s certainly the right thing to do. We love this quote from Tom Torti, president of Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce:
We cannot afford to have people coming up here paying outrageous roaming fees in order to be connected. We cannot afford in Vermont to have people not be able to use the technology that is now emerging, the Iphones which we don’t have, which everyone is waiting for. That is the emerging technology. That is the standard. If we don’t have that we will become a backwater.You don’t have the iPhone because AT&T is not in Vermont. This has nothing to do with Verizon nor Unicel. Please, Tom, only speak when you know what you’re speaking about. Here’s the part we don’t get (and this was mentioned in an above quote):
Verizon and Unicel serve many of the same areas, but their coverage does not completely overlap. And some areas of the state remain without a signal.This is followed by a complaint, and then a demand that Verizon cover the entire state. Once again, what does this have to do with the deal? No one covered those areas before. So why should Verizon have to build out its network just because it bought another cell company in the state? We’re all for imposing limits and ensuring that there aren’t any true monopolies in the U.S. in any market. However, these are demands made by people who clearly don’t understand the telecommunications industry. Hell, all we do is write about it and we can tell you that the demands are for the most part frivolous and won’t be met. [Vermont Public Radio]]]>
Posted in Verizon Wireless
RCC owns Unicel. Not Ramcell.
Unicel has coverage in most areas of Vermont and has been working hard at getting coverage in the most remote corners of the state, Verizon’s coverage is spotty at best and is more expensive.
What is written is not only dead wrong, it is dangerous.
1) Verizon’s technology is CDMA which is an older technology. The are approximately 500 million CDMA customers in the world. Unicel’s technology is GSM which is, newer, worldwide technology and there are approximately 3 BILLION GSM users world wide. Thus, a Unicel phone could work in France, a German phone in VT, but a Verizon phone in Europe or most of the rest of the world (see wikipedia.org for details).
Secondly, as Unicel owns and runs the GSM towers in VT and Maine (where I am), when Verizon turns those off and turns on their CDMA transceivers, visitors with GSM phones from ATT and T-Mobile and from the rest of the world will have a very hard time getting a signal.
This switch over will be good for getting people to buy Verizon’s CDMA phone’s, bad for tourism, bad for .
Verizon is horrible.
The deal is now done. We got our letter from Unicel yesterday. GSM is out; those of us who travel abroad will need to own two phones, one for the USA and one for the rest of the world. The GSM towers will be maintained, but only for revenue from roaming charges from GSM customers like ATT and T-Mobile, not for the use of Verizon customers. Recently, T-Mobile dropped all their customers in our area of Maine forcing those customers to find another carrier. Most went to Unicel so they could keep their GSM phone. Oh well.
Let’s not forget the cost of plans. Unicel has the most decent plans compared to any carrier in the area. For instance, I have a national plan with 600 minutes; nights/weekends start @ 6; unlimited incoming calls/text/unicel2unicel for $60. The unlimited data pack (allows me to use my phone as a modem) $15 compared to verizon $40
Right now I pay $75~80; I expect a comparable plan will cost $200 with verizon
That’s quite a difference. Not to mention Unicel offers a lifeline discout to anyone recieving state aid (i.e. food stamps, medicaid). In maine that equates to $13.50 off your bill per month. It would be one thing if we had good jobs around here. But our economy doesn’t fully support verizon’s plans. There are a lot of people who are not going to be happy. I called unicel and they gave me the run around, stating that it would be at least until feb 09 before anything happened. So I called verizon. After being transfered 3 times the lady put me on hold, came back and started acting like my long lost friend. She told me about how she thinks it will be OK, They should honour our contracts but I should call Unicel corporate headquarters. She kept saying “you take care, I hope I get to talk to you again, etc.” So that makes me feel even worse. Basically her supervisor told her to suck up to me to make up for the $200 I’m going to have to pay soon. Not good.