Verizon rescinds service to Samsung Chromebook 3G owners

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/chromebook-central/ip9eVs-p0N0

by nashashmi • 13 years ago

96 61 13 years ago

groups.google.com

Bummer. I was going to get my nephew one of those because he really wants to learn programming and his family can't really afford Internet service. That amount of data was perfect for his needs.

I hope it's a mix-up or something, but I kind of doubt it is.

ben1040• 13 years ago

Worst case, as someone mentioned in that thread, you could get a FreedomPop wifi hotspot for $50-$60 that includes 500MB/month of free usage.

I bought a Samsung Chromebook a year ago so I can't remember what the exact price difference was between the wifi and the 3G model, but I feel like wifi model + hotspot would about be a wash vs the 3G model.

driverdan• 13 years ago

Wow, FreedomPop has a terrible site. No coverage map, overly SEO coverage list, everything tries to get you into the funnel rather than giving you helpful info.

RKoutnik• 13 years ago

A warning about FreedomPop: They'll charge you for the next package of bandwidth when you hit 400MB (supposedly so "You'll never run out of data", more likely so "We'll never run out of cash!") You can't set it to turn off when 500MB is hit.

rickyc091• 13 years ago

Seems there's a lot of hate for FreedomPop, but they aren't as bad as it seems. The way I see it is, you get what you pay for. I've been using them since 2012 and they've never overcharged me or ripped me off. Yes, they use to charge you for inactivity, but they no longer do that. If anything, I was always able to resolve any issues with a quick email. They've even given me credits on occasion. To date, I must have only paid them $20-$30, strictly relying on the free MBs from referrals. They aren't perfect, but for the price I'm paying (nothing), I'll happily deal with some issues on occasion.

gbhn• 13 years ago

Read the bottom of the linked thread.

keithpeter• 13 years ago

Crouton (Ubuntu on Chrome) so he can work at home not connected and use of College/Library wifi when he needs to sync and to find information?

natch3• 13 years ago

He could learn programming with just a C book and a used computer. Or if he really needs Internet you could pay for the monthly service and rustle him up a hand me down computer.

jeremymcanally2• 13 years ago

I'd go that route except I'm not around to help him through much of anything. I'm probably going to buy him the Prag's book on learning to program with Minecraft extensions or one of the entry level books geared towards kids.

But it'd still be helpful if he could e-mail me questions, look up things on Stack Overflow or something, and so on.

joshrotenberg2• 13 years ago

The HP Chromebook 14 comes with 200MB/month from TMobile.

"4G for life. 200MB of free data each month, no annual contract, for the life of your device." according to their site.

I just got one from Costco. It's a bit more than the Samsung ($379 at Costco, a little cheaper at Walmart) but so far I'm liking it.

noname24• 13 years ago

wow, I just bought a t-mobile hot spot so I could use my other devices. I am not willing to toss any more doe on chromebooks, but I am curious if the upsale plans in the chromebook are any different than their data offered at the store.

ascendantlogic• 13 years ago

Lets wait and see what the resolution is. As someone in that thread pointed out Verizon has people specifically for Chromebooks. I'm not a Verizon apologist, but it sounds like this needs to come to some sort of definitive resolution before we turn on the Internet Rage Machine(tm).

epochwolf• 13 years ago

You didn't read far enough...

I called them up again, reaching for technical support after dialing in my MDN number. I got a representative who this time said the 'promotion' was cancelled January 14th.

baldfat2• 13 years ago

Just Verizon being a bad citizen again? Nexus 7 LTE not allowed on their network (Even though they were suppose to with the spectrum they leased from all of us who are US Citizens the spectrum we all own to the carriers through the US Government)

I don't give money to Apple and I don't give money to Verizon. I also blocked from my DNS CNET and HuffingtonPost. All Bad Citizens

pasbesoin• 13 years ago

(Even though they were suppose to with the spectrum they leased from all of us who are US Citizens the spectrum we all own to the carriers through the US Government)

An important point not to be missed. Repeatedly, these organizations make agreements in order to gain benefits, and then proceed to bald-facedly renege on their portion of the agreement.

And... no one holds them to account!

At this point, I think they should be investigated criminally and prosecuted for fraud. If and as it becomes apparently they entered these agreements with ill will and with the intention to renege, this is no longer a civil matter.

deepblueocean• 13 years ago

Chromebook owner here. I haven't been able to convince the data on my machine to function on the free plan yet this month, but I'd chalked it up to the 3g modem being mostly iffy anyway. Looking forward to watching this.

crazygringo• 13 years ago

Does anyone know... what would the best-case legal outcome be?

Do you take Verizon to small claims court, calculate the cash value of the service, and have the judge award you that? Can you sue them for false advertising? Can they face any kind of punitive damages? Do you form a class-action suit for everyone who bought a Chromebook and then didn't receive the service? At what point does/would Verizon choose to settle instead, and just provide the service after all?

I mean, this seems like exactly the kind of abuse that laws are designed to prevent, no?

colechristensen• 13 years ago

Punitive damages or even small claims court are excessive, the only group which owes you something is Amazon, and it seems to be a straightforward case of failing to update the product description in a timely manner.

You might be able to compel them to provide you with the service as promised, you might not. You could probably get a return from Amazon plus a little extra something if you're nice about it.

FireBeyond• 13 years ago

Doubtful - he bought the device in January -2013-, went to activate it in January -2014-, only to be told they'd just discontinued the activation of new services.

btian• 13 years ago

You can only sue if you incur any loss due to lack of the free 3G service subjected to terms and conditions of the service. In this case, it's not worth it. Just return the chromebook back to Amazon.

You can probably sue Amazon for false advertising (again, subjected to Amazon's terms and conditions), but good luck proving that you have incurred any loss.

I don't believe you have any ground to sue Verizon.

valleyer• 13 years ago

Isn't the fact that he bought something that wasn't then delivered upon a "loss"? I.e., if I buy a year's worth of coffee from you for $5,000, and you only give me a month's worth, I've lost 11/12 of $5,000, right?

mpchlets• 13 years ago

You can sue for any reason whatsoever - does not mean you will win.

I am sure that Verizon was smart enough to put a limitation on the time that one had to activate the service. They have very many lawyers that would never allow a deal with no end date.

But again, you buy something over 1 year ago and only activate now? Did you really need this service?

Anyhow - you should not expect people to have a special offer that never expires, you must activate it to get the benefits.

But honestly, sounds like you are crying over nothing if it is really 1 year ago that you purchased this. You are being unreasonable.

rahimnathwani2• 13 years ago

You can only sue if you incur any loss due to lack of the free 3G service subjected to terms and conditions of the service.

IANAL and not from the US. In the UK, though, if the firm really had breached the terms by withdrawing the service promised, the customer could procure replacement service at reasonable/market cost, and then sue for that amount. So, if it cost you $20 per month to get Verizon service on the laptop, then could you sue for $240.

I have no view on this particular case as I'm not familiar with the contract. (It does seem reasonable that the customer should activate the service within some finite time, but the contract should define this. If it were 100 years since the person bought the laptop, I'm not sure people would still be surprised they couldn't activate the offer.

puppetmaster3• 13 years ago

You can sue in small claims. They have to send/fly in a lawyer to respond. If you know what the corp lawyers charge, you can't possibly lose by filing, playing tough and negotiating at the last second. The judge has to believe your losses if you don't bluff.

nkozyra• 13 years ago

A little premature to declare that the service has been rescinded based on that conversation, no?

noname24• 13 years ago

I'd like to say I have just been informed by verizon that they have recinded my free 100mb service midway through the 'contract'. they gave me some jargon, that I did not retain because I was fuming. To my knowledge there was no 'expiration date' on the free 100mb THAT CAME WITH THE CHROMEBOOKS.

mendicant• 13 years ago

Okay, but the guy says he bought it in Jan of 2013 and waited over a year to try and activate the offer.

Many of these offers are time bombs and sometimes for good reason. I'm not so sure I'm ready to pick up my pitchfork if this is the case.

kbar13• 13 years ago

Note that OP says he purchased in January of 2013, not 2014.

coreymgilmore• 13 years ago

sounds like a telco being a telco....lots of fine print. the free lunch of data plans wasn't going to last forever.

xster• 13 years ago

+1, sounds like getting a credit card with '0% interest' and believing them

x0054• 13 years ago

Perhaps an alternative is T-Mobiles 200MB/m free offer. It works great and is truly free.

clauretano• 13 years ago

If you have an account with a Simple Choice plan (their postpaid offering). You can also buy day passes if you need to use it beyond the 200MB. Also worth noting this is for "select devices" only, i.e. some tablets. They may not allow using said device as a hotspot.

jotm• 13 years ago

Wow, 100 MB/month for a Chromebook - that's amazing! That's like 30 whole articles from Hacker News or Reddit or Feedly!

But seriously, it's pathetic, even if it's free.

noname24• 13 years ago

Yea 100mb's are a pathetic come on, but I think I need to see the fine print since that is the ONLY reason I bought the chromeb, now I can only call it a crumb.

Some were talking about Amazon. The seller should not be liable. How can they just pull your promised data. A contract is a promise to pay or give a service. They broke a contract. Where is the fine print. I want to see it. I told them I would be calling back.

noname123• 13 years ago

I have the Samsung Chromebook WiFi and it works great!

My thinking is that if I ever needed 3G/4G, I could either a) root my phone and tether on the DL, b) buy one of those USB dongles that the carriers sell that enables it and get the right drivers for my rooted Chromebook.

natch3• 13 years ago

Then in three years the Google data charges start. Sigh. I never saw how people think these non-computers are a good deal.

ytjohn2• 13 years ago

Most of these are $200-$400 in price range. These are full computers (just with limited storage). If Google starts charging in a few years, you can convert it over to a full desktop with [Crouton](http://www.howtogeek.com/162120/how-to-install-ubuntu-linux-...).

mukundmr• 13 years ago

From the article, the device was purchased in January 2013 (more than a year ago) and the Verizon plan activation was attempted in January 2014. This puts the device outside the return window of the reseller (Amazon). The only problem is the vendor website still showing the device as being sold with the plan.

noname24• 13 years ago

sounds like a class action. I'm in. The only reason I bought TWO chromebooks was for the 3g. I haven't even activated the other one. They owe me about 3gb and they also changed their rates, eliminating 3gb for $35. Now it is 2gb for $30

nsp• 13 years ago

. ]

mh8h• 13 years ago

Looks like Amazon updated the product details page. It doesn't show the free two year wwan any more.

Verizon rescinds service to Samsung Chromebook 3G owners

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