Now that I have been with Verizon Wireless for 2 months; I can honestly rate the VCast TV and Video offering. I am one of those customers that loves using advanced features like TV, Radio, Clips, Streams, ect. With Sprint I used all of those. With Verizon though, these types of services are very limited. The only way to stream radio or some of the more common TV feeds is by using a program called ORB MyCast. Verizon only allows 3GP streams for their standard phones. So to get more advanced streaming abilities, I would have to pay more for a PDA and PDA data plan. Where with Sprint all of their media phones has this ability. So this is a major disappointment for me, but something I have to deal with if I want more dependable service.
As for VCast Clips. Verizon offers lots and lots of VCast Video clips. They range from Youtube and other viral clips, to interviews and movie trailers, to short segments of TV shows. The biggest problem is these clips have a horribly bad quality to them. The only clips that look decent are cartoons. Anything Live-Action or Movie-Related are very poor; which makes figuring out faces difficult to do. While Verizon does update a lot of clips, I have found some clips that have not been changed at all. I found some Newsradio and Dilbert clips a month back. Now a month later those few clips have not changed. So this is a big disappointment.
Now I understand the limitations for both of these problems. But Verizon now has EV-DO Rev. A on their network, so offering better quality clips shouldn't be a bid deal. I have also found that while at night I don't run into too many buffering issues; during the day it is a different story. Some short clips will Re-Buffer several times. Which I just end up not bothering. If the quality was better, on at least the level of Sprint's Power Vision clips, then the VCast service would be 10 times better! There is also content that cost extra like Movies and Music videos. Except you don't get the entire movie; you get a several minute clip. So to buy the entire movie, would cost 1 hundred dollars easily. And the price for music videos are the same as those being offered from vendors like iTunes. But with those you get to download the clip to your computer. This clip can only be viewed on your VCast phone. So throw in the poor quality and both of those offerings are not appealing at all. Sprint charged 1 fee for 1 entire movie. The movie was also cut into segments, but you got to see ALL of the clips.
As for VCast TV. This service is something I just play around with. It isn't yet something I feel okay about buying every month. The service is run on Qualcomm's MediaFLO network. It doesn't run on Verizon's data network. So this helps keep Verizon's network clear of bandwidth issues. But it also limits the coverage area. The service is in major cities, but not all surrounding areas and highways. Even in the city, I have been to buildings where I couldn't get the TV service working; even though the coverage map showed there was coverage. The service is pretty good; not as clear as the commercials made it out to be. It is NOT broadcast quality. There is a haze around people and objects and the video also needs to Re-Buffer at times. The main thing that keeps me from using this service every month is that the content you get, consist of a lot of junk. You get ESPN, which I never watch because I only watch MMA. An ESPN that is devoted to Xtreme sports, which is far beyond boring to me. A few news channels; where I NEVER watch FOX News because it is just Republican propaganda. But news in general is the same, so I don't see a reason for giving us 3 news channels. They offer MTV, which always shows junk. VH1 would have at least some good reality shows. So all I end up watching is Comedy Central, Fox Broadcasting, CBS, NBC, and sometimes Nickelodeon. But with the wealth of television channels out there, MediaFLO could offer us so much more. Even something like PBS, which is FREE, could be added to the mix. But As-Is, the service is not worth $15.
While Verizon can't do anything about the VCast TV; they can upgrade the VCast Video clips. I have already sent a letter to Qualcomm with a review of the MediaFLO. I did read reviews of the VCast Clips, but I just didn't know they all had this bad of quality. There has to be a way of compressing the size of the clips, while upgrading the quality. If I didn't need the unlimited data, I most likely wouldn't bother with the VCast package.
So please Verizon! Upgrade the quality and updates to your VCast Video clip offering. Overall I am still very happy with your service. I just expected a lot more, seeing as other carriers who don't offer your dependability, still have more to offer with their advanced TV and Clip packages. So I know for a fact that Verizon Wireless can offer a lot better then this.
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