You may remember last week, when I wrote a glowing review about my experience with Verizon’s EV-DO service. I just got a new Dell laptop and was using their pre-installed wireless Verizon EV-DO modem to surf, check e-mail, download TV shows and update the blog. Apparently I wrote my review too soon, because it stopped working last Saturday and hasn’t functioned since.

For some reason I’ve had numerous problems using cell companies for Internet access. I had a bad experience with Sprint years ago whereby they charged me $1000 for a few hours of Internet access when I connected on my laptop over my cell phone. Even after admitting their mistake they wouldn’t remove the erroneous charge–I still have an outstanding Sprint bill.

I did some research and switched to Verizon who, at the time, had the most tolerable reviews from Consumer Reports. They’ve managed to keep my business for three years without fatally pissing me off. I’ve consolidated my entire family on Verizon and pay around $2000/year for a huge national plan covering numerous phones.

Verizon just broke their streak.

I’ve run into a ridiculous problem with Verizon EV-DO. After using their 3-day trial, I’ve established that the technology works great. I can log on and surf from Aspen, Denver and almost the entire stretch of road between those two points. What I can’t do is find anybody at Verizon who knows how to turn on the $15/day access now that my free trial is up.

After signing up online for the $15/day option and giving them my credit card, I was presented with the following message:

Annoying. I tried surfing anyway and–sure enough–it didn’t work any more. I called the number listed on the screen and spent the next hour and a half talking to a long succession of people who had no idea how to help me. Many had never heard of EV-DO and all of them told me that the pending order number was invalid because it didn’t have enough digits.

I was transferred around to three different billing groups, technical support, and finally back to the original number where they mercifully hung up on me.

I called the number back, talked to yet another person who had never heard of my problem, and finally politely but firmly insisted on speaking to a manager or senior support person. They put me on hold for about 30 minutes, finally telling me a manager would call me back. That was a week ago.

Chris at extension 8228, I’m still waiting for your call.

I decided to wait until I got home to try again. But now I’ve come across another hurdle to achieving EV-DO bliss. Even if I’m somehow able to get EV-DO turned back on, apparently Dell and Verizon have lied to me about the “Unlimited” Data Plan.

Verizon Admits Their EV-DO Unlimited Data Plan Is Limited to 5GB a Month:

…I was looking at the [Unlimited Data Plan] once again yesterday for someone and decided to see what the terms look like 7–months later. Now they explicitly come out and say that their unlimited plan can only be used for up to 5GB a month otherwise your usage will be considered unacceptable and your service will be terminated.

In addition to outright misleading me in their marketing materials that claim “unlimited” data access, they’re trying to specify which computing tasks I can perform over their connection. That’s mighty presumptuous of them.

From the article:

[Unlimited Data Plans] may ONLY be used with wireless devices for the following purposes: (i) Internet browsing; (ii) email; and (iii) intranet access (including access to corporate intranets, email, and individual productivity applications like customer relationship management, sales force, and field service automation). The Unlimited Data Plans and Features MAY NOT be used for any other purpose.

Examples of prohibited uses include, without limitation, the following: (i) continuous uploading, downloading or streaming of audio or video programming or games; (ii) server devices or host computer applications, including, but not limited to, Web camera posts or broadcasts, automatic data feeds, automated machine–to–machine connections or peer–to–peer (P2P) file sharing; or (iii) as a substitute or backup for private lines or dedicated data connections.

So the reasons why I want EV-DO are apparently forbidden by Verizon’s contract. A short list of actions Verizon bans:

• They won’t let me download TV shows on the road.
• I can’t use my RSS news reader (automatic data feeds) which makes it extremely difficult to update the blog.
• I can’t buy a track on iTunes to stick on my iPod.
• I can’t upload vacation photos each night to back them up.

I’m as big a power user as they come–hell… I’ll bet I could go over the 5GB limit just by surfing. As far as the banned actions, I actually did most of them during the trial and they worked ok. But I’m offended that I’d be breaking my service agreement any time I do something more complicated than surf or check e-mail.

I’m amazed that I could have had such a great experience with the demo only to be met by such incredible incompetence and dishonesty that the product is unusable for me.

So for multiple reasons I have to withdraw my prior review and can no longer recommend Verizon EV-DO. If you want to try EV-DO, go with the Cingular option or (I can’t believe I’m saying this) maybe try Sprint. It wouldn’t surprise me if those guys have their own contract issues, but I know for a *fact* that Verizon has sabotaged their EV-DO with excessive lawyering and poor support.