A petition has been launched in an effort to convince Verizon to keep their 3G service in Lakewood.
The petition states:
Verizon has announced that they will end 3G service in 2019, and will instead focus on maintaining 4G and developing 5G. They have already stopped fixing broken 3G towers, and 3G service is already spotty in many areas.
Lakewood, NJ boasts a large demographic of Orthodox Jews. Many of them abstain from using smartphones, with the objective to avoid the immorality and culture that has become synonymous with the internet. Verizon has a large customer base in Lakewood that uses flip-phones, the vast majority of which utilize the 3G network.
It is perfectly understandable that Verizon wishes to advance technology and shed the extra expenses involved in servicing and maintaining the 3G cell towers. Nevertheless, we respectfully ask that you consider departing from that policy in order to accommodate your costumers in Lakewood, and continue to upkeep their local 3G towers as long as it is feasible to do so.
Thank you.
You can view the petition here.
The premise is incorrect, Verizon is fixing 3g. And they are having lots of issues with 4G as well. Fact is that they fixed many issues this year and remain committed to keeping the towers functioning till the shutdown date of 2020. The only problem is that they are not fixing issues in a timely manner which is unacceptable. A
Customers !
So what happens when someone from Lakewood who was a 3g phone has to go out of Lakewood…. no service….
Are we proposing that Verizon should maintain a 3G network nationwide at a cost of millions of dollars simply to service the Lakewood Community? Or are we asking them to just maintain the Lakewood towers and proposing that those with such phones only have service while in Lakewood??
This is pathetic as many customers as they have using 3g phones they have triple the amount wanting to use the latest and greatest soon to be 5g that said in order to deploy 5g they need to turn off 3g and replace the radios with 5g they are not going to put up new antennas on each tower just for Lakewood.
As a side note you understand this would mean any 3g phone user would have no service the minute they leave Lakewood.
Thank you Lakewood Scoop for posting my petition. This highlights the power of the Scoop, as it was not publicized in any other forum, and nevertheless it is still getting signatures speedily.
Just to address the points of previous commenters. Firstly, a Verizon executive told me that they are not planning on fixing the 3G towers, which prompted me to create this petition. Hopefully commenter Yossi Cohen is right, but it doesn’t reflect what I’ve been told.
Regarding the second point raised, the language of the petition clearly states that the request is for the local towers to be maintained “as long as it is feasible to do so”. Obviously it won’t be an option to keep just Lakewood towers up, with no service elsewhere, forever. But to keep it going until 2020 would still be a great community service. Local cell phone sellers have been selling a lot of 3G phones. Not fixing the towers will force everyone to just stop using their 3G phones cold turkey – even though many people’s phones are fully functional. Delaying the inevitable will be greatly beneficial, as it will allow people to gradually switch over to 4G phones as their 3G ones break.
Just to put this in perspective, the sole Verizon 4G flip phone recommended currently as filterable by TAG is the LG Exalt vn220 – which is selling now for about $165-$185. Lakewood sellers are mostly sold out of this model, as there’s been a convergence on the stores to get ahold of the phone. Restoring 3G towers would allow people to hold onto their current phones for the time being, and collectively save Lakewood residents a not-so-small fortune.
The excuse that Lakewood stores are sold out and thus Lakewood residents can’t get a 4g basic phone is garbage. Order the phone online, it’s 2018, nobody is going to sit in 2013 data speeds because of Lakewood.
The intention wan’t to say that it’s not possible to get a 4G phone. Some stores still have them and they are available online. I was just trying to point out that a tremendous amount of 4G flip-phones have been sold in Lakewood in the past weeks. It should not be incumbent upon customers to buy a new phone randomly when a cell tower breaks. Rather, it would be beneficial – and also feasible – for Verizon to repair the towers and keep them serviced until 2020. This will give ample time for customers to gradually switch over to 4G phones as their phones break.
Verizon cant fade out service on a phone thats active on a line so either they will have to give you the 4g phone you should also file a complaint with the FCC foucus on the phone not the tower so Verizon will just have pressure to give new phones to their 3g customers as att did when they faded out the 2g
Seriously??? What for??? So your phone will work in Lakewood with horrible service and the second you leave town no service??? If you want a cell phone that will work, buy a 4G flip phone!
If you go on verizon’s Website, under the basic phones for 4g network, they are currently only selling flip phones, so this petition is useless.
This is not new news.
When I needed to buy a phone for my son in August, who was going out of town for mesivta, the Verizon store in Lakewood warned me that if I get the 3G flip phone it will only work for a little while and advised me to get the LG exault. TAG was able to take care of everything in 5 minutes.
The LG can be ordered online if it’s not available in the store…
I’m thankful to the Lakewood Verizon store who gave me good advice
It’s humorous to see people fighting to have mediocre phone service in Lkwd and none when out of town. Sorry but in this day and age businesses are going to need the increased speeds of 4 and 5g. That is how they will stay competitive.
The bottom line is that Verizon knows that everyone with 3G will switch to 4G when necessary. People line up to purchase each new version of iPhone every year even though the prior one is still practically new. Cell phones have become a necessity for business and personal purposes.
It seems like many commentators are misunderstanding the goal of this petition, so I would like to clarify.
It is obviously not feasible to keep 3G service in Lakewood forever. It would not make sense for Verizon to do it, and no one would want a cell phone that only works in Lakewood. What the petition requests of Verizon is that the Lakewood towers be maintained “as long as it is feasible to do so”.
Yes, anyone who is buying a new phone now will get a 4G one, and if they so choose, will go to TAG and have it filtered. But what about all the people who bought phones over the last year or two? Those phones may still be in great condition, and they should not need to be retired prematurely. That is why we request of Verizon to fix these towers for the time being.
In most cities around the U.S., the number of people still using 3G is nominal, so it doesn’t pay for Verizon to invest any time or effort in maintaining 3G towers. What the petition points out is that in Lakewood however, given the unique demographics, it would be a great service to the community if Verizon maintained the towers longer until more people could gradually switch to 4G, as their phones break.
Just one more clarification. 3G service is still mostly available around the country. Keeping the Lakewood towers going until 2020 will not create a situation of “mediocre service in Lakewood and none when out of town”. Naturally, 3G service around the country will continue to deteriorate. But in the meantime, Lakewood residents would be able to continue to use their working 3G devices with no major consequences.
This really is a non issue.i got two of these for my sons.
The LG Exalt VN220 is $6 a month on Verizon. You can pay it out over 24 months, total cost is $144. It took TAG five minutes to remove the internet. If you want email on it, you must set up the email first and then take it to TAG.
Ironic that the petition for Kosher phone users requires an email address!
btw, there is no 4g phone with a keyboard on it as there are phones on 3g that do have. this is real problem for those of us who dont have internet but use a keyboard for texting
Thank you Yitzy Stern for this petition. There is no need for contention- if you disagree with the petition then don’t sign it. Yitzy Stern is formally informing Verizon of a large customer base that has a particular request. What is so bad about that? Either they will take it into account or they won’t, but if they aren’t asked they certainly won’t.
For the record, almost all business decisions are made based on the bottom line. But companies are also looking to be socially responsible and “give back” to communities they serve because it looks good. Who knows what will influence Verizon whether to listen to this petition, but as I stated above, there is certainly no harm in asking. If you don’t ask then you definitely can’t complain when they don’t listen.
Beware: if you sign anything in change.com they will bombard you with emails until you unsubscribe!!
They should offer new 4G device at a subsidized rate with a new 2yr contract and/or extension. Any mvnp(red pocket,pageplus,…) should have to switch or ask their carrier to do the same.