By If you listened to most of the mobile tech enthusiasts out there, you’d think Verizon was experiencing a mass exodus after the changes and decisions they make every month. That isn’t the case, though — Verizon is doing just fine. In fact, they’re doing more than fine. Verizon is kicking butt and taking names, apparently, and the trend hasn’t slowed down in Q3 2013.
The rich get richer
The company has announced their earnings report for the quarter, with the three biggest highlights being revenue, profit and net additions. In that order, Verizon brought in a total of $30.3 billion, $7.1 billion in profit, and 1.1 million net customer additions.
Revenue was 4.4% more than it was in Q3 2012 — while not a huge improvement when it comes to percentage, a 4.4% increase on billions of dollars is a ton. Profits were even more staggering, though, with the wireless company enjoying a 30% increase in that area compared to the same quarter last year.
And Verizon isn’t sitting by doing nothing with all that money they’re earning. If you don’t remember, the company recently bought out Vodafone’s stake in their company, giving them even more independence than they’ve enjoyed in the past.
Verizon has also spent that money to roll out the rest of their LTE network. With the base network almost complete, the company will soon begin overhauling and upgrading. One of the upgrades we know they’re working on is delivering data over their new AWS spectrum. Early speed tests show Verizon being able to deliver up to 80 megabits per second, though that’s without congestion and other factors.
Post-paid dominance
The aforementioned addition of 1.1 million subscribers brings the company up to 101.2 million, with 95 million of those folks being post-paid customers. That’s a staggering fill rate, and it shows Verizon’s reputation for good service counts for more good than their actions in terms of device launches, plan changes and more count for bad.
While Verizon is miles ahead most of the competition in terms of subscribers, they still have to keep looking over their shoulders at AT&T, who have also been quite the attractive carrier as of late. We don’t yet have a clue what their Q3 2013 looked like, but we assume they’re making great strides of their own if it was anything like the previous few quarters.
With strong marketing, an even stronger retail presence, and the type of both market share and mind share that any company would die for in their respective industries, it will take a lot for anyone to topple the Big Red beast otherwise known as Verizon Wireless.
“HURR DURR VERIZON SUCKS HURR DURR!!!111”
How many of those new customers were like me though? I used them for 12 days then returned the phone. I just wanted to try it…. The speeds are quite nice but I blew through that data in half the cycle. I’ll duke it out with sprint.
Uh, that would be “none,” sparky. See, the term “net adds” means the total number of disconnections subtracted from the total number of new connections added. 1-1 = 0 last I checked, so anyone who signed up, chose a data package too small and then decided that monetary cost was more important than network performance would not have an impact on the number of net adds for Verizon’s third quarter.
In your case if you cancelled within the trial time period, but into the next accounting month, it would show up as an adjustment to net adds the next accounting month. If the months are in the same quarterly reporting, its a wash, or no impact to these numbers.
People sure do love to over spend on a cellular plan. it’s kinda like people who buy overpriced iphones.
I’ll just call them “big red sheeps”
iPhones still have their place, I personally think it makes people immature to bash iOS. I like both platforms.
I enjoy being immature, just like 80% of phandroid readers here.
Excuse me. But it’s 82%, bub.
Gahhhhhhhh. ( -_-) get your facts straight. :P
iphones arent overpriced, they are just overly simplified to a point of loss of functionality… but like it or not, many people want just that.
iPhones ARE overpriced. They offer less functionality than their counterparts, have lower specs, often times cost less to manufacture, traditionally have been much more fragile, and yet they cost much more. That’s the definition of overpriced.
one could argue that you arent solely paying for hardware, that you are also paying for software… you are paying for iOS and the app store. App store has many benefits over google play.
I’m not an iphone user by any means, i own a nexus 4 and tried to get my girlfriend to trade in her iphone4s for a nexus 4 but she ended up going with the iphone5… in her opinion android phones would be a downgrade for her. She gets 1st dibs on the vast majority of apps, and often those apps are better designed and sometimes even more functional.
And while iphones have OS level less functionality, often times that is negated by apps.
So no i dont think iphones are overpriced, they are priced reasonably fairly. They do lack a few features that android has (which most of which arent main stream features that the general public uses day to day) but they also have a few advantages over android. Soooo i say its about even. I just personally prefer android cuz the advantages it has are more important to me than iphone’s.
Ofcourse you are paying for the whole package, and no way you look at it is the iPhone 5’s software “better” than the Nexus 4’s, and especially not HUNDREDS of dollars better. Some people would “never” go to an android phone because a. their used to ios and are unwilling to “learn” a new os, b. are not educated on the many advantages of Android, and c. make decisions on perceived popularity and brand name, not functionality, ie, many of those same people would jump ship in a heartbeat if Apple someday becomes perceived as the “un-cool,” brand.
here’s where i disagree with you.
1) You can’t take the price of an on-sale item… and say all items not “on-sale” are over priced. The Nexus 4 is underpriced. You can’t gauge the pricing of other phones based on one phone that is being sold for little to no profit margin.
2) no i dont think the iphone 5 is hundreds of more dollars more expensive than what the nexus 4 is *supposed* to cost. I think they should be priced the same, however with the iphone 5 having LTE, broader availability, better camera. It does have its advantages.
3) yes android has many advantages like customizing, side loading, file structure, standard media storage device capabilities, free tether, n the list goes on. But you are making silly generalizations just because someone has different preferences than you.
-My girlfriend used to have a g1 (i know it was baby android), went to blackberry n then went to iphone5.
she has no desire for a larger screen, no desire to customize, no desire for a replaceable battery, no desire for file storage, she has need to use my phone for tethering in rare situations.
she likes the iphone camera over the htc one’s/nexus 4 or other camera phones she has seen, she likes app store better than google play because app store gets all the apps first. That’s what she likes. She doesn’t care about being “cool,” or not trying new things.
A part of the problem is that some people assume everyone has this cell phone addiction that we have. Look at it like a car. There are the enthusiasts that would never consider driving an automatic car. Its stick shift or nothing. And they want superchargers, new exhaust systems, rims, and the works…
then there are those who couldn’t care less and have no interest in driving a stick shift. They would be happier with a 2013 Automatic Camry than they would with a manual transmission Mustang. They aren’t all stupid or hipsters, sometimes it just fits their style better.
It’s not over spending when there’s nothing to compare the prices to. Can’t compare with AT&T, they don’t have nearly the coverage but still cost about the same. T-Mobile and Sprint are cheaper but they don’t have decent coverage either. You want good cell service, Verizon is the only option. You want to save a buck, you can at the expense of not having coverage.
Despite my hate for Verizon’s practices. I think it’s stupid to call it “over-spending” when I get a consistent strong signal in my area and I have LTE at a place where the other carriers barely register a signal -_-. As much as a I may want to switch to a cheaper plan in the future, the value of good [cellular] service shouldn’t be ignored…..Oh, and i also have unlimited data grandfathered ;)
My problem with Verizon is I RARELY get LTE and I’m in NEW YORK! I suspect thought it may be my Galaxy Nexus, but no way to know for sure right now. If Verizon forces us out of grandfathered unlimited plans like T Mobile is doing, it will be much easier for me to leave them in a heartbeat.
I have a G-Nexus and I rarely lose my LTE connection. Matter of fact I keep my G-Nexus on LTE all the time. I have rarely manually switched to 3G. Battery life is a different story. That’s why I’m really looking forward on buying the G-Note 3 at full price to preserve my unlimited data plan.
Where are you located? My once beloved Verizon Galaxy Nexus is abysmal. As stated before, I rarely get 4G and can’t even get 3G at work! (On street level with plenty of windows)
I’m in NYC.
Although I hate the customer service, device selection, and double the price of other carriers I’m not ready to give up the unlimited data as I’m afraid I’ll be back when I can’t get signal on other carriers.
I hear you. That’s why I say if Verizon ever forces us off, the decision to jump ship will be much easier.
My old thunderbolt and a coworkers GNex rarely got 4g where my Bionic rarely dropped 4g. I think it’s the phone, ask people with Motorola or newer Samsung phones, most of those don’t have LTE issues.
Tmobile isn’t forcing ANYONE out of unlimited data and they continually offer truly unlimited data to new and existing customers without throttling
Um….have you read or seen the news in the past few days? :
T-Mobile Forcing Customers on Grandfathered Plans to Switch
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2425844,00.asp
Yes I have and that’s about people on old plans moved to simple choice plans which are cheaper for most people anyway… NOTHING about people losing unlimited data. Where’s your reading comprehension at man? You completely made that statement up.
If you’re happy with Verizon, their selection, their policies and their service and you can afford it, then it by all means is the carrier for you. But I think Blkegk is referencing those who are NOT happy but still dole out their money to Blood Red without exploring other options. That IS kinda stupid.
I’m not happy with Verizon, but there’s currently no other carrier that compare with coverage so it a trade off. Not be happy with Verizon but have the ability to use what I pay for, or be happy with the customer service and device selection but not be able to use that device. I really hope to see T-Mobile’s coverage expand in the next few years before Verizon forces me off of unlimited data.
when they rip you off its not hard to make money
People allow that to happen. They could leave, but don’t.
So true, I see a number of people in different blogs complaining about their prices when they are not been forced to stay with them.
Coverage coverage is the reason why they don’t leave. I switched from sprint to T-Mobile for speeds but I lost coverage I always had coverage with sprint
“While Verizon is miles ahead most of the competition in terms of subscribers, they still have to keep looking over their shoulders at AT&T, who have also been quite the attractive carrier as of late.” I’m a Verizon subscriber who is constantly looking for a good reason to switch. T-Mobile has some attractive options, but I don’t know what AT&T offers that could be considered attractive. Seems like less coverage for the same price.
I’m in the same boat, but when I was looking at AT&T, their closest plan to what I have at Verizon was actually MORE EXPENSIVE! WTF!? And I would get less. I don’t get AT&T. They are missing out on a huge opportunity to steal a ton of customers from Verizion. It’s almost like they are receiving some under the table money to be in collusion with Verizon, to stay off of their backs.
That had me puzzled as well. About the same price for far worse coverage over 98% of the country.
I”ll be more than glad to bring it down to 999,996 new subscribers (including my family).
Holy balls, son. Your family is 100,004 people?
;)
Looked at my comment, looked at the headline, looked at your comment, looked back at my comment, and then read the whole article again. I still don’t see how you got that number.
1,100,000-999,996=…
… 100,004.
“The company has announced their earnings report for the quarter, with the three biggest highlights being revenue, profit and net additions. In that order, Verizon brought in a total of $30.3 billion, $7.1 billion in profit, and *1.1 million* net customer additions.”
Let’s stick to the headline :P
I believe his joke is based on the 1.1million. Net add figure noted further down in the article.
Edit: nvm…slow typist.
another 8 leaving in my family
Padding the pockets with shareeverything but savings from using their LTE network. 7 Billion per quarter…that’s 28 Billion per year profit…after network upgrades and paying salaries….yeah…they could charge less.
I am in an area that I could easily switch. my problem is that I travel to remote areas where Verizon is the only provider with service. I have often considered having Verizon dummy phone and Sprint or TMobile smart phone but I don’t want to have to deal with two phones and not.having data when I am out in these areas.
This is really the main reason we pay double cell service. Also don’t understand how AT&T are now charging about the same as Verizon without the coverage. I really hope T-Mobile expands their network in the next couple of years while remaining so consumer friendly.
Bad consumers!!! Sending Verizon that everything their doing is just fine?
carriers are worse than big banks and fed reserve, when it comes to money-printing. I fail to see, what value they bring to the consumers.
This is exactly why I can’t leave Verizon. No matter how pissed I am that I have to wait to unlock every phone I buy. Their coverage is amazing. I drove 3 hours (through the country of Ohio) and only lost LTE once for about 5 minutes.
I checked AT&t’s coverage and it was OK at best. Nothing near VZW. If I leave the city T-Mobile would be useless. Don’t even get me started on Crawl..I mean Sprint. I had them for a decade and will NEVER go back.
People have to re-learn to sacrifice to get returns. Verizon’s service is the best because they have the money from subscribers who refuse to leave even though they are unhappy. If there was an exodus of Verizon subscribers to AT&T and T Mobile, guess what? AT&T and T Mobile would have the funds to build their service out.
In my opinion they already have millions of subscribers each. Verizon makes a shit ton of cash because they rape us monthly. However I’m OK with that because I really need access to my data connection almost 24/7. As I am a customer and on no other way shape of form affiliated with any of the above mentioned companies, they should be doing their best to persuade me to pay for their service. Maybe if the other carriers would stop trying to play the “good guy” to win over subscribers, they could be able to afford to to what Verizon does.
Also, my HTC one blew a speaker the other day. The 27 hours later there was a replacement on my doorstep. With Sprint I usually had to wait 4-5 days and then had to pick it up at a store. Verizon may be money hungry assholes, but they have the most convenient service. Isn’t the service what we needed in the end?
Good luck on the replacement phone, thats one major issue I’ve had with Verizon. They charged me full price for a replacement Thunderbolt they said I didn’t return, but was showing they had received it. 6 months later, and about 50 hours on the phone with Verizon and it was finally fixed. Then when I had to get my RAZR MAXX replaced they did something similar. First they told me I didn’t pay for the phone, ad that I charged it to my account, my receipt said otherwise. Then they told me I had to pay for repairs even though I just received it the night before and they couldn’t get it to activate. I got a few other reasons before it was finally resolved, 4 months later with another 30 hours on the phone with them and several trips to the store.
I mailed mine back and I have the tracking number so if they want to, I’m ready to fight. Haha. That’s probably the one thing that would make me try out AT&T though. Hopefully everything goes smoothly.
Keep that tracking number, I had to take it into the store a few times.
Another reason why I left Verizon. Their customer service is the worst. The store manager accused me of lying even though he wasn’t there when the transaction occurred and the sales associate wasn’t there to say one way or another. When I first called their customer service, the agent agreed with my complaint; but her manager didn’t. I asked to speak to someone higher and the higher I went, the more ruder they got. They all said to me the salesperson told me about a restriction regarding the device I purchased even though they were not there and did nothing to corroborate their claim.
Even with proof, they won’t admit they are wrong. Their web page and device manual both indicated explicitly the device could do something it could not (and neither changed even four months after I returned the device). I returned the device several days after buying it when it could not do what their web site and manual said it could do (to be fair, Motorola’s web page for the device made no such claim). I filed complaints with both the Better Business Bureau and the State of Michigan Attorney General’s office before they would even consider giving me a refund. I only got a partial refund; but after four months of aggravation, I accepted the partial payment. The funniest thing was the letter they sent with the check indicated that the check was in no way an indication of any wrong doing by Verizon.
One would think that US’s biggest carrier meets biggest smartphone OS would mean guaranteed Nexus 5 but I suppose egos get in the way…
Egos? No, failure to update devices gets in the way. VZW should not get a Nexus ever again unless it can be updated without any approval or interference from VZW.
This is exactly the reason why I left Verizon. I paid the ETF because I ended up saving more money with T-Mobile over the course of my contract including the cost of a new phone (Nexus 4).
I bet that glitch had nothing to do with this /s
I was thinking the same thing, I thought of jumping on that fire sale but was hesitated. I hear some people lost their unlimited data plan even though vzw said that they will honor those upgrades without touching their plans.
This is exactly why Verizon is at the top…no matter what, the one thing you can’t complain about is their coverage..
So wish I could drop verizon. People go anywhere else if you can but not verizon.
so much hatred for a for profit company making money and providing you better service than any other carrier (or else you wouldn’t be with them) …
hypocrisy at its best
tell that to my gnex that they refuse to update. tell that to the nexus 5
which they wont even carry. i am ONLY with verizon because I am on a
family plan that doesnt make sense for me to get off of. I do not hate
them because of their profits. ATT makes just as much profit and I
prefer them any day to verizon. It has to do with their policies.
I hate giving Verizon my money. If those cellular whores are making soo much money, maybe they should help out their customers a bit…
That being said, I’ll never leave because of their network.
too bad that’s not how the economy works, you have to make a change before they do, otherwise your bill payment says your happy with paying that.
Unfortunately, I agree.
Check out StraightTalk. They use Verizon’s networks as well as the others. you can get mucho discounted price unlimited service and still get Verizon coverage. See if you can use one of their bring-your-own-phone plans. They have fast replacements on broken phones if you buy from them, will send a new SIM if you need it, they just have awful service (frustrating, not incorrect, just not adequate sometimes unless you ask for supervisor) for questions about buying a new phone if you are already on an unlimited plan there, they seem to want you to buy a month of service even if you have auto-refill. But basically worth using them.
Hey people, get the perfect xmas gift – UGG BOOTS! ＮＩＣＥＵＧＧＳ.ＣＯＭ
Those of you who say they hate Verizon, but don’t leave are like the millions who say they hate congress, but vote for the same congressman every 2 years. If you hate them, leave or stop whining
I am leaving as soon as my contract is over.
March is it. Nothing will keep me on VZW. 4.4 is about to be released and they keep their so called nexus on 4.2.2.
I hate Verizon, please show me another carrier with coverage like Verizon. AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint aren’t options, neither are the other carriers that use their networks. Are there other carriers we haven’t heard of that gives us another option other than Verizon?
so you hate PARTS of the company but the parts the really matter at the end of the day to you you love is what you’re really saying…
wooo Verizon!!! CONGRATS!! Haters can suck it.
So that means Verizon made $70 profit this quarter on each and every customer. Wow that’s a lot of profit per customer!
People like to get raped. Worth it for the network
I was with Sprint for quite a few years until their new TOS for the new plans i had to be on because of the One Up program made the roaming limit even lower and my employee discount got shuffled around to be worth less. I’m happy to pay a few bucks a month more for LTE everywhere.