Seriously Verizon, no FM radio on the HTC one

[demmo86rt]

Verizon hosts the forums to allow knowledgeable users to help other users who have questions about their devices. 

[scarshapedstar]

Also, leaving aside the fact that it's difficult to determine which features a product lacks from promotional material, a month or two ago Verizon's official twitter feed was referring inquisitive customers to AT&T's store page for the HTC One (which, needless to say, touts FM radio as a bullet point), which given the supposed nature of a cross-carrier release implied we'd be getting the same experience. Verizon didn't even put up their own store page for their version until a few days after it launched.

I commend you for trying to convince me that Verizon is actually being completely awesome and I'm being a complete dunderhead, because it's a hard sell, but I'm not buying it.

[scarshapedstar]

Worthy of note, too, that I'm not aware of a single previous HTC phone that has ever been available on all 4 of the major American carriers (or, for that matter, available on even one GSM and one CDMA carrier at once), so I'm not sure how anyone was supposed to anticipate a move like this. Especially for such a "hero device" that's meant to have all the bells and whistles.

[demmo86rt]

I have a hard time believing that, you don't refer a customer to a competitions page... for any reason.

[#5]

Personally I don't care if its hardware or software. The manufacturer sent the devices to AT&T and Sprint and T-Mobile with the FM Tuner fully functional. However as normally the case Verizon crippled the device on their network.

I sincerely doubt the HTC designed and built the ONE to just have the FM Radios in every other service except Verizon unless Verizon requested it. We cannot say it was removed because of CDMA since Sprint uses that technology. The other two carriers are on GSM and its fully operational on their networks. Again you don't have to be be Sherlock Holmes to realize Verizon crippled its use. For what reason I have no idea. I have posted this many times that the Cellular providers should not mess with the devices and just stick to operating the networks for their customers. Updates should come from manufacturers of the devices and not wait for the carriers to add and subtract or stifle the devices and hold uodates to the phones at their whim.

If I made a device and it had the ability to change skin color and 99% of the cellular carriers opted to carry it and then Verizon via cross engineering decides they don't want you to have it should then be barred from selling my device. HTC puts anything in the phone Verizon should keep their mitts off it.

That is my personal opinion.

[#6]

Actually if the store or provider does not carry what you want there is no reason to tell folks where to get it. Competitive features, pricing, or sales price is where its at. If you went to car dealership "A" and their cars did not come with radios, while car dealership "B" has the same model with the radio you then would want to know about it. Why then as with cell phones would you not purchase from the competition?

[rcschnoor]

scarshapedstar wrote:

Verizon's behavior here is unfriendly to the customer and unjustifiable, and also probably harmful to the image of HTC, a company I like a great deal.

If HTC thought it was harmful to their image, they would not have allowed the FM tuner to be disabled. They may not have been able to get the phone on the Verizon network, but it is doubtful the FM tuner was disabled WITHOUT HTC's knowledge and/or acquiescence. They may have thought it more important to have the phone on the Verizon network than the possible "harm to HTC's image" which may have been caused, real or imagined.

[kulk35]

Something that others miss when suggestiong just stream it.

If you want to listen to a sports game on a local FM radio station it will be blocked out from streaming apps (tunein, iheart, etc., etc.).

I am  on AT&T (a past Verizon customer) and was looking at her newly purchased HTC One.  It drains battery faster than mine, doesn't have the FM radio, and the bloatware is more resource intensive.

I loved the overal service from Verizon, I hated their building penetration. At work with a 4G phone on Verizon it struggles to hold a 4G signal, with AT&T no problems, and hated the fact they use their position as #1  to do what they want. Verizon has officially become a follower in the Wireless field.  I spend over 2K a year on wireless service and Verizon just wanted more money while taking away more features. When AT&T does the same thing I will go to the company that wants my business and will work for it.

Don't let Verizon push you around. Let your business do the talking.

[scarshapedstar]

Well, yes, I don't doubt that HTC was bullied by Verizon here. That's what happens when you're the little guy. If Verizon told Apple that they would only allow future iPhones if they replaced Siri with "Verizon Voice Assistant", Apple would laugh in their face.

Speaking of how we used to be able to listen to NFL games via FM on our HTC phones, it's probably no coincidence that Verizon just rolled out an "update" to the formerly rather good NFL Mobile that disables free audio streams...

[commonsense101]

Espn has a free audio app...