PolicyBlog

If you originally sold me the phone with Bing as the only quick search option, thats one thing. What gives VZW the right to change or limit my options without my consent? I believe that we should have been given the option to opt in or out. If you can’t “un-hijack” my browser and return it to its original state, you should at least waive the early termination fee so that I can go to another provider.

The issue is UI not capability. It is still possible to search on Google. However, this task which took only one step prior to the change will now require multiple steps. It now takes more effort to search Google. It is more time consuming to search Google. It is less pleasant to search Google. Users formerly had three methods of performing a Google search: the browser toolbar, the Google app and google.com. Now they have only two methods. Customers got more work and an inferior interface. Verizon received a $500-million payoff. Customers have the pleasure of wasting time waiting for an app or google.com to load. Verizon has the pleasure of depositing a large check. No user benefits from this change; some users are worse off. Nothing is added if you like searching on Bing. The experience is diminished if you like searching on Google. Verizon keeps the $500-million. Personally, I'm thrilled that I have an older Blackberry 8830 which still has its original toolbar search options. That should signal the problem. A power user of your service went from counting the days until he is upgrade eligible to being happy he still has a 2.5 year old device. Verizon intentionally degraded the user interface and customer experience to promote a corporate business relationship. This is a poor way to earn customer loyalty and support....for Verizon and Bing.

What about for corporate users of the BES? We lock down devices to maintain a consistent look and feel. Now Verizon comes by and adds this icon which most of our users were not aware of. How can we push the app if we wish or remove the icon? Either way this was not really an option as an option would allow customers (in this case the BES admins) to choose whether or not these icons show on the devices.

Can you explain how to use Google from the search box on the "Go To" page on my blackberry? I used to be able to do this.

No doubt this comment won't be approved by the moderator, but since the 800# put me on terminal hold and the online form didn't work... ...I am absolutely furious that Verizon chose to install the Bing application on my Curve 8330 without my consent or knowledge or even the ability to remove it. I use the Opera Browser, so unlike some I didn't have an existing search application disabled, but it's the principle of the thing. Disabling the Google Search applications that customers *deliberately installed* is not being "passionate about customer choice." It's called cutting a $500 million deal with Microsoft and then shafting the customers. When do I get my cut of that $500 million? I've been with Verizon since the Airtouch days and have never seriously considered changing providers. And yet when you add this on top of the new $350 ETFs... let's just say I logged on tonight to see when my contract is up. I'd rather give my $100 per month to a company that at least acts like it wants to serve the customers.

Is Bing using the actual GPS feature for my Verizon Blackberry 8330 Curve if so this app is of some use to me as google maps just gives me the gist of where I am - which of course I usually know.

this is an outrage! I install what i want on MY BLACKBERRY, I removed it by going into application books, i hope it does not reappear. BING is the worst search engine i have ever used and def wont use it on my BB. This better be he end of this or its Goodbye Verizon..

Slapping Bing on everyone's phone is wrong. The choice is obviously Not mine if you do not ask customers if you can force apps or search providers on the home screen. This is a dirty business policy.

The only problem is, making customers do this in the first place instead of forcing Bing to use the app store like everyone else. Some people use products other than Microsoft's because they don't like Microsoft and its tactics. By doing this to your customers you are acting like Microsoft. I will not use one of your phones again on sheer principle. If Microsoft can't compete in a fair and equal setting, maybe it's because their products like this are only half-baked and not market worthy.

But Verizon, you ARE blocking and degrading my ability to use the built-in web search field in the Blackberry browser. Before this forced update I could pick from Google, Live Search, Wikipedia or Dictionary.com. After your "update" I have only one option: Bing. Call it whatever you want, but the fact is you are limiting my choices, and making it harder for me to use the search engine of my choice.

Do you really expect me to believe that no one has responded to this post? Are you censoring posts to this blog?

if I wanted Bing on my bberry, I would download it myself or expect that VZW would send an email and provide a link so I have a choice. I find the auto-download of the icon a violation of the trust between me and Verizon. VZW may provide the service but the handset is very personal to me and this is an intrusion. Do it again and I will cancel service. Quality of network means something but not when I no longer trust that you're acting in my interest. 'Passionate about consumer choice' rings very hollow when MSFT and VZW announced a big huge partnership.

Jim, perhaps a bit more transparency. Verizon has a deal with Bing to make Bing the default on many of its phones. Sure, you're not blocking Google, but you're not providing a "great" option out of the goodness of your heart. You're making millions from that option. I'd love to see you address, by the way, why the deal doesn't cover Droid. Why is Google the great option on Droid but elsewhere with Verizon, it's Bing? And vice versa?

Then what is Microsoft getting for its reported $500 million? Only extra steps for Google users?

Allow us how to delete the Bing icon. We pay for your service not advertising. Hiding it isn't "choice". I don't mind having this shortcut pushed onto my phone, so long as I'm able to delete it. Choice implies equal control over all options and that isn't what is happening here. I want it gone.

I certainly hope that Verizon does not believe that this will not cause users to drop their service. I know that my contract expires in 2 months and I will be moving directly to AT&T or TMobile for either the iPhone or an Android phone.

To a BlackBerry developer who knows the requirements to sign and authenticate code additions to a device, the idea of forcing a browser shortcut install onto an entire network's personal phone is ridiculous. While a user can uninstall all core software, including the RIM OS, at their discretion, it is not possible to uninstall the Bing jam-down. Pleae reconsider that the users are your customers, not your banner ad robots. Or as that other search engine, Google, says "Do no evil".

That's a lie. Verizon changed a core functionality of our devices by REMOVING all other search engines from our browser search without our consent and without telling us beforehand. Verizon was too busy counting Microsoft's money to care enough to notify their customers. Well, Verizon can count a few dollars less once my conract is up because as soon as it is I'm leaving for a new provider. You call this a great option? I have to jump through hoops to get the functionality I had a few weeks ago? It's only a great option for Verizon's wallet. You'd better go read the forums out there. There are alot of very upset people out there.

I agree with this guy... "Verizon, believes that it can do what it wants and that its top-down decisions will be accepted by users. But carriers are becoming less and less relevant to mobile (especially smartphone) users who see them, as the post above unconsciously points out, as mere “ramps” to the internet.Users want what they want — in this case “choice,” “control” or maybe or specifically Google – and they don’t want service providers to interfere. It would seem that Verizon hasn’t quite awakened to the new reality." As a 13 year VZW veteran I was royally TICKED to find BING on my BB device that I've had for the past 6 years. Carriers are loading more and more crap on devices and it's sad to see they have let MS buy their way onto my BB. I can't even uninstall it all you can do is hide the icon. I want it OFF my phone! It's bad enough I pay $40 bucks extra a month to for a BB I pay for a premium service I want premium service! If I want BING I'll install it myself or buy a phone with windows mobile on it. This URKES me to no end!! MERRY XMAS to all of VZW's customers  VZW is showing they are just as cable at becoming another corporate sell out who cares more about $$$ than their customers who got them where they are.

"Choice is yours." - Your definition of choice is sorely lacking. You effectively REMOVED the choice from the search engine dialog. "Verizon isn't blocking or degrading anything;" - Having to go to the main page of the search provider means that a) you have to go our of your way instead of using the convenient search box on the 'go to' screen and b) you have to load the page and all the graphics, wasting bandwidth, and time. What you're saying is akin to Verizon locking the BIS service to Hotmail only and telling us to use Logicmail or some other 3rd party IMAP client to access anything else. This is a serious degradation of user comfort. "just providing a great option for customers." - You are NOT providing a great option to your customers. You are exploiting them to make money and aid Microsoft in its quest to topple Google by all means possible (including abusing their monopoly to set Bing as the default search engine if you don't watch the IE8 upgrades like a hawk, but that's another story).

but the fact that i did not consent to having bing pushed to my blackberry is irrelevant?

Verizon is degrading *my* experience of *my* cell phone display. Choice means to me that *I* decide what is shown on my display, not *you*. Will throw *your* phone and *your* service in the garbage bin.

Customers who pay for a service and the phones should be able to have the choice of their default browsers. BING, aside from being a MS product, is slow and eventually times out on the STORM2. GOOGLE is much faster and finds what I am looking for. Continue this path and perhaps Verizon should pick up the cost of the phone... In any case. Verizon is starting to sound like ATT and that arrogant apple iphone.

As a 15 year Verizon user, I think this is B.S. Not allowing the removal of this icon, is no different than what happened with Microsoft and Netscape many years back. Why did Verizon sell out?? I can guarantee that lawsuits will follow against Verizon because of this. Whatever exec at Verizon that cut this deal should be fired....effective immediately.

As a long time blackberry customer, I strongly disapprove of your implementation of 1 search engine over the others. My blackberry browser came with Google, Wikipedia, Live search and Dictionary.com. While not complete, at least I had a choice. Now you expect me to go around and type in the google.com, or others, or else before to search with the sub standard bing? You are not thinking of your customers at all, and as more people find out of this, you can be sure to expect a backlash from your customers. AT&T has done some pretty shitty things to its customers, and may have a service that is not quite as good as Verizon's, but at least there I will be able to choose a search provider of my choice. Good bye Verizon. PS Take your head out of Microsoft's ass.

When I can't choose my default search engine and am forced to use only one that Verizon gives me that's not giving me choice. When I'm told that I have to download other items to replace functionality that my Blackberry had originally, that's not giving me choices. If Verizon isn't blocking anything, give me the choice to use Bing or Google. That is if Microsoft isn't worried that people would choose Google instead and the whole exercise being pointless. Some people will work with the default and Microsoft and Verizon should be happy with that. Otherwise, give me my choice to change the default IN the browser. Don't make me download or change things. It's a very slippery slope of changing items on customer's phones (without warning and without an opt-out) and I'm worried what occurs from here on out.

A 'great opinion' is also your opinion not the end users opinion. In my opinion the better end user experience would be to let the user have choice, By leaving other options, and not making them search for what should already be ready at hand.

So you take away three options and state that your not degrading or blocking. Wow, I love having options in my native browser. Thanks for blocking my choices! Like always Verizon Wireless policy is "strip the customer of any and all rights". I can't wait to see how you dumb down my smart phone next.

Really ! The phones are paid by the consumers. Either they paid for the phone or signed contract with Verizon. You have no night to change what is on their phone. Will you change their computers if you have verizon DSL or FIOS without their consent. You should be ashamed of such low level tactics and again we it's verizon we are talking about !

I am realy pissed off. I dont want - asked for - will never use "bing" !!! You people put it in my Crap-berry ---------------- take it out !!!! I am not going to "mask or hide" it ----- I will have NOTHING to do with it. In fact someone may call me with a apology !! My cell # is 516-242-8410 ------ your choice ? "Gary" PS - I bet you wont publish this one ?

The choice was not mine as you made the decision to place the icon on my phone without asking. Whats next...Microsoft going to buy you? Stick to providing clear calls and increasing coverage. You know; your core strengths.

I've very disappointed the VZ removed my choice of search provides. Yes, I can add it as a favorite, but that's not as seamless as it was yesterday before you made the change. I pay a great deal for wireless service and it is irritating to listen to the message on hold with Verizon support about how Verizon want's me to be satisfied. When I asked my representative how to file a complaint, they hung up on me.

I disagree with the last sentence "Verizon isn't blocking or degrading anything; just providing a great option for customers.". Verizon _changed_ the default search providers available in the start page of the browser on the storm2 to bing and removed all other choices. Everyone that uses a storm knows that that browser start page is the fastest, easiest way to search. Verizon has removed the choice to have OTHER search providers features there. that was a choice that EXISTED when I purchased the handset. To me this amounts to a bate and switch. Also setting the default provider and not allowing it to be changed is what got Microsoft in trouble when it came to IE on Windows. So how is the behavior ok? That is my contention. I agree there are other search providers that you can use, but none as easy or without additional software compared to this feature. Are you going to change the DROID to make the default search provider Bing? If its truly "a great option", shouldn't you do this on ALL devices?

Question; if it is so easy to bypass Bing then why make the default search engine in the first place? Why not just add it to the list of "choices" we originally had?

To the statement... "Verizon isn't blocking or degrading anything;" I'll just repost what Erik posted on 12/28/2009 "Can you explain how to use Google from the search box on the "Go To" page on my blackberry? I used to be able to do this." That is the point. The BING icon on the blackberry home screen is nothing more than a "Virtual Pre-Load" (VPL), its a link to the web site to download a BING application for the blackberry. It is my option to use that link to install the app, or not. While I don't like VPL's on BB's, and wish I could remove them, I *CAN* at least deal with them by hiding the icons. Its the change to the operation of the Search box on the "Go To..." page in the browser that I object to and call out as REMOVING CHOICE and DEGRADING my device! 1. VZW did not ask for, nor acquire my consent or approval in this matter yet changed MY PHONE that I PURCHASED! 2. VZW did NOT provide me with advanced notice that this change would take place. 3. VZW DID degrade/remove a feature of my blackberry. 4. There is no way to undo this change. 5. VZW is profiting from the unannounced change they made to my device without my consent which degrades and negatively impacts the operation of my device compared to when I purchased it. To the statement... "just providing a great option for customers..." Well, providing a great option would be to HAVE AN OPTION. By removing Google, Dictionary.com and Wikipedia from the search provider options, you have REMOVED EVERY OPTION but Bing!! I would not have objected if VZW changed the MS LIVE search option to BING, or ADDED BING to the search provider options already there, but that isn't what they did. They removed EVERY OPTION and CHOICE I had before WITHOUT MY CONSENT! That is just wrong. VZW had started shedding its reputation for disabling features on phones in the past. This will certainly stir that up again!

As soon as the Bing icon showed up I hid it so that I won't have to see it every time I use by BB. Verizon has made a BIG marketing mistake with it -- I am certain that it will cost them more than what they are getting from MSFT. I wonder who runs their sales/marketing depts -- probably old folks who don't use smart devices; otherwise they would have known that this issue will backfire big time on them.

Jimbo, I dont care care about your marketing BS, give me my original options back NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree with the frustration of the people posting on this page... Shame on you, Verizon Wireless! If you're interested in telling Verizon Wireless how you feel about Bing, please visit www.shameonyouverizonwireless.com

Also, why is this change only on the Storm2? That is biggest bunch of bull...

As the person responsible for cell phones at my company I am very upset by this action. We have strict change control process for all technology and Verizon just ignored all their customers and never even communicated that they were going to do this. I have a multi-million dollar proposal on the table with Verizon and I'm pulling it off. Lets see if they really want to service their customers.

Wow, I can't believe Verizon did this. Coming from a large BES environment I am suprised that it is forced down our necks as well. When is Microsoft going to give up on the search engine market. Give it up Microsoft, Google won!!!!!

Wow, I can't believe Verizon did this. Coming from a large BES environment I am suprised that it is forced down our necks as well. When is Microsoft going to give up on the search engine market. Give it up Microsoft, Google won!!!!!

I'm sorry, but I feel Verizon crossed the line by pushing the Bing icon to my phone and changing the functionality of the default browser in much the same way Sony crossed the line when they installed rootkits on PCs that played one of their Music CDs. This is my BB and I have it set the way I want. I've uninstalled many of the applications that came with my phone to make room for the applications I want and that did not include Bing.

This is disgusting. You can claim freedom, but you've significantly changed my phone's browser from its original configuration, and made accessing my favorite search engine several steps more complicated. Now maybe this doesn't seem like a big deal to a corporate executive whose idea of searching the internet is asking his staff to print copies of relevant webpages, those of us who actually touch these things all day long are significantly impacted. Please pull your head out of where you put it, stop defending a bad move, apologize, and reverse it. This is bad business.

We...the consumer pays for the phones!!! You have no right to REMOVE icons we consumers DELIBERATELY INSTALLED!!! You are NOT providing a great option to your customers. You are exploiting us to make money and aid Microsoft in its quest to topple Google by all means possible.

Wow, vzw doesn't even understand how arrogant this push is. Way to destroy consumer confidence vzw!!! Bye-bye 2U.

This recent change made me furious! Messing with my BB quick search options was a big no-no. If they changed it but gave me a way to change it back that is one thing but to make Bing my only quick search option in BB browser with no way to add to or change it does not give me the "choices" I had before. No matter what Verizon says "bookmarks" are not the same as the quicksearch in BB browser. I contacted customer support about this and was told there was no way they could undo this software change and they also told me a supervisor would call me back within 24 hours. Guess what 5 days later no call. I recently switched from ATT but if this is what I can expect then Verizon is going to get fired soon.

ATnT is going to run a negative add campaign with this. They are going to make it look like you CAN'T use google. You guys are screwed.

"Providing a great option" would be what all other carriers are doing. Forcing what Verizon deems "a great option" (a biased opinion, considering Microsoft paid them $500 million to come up with it) on its customers is what they've done here. I for one will be contacting the CEO and demanding that this garbage be removed from my BlackBerry immediately. If Verizon wants to advertise on my home screen, then THEY can pay my monthly bill.

The last thing we want or need is another 'step', or another complication. The growing weight of all the switches and options is what's suffocating all the 'tech' stuff already. Does anyone remember the 'K*I*S*S' acronym anymore? And Verizon and Microsoft, two of the main, virtual monopolies in this niche, are arrogant enough to shake hands somewhere and turn to their users and 'decide' it's a 'great option'! No, thanks

Verizon is getting 450 a month from me. And for this amount I would really like to have a full control over my blackberries. I think it is the time to check out other providers. Btw, my contract is over now :)

What a crock. Every browser (even the BB one) has always had the ability to change default search. Even IE. I can see using Bing as default over Google - great. But don't remove Google all together and then tell me I can use an app instead. This is total garbage and I'm now counting down the days until I can leave VZW. The arrogance of this post is mind-blowing!

I'm sure glad we use BES Enterprise and buy Blackberries for business use and then have unauthorized software pushed by our provider, violating our security policies. I wonder what other software VZW is going to push to defense contractors and government phones unauthorized.

I hope the message on this page gets passed along to everybody important in Verizon. Your backroom jerk-the-customer-around deal is a complete and utter failure. Look how many people you've made angry. Is it going to bring down your business? No. But keep up stuff like this and you'll see your market share melt away as years pass. I refuse to buy exclusive phones anymore. I refuse to let you turn off my GPS unit so I can pay for your TERRIBLE navigator program. I refuse to let you gimp my phone so you can nickle and dime me to death with your terrible V-cast software-as-a-service model (or whatever you're calling it now). I will never be a Verizon customer until there is an easy way to port a phone to Verizon's service. Until Verizon-sold phones are open, unlocked, and not gimped. Until Verizon is championing its speeds and how open it is versus it's phones and Vcast. So yeah. Best of luck. I'm out. Oh, and in case your web development department is too dense to realize: blah+blah@gmail.com is a valid email address. You can have a plus sign in your email address. Get with the times.

Really stupid VZW, I have been looking at BB's and about to upgrade my service but this is a deal breaker as I use Google quit a bit. I'm just happy that you did this now and not a couple of months from now. Bing is a inferior service

I'm shocked -- does Microsoft really think they're going to win any converts by paying Verizon to substitute Bing for Google? Even for a company as tone-deaf on PR as Microsoft, this is a new low. This change hasn't made it to my Tour yet, but if it does I hope to find a way to roll it back.

Corporations sees their customers as babies just like the US goverment and it's the corporations thar reap the rewards! Irony. Unfortunately my client since 2000 has been BA/Verizon landlines, so I can't and won't switch since my company took ownership of my phone. I wish corporations or the US govcernment would help the general public (babies) who really need the cash

I don't have a BB but I have been using Verizon for my cellular service for years. I just wanted to let you guys know that I will be switching to another carrier when my contract is up in May. These kinds of intrusions will NOT be tolerated.

It's now been almost a month since this post went up. Looking over all of these comments (52 at the time of this post), EVERY single one is a customer saying they are upset about VZW forcing Bing on to their phone. I too am annoyed and the fact that I can't even remove it from my OWN phone is really special... Beyond my own annoyance, the fact that 100%! of the people who took the time to let VZW know they were upset about this decision/intrusion I find the icing on the cake is verizon has not done a single thing to remedy the situation - or even released an apology..."opps we screwed up here is a discount on your next bill, thanks for letting us know how you feel and thanks for being a loyal customer". I find the absolute lack of response very telling... Not sure when my contract is up - but after posting this I'm going to find out and you can be assured I will not be doing business with them in the future. Enjoy your $500 million - it won't take you too far once your customer base evaporates.

just thought you guys might like to know this story has hit the larger web and VZW is getting totally slammed by all the people that actually use your technology. I've spent a long time arguing with my brother about which service was better and this action just let me know that AT&T cares more about their customers. This is disgusting and absolutely abhorrent for VZW. I also want to know...If you can put information ON my phone..can you also take it OFF? Can you really download all my appointments, phone numbers, personal notes? This is CRAZY VZW!! http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/ar5z1/verizon_stealthily_installed_a_bing_search_app_on/

The FCC should consider this a change in terms, and assert consumers' right to terminate their contract without early termination fees. Only fools screw with their customers.

Effectively, they've changed the terms of the contract without any warning to the customer, which means you should not have to pay a termination fee to Verizon if you cancel.

I am canceling Verizon once my contract is up next month... I refuse to abide these kind of intrusions on my phone.

To all of those who are threatening to cancel Verizon service, you remind me of all those Americans who threatened to move to Canada in 2000, 2004 or 2008 if their choice of president was not elected. Hey, Canada did not see an increase of immigration, so Verizon can safely ignore all of your threats. Really, what are you going to do? Get an iPhone? I've seen the maps - in most places (in the United States, anyway) you cannot get AT&T service. Suck it up and learn to live with it. It is not all about you. Also, you have spent maybe 2 hours thinking about this issue. Verizon has spent 1000s of hours thinking about what words to use to make you feel that this is something they did for you. Even if you are much smarter then anyone at Verizon, who do you think wins this PR war?

NERDRAGE

First of all, shut up Phil. You are a troll and an idiot. I suspect that you may even be a Verizon employee. We as Americans value our freedom of choice. I want to be able to choose what search engine I will use, especially at the premium I pay for Verizon. Less expensive wireless providers allow that choice and honestly provide a good service in the city where I live. Before I locked into this contract I tried the phone out at a kiosk. I researched it well before it was available as well. I was impressed with the features and chose it because it met my needs. One of those needs was Google. I have a high paced job in which I do not always have time for additional pages to load (but that's beside the point). I am angry that a company I pay more to for better service, has neglected good customer service and told me what I WILL get instead of asking me how they can make my experience better. I am ticked that this is what the new American business model is. The American customer is now tricked, locked in, and once obligated, ignored.

First of all, shut up Phil. You are a troll and an idiot. I suspect that you may even be a Verizon employee. We as Americans value our freedom of choice. I want to be able to choose what search engine I will use, especially at the premium I pay for Verizon. Less expensive wireless providers allow that choice and honestly provide a good service in the city where I live. Before I locked into this contract I tried the phone out at a kiosk. I researched it well before it was available as well. I was impressed with the features and chose it because it met my needs. One of those needs was Google. I have a high paced job in which I do not always have time for additional pages to load (but that's beside the point). I am angry that a company I pay more to for better service, has neglected good customer service and told me what I WILL get instead of asking me how they can make my experience better. I am ticked that this is what the new American business model is. The American customer is now tricked, locked in, and once obligated, ignored.

Obviously Verizon is sending a clear message to its customers that it doesn't care what they think. I am sure they are hoping this will all die down and their customers will just take whatever is forced upon them. I hope RIM is paying attention to this. If I were RIM I would only sell my products to service providers that don't want to alienate their customers. It is one thing to force this upon new customers as they purchase their new phones, but it is another thing to take choices away from existing customers. Verizon effectively stole my choices without prior notification. If they can do this, then they can do whatever else they want as well. Why would I want to continue paying for a service that I cannot rely on, a service that can be changed at a moments notice to suit Verizon's bottom end, not their customers. I am not sure why Verizon even started this blog as they obviously don't care about what their customers want. I can't wait this my policy is up. AT&T here I come. What else are you going to take away Verizon???? "Verizon Wireless is passionate about ensuring consumer choice in the wireless sector." What a load of crap.

Jim, is there someone more knowledgeable we could talk to? This blog post clearly indicates you lack as basic understanding of the issue at hand. Do you honestly believe that removing pre-existing search options is "providing a great option for customers" and shows you are "passionate about ensuring consumer choice"? I would love love to hear your rational for how you reconcile these bizarre statements?

Clearly Verizon is within its rights to take $500,000,000 from Microsoft and push the Bing search application to all of its Blackberries. Your contract permits them to update the phone as they see fit. Nevertheless, it's a pretty egregious breach of trust between customer and service provider. Here's to hoping that Verizon is eventually reduced to the purgatory of providing no more than bandwidth for third-party applications for phone calls, web surfing, email, and other apps. Being treated this way makes me hope this happens sooner rather than later. This was a corporate decision to grab the money and run, and the help installing the Google app is just Verizon having its cake and eating it too. Verizon controls Google's and Bing's access to the largest number of wireless phone customers in the US. Does this augur for tighter, more vendor-neutral regulation? Verizon is certainly doing everything within its power to call regulators to action. That said, the network is great and the customer service reps with whom I have spoken about this issue have been polite, knowledgeable, and forthcoming. Still, low blow, selling me out for a couple bucks.

Ha! - this guy! "passionate about ensuring consumer choice" - I bet according to him the Nazi's were passionate about giving the Jews choice of any Ghetto too. Fact is that push this virus or spam to our phone is wrong and we should have been given the choice. Don't make me choose between Google and Verizon because there will only be one winner.

I use the "go to" page on my blackberry a lot. By having a direct way to perform a search, I save time, I save steps, and I don't waste bandwidth loading a search engine's home page. Bing is a decent search engine, but not the best (in my opinion... Google is way better at local business searches, and Wikipedia is great for random facts... plus I use Dictionary.com to look up words pretty often, not as often as using Google or Wikipedia, but often enough). I've tried Bing. For many searches (looking up recipes, news, etc), it works fine. But when I'm on my blackberry I'm usually looking for something specific (a local restaurant, the price of an item, or a specific fact (quotes, dates, etc)) and in those cases Bing falls way short of the other search engines. So now, in order to use my blackberry effectively, I have to load search engine homepages to do it, which wastes my time and your bandwidth, and somehow this is a "great option"? You could have added Bing to the list of search options. You could have even made it the default. This would have brought more traffic to Bing (because most people would rather just use whatever option is put before them than change that drop down), but you still would have left the rest of us the options to easily use the search engines of our choice. But instead you make things more difficult, waste bandwidth, and try to act like it’s in our best interest. This isn’t just a shady business deal; it’s also a shot at net neutrality from a large ISP. This is no different than if Comcast made a deal with Google to throttle down Bing’s traffic. They wouldn’t be blocking the use of Bing, but they’d be making it less convenient, thereby driving more traffic away from Bing and towards Google. Same basic idea. You’re making the other search engines more difficult to use because of a business deal with Bing. This is a slippery slope. How long until you’re making deals with MySpace to block the Facebook app (and telling us “just use the mobile site, it’s just as convenient”) or throttling access to BBC while pocketing cash from Fox News? You (you the company, as well as you the corporate tool feeding us this tripe) should be ashamed, but you’ve lined your pockets so of course you’re not… P.S. I refuse to use Bing from here on out thanks to this deal. And for the first time in almost a decade, I’m looking at plans from various carriers for when my contract is up in a couple months. For the first time, I have to balance moral stance (net neutrality, jacked up ETFs, etc) against service… it’s a sad day. I may stick with Verizon. At this point I really haven’t decided. But a few months ago, switching wasn’t even an option. It’s a shame…

My CHOICE is NOT to get your annoying sales calls all day long. However, your sales people refuse to take my name and number off of your list. My number is on the do not call list. Your phone sales rep just hung up on me. Are they not schooled in the fact that to continue to call me can bring legal ramifications to both themselves and your company?

Um, Duane, I don't think you heard me correctly. First of all, do you really think Verizon would let one of their employees write "Suck it up and learn to live with it"? Second of all: IT'S SARCASTIC, GET IT? Third of all: I am right - none of the people who complained here have cancelled their Verizon service and they probably won't. (My company owns the BB I use, so I can't actually cancel that service, but I did just cancel my Verizon mobile broadband service - I don't know if that really counts, because I was planning to do that before I got Bing-ed. In any case, VZ's customer service is real nice when you call to cancel - they offerred to temporarily put my service on hold rather than cancel outright.) To be fair, Duane, you have to admit that I didn't say anything idiotic in my prior post. As for being a troll, I am OK with that, I guess. I think you are right to be ticked at the new American business model, but it is a few years old already - not that new. I bet you'll really get ticked at what is coming down the line, though. The U.S. Supreme Court just handed large corporations the right to drown out all individual persons' voices in elections. You can buy local food if you want to stick it to the large food behemoths. You can bank locally if you want to stick it to the large banks that put the economy where it is today, but when it comes to telecommunications, you are stuck, stuck, stuck. Duane, Can you hear me now?

What a BS corporate answer. RIM clearly gives you the ability to change your default search provider and VZW blocks that ability. Please stop lying to your customers. Can I change my "Default" search option with a VZW device? The answer is NO, not your dance around the question answer. The least VZW could do is be honest.

Obviously I am changing my service provider from verizon to AT&T. How come the CEO or the top executives of verizon can not see that they will loose a lots of verizon users to different provider by making a decision of customers behalf.

I cannot believe Verizon has the gaul to push this upon their customers. Are we living in a Marxist regime? I think Verizon should change their slogan to "Verizon Wireless: The Socialist Wireless Company". Making Bing the default search engine, I understand. Making it a preferred search engine in bold or italic letters, I understand. But removing all other options and the ability to change them back is COMPLETELY unacceptable in my book. And this BS about us being able to add a Google shortcut to the home screen or changing our Home Page is just skirting aorund the real core issue, THAT YOU TOOK AWAY OUR FREEDOM AND CHOICES. Unfortunately for Verizon, we the consumer always have the freedom to voice our opinions in the capitalist market by CHOOSING ANOTHER PROVIDER. You hear me loud and clear? If this is not ended soon I am taking my entire business account and going to a carrier that does not force preferences upon me so they can make an extra few cents off of me. You can take your Bing search engine and shove it. Stupid thing doesn't work anywhere near as well as Google anyways.

BV, you seem to have some confusion among political models. Marxism is an economic theory that it is wrong for the capitalist minority to dominate and exploit the working class and that the working class should make all the decisions. (As far as I know, there are no true Marxist societies around - it always seems to degenerate into a system where someone dominates the working class.) So, I guess when Verizon makes the corporate decision to do whatever they want because they hold the capital, that is about as anti-Marxist as you can get. Perhaps you were thinking of "totalitarian", but then Verizon is not the government, just a capitalist bully. As for socialism, that term can mean many things, such as "any form of government that I am criticizing at the moment" or, more commonly, an economic system wherein public input and worker input are considered, to maximize the total social benefit rather than only individual decisions to maximize the individual benefit. Again, you appear to be proposing a socialist (not in a bad way, IMHO) response to Verizon's actions, which are very much, undisputably, capitalist actions. That is a very American set of ideals, "freedom and choice". The irony is that when it comes to mobile phones, you don't actually have any freedom or choice. If you don't believe me, try choosing a carrier that allows you to negotiate the fine print of the agreement (especially the parts where it says you can't sue them if they cheat you and that they can add to your agreed price additional costs that look like taxes but aren't). Write us back and let us know that you've found a better carrier.

This is a very bad business decision in my opinion - what my dad called “Penny wise and Pound foolish”. My Verizon experience has been excellent since switching from AT&T two years ago. However, Verizon’s decision to force something as passionate as their customer’s search engine is one of those fundamental rights that will cause customers to change service providers. It’s really not about the two extra steps needed to use another search engine. It’s about the arrogance and total disregard of and towards your customers. This decision points to a basic company philosophy that makes me extremely nervous. What decision should you make in our personal lives next Verizon?

Yes, you are limiting my choices. I want the search engine on the Go to... page to be Google as it was before. I resent your meddling with my choices. The work around you provide above (downloading the Google search application) is just that--a work around. It doesn't restore my previous choice of Google as the default search engine for my BlackBerry browser. I wouldn't mind if Bing was a better choice. But, having tried it, I find that Bing as it is presented on the BlackBerry browser is less than adequate for my needs. No matter what search you perform, you receive two links and then a bunch of garbage about ringbacks, ringtones, and tons of other unrelated junk data. Had I known you were going to screw me over like that, I would not have extended my contract for two years. I would have switched to AT&T and gotten myself an iPhone instead.

So is there a class action lawsuit against Verizon for this travesty yet?

I can honestly say I am thoroughly disgusted with Verizon. I understand that Microsoft has paid Verizon for this "arrangement". If Bing is what YOUR customers wanted, then let Microsoft and Bing earn it. No stupid arrangement between what WAS my preferred carrier, or their 'glitzy' ad campaign will convert me. I like to choose what services I use - not have one shoved down my throat, and trust me when my contact is up, this act will be a key determinant in my moving to a more open cell carrier .

Most people are complaining about being force-fed this search engine, and I agree, VZW can't just remove functionality of their devices (regardless of what is in the customer agreement) My main problem with it is that Bing is a HORRIBLE search engine, at least for a phone. I just tried to use it because RIM's browser is still terrible and for some reason google keeps screwing up. And I searched for "blackberry curve 2 default search" Bing gave me about 15 shopping results that I don't care about in the least, and 2 internet results that had nothing to do with my query. Bing is awful, I want to be able to hit the "g" key, go to the go-to page and type in a google search like I used to be able to. Overpaying, loyal, VZW customers should at least have their voices listened to.

Just upgraded to the Storm 2 and got this shaft. I'm furious. Will be returning the phone (got 15 days to do so!) and cancelling my contract to switch to a carrier who doesn't defecate so brazenly all over their customers. The worst thing is that when I do forget that the search engine is Bing and I accidentally do a search, it doesn't return any result! Just ads! It's useless on top of offensive. Shove it, Verizon; you're losing customers over this. Goodbye!!

I hate this new deal between verizon and bing. Bing is awful it doesn't work the search feature is horrendous. I just spent an hour and a half talking to a guy from verizon trying to make it work and instead i lost some of my information. i am seriously thinking about leaving verizon because of this. I cannot believe this is the first time i have even heard about this stupid deal. Verizon is a company just about money and does not care about their costumers. All the guys from verizon are cheap jerks.

Agreed, when will large corporations figure it out that their customers HATE having anything forced down their throat? Then have this butthead tell me it's for my own good? Unfortunately, unless people leave Verizon (which I have done personally, now to get my company to do the same) they will continue to pull this stupid BS. Bing sucks, it isn't good for us, you're taking a bribe from Microsoft, grow a set and own up to it. That would earn you some respect.

Well, it does seem that the feedback on this new "choice" in web browser is fairly unanimous. A few days ago I upgraded from the BB Tour to the new Bold 9650. While I'm generally impressed with the new Bold (or, more exactly, relieved to be done with the Tour's shortcomings), I was shocked to see that Google had disappeared from the quick search area of the GOTO screen, to be replaced with an unambiguously inferior product. I spent a fair amount of time searching for the menu option that would allow me to add Google back to the search engine list, obviously to no avail. A search of the web (using Google, btw) turned up the Microsoft payoff to Verizon that resulted in robbing me of my choice in quick search engines. The fact that Verizon representatives are presenting this as an example of their commitment to customer choice seems more than a bit Orwellian to me. Really bad form, Verizon. I'm locked in for another two years now. However, I will be letting others who are considering a new Smart-phone know about this experience. $500 million is a lot of money, but I can't see how, in the big picture, it outweighs alienating the corporate, government, and business users who form the bulk of Verizon's Blackberry customers.

I don't care if you set my defaults but making it so I have to use Bing is not acceptable. If the choice is mine let me change the default search provider in the browser to google. If I can't do that I have no choice in the matter. Verizon has degraded my level of service. Get with the program Verizon, people are not going to deal with getting locked into this anymore.

got the new bold too. and so upset about loosing google . bing is horrible. it was nice to just type in a name of a busness and the zip and google would pop it up with their great search capabilities. windows lets you use anything you want so why can't you guys vzw? i mean come the heck on. you see people complaining. this page is sooooo long and you still do the same thing??? ur only advantage is ur network so u can do whatever u want to devices. and not care cause ur banging out the $$$ with subscribers.

Got the new bold 9650 and it only has Bing. The Bing search results are horrible! I tried using it for a couple of days and I could not stand it. Using the search bar is faster than loading the google.com homepage. The option to change the default search provider back to google should be there. This is worse than having IE as the only browser bundled with Windows. At least with IE you could download another browser. This slows down productivity on our phones and as some one else said "it makes our smart phones dumber."

I just recieved a response from Verizon Customer Support regarding BING being the only search engine on the 9650. Lizet Q. told me this was a RIM decision and had nothing to do with Verizion. Anyone with Google could find out Lizet Q. was telling a tall tale. Verizon, stop taking away consumer choice!

A Verizon rep told me he could walk me through a reset and a wipe and select the google search engine at startup. Has anyone tried this? I spent the last day putting everything on and going through the BES network process and just don't want to do it again today. A note for Jim...Removing additional options cannot possibly be providing great options. A kid can tell you that. Thanks great big phone company. What a crappy move.

The closing arguments are incorrect. "Verizon isn't blocking or degrading anything" is an invalid statement. Verizon is very much blocking my ability to change default search providers. They are not blocking my ability to use www.google.com, but these are not mutually inclusive (i.e. because one is true the other is also true). This is still blocking choice from a consumer who owns the device.

Very lame Verizon. By only offering 'Bing' as the default browser search provider without giving users the ability to change this is a really poor move.

You removed all the options and forced Bing in the quick search box. And then you write a blog post saying how Verizon is all about options to the user. I am really at a loss for words here.

This is ridiculous. I wish I could still have the drop down menu of search engines to select which one I would like to quickly use. I enjoyed being able to switch from google to wikipedia or dictionary.com. I have never used bing, nor will I start now especially now that I see MS is trying to FORCE people to use it. The fact that Verizon has teamed up with MS to essentially downgrade their product is very lame. Verizon should change this. I don't care how much MS is paying them.

So the official fix is to load a website then do a search, or load an application that searches and then loads the web browser? How is this as simple, or quicker than loading the web browser and searching directly from the launcher page? You know, the default page of the browser that doesn't even require a working connection and therefor has 0 added load time before performing a search? Even in a 3g area, data isn't that fast, and you charge me for data usage, so why do I want to load a web page every time I want to do a search on my preferred search engine?

Bing simply and truly sucks. You can't really compare it to google and the fact that Verizon would push an inferior product on it's customers says a lot about their standards of quality. I will be leaving Verizon as soon as my contract is up. Google gets a bad rap for being the "big bad company", but you can't argue that it is the best search engine out there. Please bring it back Verizon.

Just another case of a fading Microsoft desperately forcing themselves on an unwilling user. The best response is to reject anything Microsoft offers. Use STAR Office (free instead of the absurdly overpriced MS Office). Borrow, copy or filch anything you can from Gates' evil empire. That's the best way to weaken MS further and eventually make them tame.

the fixes suggested by Verizon are still clunky while 'bing' is integrated in the 'goto' website page on my blackberry. Sure I can go directly to google or whoever but would rather integrate google into my page. Verizon's decision is self-serving and sux, a total lack of consideration for its customers who are paying upwards of $100/mo to use its handsets

I was really excited about the increased memory that the Bold has over my Tour, the touch thing instead of the track ball and a phone that isn't scratched. I am so angry that Verizon would try to force me to use Bing as my default and only real search engine and I use the term loosely for Bing. Also why can't I use the start page with all my bookmark and history as my home page anymore? Thank you Verizon for taking my smartphone and complicating my life!

Bing is far removed from being a "Greate Option". I have yet to get back something relevant from the search... other than an advertisement. This is BS.

We support dozens of blackberries and we just got the new Bold for our CEO. Obviously we all love Google as our search engine and that was the first thing he called and asked us to change. It's a fundamental issue of when a company is willing to sell out their customer's options, are they are good company to be with at all?

Verizon just forced bing onto the Samsung Fascinate Android phone. I was going to buy the Samsung as my next phone but am now going to switch carriers when my contract is up. Word in the news is that Bing will be forced on all future smartphones. Bad move Verizon.

Replacing Google with Bing has got to be the worst idea i've ever heard! I truly hope Verizon reverses course on this one, because if Bing appears on my phone or i can't access Google and everything that is Google, i'll be switching companies. I mean why big red? Hopefully the terrible reviews of your new samsung phone will nudge you back in bed with google. People don't want Bing!

I have read many blog postings on Verizon pushing unwanted apps on ther Blackbeery and wanted to let those who dont know that you can deleate these unwanted and intrusive applications. go to options, advanced options,service book; you will find all the apps located here, simply deleate the app from the list and will be gone from you phone at least until Verizon abuses the customer realtionship once again. As a corporate account holder and I guess what people are calling here a power user I use the phone on a constant basis for all kind of solutions from phone calls and emails as well as aps. Verizon, please understand as a power user I DONT WANT APPS MESSING UP MY DESKTOP. I RELY ON MY PHONE TO BE SIMPLE TO USE, FAST TO REPSOND AND HAVING A SETUP THAT DOESNT CHANGE FROM DAY TO DAY. IF YOU MAKE US HIDE, DELEATE OR OTHERWISE MODIFY OUR PHONES EACH TIME YOU ABUSE US YOU ARE WASTING OUR TIME AND RESOURCES WHICH ARE MORE IMPORTANTLY SPENT ON THE BUSINESS AT HAND. PLEASE PROVIDE AN OPTION FOR US TO OPT OUT OF THIS ABUSIVE PRACTICE OR DONT MARKET YOUR PHONES AS A BUSINESS RESOURCE. I HAVE A LAPTOP WITH SECURITY FEATURES THAT ALLOW ME TO PREVENT WHAT IS CONSIDERED TO BE ABUSE AND I HOPE SOMEONE OUT THERE HAS CREATED AN APP TO PREVENT THIS FROM OCCURING

Three words: Breach of Contract My phone, that I paid for is MY device. Deleting things off my property without my consent is illegal. I wonder if Jim would be as enthusiastic if, in the middle of the night, the company who made his car snuck into his garage and removed the CD player without his consent. Then, when he called to complain, they told him that it was a good thing because now he can focus on the best available FM programming... and if he wants to listen to CDs, he can use a personal FM transmitter. You know... My other BlackBerry is with T-Mobile, and they have never done this to me. I suppose it's finally time to cancel my Verizon service and get a second T-Mobile line.

Just switched back to using my blackberry yesterday and while in the store I couldn't figure out WTH it was taking the associate so long. My blackberry was already set up the way I wanted it, including my browsers (Google of course!). Well, of course we know what happened. He gave the thing back to me with Bing, Skype, NFL, Slacker radio, etc. All I asked was to switch phones back to my current blackberry! I hate this. I didn't have too many bad things to say about Verizon until now.

What about the Droid Xs, I want to "clean up" my apps screen, remove, not hide, the ones I am never going to use. I am getting fed up with VZW. Why can't I do this, I am the one using it. I hope I never meet a VZW executive, I will dot their eyes. Jail isn't so bad

I was a postpaid Verizon customer for over 3 yrs. I purchase the Droid Incredible and loved Android OS, but had to return because poor battery performance. I wanted to stay on Verizon and get the Samsung Fascinate. However, I found out what Verizon's greed ( Bing and low rate navigation)did to a great phone, and apparently plan to do to all Android phone. I moved my business over to T mobile. Verizon is stupid -- biting that hand that feed you. I hope Google stop licensing Android to you.

I was a postpaid Verizon customer for over 3 yrs. I purchase the Droid Incredible and loved Android OS, but had to return because poor battery performance. I wanted to stay on Verizon and get the Samsung Fascinate. However, I found out what Verizon's greed ( Bing and low rate navigation)did to a great phone, and apparently plan to do to all Android phone. I moved my business over to T mobile. Verizon is stupid -- biting that hand that feed you. I hope Google stop licensing Android to you.

Yeah the letter here is absurd, you ARE limiting my choice for a convenient way to search [using Google]. Just because I can do it another way is called a workaround, not a solution to the original goal. Do you really think people don't know the difference? Just admit that bing paid a lot of money and you were willing to frustrate your customers and you weighed the cost benefit. Hopefully you realize it's a bigger deal than you planned. It is a factor when I choose my next phone AND carrier. And the annoying thing about the google app workaround is that you can't then go to another page from the browser if it was launched with the google app.

I have used Verizon since it was Bell Atlantic Mobile. Verizon's service has always been excellent. Customer service has been good. Billing problems have been minimal. I have trusted Verizon for years. That is no longer true. I was at a Verizon store comparing the Motorola Droid X and the Samsung Fascinate. Both look like excellent phones. I was leaning toward the Fascinate, until I noticed the Bing search feature. I was told that I cannot change it to Google. I would have to modify the phone or use the Google Website instead of just pressing a button. I quickly handed the phone back to the salesman as if it had leprosy and told him that a Bing-only phone was a deal breaker. He suggested buying the Droid X but I told him I was not going to buy anything until I checked into this further. He said he had heard many complaint about Bing and that my reaction was not unusual. He said that the other Android phones do not have Bing but new ones might. He could not say with certainty that an operating system update would not change my default settings to Bing or lock out Google. If I want Microsoft's software and services on my phone I will buy a Windows phone. If I want Microsoft's apps on my phone I will download them. The choice should be mine but at Verizon apparently it is not. After all of these years as a loyal customer I no longer trust Verizon. I will be watching everything they do like a hawk. I am already looking at other carriers, which is something I never thought I would do. Verizon's network is the best but I don't like having my freedom of choice abridged. Verizon may well see a drop in subscribers. What they will never be able to count is the number of potential customers they have lost. For every posting on this site there may be 100 or 1,000 other people who did not take the time to speak up. They will just go away quietly and Verizon will not even know about it. As for the two phones I wanted, I have not bought anything yet. I was 90% on board until I discovered the Bing problem. Now I am looking at other carriers and other phones. Bad move, Verizon.

My contract will be up in a few months. I will be switching to T-Mobile. I wish I had known about this earlier. "Verizon isn't blocking or degrading anything" Are you KIDDING me?! It's already bad enough that you have LITERALLY blocked me from being able to use Google as my default search browser, but then to post this crap is just absolutely disgusting. The tiniest bit of respect I had for Bing or Microsoft in general is now gone. Next time I look for a cellphone I head over to T-Mobile, next time I need a computer I will check the Apple store, and I can definitely see a Playstation 4 in my near future. Microsoft has turned into a pathetic sack of crap since Bill left.

I have trusted Verizon for years. The service has been excellent. Customer service has been very good. I don't trust Verizon any more. I was ready to purchase two Samsung Fascinate smart phones when I learned that Bing was the default search feature and it could not be changed. That was a deal breaker. The salesman had heard it many times already. The Motorola Droid X is similar to the Fascinate but the sound quality is not as good. I liked the display and the feel of the Samsung better. So I have a choice to make: Buy the Fascinate and try and hack it to remove Bing or buy a Droid X, which I don't think will be the phone I want. I have put my search for smart phones on hold. I will not be buying any phone from Verizon until I learn more about this situation. After all, if they can push Bing onto Blackberry phones and if they force it onto Samsung phones, what is to keep them from pushing it onto a Droid X at some point? There is a third option: T-Mobile. I just don't know if I want to go there. Sprint is out and Cricket is not worth considering. Microsoft did not build a better mouse trap but they have the money to bribe companies like Verizon to force people to use their mouse trap. I hope Verizon has factored in the number of contracts they stand to lose as a result.

Tell me Jim, did you gag just a little bit when you realized you would have to sell this to your upset clients? I am a business customer and have several verizon phones. This is the latest and possibly last straw in a list of very poor decisions on your part. We are debating whether to finally switch to AT&T. Of course you realize the inconvenience to your customers, hence having to post this to your blog. Your "solutions" don't work for many people, for one, what about wifi users? They are backed into a corner of unworkable choices. Shame on you. I hope this becomes a national story and an embarrassment to your company forcing you to switch things back.

For what it's worth, I agree that this is a bad decision. Bing sucks and the solutions offered by "Jim" are a work around. Like any other browser on a computer, you should be able to pick your default search engine, not be saddled to Bing. I just got a replacement BB bold and called tech service about this. They said it is a RIM thing. What a bunch of BS. They should at least own up to it. Glad I didn't do a 2 year renew on Verizon with a new phone. Another reason to switch.

Great! Looks like everyone has summed it up real good here BB. Remove it, we hate Bing. I think we should do a national news story on this next week if it isnt resolved in a few days so we have choices in America. We have choices to report news or to be happy - right BB?

If you were truly "passionate about ensuring consumer choice," you would not force Bing as one of three search providers in the drop-down list in the blackberry browser (Curve 9330). You would allow users to choose which search providers to have in the drop-down list. Don't force users to use an inferior product just because you are in bed with Microsoft and have sold-out to them. The exclusivity deals are bad for the market and bad for consumers because they ensure that inferior products like Bing will continue to capture market share. Give us free choice. The "options" you describe for continuing to use Google on the blackberry device are insufficient. They require us to use separate applications other than the browser to conduct our search. I call foul.

Verizon isn't forcing anything? So why is it that the default search on my new Samsung Fascinate Bing and only Bing, with no workaround other then to root the phone. Get your act together Verizon, or this is the last time I ever use Verizon!

I just hope Verizon even cares enough to read this. I hate them, and this "solution" provided is complete BS. I hate you Verizon for doing this, such a cop out. Take the money, who cares about the people right? I hate you!

I can not believe the terrible feedback everyone has on Bing. Do five searches between google and bing. You will not see much difference. Maybe it is time to end the google monopoly.

This is a joke. Verizon should be able to get better lawyers to make up a better BS argument. It's obvious to everyone that verizon is trying to limit people to only use Bing...which no one wants to use. If they want to provide "a great option for customers," then allow us to change the default search in the browser to whatever I want it to be. Providing alternatives which are not as good cannot be considered "providing a great option for customers." What a joke.

I completely agree with every comment here, I am extremely frustrated by your company shoving that horrible excuse for a search engine down my throat, and having to type in google.com or make a bunch of bookmarks, which at the minimum require one extra load time (and let's face it the network isn't always that fast), is NOT a "great option", it's a major inconvenience! Please don't insult your customers' intelligence by claiming that you're only trying to provide "great options" for us, the blatant truth is that you TOOK FUNCTIONALITY AWAY FROM OUR DEVICES WITHOUT OUR CONSENT. I went with Verizon because I didn't want the prepackaged assembly line experience of the iPhone, but it looks like I'm getting the Microsoft version of the exact same thing now.

Another reason to leave Verizon. My contract is up in a few months and I am outta here. Verizon... can you hear us now!

I feel robbed robbed Im switching to att.

this is outrageous... you guys are setting yourselves up for an antitrust suit. and you deserve it... and the guy up here has the nerve to say that they are not doing anything? Another example of BAD strategy. to make a quick buck with microsoft (the king of monopoly) you risk loosing your clients?

I just noticed vzw blocks other search engines from the search bar because my mother inlaw asked for help figuring this out. Luckily I will not ever consider switching to vzw as a result of this policy and am going to help her move to att or another carrier that does not play the bing game...

Jim, 197 angry customers who posted here and hundreds of others who didn't. Clearly, the choices you offered are not acceptable. Would you dignify us with another post describing how (if at all) Verizon is going to address this issue? Thanks!

Why is it the above link to change the default search engine from BING to GOOGLE DOES NOT WORK??

What a Liar! I want to be able to select google as my default search engine. Now that I selected google as my home page, I dont have my history when I open my brower and I can type in an address, I can only search. I hate Verison and I will leave as soon as this contract it up. VERIZON SUCKS!

"just providing a great option for customers" - No, you removed a great option and replaced it with a miserable substitute. Bing is terrible as a search engine.

I am returning my BB and moving to Sprint because of this.

Wow... I'm 2 years late to the game, but add me to the boat of users whom has been pissed off by this. I should have known better, Verizon+Blackberry are not in the business of actually caring about their customers. Well back to return this and get an Android instead, I'm still stuck with one company that doesn't give 2 licks about me (better then AT&T whom cares less in that regard), but at least Google will fight for me and let me have real choices on my phone.

I thought Verizon was just incompetent. Now I can see how corrupt they are. And they just add insult to injury with their proposed lame workarounds. Don't they know we can see through them? Do they care? I have a choice between BB and iPhone and I'm switching. At least with Apple, they're up front when they boss you around. The Storm browser sucks anyway.