Can Verizon Change Which Updates I get To An Off Contract phone?
OK I know this is a weird topic, but my dad swapped the family into an unlimited data plan, and until now Ive been using a Samsung Alias 2 flip phone. I have a Razer 2 I bought off contract from Razer directly, but I use it like a pocket tablet, I cant say I ever actually planned to use it as a phone.
But now, I can theoretically activate or pop in a sim card to get it on their network. Im actually fighting myself hard right now not to buy the Motorola Z3 play (its on sale for about 22 more hours and a controller mod case if it doesnt sell out before I act) and use that as my phone, while keeping the R2 off network.
My biggest concern is that attaching the phone to Verizon's network might get me a different OTA update version. I seem to think one of my dad's unlocked phones got Verizon logos added to the boot screen after one of the bigger OTA updates and maybe a bit of verizon bloatware snuck onto his phone and could not be removed afterwards. This is a phone that was not subsidized by them in any way, he bought it up front from motorola. I find this comparable to stopping at a gas station and finding that one of the station attendants glued an advertisement to the side of the car and replaced a seat with a vending machine.
Is there anything I should be worried about?
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What you're describing should not happen. The only thing that should happen is that if it is a phone they do not sell then they may limit some network features like volte because it's not a recognized device that's been approved for those features on the network. Or at least that's what happens with ATT...it's been a while since I had Verizon. My understanding is that because you did not buy it from them they have zero right to put their bloatware or any program on it...it's part of why people buy unlocked phones in the first place
I know this is likely too late, but for what it's worth, I'm on Verizon and took the last update while on their service. I haven't seen any changes to the boot animation/logo or added bloatware.
I appreciate everyone's feedback. I typically do not root the phone, as much as I want to. The risk of bricking it during the root or by uninstalling something critical is a big concern for me. I've had the phone on Verizon for a month or two now, and so far no big problems, except this:
I don't recall Netflix being installed on the phone. I did not install it, and I cannot uninstall it. I assume either it got patched in with an OS update from Razer, or Verizon popped it onto the phone somehow. Maybe it was there the whole time and I just didn't see it. Can anyone tell me how/when/if it got onto their own devices?
In either case, I have two problems here, the first is I feel it is blatantly an optional program and shouldn't be squatting on 50 MB of my internal memory of a device I outright bought. The second, I have a bit of a problem with Netflix after they were autostreaming a documentary depicting something so horrible that I will not write it here, and the idea of their application being on my phone reminds me of it. I guess without rooting the phone I'm stuck with it though.
I got mine during the Black Friday sale, so I immediately took the update before setting everything up and looking for bloat. So unfortunately I can't say if Netflix was there from the go or added in during the update. I didn't see Verizon's usual culprits (DT Ignite/Mobile Services Manager), so I doubt they added it. Not to mention for those spam apps to be there in the first place would mean some sort of cooperation between Razer and Verizon to get the app baked into the OS.
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