Verizon

Jim has an iPhone 5 through Verizon and he's being nailed for "excessive use of data" with charges over $300 a month, and he has no idea why because nothing has changed in his usage. Verizon claims he's using up to 1 GB a day! But he isn't using even close to that. He doesn't stream video, and is rarely listening to Pandora. Leo says that going into the usage meter in the settings, he can see what the phone thinks he's using. Is the hotspot turned on? Streaming video can easily get 1GB a day if he's not careful.

Gary doesn't want his email to get deleted from his computer when he deletes it off his phone. Leo says that PoP3 deletes mail on the webmail's server after it gets downloaded to the email client, while IMAP shares the same view as the webmail and keeps it. So any changes he makes from one device would echo to the server and vice versa. So it may just be the way it is set up.

Leo suggests not using the Verizon email program, and use the stock email program that comes on the phone instead. Also, Gary should set up a gmail account and let it go get his email from Verizon.

Laura upgraded to the new iPhone 6 with Verizon, but she can't get her email to work on the new phone. Leo says one thing she can do is backup the old phone, and then restore it to the new one. That will move the settings over automatically. Laura says she keeps putting in her email password and it rejects it. Leo suspects Laura is just having issues typing her password with the new keyboard and suggests changing her password to an easier to type, but not easy to guess password.

Jerry has a cell phone and he's traveling out of the country. He's out of his contract. Can he get it unlocked? Leo says yes, he can just go to Verizon and ask them politely. They are supposed to do it, and AT&T does this for its customers too. Verizon is under a consent decree not to lock their phones, so they should unlock it. Then he can put a local SIM card in when he gets to his destination.

Sharon has a Verizon cellphone but wants to get her old AT&T iPhone 4S added to the plan. Verizon said they can't add that phone to their network, though. Leo says back then, AT&T and Verizon phones only worked with either GSM or CDMA technology. If the phone was newer, like an iPhone 5S or iPhone 6, she could do it because they are called "world phones." She may need to unlock it. But the 4S predates the era of iPhone world phones, and it won't work.

Pete wants to root his Verizon Google Nexus 6, but every time he tries, he can't seem to make it work. Leo says that Verizon tends to make changes to Google phones to prevent them from being rooted.

Leo advises checking XDA Developers forums to get tips on how to deal with unlocking the boot loader, then rooting it and getting custom recovery on it.

Mark uses Verizon 4G Wireless service and runs through 40GB in an afternoon with video conferencing. He also ends up roaming, so he's paying for that as well as overages. Verizon told him that FIOS would be coming, but Leo says that'll never happen now because they've stopped growing that out. It all has to do with a tug of war with the FCC over net neutrality.

Richard's Verizon Wi-Fi router won't work as a wired router, only Wi-Fi. Leo says that's bizarre because he would need to connect his router to the modem. Leo advises asking Verizon if it's possible to buy his own modem. He should get a DOCSIS 3 modem. The added benefit is that he won't be paying rental fees on it.

Richard should keep going back to Verizon and make them fix it. If they can't, then he has a case to go with another provider. The hardware layer is working if there's a "link light" lit. So it may be trouble on Verizon's end.

Rick says that he hears that with Sprint, if they upgrade to the new iPhone, they won't be able to talk and surf at the same time. Leo says that he can on AT&T and Verizon, though. Verizon moved over to Voice Over LTE and Leo thought Sprint was moving that way too, but apparently they haven't. T-Mobile will also work. Any GSM network will do it, and Leo suspects that Sprint will eventually go that way.

Steve was gifted an iPhone 4 and the carrier is verizon, while his carrier is T-Mobile. Leo says Steve can't use it because the iPhone 4 is a CDMA phone while T-Mobile uses GSM. So it's essentially apples and oranges. It's just not compatible. The new iPhones though are "world phones" and can use various SIMs. Leo says that's where it's going, especially for Verizon because they were ordered by a judge to stop locking their phones to a carrier.