Dan_VZ's Posts

Did you know that there are tons of gaming consoles and accessories available from Verizon?  Today we’re going to look at 3 of the most popular gaming platforms and take a look at how Verizon can help set you up for the best gaming experience possible.   Xbox Microsoft Xbox Series S Console 1 TB This Xbox Series S, from Microsoft’s latest line of Xbox consoles, comes with a whopping 1 TB of lightning-fast SSD storage to store all of your digital games.  The console is sleek and compact and its backwards compatibility allows you to enjoy games from 4 generations of Xbox consoles.  You’ll play your games in HD at up to 120 FPS so you can feel immersed in the action. Price: $349.99   Microsoft Xbox Wireless Controller Elite Series 2 While standard wireless Xbox controllers are available from Verizon for $69.99 (check those out here), the Elite Series takes things to the next level by offering the pinnacle of accuracy, comfort, and customization.  You can change the tension on your thumbsticks, customize the action on the triggers and map buttons to match the way you play. Price: $179.99   Playstation 5 Sony PlayStation 5 Console This slimmed-down version of the PlayStation 5 console offers Sony’s latest and greatest.  Games play at a stunning 4K and ray tracing allows lighting and textures to come through more realistically than ever.  The adaptive triggers on the controllers provide another level of immersion, giving you real time feedback.  The console also ships with Astro’s Playroom, a game which shows off all of these capabilities. Price: $499.99   Sony Pulse 3D Wireless Headset There are plenty of reasons to want a headset when gaming.  Whether it’s talking and communicating with your teammates, needing to hear in detail to pick out enemy footsteps around you, or even just wanting to play games with immersive audio without waking up your family, the Pulse 3D headset has you covered.  With 2 microphones, noise cancelling and quick mute controls, you can rest assured that you’ll be heard when you need to be and silent when you don’t. There’s also a 12-hour battery life and a design that has comfort in mind to keep you in the game during long play sessions. Price: $99.99   Nintendo Switch Nintendo Switch Lite The perfect portable introductory console, the Nintendo Switch Lite is a slimmed down version of the standard Nintendo Switch.  With a 5.5-inch LCD screen and 7 hours of battery life, you can play your favorite games anywhere.  Please note that the Switch Lite does not dock to your TV like the standard switch and does not support extra controllers and local multiplayer (online multiplayer is supported), but it makes up for that in portability! Price: $199.99

Phishing is when someone digitally acts as another, usually a financial institution or other company, to get you to hand over personal information such as passwords, bank account or credit card numbers, or your social security number. Most of us have been the target of some sort of phishing attack, even if we didn’t know what it was called at the time. These messages may look legitimate at a quick glance, but it’s important to be on the lookout for some telltale signs that can caution you against responding, especially with any personal information that could be compromised. Many phishing attacks can be identified by these features: Scare tactics and urgent message or subject lines: A subject line such as “URGENT: Payment Overdue” is intended to manipulate you into thinking there is some sort of problem with your account that needs your immediate attention. Unprompted calls from “customer service:” Beware of these calls asking for your SSN, credit card numbers or passwords.  When in doubt, hang up and call the company’s publicly listed customer care number. Note: Verizon will never proactively contact a customer asking for sensitive information such as a password,account PIN or to perform authentication. Lookalike or misspelled web or email addresses: Make sure you hover over any links before clicking to see the full URL and make sure the website is legitimate.  Some links can look correct as a quick glance but indeed have letters swapped or some other spelling error. Suspicious attachments: If you aren’t 100% sure what the attachment is, it is best to not open it.  If there’s something titled “Invoice” from a sender that you have not made any recent orders from, trust your gut and leave it unopened. Impersonal greetings or bad phrasing: Most organizations or companies that you have an account with would know your name rather than greeting you as “Dear user.”  Look for any unnecessarily complicated wording or words that look out of place as these could have been composed by AI. Anything else strange: If something looks off, it probably is.  Trust your instincts and remember that it’s always worth double-checking before giving away any personal data.   Remember, most companies will not reach out to you unprompted.  When in doubt, don’t respond or click any links and call that company directly. Verizon has some resources for you to reference if you think that an incoming message is a phishing attack.  Check out these Phishing email scam examples as well as SMS examples (also sometimes called smishing) so you can familiarize yourself with what these fraudulent message look like. If you receive a suspicious text message claiming to be from Verizon, please forward it to us right away at S-P-A-M (7726). You can also report it to the Federal Trade Commission. Verizon makes it easy to protect your mobile accounts and identity. Here’s how. Originally posted on Verizon News Center: Anatomy of a phishing attack

As we settle into the dead of winter, those little conveniences go a long way to keep you comfortable in your home.  Smart Thermostats open up those possibilities by making it easier to adjust the temperature, saving you money on your energy bills in the process! You can make changes to your temperature schedule or change the temperature on the fly from your smartphone.  You may be out of the house and you see the temperature is dropping so you want your house nice and comfortable when you get home.  Or maybe you’re lying in bed on a cold winter morning and want to boost the heat so you can comfortably take on your day.  You can be ready for these situations and more with a smart thermostat in your home. There are two thermostats available from Verizon: the Amazon Smart Thermostat and the Google Nest Thermostat.  Let’s take a look at these and compare them so you can decide which is best for your needs!   Amazon Smart Thermostat The Amazon Smart Thermostat can be easily controlled with the Alexa app or any Amazon Echo smart speaker.  Made with Honeywell Home Thermostat Technology, this thermostat saves an average of $50 per year on energy bills.  There’s a dashboard to track your energy usage and simple controls on the thermostat itself if you want to change the temperature the old-fashioned way. App: Amazon Alexa & Amazon Echo Apple Homekit Compatible: No Price: $79.99 Google Nest Thermostat The Google Nest Thermostat learns your habits and can turn itself down to save energy when you leave the house, or can stick to any schedule that you set, plus its Savings Finger feature will give you suggestions to help you save even more on your energy bills.  This thermostat is also compatible with Apple’s Homekit, so if you’re already in the Apple ecosystem you can easily control the temperature with your iPhone’s Home app. App: Google Home & Google Assistant Apple Homekit Compatible: Yes Price: $129.98   Do you have either of these smart thermostats in your home?  How are you using smart home accessories?  Tell us below in the comments!

For the 21st consecutive year, Verizon is partnering with the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) to provide a toll-free hotline to check on Santa Claus’ whereabouts for his journey on Christmas Eve. To accomplish the difficult task of tracking Santa and his reindeer, Verizon will tap its C-Band spectrum to provide redundant Wi-Fi.  The C-Band spectrum allows more available 5G coverage to ensure that the hotline can run without interruption. Last year, the elves working the hotline received over 130,000 phone calls.  To provide further support, Verizon designed an Interactive Voice Response System to answer children’s questions and give information about Santa’s flight path, but this is only activated when all of the volunteers answering the phone are busy with other calls. The effort is made possible by 1,100 volunteers from Verizon, military personnel and other government and corporate partners. Here are some of the questions that can be asked when calling the hotline: Where is Santa? When will Santa come to my house? Where is Mrs. Claus during the journey? What are Santa's favorite cookies? How many elves are helping Santa? Which reindeer is helping to lead the journey this year?   How to call: Beginning at 6AM EST on Devember 24th, call the toll-free hotline at 1-877-HI-NORAD (1-877-446-6723). For more information on Santa’s whereabouts, you can also visit https://www.noradsanta.org/ or track via NORAD’s social media pages.  You can also download the NORAD Tracks Santa Claus app on the Apple App Store or Google Play. Originally posted on Verizon News Center: Verizon partners with NORAD to track Santa Claus The Community Team wishes everyone a happy, healthy and safe holiday season and new year!

In a revolutionary new offering, Verizon is now offering Netflix and Max together for $10/month for its myPlan customers.  Now you can have the libraries of the two giants in your streaming arsenal for one low price and it’s only available on Verizon. Both of these services will include their ad-supported subscription tiers, which means a monthly savings of $6.98.  If you combine this with the popular Disney Bundle myPlan perk, which includes Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, this means you can have a whopping FIVE streaming services at your disposal for only $20. Please note that to be eligible for this offer, myPlan is required.  myPlan has three tiers: Unlimited Ultimate, Unlimited Plus and Unlimited Welcome, which starts at just $30/month. What are you going to be streaming with the new Netflix & Max bundle?  Let us know in the comments! Check out the myPlan tiers and the library of available perks! Article originally posted on Verizon News Center: Verizon to offer Netflix & Max streaming bundle as $10 per month myPlan perk

The Community team here at Verizon has been hard at work to make it more convenient for our members to access the Verizon Community.  We’re thrilled to announce that the Community is now accessible through the My Verizon App! Using the Community through the My Verizon App is simple.  First, tap the More icon in the bottom-right corner of your screen. Then, tap Community Forums. That’s it - here you are on the Community home page! If your Community account is connected to your My Verizon account, you’ll already be logged in.  You can then access all of the functions you can access from the Community desktop or mobile sites: browsing, searching, posting, replying, leveling up, and more! We’re so excited about this new way for all of our members to engage with the Community.  If you’re already using the Community with the My Verizon App, hit the thumbs up button to like this article or comment below to let us know!

The Verizon Community is full of experts and our Ask the Expert program connects you directly with them!  Ask the Expert features a rotating crew of Community members that have an area of expertise and this week we have @dexman, one of our Community Leaders, here to answer your questions about your landline service.  Whether you’ve been having issues with your landline or just want to make sure you’re getting the most out of your service, all questions are welcome! This Ask The Expert event is open until November 29, and Dexman will do his best to answer all questions in the following week.  Check it out here and take a look at past events on the Ask The Expert board.  Past topics have included Fios TV service, Network Extenders, WiFi issues, and more. Do you have suggestions for a future Ask the Expert topic? Leave a comment below and we can track down an expert!

Spam calls… just the mention of these pesky, unwanted calls is enough to bum most of us out.  The bottom line is that nobody likes spam calls.  They are distracting and take you away from your day but sometimes you see an incoming call from an unfamiliar number and you’re not sure it’s spam, you want to pick it up.  What if it’s something important, like a medical office that needs to reach out or a family member borrowing someone else’s phone in an emergency? Luckily, Verizon has you covered with Call Filter.  Call Filter detects spam calls by using analytics and databases to detect spam calls.  These databases are constantly updated to keep unwanted calls away.  The basic level of the service, Call Filter Free, is available for all Verizon customers - you’re probably already enrolled. For those of us who want even more control over our incoming calls, Call Filter Plus unlocks even more features to manage blocking unwanted calls: Block By Category - gives you the most granular control over the types of calls that are blocked.  You can specifically block or unblock non-profit calls, political campaigns, surveys, and telemarketers. Caller Name ID - puts a name to unknown callers Spam Lookup - gives you access to a database of over 100M spam callers Risk Meter - shows you the probability that a call is potential spam in real time All of these features give you more information and more personalization.  For example, maybe you want to block telemarketers (who doesn’t?) but you’re politically active in your community and want to make sure you can be reached by political campaigns and non-profits?  Call Filter Plus has you covered at $3.99/mo. per line or $10.99/mo. for 3+ lines to cover the whole family.

As ubiquitous as mobile devices have become over the last 30 years, it’s still rare that we see a brand new device form factor introduced to the industry.  Flip phones, candy bar phones, slide-out keyboards, and the now standard slate design were all transformative in allowing us to interact with our devices and each other in new ways.  The next step in that progression has already been on the market for a few years, but now has more devices than ever: the folding smartphone. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5For those of us old enough to remember candy bar phones, most folding smartphones look something like those when they’re closed, but with a full touchscreen on the front.  Opening the phone reveals a large screen that allows you to get immersed in video content and offers impressive multitasking capabilities.  Now you can watch a video and scroll your social feeds all on one screen.  You can even drag and drop items into messages or email attachments by having those two apps open at once. Verizon currently offers two folding smartphones and while they’re both impressive devices, there are some key differences in their size.  The first is the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5.  When unfolded, it is 5.1 inches wide and 6.1 inches tall.  The Google Pixel Fold, released earlier this year, has different dimensions: 6.2 inches wide and 5.5 inches tall.  This means that while both phones are close to a square screen size, the Galaxy Z Fold5 is more of a portrait orientation, while the Pixel Fold is closer to landscape.  If you’re looking at purchasing these devices, the choice all comes down to preference Google Pixel Fold and what you’re looking to accomplish with the smartphone.  If your main priority is video, then the Pixel Fold may be the one for you so you can watch in landscape and take advantage of the wider screen size.  If you’re going to be multitasking and writing emails, the Galaxy Z Fold5 might be easier to use for typing messages and creating presentations. Samsung also offers the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5, with a smaller form factor that when unfolded is the size of your standard slate-style smartphone, but when folded up it gets tiny: only 3.4 in x 2.9 in.  If portability is your priority, it's worth checking out! Have you checked out any of the folding smartphones or are you thinking of upgrading to once soon?  Let us know in the comments!

Have you ever been at a concert or sporting event and experienced show network speeds because everyone was trying to use their phones at the same time?  Now, in all 30 NFL stadiums, those days are over!   Recently, Verizon completed network upgrades in three NFL stadiums, completing the quest of bringing 5G Ultra to every NFL fan.  Here are some of the ways that this upgrade will make it easier for fans to stay engaged with both the game in front of them and the world outside: Watch game highlights and replays of the game you’re at, not worrying if the video will load before the next play happens on the field. Keep track of other games and, perhaps most importantly, your fantasy team! Use your mobile wallet for quick transactions at concessions, bringing you back to your seat faster. Access your mobile tickets outside the stadium worry-free.x Keep tabs on social feeds and freely post to them and not have to wait for your posts to upload.   Verizon customers typically use a total of about 1TB of data over the course of a game.  Now fans can stay connected more than ever before while cheering on their favorite team. Haven’t experienced the power of Verizon’s fastest network?  Sign up for the Verizon Free Trial to get unlimited premium data on 5G Ultra Wideband for 30 days for free!  No more worrying about whether you’ll have Wi-Fi at the event - the network has you covered! Article originally posted on Verizon News Center: Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband keeps football fans connected in all 30 NFL Stadiums

A few weeks ago, Apple released watchOS 10 for all Apple Watch devices Series 4 and newer.  watchOS 10 features redesigned native apps that are more immersive and take advantage of the entire screen, along with some UI changes that change the way you navigate your Apple Watch.  Today we’re going to take a look at some of those changes to make sure you’re getting the most out of your Apple Watch device.   Switching Watch Faces In previous watchOS versions, you could change your watch faces by simply swiping left or right on your current watch face while the Apple Watch screen was awake.  While this was a simple and handy way to have multiple watch faces at your disposal, it led to accidental face changes.  Now, to change to a different watch face, long press on your current face and then either swipe or turn the digital crown to select one of the faces you have already set up.  Finally, tap the new watch face that you want to use and you’re good to go! Bonus tip: If you want to start a new watch face from scratch you can scroll all the way to the right and select “New Face,” but you may find this easier to do from the Watch app on your iPhone.   Control Center Continuing with the theme of cutting down on those accidental watch swipes, Control Center is now accessible from the side button, next to your digital crown.  This gives you access to those essential features such as silent mode, theater mode, do not disturb, and your flashlight.  In previous watchOS versions, you would swipe up from the bottom of the watch screen - it takes some getting used to but it gives a more consistent experience and makes sure you can always use these essential commands at the press of a button. Bonus tip: If you scroll down to the bottom of Control Center, you can tap “Edit” to add or remove Control Center buttons and even rearrange them!  Some, such as battery percentage and Airplane Mode, cannot be removed but you can rearrange all of them to keep the ones you use the most closest to your fingertips.   App Switching You might be asking yourself how you can switch between open apps now that the side button is used for Control Center… but there’s an easy solution!  Just double-press the digital crown and you can choose between open apps.  Let’s say you were reviewing your physical activity for the day in the Fitness app (gotta close those rings!) but while you were doing that you received and responded to a text message.  You can return to what you were doing easily with the digital crown.   Bonus tip: From the app switcher, just swipe to the left and tap the “X” to close an app.   Widgets Have you ever wanted more information at a glance than you could fit on your watch face complications?  Now you can, with widgets - all new to watchOS 10! From your watch face, just turn the digital crown “up” (clockwise) and you have a fully customizable stack of widgets.  To customize, simply long-press on a widget and you can add, remove, or even pin them to the top of the stack.  At the top of my stack of widgets, I have my watch’s battery life, shortcuts to the Fitness and iMessage app, and a 5-day weather forecast. Bonus tip: I find this most useful when I’m using a watch face that has less space for complications on it, like the elegant California face.   How are you finding your way around the new watchOS 10?  Ask any questions or let everyone know how you’re using the new features by commenting below! Want to see more articles like this?  Click the thumbs up below to “like” it and let us know!

With the increasing popularity of Virtual Reality (VR) devices and games, parents may be concerned about keeping their children safe in the online gaming space.  Today we are taking a look at VR, how kids are using it, and what can be done to keep content and interactions safe. VR games can either be played on a dedicated VR headset like the Meta Quest 2 or with accessories to convert your smartphone into a VR headset.  These devices can be used to play multiplayer games online, which allows you to play with other players all over the world. The most important device feature to utilize is the parental controls on the headset.  The Meta Quest 2, which we mentioned earlier, allows for parental controls to be set with a smartphone app.  With this app, you can see what games they are playing, minotaur or restrict in-game purchases (a.k.a. microtransactions) or block certain games altogether.  You can also check how much time is being spent in the games.  The app also allows you to monitor who they are playing with, though usernames are shown, rather than real names. Even with these parental controls, it’s still important to talk to your children about appropriate behavior in online gaming and how to deal with anything that does not feel right to them.  Players can mute other players or even report them if they are using abusive language or are being otherwise inappropriate.  Make sure that any kids playing these games know how to use the feature. Our expert suggested some popular, safe VR games: Fruit Ninja, Beat Saber, Job Simulator, Angry Birds, Gorilla Tag, Rec Room and Roblox. To learn more about VR safety and read more, check out the original article on Parenting in a Digital World. Want to see more articles like this?  Click the thumbs up below to "like" it and let us know!

  The tech world is buzzing about the new iPhone and Apple Watch lineup and Verizon will be offering all iterations of the iPhone 15, Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2!  Read on to learn about new features and how you can make these exciting new devices yours as they’re released in the coming weeks.   iPhone 15 Perhaps the feature that everyone has been talking about the longest is that the entire iPhone 15 lineup will use USB-C charging and connection.  This will allow you to need fewer cables in your home and for travel!  The Dynamic Island, a feature which has been limited to pro models in the past, is here across the entire lineup as well.  Keep track of live activities and notifications in an unobtrusive way at the top of your iPhone screen.  The  Apple iPhone 15  also boasts a 48MP main camera and is powered by the A16 Bionic chip   iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max The Apple iPhone 15 Pro and  Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max have an all new titanium casing, allowing the devices to be more durable and lighter at the same time!  The A17 Pro chip will provide the best graphics ever available on an iPhone.  There’s a new action button, a feature brought over from last year’s Apple Watch Ultra which allows you to customize a button on the side of your iPhone to turn on the flashlight, enter Do Not Disturb mode, and many other actions.  The new 5x telephoto lens (limited to the iPhone 15 Pro Max) will provide the best optical zoom ever available on an iPhone.  Get ready for those close-up   Apple Watch Series 9 Do you ever need to operate your watch when your hands are full?  Now, with the double-tap gesture, you can answer a call, play or pause music, stop and timer and more just by tapping your fingers together.  The Apple Watch Series 9 also includes a brighter display and a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip which allows Precision Finding - no more lost iPhones   Apple Watch Ultra 2 Building on the popular Apple Watch Ultra, the new generation has an even brighter display that maxes out at 3000 nits and dims to just 1 nit for low-light situations.  Powered by the new S9 SiP, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 shows off the latest in wearable technology.  Both the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 are now carbon neutral when purchased with the Alpine Loop or Trail Loop band   With this exciting new lineup of devices, you can bet there are some deals to be had! For new Verizon customers or existing customers adding a new line on the Unlimited Ultimate plan, you can get an iPhone 15 Pro on us or up to $1,000 off any new device in the iPhone 15 lineup.  For Unlimited Plus or Unlimited Welcome plans, you can get $830 or $415 off, with trade-in respectively. Existing customers can get $830 off devices in the iPhone 15 lineup with an upgrade and select trade-in. With the purchase of select iPhones, get the Apple Watch Series 9 for less than $6 a month or Apple Watch Ultra 2 for $14 a month, with a qualifying trade-in.   Preorders are now open!  For more information, check out this article in the Verizon News Center or preorder on Verizon.com! Want to see more articles like this?  Click the thumbs up below to "like" it and let us know!