I am reallllly hoping that they do announce the iPhone launch on Verizon for Feb 3rd. It will make my life so much easier!

I have had dozens of customers waving it in our faces, and I have told every one that I look forward to the iPhone going on Verizon, and it shocks them all to hear me say it.

So i am sacrificing goats, praying to everything i can think of to get this done!

To bad I have 1.5 years of AT&T

I'm glad too b/c that means my friend can use my old 3g I gave her since her hubby won't switch from verizon or let her buy a new phone :p

unless that won't work? :(

Verizon and AT&T Iphones have separate hardware and won't work on each other's networks I believe.

AT&T= GSM, which is for the most part the global standard only with AT&T in the USA uses different freqs for 3G service compared to some carriers in Asia and Europe. Typically you have a SIM card with GSM phones and if you have an International Unlocked version phone, which you pay full price for btw, it is very easy to swap out SIMS and use pre-paid service for even 3G service anywhere in the world as long as the phone supports the freqs.

Verizon uses the other standard shared with Sprint which is CDMA. No SIM. The phone has to be set up at a service provider and are for the most part proprietary and perma-locked. People with the Verizon Iphone who spend any extended length of time over seas will probably learn to dislike the Iphone being on Verizon as its not as easy as getting an unlock and than sticking in a pre-paid SIM like you can with GSM. Might not be so bad in Europe since Verizon is part of Vodafone based in the UK so there has to be some kind of International plan but you probably pay out the nose. There are other CDMA networks overseas, but I have no idea if they strictly ahere to proprietary hardware like Sprint and Verizon do.

It will be interesting to see how Verizon will handle tethering with the Iphone. /shrug. As usual with US carriers it will be expensive and/or restrictive.

When I went to Ireland this summer, and my Droid obviously not working there, Verizon sent me a Blackberry for free for the trip. They transferred all of my settings from the Droid to the Blackberry for free, shipped it to me, activated it while I was at the airport, and switched everything back over on the other end. Box came complete with all of the necessary converters and cables to charge the phone overseas. It was extremely smooth. They even sent me a prepaid box to ship the Blackberry back when I got home.

Convinced my sister and my mom to not upgrade Iphones when the new one came out so they can both switch over ASAP on a new Iphone. AT&T having the worst network and the worst customer service (a la Consumer Reports) didn't hurt any, either.

I've yet to see a side-by-side speed test here locally that shows Verizon faster than AT&T. Obviously, that differs by geographical region, but it's certainly worth doing your own research before hopping on a contract. The networks vary so much across the country, national averages, surveys, etc are not very meaningful for most people.

I always purchase unlocked GSM phones, so I would never consider switching to Verizon, but a dealbreaker for me if I were looking into buying the Verizon iPhone is being able to use voice/data simultaneously. The current version of the EVDO standard for CDMA networks makes this impossible, at least without a significant hardware modification.

a dealbreaker for me if I were looking into buying the Verizon iPhone is being able to use voice/data simultaneously

This.

And the sad thing is that probably 90% of the people who get the iPhone on Verizon are going to be expecting to be able to, since that has always been one of the selling points of the iPhone.

But...voice _is_ data! What gives?

Correct me if I am wrong:

Meaning use of 3G while making a voice call is a no go. EVDO is pretty much dial up modem for cell phones. You need to have a dedicated telephone number and if you are making a voice call, the data session has to be interupted if on the same number. Its doubtful Apple would even allow the Iphone on a carrier where it would not run everything. This Verizon Iphone probably has dual radio/telephone number capability to support a dedicated telephone number for voice and another for 3G service so it could have both going at once. With Sprint, I can use my 3G dongle and my cell phone at once. It would just be a matter of putting both devices on the same board in the phone and routing the traffic.

Nope, there is no voice and data on the CDMA version.

Also, you will not be able to take your AT&T iPhone to Verizon and get it activated there.

And THANK GOD!!! I hope 10 million people get them through Verizon I really do, I really want to see their network handle the traffic. AT&T has 53% of ALL smartphones in the country on their network.

Do you really need to have data and voice active at once tho? Most people, that is excluding those on this board because someone will probably have a compelling argument that they need to be talking on the phone while having Youtube running, will not need both at the same time since the screen is up by your ear and not visable when talking normally. Normally being not on speaker.

As far as AT&T, maybe their network will run better after the loss of millions of completely dissatisfied customers shifting to Verizon when their contract is up. I feel sorry for you, Greystone. It must be difficult working for a company with a bad reputation.

My mom uses data during calls, after I showed her that she can. Same thing with one of my clients, after I showed him that he could. I think most people are afraid to hit the home button during a call, thinking it will exit the call like it appears to exit any other activity, so they never realize they can do both.

It's handy for most anyone, if they need to look information up during a call, like finding a restaurant on Yelp, checking the hours, etc. Not something you use nonstop, but very nice to have when you do use it.

Do you really need to have data and voice active at once tho? .

I think most people don't realize how often they may already have this going without realizing it.

I think most people don't realize how often they may already have this going without realizing it.

Agreed!

As far as AT&T, maybe their network will run better after the loss of millions of completely dissatisfied customers shifting to Verizon when their contract is up. I feel sorry for you, Greystone. It must be difficult working for a company with a bad reputation.

There won't be a mass exodus, yes some people will leave, and I am not losing an ounce of sleep. I have bitched before about the sense of entitlement and how the grass is always greener at the other companies. People are mad about a situation that AT&T is constantly fixing and the people who actually know the facts about New York and San Fransisco have also said that we have greatly improved the network. No company in the US has had to handle what the iPhone did to our network. Yes we have taken a huge hit in reputation.

It can't be too bad because the bitching about AT&T has been around since the 3G and we have releaed 2 models since with everyone upgrading or still coming over.

Also, don't feel bad for me, I work for the largest company in the world if you don't count banks and oil, I am pretty proud. If you take out iPhones we're still the 2nd largest phone company in the country. We're the #1 provider of Blackberry handsets in the country and amazingly enough you don't hear our Blackberry customers up in arms about anything. Our network powers almost every eBook out there, we have the largest Wifi network in the country. If we lost 20 million customers to Verizon, we'd still have 60 million happy ones. Lastly, regardless of what polls say, my store has a 92% complete satisfaction score based on the surveys the customer answer that we email them, another thing I am proud of.

/random facts, rant off

Sounds like some competition is exactly what you need then.

We do! I am not unhappy about the iPhone on Verizon, I even started this post saying so.

I'm happy about it too now everyone get off the network :p

Cell phones and data plans are such a rip off. Paying for two phones, data plans for both, limited minutes and texts...free nights and weekends crap. Paying around 160.00 for both.

Comcast at home. HDTV two HDDVRs with HBO and Starz, High Speed Cable internet and phone with free long distance I pay the same price.

They suck you into these contracts for two years because of these cool fancy assed phones that turn out to be nothing more than shit novelties with addictive games. God forbid you go over your plan! I went to Korea and somehow my data on my phone turned on for a few hours....600 dollar phone bill, when I was just using the phone as an Alarm. Fuck these bloodhounds. Yes, I won't be giving up my phone or data plan anytime soon either. Just want the prices to significantly drop.

:devil

Comically enough, if you want to see how truly terrible phone companies are, literally the scum of the earth, the worst people imaginable without being bankers or nazis ... look at long distance plans. Your $40/mo cell service lets you call anywhere for no additional fee, but if you get a land line, they will bill you $1-3 per minute out of area code, for needing LESS of their infrastructure investment to do it.

Kill them all.

Trikki, it is mostly only in the US where you get locked into these plans. Mostly because noone wants to pay the unsubsidized price of the handsets in the USA. Europe and Asia you buy the handset for full price. An Iphone 4..well that will set you back 700-800 dollars. Maybe more. That means you actually might have to save up the money and plan ahead, which we are Americans royally suck at so we get a rip off plan and a cheapo phone locked to a carrier. In Asia and Europe once you have your phone, you can either go to a store and buy a SIM or you can get one out of a vending machine at the airport. Pop it in your phone and you are done. That applies for both DATA and VOICE. Amazing eh? You actually even save money because you only pay for what you use. When you use up your time/bandwith, you simply stop at a newstand and get a scratch off card to add more time. Our corporate robber barons are big on fixed income assets though, thus the plans and why we have the bullshit system we have.

Cell phones and data plans are such a rip off. Paying for two phones, data plans for both, limited minutes and texts...free nights and weekends crap. Paying around 160.00 for both.

Comcast at home. HDTV two HDDVRs with HBO and Starz, High Speed Cable internet and phone with free long distance I pay the same price.

They suck you into these contracts for two years because of these cool fancy assed phones that turn out to be nothing more than shit novelties with addictive games. God forbid you go over your plan! I went to Korea and somehow my data on my phone turned on for a few hours....600 dollar phone bill, when I was just using the phone as an Alarm. Fuck these bloodhounds. Yes, I won't be giving up my phone or data plan anytime soon either. Just want the prices to significantly drop.

:devil

Welcome to the American Cell Phone buisness model. If we didn't subsidize phone costs, plans would be a lot cheaper. People want their free phones and the phones aren't free to the carriers.

Look at MetroPCS, you dont get subsidy on phones, you have no contracts and they are cheaper. The service isn't as good, but that is also because they limit some other access to keep costs down.

Hell look at AT&T prepaid, you can get unlimited talk and text for $60 on a prepaid service, because there is no phone subsidy. You don't get access to all the roaming agreements AT&T has but it only really matters in the Rocky Mountain area to be honest. The same unlimited talk and text on a contracted phone, (which typically are more robust phones and cost about $30) is $90.

Sorry to hear about your international data chargers, when we find out a customer in my store is going overseas we STRESS them about the possible charges and educate them on how to avoid them. Typically we can get them creditted off if there is an issue that appears to be accidently.

Our corporate robber barons are big on fixed income assets though, thus the plans and why we have the bullshit system we have.


I think it is the consumers fault almost as much. People don't think a phone is worth $800 dollars. We have people FURIOUS at us that we don't have free phones in the store and think that we are ripping them off because and i quote "It can't cost more than $20 to make a phone."

Comically enough, if you want to see how truly terrible phone companies are, literally the scum of the earth, the worst people imaginable without being bankers or nazis ... look at long distance plans. Your $40/mo cell service lets you call anywhere for no additional fee, but if you get a land line, they will bill you $1-3 per minute out of area code, for needing LESS of their infrastructure investment to do it.

Kill them all.

At this point land lines are all paid for. Anymoney made off of them is almost pure profit. I agree it is rough. Though, my last friend finally ditched his land line because there was no benefit to keeping it.

Is there a cheaper, off-contract replacement for the iPhone data plan? I'm happy enough with AT&T, but I'd also be happy to pay cash for my hardware if it's a net savings. I only buy subsidized hardware because it seems like I'm getting screwed by paying the regular plans' monthly fees without jumping on subsidized upgrades whenever they're available.

Yes. The iPod Touch. It's a iPhone that can only access the internet via Wi-Fi. See also iPad

Assume I go outside, where there isn't WiFi, and also get those phone call things on my AT&T number.

Is there a cheaper, off-contract replacement for the iPhone data plan? I'm happy enough with AT&T, but I'd also be happy to pay cash for my hardware if it's a net savings. I only buy subsidized hardware because it seems like I'm getting screwed by paying the regular plans' monthly fees without jumping on subsidized upgrades whenever they're available.

Not at ths point, and I know you have stated in the past that it is a particular point of anger for you.

I know it has come up before but not sure if it will see that light of day.

Then again there is some shinanigans in the potential works once we go 4G, like the return of unlimited data.

Comically enough, if you want to see how truly terrible phone companies are, literally the scum of the earth, the worst people imaginable without being bankers or nazis ... look at long distance plans. Your $40/mo cell service lets you call anywhere for no additional fee, but if you get a land line, they will bill you $1-3 per minute out of area code, for needing LESS of their infrastructure investment to do it.

Kill them all.

What? On my land line, I have unlimited long distance, 24/7 to the US and Canada.