A lot of people point to a possible Verizon iPhone as the one thing that will staunch Android’s remarkable growth. Sadly for those of you stuck on AT&T, there won’t be a Verizon iPhone any time soon. Verizon Wireless spokesman John Johnson has said that his company has “no plans to carry the iPhone in the immediate future”. Bummer for all you frustrated AT&T people.
That’s funny how the article is spinning it. I’m actually an ex-Verizon customer, and I fled the heck out of that horrible company as soon as I could, became a refugee at AT&T, and never looked back.
I’ve heard good things about T-Mobile, so in a far future I might consider them. As long as I stay clear from Verizon, I’m good.
I agree, was with verizon, and with all the map talk I never seemed to get service anywhere I needed it, dropped calls were frequent, and this is in a resort town, I switched to AT&T and its been excellent, 3g isnt everywhere, but edge is not all that bad in itself, and it is absolutely everywhere ive ever been. I havent tried T-Mobile, but their map shows no voice or data coverage where I am.
I guess its where you live, but for me AT&T has be exceptional, just wish they had exciting phones because verizon is pushing out everything sexy right now.
Just make darn sure to check your coverage area if you consider that, and check it good. With T-mobile, it’s all or nothing at least in the US (you either have full signal or you have none at all, there’s no middle ground). Also, T-mobile puts up stores in areas where they don’t even work, we’ve got a T-mobile store in the city where I live and you don’t even get reception inside the store. They advertise it a bunch here too.
Yeah, Verizon is a steaming pile. I don’t know why they have such a good reputation – it isn’t warranted.
On AT&T (with my iPhone) my biggest problem is getting a 3G signal, which is a lot like wifi when it works. Voice quality is better than Verizon, and customer support isn’t even comparable – Verizon is an awful awful company when it comes to support.
Also, Verizon’s “3G” is about as fast and reliable as AT&T’s edge.
I’d guess it’s all the marketing to the media-illiterate Americans.
It’s regional, I think. I had nothing but trouble getting voice signal with AT&T (I took the phone back within the 30-day grace period), whereas I get Verizon voice and 3G nearly everywhere I go. It’s one of those things that you kinda have to test for yourself based on where you go.
On the US East Coast, where I live, Verizon almost always has better coverage than AT&T, T-mobile, and Sprint.
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It’s very much regional. Our entire cel infrastructure in the US is a steaming pile, there’s no one carrier that gives at least some signal pretty much everywhere. Verizon is the best on the East, T-mobile in most of the extreme west (Arizona, California, etc), and Sprint as well as AT&T have intermittent areas where they’re awesome and areas where they suck (usually different from one another). The coverage maps are never accurate (T-mobile claims to cover my area when I can see for darn well that they don’t), we’re a mix of GSM and two different types of CDMA and that doesn’t even count the pay as you go providers. Our HSDPA networks use mostly nonstandard 3g bands (AT&T on mostly 850 and T-mobile mostly on the 1700) with some intermittent standard 1900/AT&T and 2100/T-mobile. At this point I’m tempted to try and find a decent data-only 3g provider (if we have such a thing here) and use Skype for everything, as I’ve about had it and Wifi hotspots are not prevalent. T-mobile and AT&T both suck in my area, and the only good phones I can get that are really accessible are GSM. Oh sure, Verizon has some old Windows Mobile 5 phones I could get but why would I want those? I actually want to *use* my smartphone. Our cel system is so fcuked up nothing short of a complete teardown and going from ground zero is likely to fix it.
</rant>
+1. I’m continually disappointed at how the US lags most of the rest of the civilized world in cellular coverage, phone selection, and capability. He who has the gold makes the rules, indeed.
At least Verizon’s not getting iPhones gives them incentive to promote Android. They have better Android offerings right now than does AT&T.
My only two viable options (from a coverage standpoint, in my area) are Verizon and AT&T. I was a Cingular customer (pre-AT&T) for a long time, but switched when I got tired of getting “network busy” signals during peak times, and when they would not even spot me a bare-bones cheapo phone to get me to re-up.
Verizon from a customer care standpoint is every bit as bad (and the local store in the area is a laughable abomination), but their CDMA tech is superior. I don’t get “network busy” any more, and their 3G coverage is much more complete here (it’s not even as good as DSL, but it’s better then EDGE in my area).
My g/f is on AT&T, and we were both dismayed to find no state of the art Android phones from them. She didn’t want a Steve’sPhone, and ended up buying a Nexus One outright.
Verizon’s smartphone selection has always left much to be desired, but at least they have the HTC Incredible now. Since they won’t give me any kind of discount until about a year from now (really inconvenient since my current WinSlo phone is acting up), I think I’ll buy one outright, let my contract lapse, and see how the LTE battle between them and AT&T shakes out.
Edited 2010-06-04 02:35 UTC
Considering that Apple’s idiotic contract with AT&T isn’t up until 2012, this is sort of obvious. The rumor persists though. Plus, has Apple made any CDMA-based iPhones yet? Remember that Verizon does not use GSM, in the US the only two GSM service providers are AT&T and T-mobile.
How long to contracts last? 2 years?
How long as the iPhone been out? More than 2 years right?
I’m not loyal to my bank. I will switch banks the minute I get a stupid charge or can’t get it refunded.
I’m not loyal to my tv service. I will switch back and forth between cable and satellite because these companies like to treat new customers better than existing customers.
I’m not loyal to my phone service. I switched from Verizon to T-Mobile because I wanted Android. Now that Verizon has the Motorola Droid I may switch back to Verizon after my 2 years with T-Mobile is up.
I think its great that AT&T is so desperate that they keep paying extortion fee’s to Apple to be exclusive. My AAPL stock is doing GREAT! Also, iPhone staying on one carrier is doing great for Android. Both AT&T and AAPL are shooting themselves in the foot by sleeping together.
I left AT&T and gladly paid the early termination fee for my family plan. That’s how bad it was. Sprint is very supportive of Android, they have excellent plans, good prices, and so far, wonderful customer service. They also offer discounts to just about anyone. Mine is twice my employee discount with ATT.
Oh, and the EVO comes out tomorrow.
Maybe it’s regional? What was bad about AT&T? And what region are you in?
A better question would be what was “right” with my service. I averaged 3 dropped calls a day. I went through 4 different phones (3 models) over the time I was with them. The billing issues were constant. Every month required a call to confirm that yes, I was an employee and yes I am eligible for a discount.
ATT nickel and dime their customers to death. I have only been with Sprint for 4 months, but I have only had to call once. And that was a mix up with Best Buy (where I bought the phones) and the correct discount. 1 call and Sprint was actually happy to help. I have had 1 dropped call. And that was in the middle of the woods of BFE. I live in Ohio (US for the rest of the world.)
Having been with Sprint for a few months shy of 10 years, I’m quite pleased with their service and since 2006, their general availability of 3G data access. The only place I really found lack is right here and they’ve resolved that since I moved here.
There is a problem with trying to buy the EVO, though. Apparently, they’re not selling (or activating) them for many area codes that don’t support 4G data yet and that would be the majority. Anyone should be aware before trying to buy one.
I actually can’t stand Verizon. I have it now on my Droid, and have been on it through several phones, and it’s just not that great in my area, whereas T-Mobile is great. The only reason I have Verizon is due to work. Otherwise, I’d much rather see iPhone come to T-Mobile, which is unlikely of course.
While Verizon is saying no, there is still a lot of whispering about Verizon and Sprint getting iPhone. It would make sense to have both of them active in selling it.
I can’t see that the exclusivity with AT&T will last and they seem to be pushing to upset people with new fees and plans. Whether the contract said 2010 or 2012, I’ve been seeing information concerning both since 2007. I’m just glad I’m not stuck.
If AT&T loses all those iPhone fanatics who flocked to AT&T in 2007 to Sprint and Verizon, it should be interesting to see if they become a much smaller company and less arrogant.