There's been a lot of hype over the acquisition of the Apple iPhone by cell phone giant Verizon, not only from the plethora of commercials and web advertisements but also the buzz amongst users of the AT&T iPhone. As an iPhone veteran of 4 years, I've seen the ups the downs the programming errors, and of course I've had nearly 60% of my calls dropped for no apparent reason and dealt with Apple's awful slow release of hardware upgrades to new phone versions that other phones have had for years. Yet I stuck with AT&T and Apple over the years because quite simply, it works. The phone does exactly what its been programmed to do, there are no software comparability issues, no apps in the app store that don't work with the phone and Apple's amazing upkeep of the iOS to keep it current.
For some time now there have been rumors floating around the net that Verizon was to get their hands on the iPhone, and they seemed promising because Verizon would not confirm or deny the possibility as well as Apple kept their lips sealed which usually means what you think it means. It was believed that Verizon would make the big announcement of iPhone coming to the network at this years CES, however they did not and it left many people wondering if it would happen at all. Then just a week after the show the announcement broke and we started seeing commercials for a Verizon iPhone 4, god's be praised! At long last the iPhone is free of the awful and slow tyrant that is AT&T!
But all is not well in the land of smart phones because there are many things that are not public that will ultimately put a hold on migration from AT&T iPhone users at least. That lies in how Verizon will be handling the phone within their network. Something that I often use my iPhone for when on a call, I will use the iPhone's multitasking abilities to bring up a website or directions etc. On the Verizon network this will at least for the time being, not be a function possible on their iPhone. Why?!?! You might ask in outrage, because Verizon's iPhone will be running on their CDMA 3G band. Verizon natives will recognize this, as it does not allow for simultaneous voice and data streaming. This is a huge setback if you are like me and have been using this feature on iPhone for years, after seeing this I decided I will be staying with AT&T until Verizon decides to bring iPhone onto the their new LTE 4G network band.
Another reason to take issue with Verizon putting the iPhone on the CDMA 3G band is international usability, as most European cellphone companies use GSM. You do have to jailbreak your AT&T iPhone to use it internationally (jailbreaking is now legal by the way) but at least the option is there. Another reason to pause with caution is the data plans, a mandatory addition to your bill with the iPhone and most smartphones. After AT&T figured out that iPhone's alone were putting a stranglehold on the network with data consumption they phased out their unlimited data plans for the phone and introduced new limited usage plans. Those like myself who had the plan from day 1 were grandfathered in and allowed to keep the unlimited plan (for $30 a month mind you). I am an admitted data-junkie, and 2 gigabytes of data per month is staggeringly below my usage level, I constantly check Twitter feeds, Facebook, RSS, and email not to mention using Netflix on the phone. As many users mirror my experience I would imagine it would be very hard to try to limit your use as to not incur overage charges after having free reign for so long.
As with all of the previous Apple launches I am anticipating that there will be mass quantities of new adopters and also migrating AT&T customers lining up at Apple and Verizon stores on launch day. If memory serves, there will not be enough iPhones to go around, because Apple is notorious for not having enough stock at launch date. While the pricing for the Verizon iPhone is identical to AT&T (16gb $199 and 32gb $299) that price is only with a new 2 year contract. Another thing to think about if you are an AT&T customer with an iPhone 4, guess what? Your iPhone wont work on Verizon, remember how I said their version is CDMA? Well that also means that your GSM AT&T iPhone is useless on their network, so that means you have to buy another iPhone 4 from Verizon.
So it seems that there are positives and negatives to Verizon picking up the iPhone, mostly the positives being the added revenue to Apple's already severely bloated bank accounts. While I'm sure there will be more than enough Verizon customers that want to get the iPhone 4 on their network, I think there will be less than anticipated AT&T migrant users after they are informed of what they will have to lose in order to do so. I hate to say it but I will be staying with AT&T until iPhone is at the very least put on the LTE 4G network band..or (and more likely) until my contract runs out and I can get a Sprint HTC Evo. Nice try Verizon, better luck next time.
