Do I plan to get the Verizon iPhone?

[DodgerKing]

Eastern LA County. My grandparents house in Arcadia, my house in Pomona, and throughout Diamond Bar and Walnut, Verizon stinks. When you get into Inland Empire of of Eastern San Bernardino County in Chino and Rancho Cucamonga, ATT stinks.

Basically, the LA county foothill communities of the San Gabriel Mountains have a better ATT area (it is hit an miss), while the foothill communities of San Bernardino County of the San Gabriel and San Bernardino Mountains are a better Verizon area. A friend of mine just 5 miles away in Chino cannot get ATT service at all. My parents 5 miles from there cannot get Verizon service at all.

 

[charper1]

so its "spotty" due to mountain reflection? Hmmm never noticed; even on drives from Phoenix or Vegas to LA

 

[DodgerKing]

so its "spotty" due to mountain reflection? Hmmm never noticed; even on drives from Phoenix or Vegas to LA

Perhaps. Or simply not enough towers as this area is one of the fastest growing areas in the nation. Communities are going up faster than the telocos can keep up.

I just know that at my house (the surrounding communities), my parents, house, my grandparents house, work, and up at Mt. High, ATT is much much much better. That is what matters too me since this is where I spend most of my time.

Go to a friends house in Chino (where there are more cows than people) or go catch a minor league baseball game in Cucamonga, there are times I get a searching for signal on my phone, while Verizon phones have full bars.

Stay on the main freeways or highways, and all of the providers have decent signals

 

[Steve Mehs]

Why should I care what speed people get on ATT in other parts of the country if I do not live there? I don't care how many dropped calls they get nationwide or how slow their 3G is in someone else's area. Like I said, ATT has the BEST service in MY AREA. Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile do not have 4G in my local area (when ATT upgrades to 3G+, what they call 4G, my area is one of the first areas slated). I have tested speed of the networks in my area and ATT is the fastest. Plus I have never had one dropped call on ATT in my area. My parents, who have Verizon, have to stand in one corner of their yard just to get a good enough signal to make a call on their cell.

Here is my result taken just a few minutes ago. Early in the morning or late at night, it is even faster.

Trust me when I say Verizon is slower here. Plus I would have to pay at least twice as much to get a comparable phone plan with Verizon.

If you were in my shoes, where your phone bill was $40, you live in an area where you get better service, faster networking, and fewer dropped calls than the other providers, and you spend 90% of your time in said area, would you still switch providers?

If I were in your shoes I can honestly say I would not have AT&T or an iPhone. I’d rather be without a cell phone then support AT&T and Verizon. You can’t possibly live in the one place in the country where AT&T is the only provider with service. The number 1 complaint about the iPhone has always been it’s exclusive provider in the US. And if you go by bars, for voice with CDMA number of bars is pretty much meaningless. I maintained an hour+ long conversation on my Evo without so much as a garbled word or minute dropout with 1 bar. Could never do that with GSM. Price is not an issue for me. $40 for two lines with all the trimmings would be nice, but if that meant I had to be with AT&T, forget it. I’ll gladly take my $160 Sprint bill. Case in point, my home phone with Verizon was about $16/month on average. We had lifeline service, with no long distance access, paid per call and only extra feature was caller ID with number only. It sickened me to pay a company like Verizon. Then last April I got the letter in the mail I’ve been dreaming of, ‘Dear Valued Time Warner Customer, Digital Phone Service is now available in your area’. I jumped for joy and was on the phone with TW to set up an install appointment within seconds of opening the letter. And TW phone service is costing me more then $16/month, but it doesn’t matter, as long as Verizon gets no money from me I’m happy. Over 20+ years with be held hostage by the scumbag telcos was over, no more NYNEX/Bell Atlantic/Verizon in this house!

As for your speedtest result, thanks for proving my point. The ping is horrendous, even worse than mine but then again AT&T is known for their terrible pings. Your upload is pretty bad, again even worse then mine and download at just barley over 1Mb is really nothing to be proud of on 3G.

Anyhow, in all of that, you failed to explain to me why the iPhone is the best and what makes it such a great handset.

 

[grydlok]

I will not switch to Verizon because, their coverage in my area is not very good, and most importantly, I do not want to give up my grandfathered $40/month phone bill with ATT.

When I do shop for a new phone this summer, I will see what else ATT has to offer. If there is a very good Droid with them, I may try out the Droid. If it means I have to wait until ATT gets it, I just may do that.

Many of my colleagues use the Droid and I like the phone. I even set my jailbroken iPhone to a Droid like UI for a while.

Do you know when ATT is supposed to get the Bionic?

You say you want a Droid but that is only on Verizon, well the Bionic is supposed to launch after MWC

 

[DodgerKing]

You say you want a Droid but that is only on Verizon, well the Bionic is supposed to launch after MWC

Let me clarify. I said I like Droids and when and if ATT gets the Bionic, it maybe an option I may choose

 

[TheForce]

With my current phone with verizon I cant upgrade untill November, I am thinking that the Iphone 5 will be out then?? seeing that it would be a bit crazy to pay the $600.00 they are asking for if you want to leave your current verizon phone contract if you are not elgible to upgrade yet

Satjay- My understanding is that as long as your new phone is compatible with your current contract you can pay the full price or switch to one you already own and it won't affect your contract. Or, if the new phone requires an upgrade to your contract you can do that too. You don't have to remain on current phone, just keep your current contract as a minimum service. we.g. say you found a used Verizon iphone 4 in May and bought it for $100 from a desperate seller. You could switch to that phone from your present smartphone. I did this last spring for my wife when we switched her blackberry to an LG. Come to think of it, we did down grade the data plan and didn't suffer a penalty. Her blackberry was only 6 months old so we were well ahead of the new every 2 plan. Still, I agree that it is best to wait until the iphone5 comes out before upgrading, and then only if you get it at the subsidized price.

 

[TheForce]

WRT hate clubs-

I believe most here who are considered haters of one company or another really have no issues but just are fanboys of the competition.

MY affection for Apple these days came about when I began to study the affection the general public has for the Apple products. I discovered them to be in two camps. Those who were cult like in their worship of everything Apple and the Apple way; and, those who just tried both and discovered, for them, Apple products seemed easier. In fact they had no problems paying extra for that ease. The tight control Apple had, seemed to not bother them one bit. Most everyone was NOT a tinkerer but just a user of the device. Once I saw the light, on why people flocked to something more expensive and more controlled, I realized that Apple was going to become very successful in all its line of products that followed this game plan. When that light came on I bought stock in the company. It was a no brainer way to make a decent living. I still hated the MacBook Pro I had and really didn't like anything they made until I bought the ipad.
My dislike for AT&T was personal in that I used to have them and with constant disconnection and lack of coverage, I went to switch to T-Mobile. AT&T delayed the transfer of my number for over 2 months and finally released the transfer to T-Mobile after I read a letter I was sending to the FCC to one of their supervisors. The next day I was transferred. That delay was intentional and it ticked me off they were doing this. I switched to Verizon after a year when T-Mobile performance was worse than AT&T.
There are things I like to do on my smartphone that are not permitted on an iphone with AT&T but that may change when I see the iphone5. I will evaluate in July between Android-whatever latest they offer that week, and the iphone5. I have had excellent service with Verizon even though it is more expensive. I have no plans to switch to any other carrier. I don't love them. just find their service worth what I pay.

 

[Claude Greiner]

I got a basic flip phone with Verizon and an Iphone with AT&T. I got to have 2 phones just because AT&T's service sucks so bad!

The second Verizon gets the Iphone, im finished with AT&T. I'll gladly pay the cancellation fee to leave.

 

[VinceT3]

I get 0.5 download... 0.2 upload.. And I'm disconnected from at&t 54% of the time I'm at work... I'm totally considering dropping them in a few months when my contract is up.. Probably go to sprint with the evo..

 

[grydlok]

Let me clarify. I said I like Droids and when and if ATT gets the Bionic, it maybe an option I may choose

you do know that DROID is the line of phones Verizon carries and not the entire name for ALL Android phones.

 

[DodgerKing]

you do know that DROID is the line of phones Verizon carries and not the entire name for ALL Android phones.

The Android OS is what I meant

 

[Steve Mehs]

I get 0.5 download... 0.2 upload.. And I'm disconnected from at&t 54% of the time I'm at work... I'm totally considering dropping them in a few months when my contract is up.. Probably go to sprint with the evo..

Good man!
My buddy who convinced me to get the iPhone and then we both switched to Evos when they came out, could only get AT&T service at work in the bathroom. At his work they have policy against internet audio streaming so he was hoping to use the Sirius XM or Pandora apps to stream audio at his desk using the iPhone and AT&T network, never got a chance to do that because of AT&Ts terrible coverage. And we’re not talking about some place in the boonies. He works for Gieco and their offices are located in a major suburb of Buffalo. Has no problems now with Sprint and the Evo.


Myself, I don’t have a fancy 9-5 desk job. I’m a delivery driver doing back breaking physical labor, working 50+ hours and 800 miles a week in my 5 ton mobile office. With me every second of the way is my Evo connected to a tape adaptor streaming Sirius XM, Pandora or Shoutcast. Not one instance of a droupout. Granted some time I do roam when I’m out in the middle of nowhere, but there’s never any service interruption.

 

[Ronnie-]

Sounds like you have the same good experience with sprint that dodger had with ATT. Not sure why you are against HIM having it, as he has explained it is the best service at his home for HIM.

And with ATT, the iphone is arguably the best phone the offer, although the captivate might be an alternative.

 

[DodgerKing]

I did post my 3G network speed in my area. I am curious to see Steve's network speed for his service in his area

 

[Ronnie-]

I did post my 3G network speed in my area. I am curious to see Steve's network speed for his service in his area

If he is on "4g" I would assume he has higher speeds, if not, his consistent 3g speeds would be comparable. Unless he is in an exceptional area.

 

[Ronnie-]

Myself, I don’t have a fancy 9-5 desk job. I’m a delivery driver doing back breaking physical labor, working 50+ hours and 800 miles a week in my 5 ton mobile office. With me every second of the way is my Evo connected to a tape adaptor streaming Sirius XM, Pandora or Shoutcast. Not one instance of a droupout. Granted some time I do roam when I’m out in the middle of nowhere, but there’s never any service interruption.

Good thing you dont come down here. Sprint is non existent in this area (the majority of the state actually), as is T-mobile. Unless you are on the coast, its AT&t or verizon, or one of the regionals (which I have) that blows them all away on coverage.

 

[Steve Mehs]

I did post my 3G network speed in my area. I am curious to see Steve's network speed for his service in his area

Ask and ye shall receiver.

Sprint 3G, in the exact same area where I took the AT&T speed test I posted above. I have hit about 750Kb Up before, but to keep it fair I'm posting this speedtest result as like I said it was literally taken in the exact same spot as the above one, around the corner from a billboard proclaiming AT&T as Buffalo's Fastest 3G Network. Typical result is 2.1-2.2 Mb Down/650Kb-750Kb Up with a ping of ~110ms. Completely smokes AT&T, both in my area and yours.

This is a speedtest taken next door in Rochester on 4G. It's my best result, Download speed is typically 10.75-11.50Mb, Upload has been as high as 1.17Mb and that's the best ping I've ever had on any wireless speedtest ever.

 

[Steve Mehs]

Sounds like you have the same good experience with sprint that dodger had with ATT. Not sure why you are against HIM having it, as he has explained it is the best service at his home for HIM.

And with ATT, the iphone is arguably the best phone the offer, although the captivate might be an alternative.

I can't find where I said I was against anyboady having anything, so would you please point that out to me? Also, since I have yet to get a reply about it, could you explain why the iPhone is the best?

 

[Ronnie-]

I can't find where I said I was against anyboady having anything, so would you please point that out to me? Also, since I have yet to get a reply about it, could you explain why the iPhone is the best?

Poor phrasing on my part? Just what I got out of reading your posts, perhaps I assumed too much, if so, I apologize.

I said it is arguably the best phone that they offer. At times in the past, the argument has been stronger for the Iphone as there was little competition from Android on AT&T and the best BB offered was the Bold.
Even now, on raw specs, it is still at the top of the smartphone world (with company mind you), and for the vast majority of users is as good or better than anything else that AT&T offers. What it does, it does well, and thats what most people want.
I am not saying it doesnt have flaws, every phone does.