January 11th, 2011.
The Universe seems to agree that Verizon will be announcing the avilability of iPhone on their network at 11:00 AM Eastern Time today. I am an AT&T customer with an iPhone plan since June 29th, 2007. I was a Verizon Customer back in early 2000’s. Previously I was a Sprint customer. My view on wireless network is something like this:
Generally the quality of service greatly depends on where I’m at. There are places where one service provider had no coverage while the others do. Customer service are equally horrible.
Am I happy with AT&T service?
What I can say is that I am considering moving to other service providers like Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile.
Am I happy with the iPhone?
In general I really like the iPhone. It was the first great phone I had. I still like the iPhone.
Does Verizon have better wireless service than AT&T?
My good friend seems to think so. I still think that it depends on where you are. Certainly in Metropolitan areas AT&T wireless does suffer. At the same time I have seen lack of coverage from Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile in different places. But it is about AT&T this time. In Southern California AT&T service is not as horrible as in The Bay Area. In general, AT&T service are available where I’m at most of the times but not all. Outside of California I have mixed results. There are a lot of parts in Nevada where AT&T has no coverage while Verizon and Sprint do. One thing I can say is that AT&T has excellent coverage around Boise, Idaho. I cannot say if Verizon’s service is as worse as AT&T’s.
Things I enjoy being on AT&T network is primarily influenced by the ability to switch my phones anytime I want. It is as easy as removing the SIM Card from one phone and installing it on the other. I am currently using iPhone 3GS and Nexus One. I am planning to get an unlock Palm Pre 2. If there’s an unlock Windows Phone 7 phone with an attractive price tag, I’d get one too.
If I were to switch to Verizon, I wouldn’t be able to use different phone on the same account. There is no way I would want to pay for different accounts so that I could use different phones. Despite of the negatives on AT&T, I still prefer having to use different phones. Switching to Verizon means I would not be able to do so.
If I were a Verizon customer today, I’d definitely get the iPhone.
Now, it’s T minus 97 minutes till Verizon announcement.