With the iPhone 5 nearly upon us, it’s time to reflect the Verizon iPhone 4 variant I’ve possessed nearly 8 months. If you recall, I was one of those AT&T haters – continually plagued by dropped calls. In fact, I went so far as to declare AT&T’s service a personal liability and was quite literally first in line for Verizon’s iteration last February.
So how’s it been with Verizon? I’ve had exactly one dropped call. ONE. OK, I really experienced four. But three of those were due to user error… as my iPhone battery died mid-sentence. In addition to much improved call performance, I also experience improved coverage. I still can’t regularly count on indoor voice coverage at the office (and blame the building architects). However, Verizon has been superior to AT&T in this regard with texts and VM notifications coming through in near real-time.
On the data front, it feels like Verizon has been slower than AT&T. And, on paper, we know that to be true. More interesting, and more than I had anticipated, I’ve missed being able to carry on a phone conversation while simultaneously accessing data services due to limitations of Verizon’s CDMA technology. However, when using data, it’s reassuring to have been grandfathered under Verizon’s unlimited tier. And periodically adding hot spot functionality doesn’t automatically drop me to a capped plan as AT&T does.
Which brings us to what might happen next. It’s highly likely that the iPhone 5 will be announced tomorrow. It’s probably safe to expect some marginal changes in appearance and functional enhancements. Heck, Gizmodo has already written their review site unseen. But there may be an interesting wrinkle related to carrier support… as Sprint may be joining AT&T and Verizon in offering Apple’s latest handset. With the three major wireless providers offering essentially the same phone, how will folks choose? It’s probably too soon for a LTE iPhone but lighting fast HSPA+ capabilities on AT&T could sway some. As could an unlimited data plan on Sprint. At the end of the day, though, it’s all about coverage. In my case, Sprint is the only carrier that provides reliable service in the office. Which might be enough for me to jump ship. Again.
Faster data speeds, assuming AT&T’s network is less burdened and further buttressed, plus the anticipated higher resolution camera, could be enough to get me to upgrade and switch back to AT&T. Then again, if the Sprint rumor comes to fruition, spotless coverage in the office is appealing and I assume they’ll try to differentiate their offering with that unlimited data plan. I wonder if Verizon will be offering early upgrades to convince gadget flippers like myself from jumping ship. I should also add I’m quite interested in Windows Phone 7 Mango and the HTC Titan appeals (despite low resolution given screen size) and I’m curious to see what sorts of WP7 handsets Nokia introduces shortly.
How often are you really on a call and need data, and aren’t connected to wifi? I’d probably know this myself but I rarely leave home or use the phone as a phone so it’s not an issue on Sprint.
I wonder if Verizon will be offering early upgrades to convince gadget flippers like myself from jumping ship
Verizon has already moved up one of our upgrade dates so that we’re eligible to buy tomorrow.
How often are you really on a call and need data, and aren’t connected to wifi?
Apparently enough that he mentions the issue in the post.
I bought my HTC phone for the VZ 4G speeds, but even with that reasoning, i’m still surprised by how much I like having the faster throughput. I too am on a grandfathered unlimited plan, and I use it to do an awful lot of audio streaming. When 4G cuts out, the audio streams I listen to are less reliable. With 4G (which is most of the time), the VZ wireless experience is pretty unbeatable. Speed and unlimited plans are definitely reasons for choosing one carrier over another.
Richard, I’d say only a couple times a week. I’ll try to look something up simultaneously and be at a loss or I’ll grab my wife’s iPhone (AT&T) when she’s with me or have her look it up. It’s not a deal breaker, but it’s enough that I’m cognizant of the limitation in a way I hadn’t anticipated.
David, suppose I should check my account online to see if I’m eligible. Somehow I doubt it… but we’ll learn more, if not all, tomorrow.
I have the Verizon iPhone and echo everything you said.
@Richard – my issue with the data/voice limitations is when I’m out of the office on a long conference call and know that I can’t check my email, or when someone on the call emails something to the group and I have to hang up to get it.
Happens a couple of times a year, but a hassle when it does.
Sometimes I feel like I’m in the minority when I say I prefer my AT&T iPhone. In my home, AT&T works better than Verizon and I like the speed I get from AT&T’s network. All of my friends who switched to Verizon iPhones feel like they fell for the ‘AT&T sucks’ hype and regret it. As funny as it sounds, the feature they miss the most is simultatnious voice and data. If you never had it, you won’t miss it, but if you did have it, and then it’s gone, you are surprised by how often you used it.
Anyway, I don’t want to be labeled the only AT&T fanboy on the planet – I get dropped calls, probably more than I would on Verizon, but I use my phone for data far much more than voice, and that is why I will stick with my AT&T iPhone.
I get dropped calls on AT&T but I guess I really don’t care that much about voice anymore. The data matters to me so much more, and AT&T is already faster than Verizon on non-LTE and that’s apparently only going to get worse with this phone. I wouldn’t switch to Verizon for an iPhone right now.
Plus I use the simultaneous voice/data thing on conference calls ALL THE TIME. If you use a site like WebEx for your conference calls, as a lot of us do, its easy to do this on AT&T and I assume impossible on Verizon–you just wouldn’t be able to view the slides at all. Or like others said, look up emails, or do anything else. Even use the hotspot.
@Miguel and Glenn: if you have a WiFi connection, you can use voice and data simultaneously on Verizon. It’s only if you’re away from home/office where that becomes an issue
If you have a job that requires you to be on the road much of the time, that can be a real hassle. Otherwise probably not much of an issue and no dropped calls
@Alan Wolk: Yes, while at home I can use wifi and voice, but I do travel quite a bit and work remotely often, so the simultaneous voice and data is a killer feature for me.
Ditto. On the road in the car I would simply launch the WebEx app to log into my next meeting, and it would dial my phone automatically. I’d otherwise have to dial in, then lookup the code, then punch that in, all while driving. Not a good thing. But yes I’m aware I could do this on Wifi even on Verizon. But I do find the feature useful honestly.
Wow, I went the opposite direction. Verizon’s coverage was so bad in my area that I switched to AT&T and got my first iphone in the process. Nine months now and not one single dropped call. I also have accumulated thousands of roll over minutes.
Actually I use data while on the phone once or twice a month. Often a parent or GF on the road will call with a question and I’ll end up browsing for an answer. Additionally I travel internationally a bit and it’s easier to buy roaming data when in a country for a day or two. AT&T has the cheapest data roaming rates. Customer service sucks and I do get more dropped calls then people on sprint or Verizon.