Apple with "No Plans" to Change AT&T iPhone Exclusivity and Other Notes

[winterspan]

Please excuse my ignorance on this subject as I really don't know the difference between a CDMA network or GSM network. As far as I'm concerned it doesn't really matter who has a got a better so called network. The bottom line is, once I press the send key using my cell phone it connects. I am on Verizon and I can make calls and receive calls just like AT&T users. What else do you really need your cell phone to do? Is CDMA horse and buggy technology? is it really that antiquated? what's the big deal about a GSM network? Does it cook, clean and wash your clothes too? Can someone qualified in the subject please explain to me why GSM is considered superior. Hey, it’s not like Verizon uses walky talky technology, but apparently most of you techie types think so. Please explain.

"CDMA2000" is the primary CDMA standard that Verizon/Sprint and most other CDMA providers use. It is actually considered far superior to actual GSM technology and CDMA 3G "EV-DO" is just as advanced as 3G UMTS (UMTS is the upgrade that GSM providers have moved to). In fact, CDMA EV-DO uses less power than UMTS and can scale to similar download speeds.

In practice though, All the other variables involved in running a nationwide cellular network are far more important than which standard is used. Verizon has more towers than AT&T and overall far better coverage. All providers show coverage area on their website. Verizon in particular has a far larger 3G coverage than AT&T.

 

[iMaggot]

My god i hate AT&T, they have one of the worst network ever

 

[terryzx]

This is TERRIBLY UPSETTING

I might just have to bite the bullet when the new iPhone arrives and get it there until Verizon gets their network up and properly working in about 2 years...just in time for an upgrade

 

[MacFly123]

So much for ever getting the iPhone on my Verizon contract...

They need to start offering unlocked phones then.

Of course they're not going to say that they're going to make the phone available on other networks (even if they are) b/c it would hurt sales now.

Exactly. You guys above don't get how marketing and PR work.

Nothing he just said changes anything!!! He is saying that now because currently Verizon's network IS different, BUT in a year they will all be the same and Apple will make their ONE phone for the whole world like he said including Verizon and anybody else that is LTE, but he is not going to say that now because people will hold out till next year to go to Verizon.

He is just making sure that the last year that AT&T has the phone that people still think they will not get it on other networks so they get the switchers still.

Nothing more, nothing less! As soon as the networks are all on LTE the iPhone will be open ground world wide! As huge as it is now, that will be when the iPhone SWAMPS the world like the iPod Mini did. Mark my words!

P.S. I switched to AT&T and they have been totally fine, I dunno why people freak so much.

 

[Lancelot9201]

No Doubt With The Rates You're Paying..!!!

I agree completely. When I first bought my iPhone, the coverage from AT&T honestly blew, however, in 2 years they've DRAMATICALLY improved their coverage in my area (and in areas in the mountains where I didn't get coverage even from Verizon), and I now have 3G in my area, which I didn't when I first bought the phone. This shows me the company is serious about improving their service. Thus I am not about to abandon a company which has shown me improved service year by year.

With you paying Double or Triple what other companies charge obviously AT&T has tons of available revenue to upgrade / update their equipment.. Consider this, I have an iPhone on T-Mobile with unlimited minutes for $42.00 per month & that includes 200 text messages. Now tell us what your bill is per month.??

 

[Cinematographer]

Another interesting statistic revealed was the total number of iPhones and iPod Touches has now reached 37 million units. Apple had sold 30 million as of December 2008.

In other words, Apple sold around 3.2 million iPod touches in Q2. That's roughly 29% of all iPods sold in this quarter. That's really shocking

Ok, ok. The numbers provided aren't exact numbers. But taking that into account, you get a range between 21% and 37%. That's still much higher than I ever thought.

 

[montex]

As I understand it, Apple has a 5 year EXCLUSIVE contract with ATT for the iPhone.

So why do I hear so much bleating about Apple selling iPhone to run on Verizon? Don't people understand what a contract is? Why would ATT let Verizon have the iPhone when the have a CONTRACT with ATT?

 

[oammi2]

I am fine with AT&T since the release of the iphone I have seen improved service in all the areas where there used to be dead zones. Also in the Greater Seattle area I have 3g service pretty much everywhere. So no complaints from me

 

[poe diddley]

his statements should be followed by "in the USA"

the entire statement should be followed by "in the USA", because there IS a verizon iphone, just not here (ie vodafone). and there are unlocked iphones being sold regularly, just not here.
i call BS on everything he said. they have business deals they're comfy with, and don't want to change that-that's why they're in bed with AT&T. it's about money, not the technology. the phone could be made to work on any network, regardless of cdma, gsm crap.
maybe someday that will change.


it's sad because i know several people, including myself that would buy an Iphone today if they weren't glued to at&crap, one of the worst phone services in my area.

 

[SactoGuy18]

If Apple wants an iPhone that works with Verizon and Sprint networks, they'll have to build one with a completely different internal circuit board so it could accommodate CDMA wireless. Unfortunately, that makes this iPhone totally useless outside most of the USA, since most of the world's digital cellphone service is done through GSM wireless.

 

[W1LLk]

I told you so. In pretty much every similar thread.

 

[carlgo]

I'm almost 100% sure that Apple had a big part in forcing AT&T to do better. I would not like to have been in meetings with AT&T heads and Steve, im sure there would have been a TON of yelling from one side in particular.

Something along the lines of "step the f#$k up or we are taking our ball home"

They must have overlooked my area, hardly in the sticks yet no coverage unless I hike up to the top of the hill in the local park.

Cell towers just seem like a strange idea to me.

 

[GregND]

Is there an iphone for the rest of us?

I don't have a problem with an exclusive deal. I have a problem with AT&T not serving millions of customers in the middle of the country. I would buy an AT&T plan in a heartbeat to get an iphone if they would just let me! AT&T refuses to sell plans to most of the middle of the country where they only have partner-owned cell towers.

At least Apple could give us iPod touch users non-crippled software (e.g. - Google Maps) if they wont sell us an iPhone.

 

[kdarling]

I don't have a problem with an exclusive deal. I have a problem with AT&T not serving millions of customers in the middle of the country.

A lot of people are still unaware of how much area in the US cannot buy an iPhone.

Just go to ATT's coverage viewer here... then click on the GoPhone Coverage Type:

All that pinkish clear area is where people cannot buy an iPhone because ATT doesn't have home towers there... so an owner would be roaming all the time.

 

[felipecn]

Oddly, the number of CDMA networks is growing around the world.

SK Telecom, the largest mobile operator on South Korea (also known as CDMA land) switched to HSDPA (*cof* 3,5G GSM *cof*) in May 2006. Almost three years ago...
CDMA isn't growing anymore. Here in Brazil the last CDMA operator switched to GSM+EDGE and then to HSDPA. The same is occuring on other countries in Latin America. Europe doesn't have a CDMA phone operator, altought there are some CDMA networks for WLL and broadband.
CDMA is strong only on the Japanese KDDI, South Korea and USA. Japan and Korea loves customized "only-for-us" phones (Look at KDDI, NTT DoCoMo, LG Telecom, SK or KTF phones, almost all of them are different from what we uses)

I can't imagine Apple producing two "identical" iPhone models. Doesn't make sense to me. Apple isn't Motorola...

And neither Nokia or Sony Ericsson makes CDMA phones (except in Japanese phones for SonyE and some ODMed Nokia phones that doesn't even run Series 40). For sure they have a reason to pretend that CDMA doesn't exists.

 

[aristobrat]

All providers show coverage area on their website. Verizon in particular has a far larger 3G coverage than AT&T.

God, I'd hope so.

Verizon and Sprint started building their 3G networks YEARS before AT&T (which started YEARS before T-Mobile), so there's zero excuse for Verizon/Sprint to have a smaller 3G coverage area!

With you paying Double or Triple what other companies charge obviously AT&T has tons of available revenue to upgrade / update their equipment.. Consider this, I have an iPhone on T-Mobile with unlimited minutes for $42.00 per month & that includes 200 text messages. Now tell us what your bill is per month.??

Consider this. If someone where to sign-up for T-Mobile right now, they couldn't get your plan (which doesn't seem to include unlimited data, which most iPhone owners would want), so what's the point of even mentioning it as a point of comparison?

A T-Mobile plan equiv. to AT&T's iPhone plan is about $10/month cheaper. So you pay about 15% more with AT&T, not "double or triple". T-Mobile gives you more anytime minutes/texts for the same price, and AT&T gives you roll-over minutes and a much, much larger 3G network.

 

[aristobrat]

A lot of people are still unaware of how much area in the US cannot buy an iPhone.

Just go to ATT's coverage viewer here... then click on the GoPhone Coverage Type:

All that pinkish clear area is where people cannot buy an iPhone because ATT doesn't have home towers there... so an owner would be roaming all the time.

Odd. Seems to follow the US population density map.

Is it true that carriers with the 850mhz band are legally required to provide coverage to rural areas regardless of their population density? I thought I read something like that over on HoFo awhile back.

 

[jav6454]

A lot of people are still unaware of how much area in the US cannot buy an iPhone.

Just go to ATT's coverage viewer here... then click on the GoPhone Coverage Type:

All that pinkish clear area is where people cannot buy an iPhone because ATT doesn't have home towers there... so an owner would be roaming all the time.

Wrong one.

That's for GoPhone coverage. It is not the same as AT&Ts overall coverage.

Here is AT&T's Real coverage.

 

[kdarling]

Wrong one.

That's for GoPhone coverage. It is not the same as AT&Ts overall coverage.

Here is AT&T's Real coverage.

Wrong topic. Please read more carefully. We're talking about where an iPhone can be owned by residents, not by roaming users.

Roaming coverage is not the same as home coverage. And you can only get an iPhone from ATT where they have home coverage. That map is shown by GoPhone.

Is it true that carriers with the 850mhz band are legally required to provide coverage to rural areas regardless of their population density? I thought I read something like that over on HoFo awhile back.

The Rural Cellular Association has petitioned the FCC to require devices to be made available outside of the exclusive carrier's area. The idea is that if you're outside of Verizon or ATT's area, you would be able to get a Storm or iPhone, respectively... instead of always being unable to get the latest phones.

 

[gwangung]

With you paying Double or Triple what other companies charge obviously AT&T has tons of available revenue to upgrade / update their equipment.. Consider this, I have an iPhone on T-Mobile with unlimited minutes for $42.00 per month & that includes 200 text messages. Now tell us what your bill is per month.??

About $10 more for way less features.

YOu're not doing much research and comparison of features, are you?

 

[maestro55]

I still do not understand the whole "Exclusive to AT&T" thing. It doesn't effect me because I have been using AT&T since they were Cingular. I haven't had any coverage problems with them and I have been happy with the level of service. However, Apple would benefit by letting other carriers carry the phone. And would AT&T really have much say over that?

Or as others have suggested, maybe selling phones that work on other services at full cost to the other telephone companies. People would certainly be willing to pay the prices. Most of us bought our first iPhones before they were subsidized.

Whatever the case, I know this summer when the third iPhone gets released I will be extending my AT&T contact. I am still using the iPhone I bought in September 2007.

 

[jav6454]

Wrong topic. Please read more carefully. We're talking about where an iPhone can be owned by residents, not by roaming users.

Roaming coverage is not the same as home coverage. And you can only get an iPhone from ATT where they have home coverage. That map is shown by GoPhone.

Correct one. AT&T has coverage for GoPhone, PickYourPlan and the normal subscription based phones.

Thats all AT&T coverage, not roaming. You can specify roaming in the settings

 

[skellener]

As I understand it, Apple has a 5 year EXCLUSIVE contract with ATT for the iPhone.

Wrong. It expires in June 2010. Apple may re-up with AT&T though which would really suck.

 

[moka]

awesome, YES!

 

[Pauldarian]

att, verizon iphone what else?

I think we are forgeting t-mobile they do gsm
wonderful they only thing i dislike is that, i am stuck with att,
if the u.s.'s cell phone system was more like japans we wouldn't have as much of an issue.
it's hard apple staying with att makes you loose faith well me anyway.

i wonder if this is how people who loose faith in their god feel

I've been an apple consumer since i was a child, and now i don't think i want to be anymore
we're oppressed it seems