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How many will switch from AT&T to Verizon with iphone 5?

christophermdia

christophermdia

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 28, 2008
832
236
I'm in this debate...I have Verizon LTE where I live and work and AT&T LTE is not even on a roadmap...after AT&T iPad 1 & 2 I'm now with Verizon ipad3 and besides the few times I do hit a 3G area and get painstakingly slow speed, I find it usable....while data is decent with AT&T, voice calls are terrible...static, dropped calls, and all with 3-4 bars at any given time.....so who feels the same way?
 
I'll be sticking with AT&T

1: No Verizon LTE where I live or even where I'm moving.

2: I'm on a family plan. For my part I only have to pay around $30 and I have "unlimited" data and texting.

3: I do drop calls every now and then, but guess what? The people I know who have Verizon around here have more dropped calls. Verizon just flat out sucks around this area.
 
WCDMA voice quality beats Verizon static CDMA any day of the week.

Just to let you know.

As for dropped calls. That's a different story. CDMA holds onto signals even during congestion better.
 
I would consider it... if Verizon had better phone coverage in my area. That's the only reason why I'm sticking with AT&T... since I actually want to use my iPhone as a phone in our area once in a while.:p

If you feel you will have better service with Verizon... then that's the direction you should take. Asking people on the forums isn't always going to be helpful. What works best (be it Verizon, AT&T, Sprint... etc) in one persons location... sometimes doesn't work out the same in another persons location.
 
I'll probably jump ship to Verizon, there's LTE available in my area with them (not with AT&T). I've also found that Verizon is more consistent when traveling in the US (especially to bigger cities like NYC).
 
What does AT&T have on Verizon anymore with LTE?

Not Voice & Data
Not faster speeds

Verizon has more LTE markets.

AT&T is ****ed.
 
There is a sequence of events, which if followed in order will answer which carrier is right for each individual.

1) Choose the carrier that has the best coverage in your area.

2) Then & only then, choose a phone.

If you disagree with this formula, it's time to get educated on how cell phones work.

I own three homes in different parts of the west coast. That's why I use two carriers. AT&T has the best, strongest LTE in two out of the three areas. Verizon has the best coverage in the third. If I was stupid enough to expect good performance from my AT&T iPhone 4S in the third area, that would be my problem. Not AT&T's.

Likewise never trust any carrier. They're in the business of selling phones. Therefore the coverage maps they use are far less than accurate. You've got to talk to users to get a clear picture.

Or try out the service yourself, being prepared to return the phone within the specified time. Trial periods are an easy way to see what you think, just be sure you know what the return deadline is.
 
Im happy with AT&T, even with HSPA+ speeds around 8-9mpbs is plenty fast for me and service is solid in my location and I got a good FAN discount on my account.
Also they plan on enabling LTE here soon so I dont see any reason on switching.
 
I agree that you should pick who is best in your area....my only issue is that I travel quite extensively for my job, so it's not only about who is best in my area but who is best all around...land I travel all over the US....I'm also on a family plan, but my wife works with me, and she travels a lot also.....only reason for asking on forums is that everyone is from everywhere here...so I'm getting a general idea....
 
If I can get a similar plan on Verizon cheaper or as much as what I'm paying on AT&T I will, since a new line + the cost of ETF will still be lower than an unsubsidized iPhone. But I doubt I'll get 2GB and unlimited texting for $55/month with Verizon.
 
christophermdia said:
I agree that you should pick who is best in your area....my only issue is that I travel quite extensively for my job, so it's not only about who is best in my area but who is best all around...land I travel all over the US....I'm also on a family plan, but my wife works with me, and she travels a lot also.....only reason for asking on forums is that everyone is from everywhere here...so I'm getting a general idea....
Click to expand...

Verizon sounds to be the best for you. They have the best coverage nationwide since they are CDMA based. That tech is simply better for the US since we are so large and gave places that for miles and miles with no one in sight.

Since I don't travel, ATT has the best service where we live and when I do travel, AT&T is good too, so I'm sticking with them. Our town is already Verizion LTE, but will be AT&T LTE very shorty.
 
I'm going to jump ship from AT&T to Verizon. Why?

1. Service in my area
2. Better LTE coverage in my area
3. AT&T has no coverage for my commute every day.
4. Verizon offers a discount for my job, but AT&T doesn't.
 
I have not had ATT or Verizon, but I used to work in Best Buy Mobile so I would say I have an understanding about these two carriers in my area (Southern California).

As sh-tty as ATT is (and how great Verizon purportedly is), I would go with ATT...for now. Remember the ATT vs VZW iPad (LTE)? If you didn't have LTE in your area, the ATT iPad would bump down to HSPA+ or 3G and the VZW iPad would bump down to 3G.

ATT's 3G is noticeably faster than VZW's 3G...so I dunno. It's a bit of a trade off. If you're with VZW, LTE is going to be fast, but if you don't have LTE in an area, you're back down to comparatively slow 3G. Whereas for ATT's LTE, it may not be as speedy or as prevalent across the country as VZW, but you'll be bumped down to a quicker HSPA+ or 3G speed...so I dunno.

I would personally go ATT though, if it were my choice. LTE/HSPA+/3G (if they follow the iPad) vs LTE/3G that is slower than ATT's 3G (arguably...at least in my area), I would go with ATT.

These are my two cents when evaluating the area in which I live. When I say one carrier is faster than another, I am not speaking for America...I am speaking for this area. Cheers
 
Definitely staying AT&T. No Verizon LTE where I live, and AT&T has much better coverage.
 
I'm sticking with AT&T. Lately AT&T must have turned on a switch or something because I've been getting these types of speeds more often. Plus I get a great employer discount and am grandfathered into unlimited data.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1336293811.752880.jpg

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1336293824.745143.jpg

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1336293835.210385.jpg
 
mpossoff said:
I'm sticking with AT&T. Lately AT&T must have turned on a switch or something because I've been getting these types of speeds more often. Plus I get a great employer discount and am grandfathered into unlimited data.

View attachment 338681

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Click to expand...

I have been seeing the same thing lately, even when I have used a ton of a data during that month (with AT&T "throttling" down our 3G speeds). The best thing for me is that I'm getting those speeds on an iPhone 4, so I don't have HSPA+. Getting those speeds on a regular 3G network.
 
I get really good coverage where I am with AT&T. Plus I have other people on my contract as well. Also I was pulling 50 down on LTE with my iPad so if the next iPhone has LTE I'll be excited.
 
fullmanfullninj said:
Remember the ATT vs VZW iPad (LTE)? If you didn't have LTE in your area, the ATT iPad would bump down to HSPA+ or 3G and the VZW iPad would bump down to 3G.

ATT's 3G is noticeably faster than VZW's 3G...so I dunno. It's a bit of a trade off. If you're with VZW, LTE is going to be fast, but if you don't have LTE in an area, you're back down to comparatively slow 3G. Whereas for ATT's LTE, it may not be as speedy or as prevalent across the country as VZW, but you'll be bumped down to a quicker HSPA+ or 3G speed...so I dunno.

I would personally go ATT though, if it were my choice. LTE/HSPA+/3G (if they follow the iPad) vs LTE/3G that is slower than ATT's 3G (arguably...at least in my area), I would go with ATT.

These are my two cents when evaluating the area in which I live. When I say one carrier is faster than another, I am not speaking for America...I am speaking for this area. Cheers
Click to expand...

Exactly why I'll stay with AT&T. IF I only used my iPhone in one place where Verizon has LTE and AT&T doesn't, would I consider Verizon. Falling back to Verizon's slow 3G speeds when outside their LTE footprint would be too painful. I'll take AT&T's fast HSPA+ network as a fallback to LTE any day. Plus, AT&T's LTE footprint is quickly expanding, so Verizon's big lead in LTE will shortly become a non-event.
 
Dwalls90 said:
What does AT&T have on Verizon anymore with LTE?

Not Voice & Data
Not faster speeds

Verizon has more LTE markets.

AT&T is ****ed.
Click to expand...

That's a great model as long as you get 100% LTE signal everywhere you go. Otherwise, you fall back to Verizon's pathetic 3G speeds compared to AT&T falling back to their HSPA+ speeds.

Plus, now that AT&T has covered many of the major markets with LTE, Verizon's LTE advantage is dwindling. The real measure for LTE coverage is the % of US population covered. Number of markets is just a marketing ploy. AT&T is quickly catching up in the % of population covered. What will be interesting is how AT&T and Verizon compete against each other once they've both saturated LTE coverage.

At least everyone has finally wised up and Sprint isn't even in the discussion anymore. Everyone I know who bought a Sprint iPhone hates it and would love to get even 1MB speeds.
 
Probably stay with ATT for a couple reasons, even though Verizon has LTE where I live and ATT doesn't.

No one in my family has Verizon. So no M2M with them. Doesn't really matter to me, since I don't use all my minutes, but it may affect them more.

If I stay with ATT, I still have a backup phone in case I lose or break my phone. With Verizon, it would all be new phones.

Also, if ATT ever provides a way to share data between an iPad and iPhone, I would be set since I have the ATT iPad.
 
Neither of the above. Sprint will begin rolling out LTE in my neck of the woods this summer. And I've read that "Unlimited Data" will apply to LTE as well. Staying with Sprint and finally getting on the iPhone bandwagon when the forthcoming iteration hits the streets.

...Next project: Upgrade my Mac!
 
mattwallace24 said:
That's a great model as long as you get 100% LTE signal everywhere you go. Otherwise, you fall back to Verizon's pathetic 3G speeds compared to AT&T falling back to their HSPA+ speeds.

Plus, now that AT&T has covered many of the major markets with LTE, Verizon's LTE advantage is dwindling. The real measure for LTE coverage is the % of US population covered. Number of markets is just a marketing ploy. AT&T is quickly catching up in the % of population covered. What will be interesting is how AT&T and Verizon compete against each other once they've both saturated LTE coverage.

At least everyone has finally wised up and Sprint isn't even in the discussion anymore. Everyone I know who bought a Sprint iPhone hates it and would love to get even 1MB speeds.
Click to expand...

Lol, let's get the facts straight:

AT&T's LTE Coverage:

http://www.att.com/network/ (35 markets, > 75 million Americans)

Verizon's LTE Coverage:

http://network4g.verizonwireless.com/ (230 markets, > 200 million Americans)

And I only live/travel to major cities, thus I don't need to worry about fall back to 3G. Even still, my friend has a Verizon 3G iPhone and it's fine for download speeds. A little bit slower on benchmarks? Sure. Noticeable for real world daily use and browsing? Nah.

And if you think AT&T is going to catch up, get a reality check. Verizon won't sit idly by and let AT&T just surpass them. Someday in a few years maybe AT&T will have the same LTE coverage as Verizon, but given they failed to match Verizon's 3G coverage, I wouldn't hold my breath.

So as I said before, more LTE coverage, better customer service, better call reliability, and depending on the market (though since Verizon has more), faster LTE speeds.

So please, remind me again how AT&T has any advantage thus far in the LTE arena?
 
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