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

Dwalls90 said:
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?
Click to expand...

I'm a Verizon 4G LTE mifi customer, and I live in a major city... and I still LOL at this. Where I live, Verizon markets 4G LTE coverage in our area, but it is still spotty, and constantly switiches from LTE to 3G... and to say 3G download speeds are fine... hehe... It's fine most of the time, but it's slow... and at times... unusable. I'm still a happy Verizon customer.... but I don't claim that Verizon is the best thing ever. To be honest, I would rather have a LTE mifi device that switches HSPA+ speeds than Verizon's 3G, but I'll continue to stick with Verizon for my mifi device. It's nice having both AT&T and Verizon data plans so I have more options depending on my location. I don't claim AT&T is great either... but I'm satisfied as a AT&T customer also...

AT&T hate much? :p
 
eastercat said:
I've got an unlimited data plan and a fan discount. I've no reason to move to Verizon.
Click to expand...

Well, technically AT&T grandfathered unlimited data is 5gb so it's not really unlimited LTE. That's why I'm debating to keep my grandfathered unlimited Verizon 4g LTE with no throttling. Hopefully Verizon does not start throttling when the iPhone 5 hits.
 
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Well if you live in a bubble, the big-city bubble, and never travel...maybe Verizon LTE will suit you. But for most folks, the speed drop from LTE to EVDO is nearly as bad as from 3G to EDGE on the GSM side. (Percentage wise.)

HSPA+ competes far more favorably with LTE. I think AT&T has the edge here, despite the lack of LTE coverage. I would wager most folks could not tell the difference between a good HSPA+ network and LTE if the little symbol didn't tell them. That is not true of EVDO relative to LTE, you most definitely will feel the hit.
 
I have considered switching but doubt that I will until after I move and judge the coverage on 4G in my new apartment and work.
 
I am almost certain I'll be switching to Verizon.

AT&T has NEVER improved the call drops in my area (Chicago suburbs). This alone is inexcusable and reason to jump. There are places where calls drop and have dropped before the introduction of the iPhone. Yes, that damn long.

To me, this indicates a disregard for customers that borders on the insane. Either they don't know that calls have been dropping for years (and are incompetent to run a network), or they can't figure out how to stop the drops (and again are incompetent), or they don't care (sounds about right).

I estimate my dropped call rate under AT&T to be near 50%. That is, every other call I make has a drop. The gold standard for call drops was 2%, then it went to 1%, and I've seen Verizon markets where dropped calls were around 0.5%. That's one dropped call out of 200. I'd love to have that.

Let me put this another way - a few years ago, I had to be on a many-hour conference call. I was mobile at the time, and I drove across portions of 3 midwestern states, encompassing many MTSO and 3 separate Verizon regions. The call remained up the entire time, IIRC I was on for more than 6 hours, mobile the entire time - across rural areas and into Chicago.

With AT&T, I estimate I would have dropped more than 20 times - and I would have had nasty audio issues for a good portion of the call.

Mind you, I'm not in love with more than a few VzW business practices. But I know VzW's technical practices first-hand, and I've experienced AT&Ts technical incompetence for too long.

One potential factor however is VzW's long-term issue of not having good LTE bands for higher capacity usage. They've got 700 MHz which is awesome for rolling out coverage, but it won't be able to support as many users as the 1.8 and 2.0 GHz bands will.

erayser said:
I'm a Verizon 4G LTE mifi customer, and I live in a major city... and I still LOL at this. Where I live, Verizon markets 4G LTE coverage in our area, but it is still spotty, and constantly switiches from LTE to 3G...
Click to expand...

Just FYI, I also have a MiFi, and it's absolutely terrible in handing up and handing down (EVDO to LTE and back again). That is, it gets stuck on one technology and tries to use it for far too long before it tries to switch to the other technology.

I've actually taken to rebooting the thing on a regular basis in order for it to re-select the right technology.
 
Dwalls90 said:
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.
Click to expand...
I switched to Verizon with the iPhone 4s came out, thinking exactly the same thing. Man, what a huge freaking mistake that thought was.

The ONLY thing on my Verizon iPhone 4s that doesn't feel noticeably slower than my AT&T iPhone 4 is surfing simple websites, like forums.

Just about everything else I do in "real world daily use" *IS* noticeably slower, sometimes maddeningly slower:
- using an app that pulls down a bunch of data, like refreshing Facebook/Flipboard/USA TODAY, checking in on Foursquare, trying to see the radar image in Weatherbug, panning around in the Maps app, etc
- downloading ANYTHING from the iTunes/App Stores. As a test, I just tried downloading the Top Free iPhone app, and four minutes later, it's only about 60% done.
- sending/receiving pictures/videos through iMessage

Verizon's back is to the wall on this, and their only hope is to deploy LTE as quickly as they possibly can. They have no other card to play.
 

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Out here in the (relative) sticks, the only folks I know who went with the Verizon iPhone did so for coverage, not data speeds. And good thing, because EVDO data is very, very slow. The network is so full of devices and users now...Like I said, I am lucky to get 3/4 of a megabit and that is generous sometimes. AT&T HSPA+ I can do between 3.5 and 5 megabits on a routine basis. That's a huge difference. Then again, if AT&T doesn't cover a particular area (or you travel where they do not) the speed of the service doesn't make much of a difference. Location, location, location.
 
chiefpavvy said:
Then again, if AT&T doesn't cover a particular area (or you travel where they do not) the speed of the service doesn't make much of a difference. Location, location, location.
Click to expand...

Bingo.

AT&T's treatment of non-urban areas is simply shameful. In a long trip from the midwest to the southeast coast and back, AT&T was unusable for some 90%+ of the trip for data. AT&T's EDGE is terrible. I've posted about it before, search my past posts for more detail...

Meanwhile, my Verizon data coverage was great almost the entire time.

You can talk about HSPA and HSPA+ all you want, if it's not deployed where you are, you're absolutely stuck.
 
You know what I went that route with the iPhone from AT&T to Verizon . Then went back to AT&T I found AT&T had better signal just my opinion
 
aristobrat said:
I switched to Verizon with the iPhone 4s came out, thinking exactly the same thing. Man, what a huge freaking mistake that thought was.

The ONLY thing on my Verizon iPhone 4s that doesn't feel noticeably slower than my AT&T iPhone 4 is surfing simple websites, like forums.

Just about everything else I do in "real world daily use" *IS* noticeably slower, sometimes maddeningly slower:
- using an app that pulls down a bunch of data, like refreshing Facebook/Flipboard/USA TODAY, checking in on Foursquare, trying to see the radar image in Weatherbug, panning around in the Maps app, etc
- downloading ANYTHING from the iTunes/App Stores. As a test, I just tried downloading the Top Free iPhone app, and four minutes later, it's only about 60% done.
- sending/receiving pictures/videos through iMessage

Verizon's back is to the wall on this, and their only hope is to deploy LTE as quickly as they possibly can. They have no other card to play.
Click to expand...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd-XzOyHkVA&feature=related
 
I have an iPhone on both networks so I can have both and not have to switch.

AT&T is more reliable for me at home but away from home, both are equal in speed and reliability.

I get lots of dropped calls at home using Verizon.
 
PacificBeach said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd-XzOyHkVA&feature=related
Click to expand...
Cool video. Below are my Verizon LTE iPad Speed Test results for my area.

As you can see, the LTE download speeds are all over the board. Sometimes they're slower than 5mpbs down, sometimes they're faster than 30mbps down.

As long as the iPad doesn't drop back down to Verizon's 3G network (which seems to happen a few times a day, randomly), I'm generally happy with Verizon's LTE speeds. When I was at Dallas-Fort Worth airport earlier this week, I'd have 4-5 bars of LTE, and then it'd go to "Searching...", and then I'd be on their 3G network (which I despise).

I won't be one of the first to buy a Verizon LTE iPhone. I want to read some real-user reviews on battery life and how well it stays on Verizon's LTE network (vs. dropping down to their 3G network).

Code: 
Date	        Type	Down	Up	Latency	ServerName
5/3/12 13:28	Cell	11,164	1,882	117	Dallas, TX
4/30/12 13:48	Cell	12,072	12,193	39	Portland, OR
4/29/12 20:58	Cell	16,326	7,394	38	Portland, OR
4/12/12 17:26	Cell	31,527	11,972	59	Herndon, VA
4/10/12 13:20	Cell	18,422	9,929	70	Herndon, VA
4/5/12 21:26	Cell	8,769	9,935	67	Herndon, VA
3/27/12 16:06	Cell	2,161	928	103	Herndon, VA
3/27/12 13:40	Cell	32,458	13,033	67	Herndon, VA
3/26/12 15:59	Cell	10,525	5,543	58	Herndon, VA
3/24/12 18:54	Cell	28,877	8,761	71	Herndon, VA
3/24/12 18:54	Cell	26,589	7,826	71	Herndon, VA
3/24/12 18:53	Cell	27,577	10,084	75	Herndon, VA
3/24/12 18:52	Cell	32,838	12,687	59	Herndon, VA
3/23/12 20:48	Cell	6,198	770	68	Herndon, VA
3/21/12 17:30	Cell	10,297	12,102	60	Herndon, VA
3/21/12 17:11	Cell	12,699	8,744	77	Herndon, VA
3/21/12 13:31	Cell	12,869	693	70	Herndon, VA
3/21/12 13:30	Cell	7,551	2,367	65	Herndon, VA
3/21/12 8:48	Cell	30,486	6,575	72	Herndon, VA
3/21/12 8:41	Cell	5,425	2,675	61	Herndon, VA
3/20/12 15:36	Cell	9,211	117	73	Herndon, VA
3/20/12 11:00	Cell	11,475	4,194	70	Herndon, VA
3/19/12 20:26	Cell	9,708	10,579	75	Herndon, VA
3/19/12 20:26	Cell	8,212	4,137	72	Herndon, VA
3/19/12 20:25	Cell	6,696	11,245	76	Herndon, VA
3/19/12 17:07	Cell	4,145	2,894	71	Herndon, VA
3/19/12 16:14	Cell	13,937	6,008	82	Herndon, VA
3/19/12 11:37	Cell	8,068	4,158	75	Herndon, VA
3/19/12 10:25	Cell	10,937	1,378	75	Herndon, VA
3/19/12 10:21	Cell	6,476	1,750	82	Herndon, VA
3/19/12 10:20	Cell	3,319	2,309	74	Herndon, VA
3/19/12 10:17	Cell	16,285	4,971	78	Herndon, VA
3/16/12 11:09	Cell	6,506	2,372	71	Herndon, VA
3/16/12 10:56	Cell	3,826	1,591	92	Herndon, VA
3/16/12 10:49	Cell	753	521	72	Herndon, VA
3/16/12 10:34	Cell	5,442	118	107	Herndon, VA
3/16/12 10:33	Cell	1,949	143	88	Herndon, VA
3/16/12 10:33	Cell	2,058	513	128	Herndon, VA
3/16/12 10:26	Cell	3,004	3,062	71	Herndon, VA
3/16/12 10:25	Cell	4,148	3,984	89	Herndon, VA
3/16/12 10:15	Cell	9,795	2,594	80	Herndon, VA
3/16/12 10:15	Cell	11,289	862	73	Herndon, VA
3/16/12 10:14	Cell	9,261	357	75	Herndon, VA
3/16/12 9:33	Cell	6,324	156	72	Herndon, VA
3/16/12 9:29	Cell	5,973	1,894	69	Herndon, VA
 
Likely switching to vzw

AT&T drops calls at an absurd rate for me- sickening really considering I live in NYC suburb . Wife has IP4 on VZW and no issues.

Vzw and my old blackberry rarely if ever dropped calls.

I like the speed and sim card of AT&T but that should be moot next gen
 
Applejuiced said:
My numbers here with AT&T's HSPA+ is around 8-9mpbs and Im more than satisfied. That's all that matters to me. Do I care if you get faster Verizon LTE speeds somewhere else in the country where here there is no verizon LTE coverage at all?
/QUOTE]

I get 57-59Mbps in beautiful California then when i travel to Dallas each week i get 47-49Mbps in Dallas Fort-Worth
Click to expand...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I'm lucky to get 4mbps up and 1mbps down, but I'm in a "good" area.

----------
erayser said:
I'm a Verizon 4G LTE mifi customer, and I live in a major city... and I still LOL at this. Where I live, Verizon markets 4G LTE coverage in our area, but it is still spotty, and constantly switiches from LTE to 3G... and to say 3G download speeds are fine... hehe... It's fine most of the time, but it's slow... and at times... unusable. I'm still a happy Verizon customer.... but I don't claim that Verizon is the best thing ever. To be honest, I would rather have a LTE mifi device that switches HSPA+ speeds than Verizon's 3G, but I'll continue to stick with Verizon for my mifi device. It's nice having both AT&T and Verizon data plans so I have more options depending on my location. I don't claim AT&T is great either... but I'm satisfied as a AT&T customer also...

AT&T hate much? :p
Click to expand...

I'm on AT&T, and yes, I do hate the company.

And I'm sorry, maybe your MIFI hardware is busted or old, because my friend's LTE Verizon phone constantly kicks my iPhones ass.

aristobrat said:
I switched to Verizon with the iPhone 4s came out, thinking exactly the same thing. Man, what a huge freaking mistake that thought was.

The ONLY thing on my Verizon iPhone 4s that doesn't feel noticeably slower than my AT&T iPhone 4 is surfing simple websites, like forums.

Just about everything else I do in "real world daily use" *IS* noticeably slower, sometimes maddeningly slower:
- using an app that pulls down a bunch of data, like refreshing Facebook/Flipboard/USA TODAY, checking in on Foursquare, trying to see the radar image in Weatherbug, panning around in the Maps app, etc
- downloading ANYTHING from the iTunes/App Stores. As a test, I just tried downloading the Top Free iPhone app, and four minutes later, it's only about 60% done.
- sending/receiving pictures/videos through iMessage

Verizon's back is to the wall on this, and their only hope is to deploy LTE as quickly as they possibly can. They have no other card to play.
Click to expand...

These apps do not use that much data, maybe a few kilobytes per refresh, no more than a megabyte, thus I think you are psyching yourself out here, since 3G on Verizon at least gets about 500 kb/s. For the record, Facebook app lags on WiFi on my 4S. Plus CDMA has lesser lag connect times meaning that once you initiate a request over the network it's processed more quickly than on GSM.
 
Dwalls90 said:
I'm on AT&T, and yes, I do hate the company.

And I'm sorry, maybe your MIFI hardware is busted or old, because my friend's LTE Verizon phone constantly kicks my iPhones ass.
Click to expand...

Nothing is wrong with my mifi... and LMAO on you thinking 4G LTE devices as old. But the reality is... you are not going to have 100% LTE coverage... even if you live in a big city where Verizon markets LTE coverage. There will be locations in the city where it will switch to Verizon 3G (evdo), which is slow... unless you live in a magical LTE land where location is not a factor. I don't mind that it's slow when browsing... but watching video, netflix, hulu... it doesn't do that great. I really like the service Verizon has provided me... and I will still be a customer. But when service bad... I just think it's because of the location I'm in at that time. I guess it's hard for people to grasp the concept that location could be factor of poor service. To much bias/ignorance in this thread. I am a customer of both AT&T and Verizon, and both aren't perfect. I don't get butt hurt if a person goes with a company I dislike. If they get the best service for from that company... then I applaud them for making the best decision for their location.
 
erayser said:
Nothing is wrong with my mifi... and LMAO on you thinking 4G LTE devices as old. But the reality is... you are not going to have 100% LTE coverage... even if you live in a big city where Verizon markets LTE coverage. There will be locations in the city where it will switch to Verizon 3G (evdo), which is slow... unless you live in a magical LTE land where location is not a factor. I don't mind that it's slow when browsing... but watching video, netflix, hulu... it doesn't do that great. I really like the service Verizon has provided me... and I will still be a customer. But when service bad... I just think it's because of the location I'm in at that time. I guess it's hard for people to grasp the concept that location could be factor of poor service. To much bias/ignorance in this thread. I am a customer of both AT&T and Verizon, and both aren't perfect. I don't get butt hurt if a person goes with a company I dislike. If they get the best service for from that company... then I applaud them for making the best decision for their location.
Click to expand...

Ok. Well there are no "coverage issues" with LTE in my city.
 
erayser said:
I'm a Verizon 4G LTE mifi customer, and I live in a major city... and I still LOL at this. Where I live, Verizon markets 4G LTE coverage in our area, but it is still spotty, and constantly switiches from LTE to 3G... and to say 3G download speeds are fine... hehe... It's fine most of the time, but it's slow... and at times... unusable. I'm still a happy Verizon customer.... but I don't claim that Verizon is the best thing ever. To be honest, I would rather have a LTE mifi device that switches HSPA+ speeds than Verizon's 3G, but I'll continue to stick with Verizon for my mifi device. It's nice having both AT&T and Verizon data plans so I have more options depending on my location. I don't claim AT&T is great either... but I'm satisfied as a AT&T customer also...

AT&T hate much? :p
Click to expand...

I have both Verizon and ATT cell phone service and agree with your assesment.

Getting back to the 200 million LTE coverage Verizon currently provides vs. 75 million ATT provides. (as of Jan 2012)

That poster needs to realize population vs. area coverage mean different things. ATT can easily add say Philadelphia, Seattle and South Florida (which is about to officially go live any time now...people have been getting LTE signals in Miami for over a month now). Adding just those 3 cities can bring ATT up to well over 90 million immediately.

Also since Jan 2012 reporting ATT turned on Tampa, FL area along with the real Orange County, California.

So ATT will reach 150 million or so very quickly and very soon. Much faster than Verizon will reach 250 million.

I am in Orlando area and have both Verizon and ATT. Verizon LTE is very good but you will switch in and out of LTE/3G especially when going inside some buildings especially downtown.
 
I'm staying with AT&T. Coverage is great for both carriers in my area. One thing to consider when falling back onto 3G is with AT&T you retain simultaneous voice and data functionality. With Verizon, if you go out of a LTE coverage area you'll not only have potentially slower data compared to AT&T but no more voice and data at the same time. This isn't a huge concern for most people but it sure is a nice convenience.
 
I will be going Verizon, but not because I have a problem with AT&T. I will have two business lines (one from my wife), so it won't be worth it to pay for a personal line. The second business account will be used as a personal line. We will be moving to MA and every city we will spend any appreciable amount of time in is already blanketed in VZW LTE goodness. We will also have unlimited data that we won't have to worry about getting tethered on. :)
 
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