And I thought our $200 deposit sucked.
I got screwed over by an ex-girlfriend. Been trying to repair my credit for a few years now.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPhone Details: 5 Years on AT&T, Verizon's Answer?
- Thread starter iKwick7
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I got screwed over by an ex-girlfriend. Been trying to repair my credit for a few years now.
I disagree. AT&T will be making a **** ton of cash off of this deal. Look at how many people are going to be switching from other carriers ?
Go to Digg sometime, pop in to the MS or Linux section and post something negative and test your theory out. You'll get flamed out of existence. There are plenty of fanboys/cultists on all sides (in fact, by sheer force of numbers it stands to reason that the MS fanboys outnumber the Mac fanboys by a wide margin.) So why doesn't USA Today speak about MS customers in terms of "Microsoft's cultlike following?"
I'm not saying that Apple doesn't have its "cult followers," so to speak. What I object to is invoking it as a preemptive excuse for why the iPhone will do well. I also don't like seeing USA Today push that old Mac user stereotype. Using a phrase like that in a news article is insulting to the reader and a form of editorializing--both very bad journalism.
I've been with Verizon for 3 and a half years. I've never been dissatisfied with the service I've gotten.
I will be switching to AT&T for the iPhone the day it's released.
I will be switching to AT&T for the iPhone the day it's released.
iPhone killer? hardly
I have to say, the iPhone looks like a superb piece of hardware. If it were not exclusive on a crusty GSM network, I would be likely to consider a purchase. However, having experienced the power of CDMA, I cannot fathom why Steve would have gone with AT&T. I'm with Verizon for data and voice, and would have loved to add an iPhone to my arsenal.
On the other hand, I see no restrictions in terms of WiMax mentioned. Perhaps Sprint will get a WiMax edition of the iPhone once their network is sufficiently developed? I know... wishful thinking.
An iPhone without 3G speed is just a pretty iPod that makes phone calls. With 3G it could be the paradigm shifter.
Until then, I'll keep lugging around the ol' PowerBook with my EVDO card.
I have to say, the iPhone looks like a superb piece of hardware. If it were not exclusive on a crusty GSM network, I would be likely to consider a purchase. However, having experienced the power of CDMA, I cannot fathom why Steve would have gone with AT&T. I'm with Verizon for data and voice, and would have loved to add an iPhone to my arsenal.
On the other hand, I see no restrictions in terms of WiMax mentioned. Perhaps Sprint will get a WiMax edition of the iPhone once their network is sufficiently developed? I know... wishful thinking.
An iPhone without 3G speed is just a pretty iPod that makes phone calls. With 3G it could be the paradigm shifter.
Until then, I'll keep lugging around the ol' PowerBook with my EVDO card.
AMEN BROTHER... I can so do without AT&T so the iPhone can shove it too. Why would I want to switch from an moderately okay cell phone company with good phones to a crappy company with a reasonably great phone?
Cingular ATT has been good to me.
I renewed my two years with Cingular in Feburary after realizing that the iPhone was delayed and I have to say that I have been VERY impressed with the New Cingular ATT.
Their customer service is Greatly improved and their service gets better everyday.
Now when I can ditch this Pearl for an iPhone, I should be really satisfied.
Just here to tell all of you worried about cingular that I have noticed a significant improvement over the past 7 months. And I have had plans with ALL carriers over the past 15 years.
Dante
I renewed my two years with Cingular in Feburary after realizing that the iPhone was delayed and I have to say that I have been VERY impressed with the New Cingular ATT.
Their customer service is Greatly improved and their service gets better everyday.
Now when I can ditch this Pearl for an iPhone, I should be really satisfied.
Just here to tell all of you worried about cingular that I have noticed a significant improvement over the past 7 months. And I have had plans with ALL carriers over the past 15 years.
Dante
I have to say, the iPhone looks like a superb piece of hardware. If it were not exclusive on a crusty GSM network, I would be likely to consider a purchase. However, having experienced the power of CDMA, I cannot fathom why Steve would have gone with AT&T. I'm with Verizon for data and voice, and would have loved to add an iPhone to my arsenal.
On the other hand, I see no restrictions in terms of WiMax mentioned. Perhaps Sprint will get a WiMax edition of the iPhone once their network is sufficiently developed? I know... wishful thinking.
An iPhone without 3G speed is just a pretty iPod that makes phone calls. With 3G it could be the paradigm shifter.
Until then, I'll keep lugging around the ol' PowerBook with my EVDO card.
I just wish that they port it over to the Sprint network before I get that new Treo 755p with all the fixin's...
Oh wait... too late, sorry Apple. If you made the phone for everyone instead of just those that suffer with Cingular you would have had my money. Can't wait for Dell to buy Palm so they can fix that ancient PalmOS
You are probably right. Sprint has been good to me too. As the articles says, I am not going to pay the switching costs for a company that is on par with Sprint, and since the Sprint network offers me a bit more on the wireless end than Cingular it's just not worth it. If Cingular caught me when I bought my first phone 2 years ago then we would have something, but their initial payment was way over my budget, so Sprint got my money, and I got my first crappy phone from them.
That's only for the short term, while Verizon attempts to launch its answer to the iPhone. Once they do, not as many customers will switch carriers, esspecially if they're already in a good contract. I think that ATT will make most of its money from people who upgrade to the iPhone. Someone like me, who is on the fence about the iPhone, might upgrade after a year or so. Right now, I have no PDA-type plan, but that is the level of service you have to buy with the iPhone. For ATT, that's $50 more per month from a customer like me. I think that's where they are going to make more money, by getting more people to buy the high-date volume plans.
The price tag won't effect the iPhone's sales as much as you think.
As far as AT&T getting screwed, don't care... Apple getting all the money is fine by me... If nothing unexpected comes along before the iPhone launch, I'm hoping to see my shares of Apple increase in value by a hundred bucks a share "profit" not including the purchase price
!several points worth noting:
1. since apple and at&t are now connected at the hip, at&t knows that this is a very big external motivator for them to deploy as many towers as possible and to cover any remaining large coverage gaps. since the iphone will first achieve critical mass in the big cities (new york, chicago, la, etc), i'm sure they've been working behind the scenes since steve's keynote to get the network optimized and to increase capacity where need be.
at&t simply cannot afford inaction, especially when you have a vip customer like apple. so in a sense, at&t customers now have a powerful advocate that can put the necessary pressure on at&t to keep the network running smoothly and to provide a great network experience, and neither company can afford to have the iphone fail. it could definitely have a rough start and i'm sure they'll be bugs along the way. anything else, however, would be unacceptable. execution will be critical here.
2. it's been reported that apple originally approached verizon wireless (vzw) for the iphone deal (disclaimer: i have vzw now and have for many years when i originally switched away from then at&t wireless services before their transition to GSM), and it makes sense because, like steve said in the keynote, the killer app on a mobile phone is making calls. i've personally had very good service with vzw (at least in the mid-atlantic region where i live), despite the fact that their phones aren't that inspiring and they're plans are on the upper end of the scale.
HOWEVER, vzw does have an achilles' heel and an overall corporate image problem. for starters, the phones are very uninspiring, and their featureset and form factor are put to shame compared to GSM handsets. their biggest problem is that, similarly to apple where they currently are unsure as to whether or not they want to open up the iPhone to 3rd party development, vzw tries very hard to control the ENTIRE experience on their phones.
vzw is no friend to consumers as they have a policy of crippling the bluetooth functionality (purportedly at the request of developers who create software for their get-it-now service) solution whoon their phones and also prevent (including sprint too?) the use of the 3rd party applications such as google maps and gmail, which are based on the mobile java platform.
3. as i said earlier, i've been a vzw customer for a long time (5+ years), and have been finally started thinking about getting a smartphone with a QWERTY keyboard like a blackberry or nokia e62. however the iphone fulfills all of my mobile needs and would mean that i'd be able to carry one less thing in my pocket (a standalone ipod). i'm definitely getting an iphone and will be overlapping contracts as I have to wait until august to end my vzw service.
4. any lookalikes or copycats made that even try to emulate the iphone and they'll get slammed with a lawsuit. at the keynote, steve said there was 200 patents pending on the iphone. i'd be interested to see if their competitors can actually one-up on the iphone.
i'm looking forward to the iphone!
1. since apple and at&t are now connected at the hip, at&t knows that this is a very big external motivator for them to deploy as many towers as possible and to cover any remaining large coverage gaps. since the iphone will first achieve critical mass in the big cities (new york, chicago, la, etc), i'm sure they've been working behind the scenes since steve's keynote to get the network optimized and to increase capacity where need be.
at&t simply cannot afford inaction, especially when you have a vip customer like apple. so in a sense, at&t customers now have a powerful advocate that can put the necessary pressure on at&t to keep the network running smoothly and to provide a great network experience, and neither company can afford to have the iphone fail. it could definitely have a rough start and i'm sure they'll be bugs along the way. anything else, however, would be unacceptable. execution will be critical here.
2. it's been reported that apple originally approached verizon wireless (vzw) for the iphone deal (disclaimer: i have vzw now and have for many years when i originally switched away from then at&t wireless services before their transition to GSM), and it makes sense because, like steve said in the keynote, the killer app on a mobile phone is making calls. i've personally had very good service with vzw (at least in the mid-atlantic region where i live), despite the fact that their phones aren't that inspiring and they're plans are on the upper end of the scale.
HOWEVER, vzw does have an achilles' heel and an overall corporate image problem. for starters, the phones are very uninspiring, and their featureset and form factor are put to shame compared to GSM handsets. their biggest problem is that, similarly to apple where they currently are unsure as to whether or not they want to open up the iPhone to 3rd party development, vzw tries very hard to control the ENTIRE experience on their phones.
vzw is no friend to consumers as they have a policy of crippling the bluetooth functionality (purportedly at the request of developers who create software for their get-it-now service) solution whoon their phones and also prevent (including sprint too?) the use of the 3rd party applications such as google maps and gmail, which are based on the mobile java platform.
3. as i said earlier, i've been a vzw customer for a long time (5+ years), and have been finally started thinking about getting a smartphone with a QWERTY keyboard like a blackberry or nokia e62. however the iphone fulfills all of my mobile needs and would mean that i'd be able to carry one less thing in my pocket (a standalone ipod). i'm definitely getting an iphone and will be overlapping contracts as I have to wait until august to end my vzw service.
4. any lookalikes or copycats made that even try to emulate the iphone and they'll get slammed with a lawsuit. at the keynote, steve said there was 200 patents pending on the iphone. i'd be interested to see if their competitors can actually one-up on the iphone.
i'm looking forward to the iphone!
Not Unusual at all
Not unusual at all. Your pissed at AT&T, there's this guy pissed at Verizon (see below), a friend of mine is pissed with Alltel and Alltel lost them as a "valued" customer they could have had for the past eight years and the world just keeps on spinnin!
Go to YouTube and search for "Verizon Math" where Verizon's associates didn't know the difference between "cents" and "dollars" and were adament about the customer "owing" $71.786 versus the customer's math coming out to be .71786¢... $71 plus Bucks vs. .71¢ Cents - BIG DIFF, however, there is no big diff in that in any circumstance that will greatly favor you versus the wireless carrier, you are going to get screwed no matter who your carrier is. Why should the carrier mind, whopping termination fees, and they may "lose" you because you are pissed at them and you go to wireless "carrier A", while a pissed off "carrier A" patron is switching and is replacing "YOU" as a lost customer. Just keep them checks paying for wireless service a coming each month. Because the wireless carriers philosphy is 'A Fool and His Money Are Soon Parted"!
Not unusual at all. Your pissed at AT&T, there's this guy pissed at Verizon (see below), a friend of mine is pissed with Alltel and Alltel lost them as a "valued" customer they could have had for the past eight years and the world just keeps on spinnin!
Go to YouTube and search for "Verizon Math" where Verizon's associates didn't know the difference between "cents" and "dollars" and were adament about the customer "owing" $71.786 versus the customer's math coming out to be .71786¢... $71 plus Bucks vs. .71¢ Cents - BIG DIFF, however, there is no big diff in that in any circumstance that will greatly favor you versus the wireless carrier, you are going to get screwed no matter who your carrier is. Why should the carrier mind, whopping termination fees, and they may "lose" you because you are pissed at them and you go to wireless "carrier A", while a pissed off "carrier A" patron is switching and is replacing "YOU" as a lost customer. Just keep them checks paying for wireless service a coming each month. Because the wireless carriers philosphy is 'A Fool and His Money Are Soon Parted"!
My girlfriend can get google maps on her Treo so I am not sure if Sprint cripples that feature. She can access any site on the web so far.
I am looking forward to the iPhone as well, too bad its going to be Rev 1 of the iPhone Pro or whatever they come out with in 5 years.
Keyword here is PENDING!
Any competitor can emulate the same technology and backdating seems to be all the rage in the corporate world with regards to stock, why not backdate this emulated technology and say they came with it first and Apple is copying them!
Before anyone busts a gut, this post must be read with the sarcasm it was written in!
So should Apple form a separate and unaffiliated company to do CDMA? Verizon gave them the finger.
Who is going to deploy wimax nationwide?
Rocketman
My brother swears by Verizon (Southern California) and hates with a passion Cingular (actual first hand experience).
I was an ATT analog cellular roaming customer nationwide and frankly it was better on that basis than other carriers.
So.
I say cellular satisfaction is regional. I admit to being a bit worried Cingular/ATT is hated in suburban LA, CA.
Rocketman
I was an ATT analog cellular roaming customer nationwide and frankly it was better on that basis than other carriers.
So.
I say cellular satisfaction is regional. I admit to being a bit worried Cingular/ATT is hated in suburban LA, CA.
Rocketman
Then you aren't looking hard enough. All jokes aside I was on Crapular for a year in '04 when I was with Computer Science Corp. It was the worse expierence I've had ever from a carrier. Crappy customer service. Crappy games with my bill. Crappy signal strength where ever I would go. (When I'm on the phone at least 20 times a day (Not an exaggeration.) within a 30 mile radius around the MN Twin Cities and I get at least 2-3 drops a day....Crap. Pure and simple.
Then there is the office that I support. The company's carrier of choice is Crapular. I've been doing some random polling, since I've worked there 7 years I can ask people these questions while I work on their system.
The best response I've received so far after about 2 dozen inquiries is "meh. Its free." Thats about it. Most don't like them for various reasons, and I think it falls back into the same reason as MS is still being used. Its not pissing them off enough to really switch to a different carrier. Its "good enough" and its also mandated by corp so what are ya going to do?
You couldn't pay me to go back to those people. My company phone is Sprint. My personal phone is T-Mobile and I've had nothing but good luck with them. (Them being T-Mobile.) Sprint has been meh. Pretty good service...customer support has been "OK".
iPhone or no iPhone, I will NEVER go back to Crapular.
Yah right. When was the last time you saw people who use Windows go rapid over what was not released at WINHEC? How many rumor\news sites are there dedicated to Apple vs. MS sites? Do sites routinely crash when MS has a major event? Do people stay up all night getting ready for a Dell Keynote?
Sorry inkswamp. While USA Today may have worded it poorly. The meaning was spot on.
An iPhone killer like all those iPod killers, right? Ya, right.
Difference 1: The iPod was already entrenched when everyone else woke up.
Difference 2: You don't need to spend $500 and sign a 2 year contract to get an iPod.
Difference 3: The iPod is not a 1st gen device. (We know how reliable Apple's first gen devices are.
Difference 4: There are already plenty of similar devices on the drawing boards that will be out before the end of the year. Some which were announced before the iPhone even.
Difference 5: $500\$600 vs. $80-$350
Yes I'm certain Sony said the same thing about the PS3.
I am in the same bost as your brother. I hate Cingular I had then 6 years ago under Pacific Bell. That's the major obstacle for me in getting an iPhone. I guess I'll wait for the iPod 6g in order to keep my Verizon (at least is OK reception). Too bad. I wish I could unlock the iPhone and use Verizon, but because of CDMA, I think I am out of luck.
Who's Talking about iPhone
Interesting happening at work today. I work for a MAJOR financial institution and during a Town Hall managers' meeting with one of the top "Brand" (Marketing) execs the discussion turned to product identity and the dude said something along the lines of "nobody knew they wanted or needed an iPod until Apple made it!" Then he said " how many of you out there are standing in line waiting for the iPhone; gotta have it, gotta have it." A lot of hands went up including mine.
Interesting happening at work today. I work for a MAJOR financial institution and during a Town Hall managers' meeting with one of the top "Brand" (Marketing) execs the discussion turned to product identity and the dude said something along the lines of "nobody knew they wanted or needed an iPod until Apple made it!" Then he said " how many of you out there are standing in line waiting for the iPhone; gotta have it, gotta have it." A lot of hands went up including mine.
The only device that remotely looks like the iPhone is Palm's T|X, which alas, currently doesn't have a phone in it. If it were to be modified to have one...