Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPhone on Verizon in 2008?

The whole deal is depressing. Where I live, Memphis, TN, AT&T is hands down the worst service you can get. Verizon is BY FAR the most reliable cell phone carrier in the entire region. Over the last 10 years, I have subscribed to every cell phone carrier in Memphis and even comparing AT&T to CRICKET, AT&T was inferior. It's total s#%t and I refuse to own an iPhone on AT&T.

I hope Apple opens relations with ANYONE else but AT&T at the end of their exclusivity deal.
 
AT&T is Only 2 Years

I'm also hoping/waiting for an iPhone for Verizon Wireless. Short story is I ended up writing VZW and I surprising received a letter back clearly indicating to me that our beloved company "chose to have an exclusive deal for up to two-years with AT&T." Needless to say I was very surprised a representative in customer care actually documented this matter on VZW letterhead and sent it off. I always thought this type of info was confidential.

The letter further tried to sell me on the LG-1000 Voyager "which has both an interactive touch screen and a full QWERTY keyboard..." No thanks.

Then on top of that they kindly reminded me of my early termination fee of $175 per line for my two lines. I didn't need that pricey reminder.

However, Apple's decision build another model of the iPhone to support VZW's tech is a whole other issue. I guess we will all see what happens next in mid-year 2009.

==========================
eMac, PB 1.5, iBook 1.0, MB 2.4, Apple TV
Waiting for iPhone...
:eek:
 
iPhone on Verizon

I don't know why you all find it so hard to believe Verizon will be supporting an iPhone in late December. I have heard this from some of their supervisors in phone technical suppport and in 2 stores from managers and technical people. If you go back and read the post on the upcoming 4G network that most providers including Verizon will be supporting it's not hard to see an iphone in Verizon's future. And not only iPhone but any other provider's phone you want to use. Verizon already has 2 world phones that are hybrid GSM CDMA. Be assured that no one is enamored with AT & T service. The iPhone is great but in my area DC Metro, Verizon's service is superior. Don't get me wrong there is plenty I do not like about Verizon, mostly their crippling of features on there phones and there constant desire to wring every nickel they can out of there customers. Sometimes it is enough to make me want to switch, but the bottom line is making the call in business and Verizon is still the best in that game for me. Ultimately Verizon and Apple want to do more business and that means expansion.
Also, as kdarling mentioned putting out a CDMA version of the iPhone would not be that big of a deal when you consider how many could be sold. Qualcomm is the exclusive provider of CDMA technology and could easily engineer guts for the iPhone and would only be slightly larger. If you talk to any electrical engineer they will tell you CDMA is superior technology to current GSM and uses only slightly more power than 2G GSM and about equal to 3G GSM power consumption. Unfortunately, alot like the VHS Beta wars. Beta was superior tech but VHS got out in front with more volume early.
 
brianb9 said:
I don't know why you all find it so hard to believe Verizon will be supporting an iPhone in late December. I have heard this from some of their supervisors in phone technical suppport and in 2 stores from managers and technical people. If you go back and read the post on the upcoming 4G network that most providers including Verizon will be supporting it's not hard to see an iphone in Verizon's future. And not only iPhone but any other provider's phone you want to use. Verizon already has 2 world phones that are hybrid GSM CDMA. Be assured that no one is enamored with AT & T service. The iPhone is great but in my area DC Metro, Verizon's service is superior. Don't get me wrong there is plenty I do not like about Verizon, mostly their crippling of features on there phones and there constant desire to wring every nickel they can out of there customers. Sometimes it is enough to make me want to switch, but the bottom line is making the call in business and Verizon is still the best in that game for me. Ultimately Verizon and Apple want to do more business and that means expansion.
Click to expand...

Just because Verizon will be switching to LTE does not mean that Apple will suddenly jump ship because of that. Apple was ready for Verizon but Verizon was not ready for Apple. And they have hybrid CDMA/GSM phones because they are world phones, something that is demanded from business travelers. It's more convenient for them to have just one device for traveling abroad. And the GSM bands on Verizon (and Sprint for that matter) are not US compatible.
 
now that the head of Verizon came out and took Jabs at Jobs..I dont see it ever coming out for Verizon.
 
brianb9 said:
I don't know why you all find it so hard to believe Verizon will be supporting an iPhone in late December. I have heard this from some of their supervisors in phone technical suppport and in 2 stores from managers and technical people. If you go back and read the post on the upcoming 4G network that most providers including Verizon will be supporting it's not hard to see an iphone in Verizon's future. And not only iPhone but any other provider's phone you want to use. Verizon already has 2 world phones that are hybrid GSM CDMA. Be assured that no one is enamored with AT & T service. The iPhone is great but in my area DC Metro, Verizon's service is superior. Don't get me wrong there is plenty I do not like about Verizon, mostly their crippling of features on there phones and there constant desire to wring every nickel they can out of there customers. Sometimes it is enough to make me want to switch, but the bottom line is making the call in business and Verizon is still the best in that game for me. Ultimately Verizon and Apple want to do more business and that means expansion.
Also, as kdarling mentioned putting out a CDMA version of the iPhone would not be that big of a deal when you consider how many could be sold. Qualcomm is the exclusive provider of CDMA technology and could easily engineer guts for the iPhone and would only be slightly larger. If you talk to any electrical engineer they will tell you CDMA is superior technology to current GSM and uses only slightly more power than 2G GSM and about equal to 3G GSM power consumption. Unfortunately, alot like the VHS Beta wars. Beta was superior tech but VHS got out in front with more volume early.
Click to expand...

Yes, but EV-DO/3G CDMA has more power consumption than 3G GSM, defeating your claims of superior technology.

Validating my point, that one Verizon executive was ripping on the iPhone again, and even brought up a good point: "Steve Jobs will eventually get old." So clearly, there won't be an iPhone for Verizon either until Verizon finishes its LTE rollout or until Steve Job gets old enough to retire or die.
 
aphexacid said:
I love how people that cant get an iphone are always trying to claw onto any little bit of "what if!!!!!" they can.

But what if the CEO of AT&T caught Steve Jobs in bed with his wife! that would surely mean the iphone will come to verizon!
....
...........
.................Please?
.................
....
.......No?
Click to expand...

anyone can get the iPhone you dope....people just don't want to leave verizon to go to a inferior network like AT&T
 
Jetsss said:
anyone can get the iPhone you dope....people just don't want to leave verizon to go to a inferior network like AT&T
Click to expand...

anyone? really? If the iPhone is exclusively on the Verizon network, I will just skip the whole thing.
 
Looking back, I can't believe some of the stupidity on this thread. Some make like it would be IMPOSSIBLE for Apple to make a CDMA iPhone. I'm no engineer, but it's probably about as complicated as using a different cellular chip and maybe changing a few lines of code. In other words, the 2.0 update was probably more complicated.

In fact, I read somewhere that Steve Jobs said something along the lines of Apple would probably do it at some point in the future, but he didn't give any timeframe (or "time horizon"). Every other phone maker has done it, so it's obviously not that difficult.

Yes, there's a five-year exclusivity contract. I think everybody gets that. However, about every big contract has a buyout clause. If you don't believe me, check out every football coach's contract when he switches teams. Apple could get out, but it would cost them. How much is probably the biggest hurdle.
 
Jetsss said:
anyone can get the iPhone you dope....people just don't want to leave verizon to go to a inferior network like AT&T
Click to expand...

Verizon is like all other phone carriers

Their network is superior in some areas and absolutely inferior in others

Friend of mine had Verizon in college and it was pathetic how little service he got with his several phones (due to losing them and getting new ones so it wasn't one defective phone)

Verizon is solid in New Orleans though
 
Bosox3 said:
now that the head of Verizon came out and took Jabs at Jobs..I dont see it ever coming out for Verizon.
Click to expand...

You must not remember the head of ATT taking shots at Jobs when the iPhone was first announced and Jobs was bragging that he made ATT change policies for him. They retorted that they got the better deal and Apple bent instead.

(Considering that Apple agreed to an exclusive and gave up 2/3 of the USA market, I'd say ATT was right.)

And yet Jobs stuck with ATT. Everyone does what they have to, insults or not.
 
Michael CM1 said:
Looking back, I can't believe some of the stupidity on this thread. Some make like it would be IMPOSSIBLE for Apple to make a CDMA iPhone. I'm no engineer, but it's probably about as complicated as using a different cellular chip and maybe changing a few lines of code. In other words, the 2.0 update was probably more complicated.
Click to expand...

Considering one of Verizon's higher-up's latest reaction to the iPhone 3G (aka: "Steve Jobs will get old one day"), I don't think Verizon is going to be getting the iPhone anytime soon (at least not until Steve Jobs is "old"). Clearly, this supports my "conflicting egos" assessment.
 
I'm under the understanding that it's not that Verizon wanted its own interface, but wanted some of its own data offerings present on the phone (such as VCast Music, a competing music store to iTunes). Verizon had just spent TONS of money marketing their latest data features like VCast, VZNavigator, etc... and for them to cannibalize their own products with a phone that would probably end up being their most popular in the stable (thus detracting data sales from their own products) all the while giving Apple a percentage of data revenue. In the meantime, at&t had 3 or 4 different music stores and it totally just seemed out of order, so hey, why not?

All in all I can see why things are the way they are. at&t needed the iPhone to help rebrand away from the Cingular name while VZW already had a solid foundation and didn't want to sacrifice the work it had already put into its branding.
 
Have no new news

I would purchase three iPhone immediately if they were on the Verizon network. I have a BB Global and it is nice but not as user friendly and the keyboard is much more difficult to use. I find it strange that since Vodaphone owns much of Verizon that they and Apple did not work a deal. I could purchase an unlocked iphone in London and use it on Vodaphone or any other network since the laws prohibit single source phones. If anyone knows how to permanently unlock an iPhone that would be very worthwhile. I understand the current unlocking is lost the minute a new mod is downloaded.
 
New Developments

I think the most interesting news to date is the fact that Apple is releasing a 700 megahertz version of the Iphone for the Asian market. This is interesting to me because Verizon has just purchased most of the usage rights for the 700 megahertz bandwith here in the United States. I think its inevitable that Apple will end its deal with AT&T and a Verizon Iphone is in the 1-2 year development plan.
 
AFAIK, no Asian country uses 700...

That said both AT&T and Verizon have committed to using their 700 spectrum purchases for LTE. But, just so you remember, Verizon has services that they want customers to pay them to use, and Apple has competing services. You might want Verizon to carry the iPhone, but Verizon might not want to.
 
iPhone will not be on a CDMA nretwork like Sprint or Verizon ever for one good reason, the rest of the world with the exception of a few small countries are GSM/UMTS. That being said, apple is in a good position manufacturing wise, they only need to make one phone and software load. Why would they waste time, money just to have to support multiple disperate technologies. And why would they work with Verizon, a company in their infinite stupidity rejected the iPhone. I would actually like to see the doing away with antiquated CDMA for the more advanced WCDMA networks that are part of the UMTS/HSDPA.
 
Imjamie2 said:
I think the most interesting news to date is the fact that Apple is releasing a 700 megahertz version of the Iphone for the Asian market. This is interesting to me because Verizon has just purchased most of the usage rights for the 700 megahertz bandwith here in the United States. I think its inevitable that Apple will end its deal with AT&T and a Verizon Iphone is in the 1-2 year development plan.
Click to expand...

Where you getting that from?
 
Not trying to stir anything up, nor make any false rumors...

I traveled by plane yesterday and sat next to a person who just happens to have an iPhone. While we only exchanged greetings, he did have his iphone out and I asked to look at it since it is such an intriguing device to me. Long story short, when the plane stopped and he was able to activate the phone from "airplane mode" to regular phone service, the "Verizon Network" showed up on his screen.

I didn't have a chance to ask him how he did it, which is how I found this thread. I am an Alltel customer, who is aware of the Verizon merger, looking for information about how he did this.

In closing, since the att/verizon are two different technologies, I am assuming that their is a way to do this since his phone wouldn't had connected to the verizon network.
 
There's a program for Mac OS called Caption Crunch that allows you to change the carrier name...no need to jailbreak the phone; the program works on a phone fresh out of the box. I have mine set to my initials.
 
minik said:
anyone? really? If the iPhone is exclusively on the Verizon network, I will just skip the whole thing.
Click to expand...

....meaning...if one wanted to they could switch to AT&tT ( horrible ) and get the iPhone...
 
you all should take a look here: http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/09/29/rumor-an-iphone-for-verizon-in-2009/
basically says that THERE IS NO LONG TERM CONTRACT MAKING IPHONE EXCLUSIVELY AT&TS and if you read the comments at the bottom (although prolly not super reliable) they say feb 2009 the iphone for verizon is coming.

Second I don't know if this works but apparently you can "unlock" the iphone. I don't have an iphone to try it on but someone try and let me know how it goes!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQQzOuq12I4&feature=related
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back