Excellent news all around.
Verizon picks up new subscribers.
Bandwidth is freed up for the many new Android phones AT&T is adding since Apple eases up on the control they exert, as it is now split between two carriers.
Everyone benefits.
Proving once again that sometimes others besides Apple do benefit.
Competition is a good thing. While ATT may lose some users initially, they will have to find a way to keep there iPhone base from leaving. Till Verizon finds a way to allow for voice calls and data at the same time on the iPhone - ATT may come out a head there. And we still have to see what the data plans end up looking like for Verizon.
Sure lots has been said about the wifi hotspot function - but at what cost? Also how will unlimited data be defined by Verizon? And ATT still seems to have the market on rollover minutes - one of the reasons I still stay with them.
I suspect that by middle to late this year we might just see those that jump ship from ATT to Verizon come back to ATT.
Alos will be fun to see how Apple spins the iPhone now that it will be on a CDMA network. The joy of the iPhone has been being able to talk and chew data at the same time.
In our lab, the people with Verizon can make/receive calls with no issue. However, us chumps with ATT have one bar and have to stand by a window (or go outside) to do the same thing.
LOL... reminds me of this past summer with a group of friends on an outing to Kings Dominion. We stopped for dinner in Fredericksburg at a Shoneys (don't eat there!). Our Verizon friends had 1 to no bars - but us ATT/iPhone users had 5 bars! Was a priceless moment!
AT&T is either great or horrible. There's really not much in-between. At home, I get five bars and 6 Mbps. My calls never drop. But at work, I get one or two pretty marginal bars and nearly every call drops. The data clocks in at less than 1 Mbps.
Verizon is more consistent. Never exceptionally good, but good enough to make a call just about anywhere. And their data network tops out a lot lower than AT&T's.
For most people, coverage is more important than speed, so I imagine AT&T losing iPhone exclusivity is going to hurt them quite a bit. Let's hope this makes AT&T get competitive and work on their network.
Like your speeds; but here at 7PM or so I am just a 1Mbps for both
I love it when people keep throwing the Voice/Date card around but you forget one thing.. Every time you use both Voice and Date you using more power and that means your battery do not last as long as if you use one at a time.. I care more about reserve my battery then using both Voice/Date..
Not a heavy user of doing both at the same time; but there is a reason a keep a mains/car charger handy with me....
I have a crappy, dying 3G (not even a 3Gs) and I'd like to upgrade to a 4. My contract has expired, so I could switch. My unlimited data plan and simultaneous voice/data compels me to stay with ATT, even though I don't really love the service.
What I want is a break from the $199 so I can renew my contract and get an iPhone 4. The discounts on ATT's site are all for new subscribers, nothing for renewing subscribers. They still have to pay $199 for the phone.
Doubt that you will see much on that end. The best one can hope for there is asking for some sort of concession on services. That is the route that I will be trying with my better half. He wants an iPhone, so we were/are planning in doing a family plan together. He is on a pay as you go with Verizon right now.
Just happy that I made him wait till this week at least. LOL Now we have to wait till February 3 or 10 to see what Verizon has up their sleeves for voice and data plans. My thinking is that MAYBE just MAYBE we can get something like early nights and weekends, or free tethering, or since we found out I am eligible for an upgrade in January 2012 from my iPhone 4 - see if we can get a cheap phone for now and let him have my iPhone 4 when I upgrade to the iPhone 5 next year... so many options to try and see if they work.
and have inside info?
