I have 5 iphone family plan, and we are all waiting until our 3GS contracts expire (about 1 year) to jump ship. None of us were polled, I imagine that these numbers are not very accurate at all. Something bad happened with AT&T network between iPhone Edge and iPhone 3GS. Our phones now barely get service at our house (or show 1 bar and it doesn't work anyway & yes, we have the latest iPhone OS that accurately portrays service). And in the rare event the network does work, we would all get call failures soon after or inaudible speech. Then there is that very rare chance that it works perfect, and all is great. But when it all comes down to it, my phone needs to be able to make calls first, I don't care much for speed or being able to use data while on the phone if I can't even get service...
While I am not saying that Verizon is going to be much cheaper, they are certainly more reliable, especially when it comes to network coverage of 3G... Another common misconception I want to debunk is that if VZ gets the iPhone people will think they will experience the same problem as AT&T; I say not so. A recent study has been done about the amount of data usage per user. Verizon has seen more heavy data users than AT&T with over 11% of total subscribers using more than 500MB per month, as opposed to 6.3% on AT&T. Not to mention that Verizon has more total subscribers than AT&T. And we have never heard of such problems on Verizon or even any strain; so I think they will definitely be able to handle any increase from iPhones.
Source:
http://moconews.net/article/419-it-doesnt-take-an-iphone-to-consume-a-lot-of-data-study-finds/
But this survey is very skewed. I feel that not all people will leave AT&T just for iPhone, but rather, will possibly try out an android phone or similar smartphone. And I doubt that anywhere near the same percentage of total subscribers on Verizon will switch over to iPhone if it becomes available on the network as the number of subscribers on AT&T did. This is for the simple fact that Android devices were not really available when the iPhone came out, and are arguably more extensive and widespread on the Verizon network then AT&T, and then there is the large pool of dedicated business blackberry users on Verizon... So I don't expect the same situation with Verizon as happened with AT&T.
Going into the future with LTE: Remember the huge debacle with analog over the air transmissions to be stopped in 2009, and then pushed to the beginning of 2010, and now everything went digital. That is because the U.S. FCC auctioned off the 700Mhz spectrum (that these such ota signals ran on), during what is formerly known as auction 73. In case you haven't been able to connect the dots, Verizon has won the best blocks in this auction and their 4G LTE network will be GSM and will run on this 700mhz spectrum. AT&T's 4G LTE network will also run on the 700Mhz spectrum, but instead of running in block c like Verizon, they will be running in block B. For those that don't know, Block B only supports 12MHz bandwidth, while Verizon's Block C supports 22MHz bandwidth, meaning that AT&T will have worse latency times and be plagued once again if data volume continues to surge, while Verizon will once again remain in the clear. With recent test showing real world results on the Verizon LTE network of 7mbps down and 2mbps up, it is proving to be as fast, or faster, than most home broadband internet connections (with the promise of faster 4G LTE speeds later to come). Verizon is proving to be one of the best positioned carriers going into 2011. Especially considering that Verizon will be launching in "30 NFL cities before the end of 2010."
http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/16/...is-year?icid=sphere_blogsmith_inpage_engadget Which means that Verizon's 4G LTE network expansion plans will cover roughly 100 million americans by the end of 2010, and with AT&T's current 4G expansion plans will cover around 75 million Americans by the end of 2011...
I don't know about you guys, but I am seriously considering going to Verizon after my contract expires. If they receive the iPhone in 2011, well, then its a no-brainer for me... It doesn't surprise me that AT&T is not going to start their rollout of LTE until mid-2011. That is because their 3G infrastructure is not nearly as widespread as Verizon's and even they realize that they can't rely on EDGE to backup areas where there is no 3G or 4G coverage. They cover it up by saying they will be using HSUPA+ to their towers to get better speed on the current 3G network to act like a bridge, but they are mainly using the time to build new 3G towers where there currently is no coverage (2,000 new 3G sites in 2010, and only 6 new major areas with HSUPA+ before 2010). If you thought that their 3G rollout was slow, wait until 4G LTE rollout for AT&T. They are first going to do HSUPA+ on their 3G towers, and when they realize they can no longer get away with 3G latency, they will upgrade the HSUPA+ towers to 4G LTE (you can imagine they will be reluctant to do this right away and waste all the money they invested).
