Switching...anyone regret dropping Verizon?

[rjphoto]

My personal experience with ATT(Bellsouth>Cingular) was about 12 years ago, so that wouldn't be relivant now (even though it was BAD).

I haven't switched and don't plan on it until iPhone prices come WAY down or the boss buys me one...

However, I have several co-workers that have jumped on the band wagon. (One of which sold me his Verizon Treo 650 at a good price. I haven't had any problems with it.)

Sitting around listening to all of them talk about ATT makes me glad I haven't switched.

Again, like gceo said, happiness varies by service. service varies by area.

The area I live in is very hilly and the EDGE network cuts off about 1 mile down the road according to the map.

 

[gceo]

=> @ Makismagoo99:

In CA you have 30 days to cancel the contract WITHOUT paying an ETF. I got my iPhone about a month before my Vz contract renewed knowing that if I didn't like the at&t service and/or the iPhone I could just cancel the sevice with at&t, not pay an ETF, continue with Vz, and sell the iPhone on eBay for only a small loss, so I felt like I had a safety net. I actually did this years ago when the Razr came out on Cingular first, after 29 days I cancelled my contract with Cingular because the service was terrible (for me) and I didn't like the Razr enough to put up with lesser service. So I say get yourself an iPhone and try it out, if you don't like it, cancel within 30 days and sell the phone. If you're super careful not to scratch the phone in those first 30 days, you can get fairly close to full retail for the phone on ebay.

 

[makismagoo99]

Base your decisions on the network, not the phone. Even if it is the iPhone, what good is an iPhone if the network it's on doesn't cover you?

Precisely the reason I'm researching it as much as possible. The more input I get regarding AT&T's signal/service, the better feel I can get for what to expect if/when I switch.

If you're going to get a smartphone with VZW, get a BlackBerry.

Yeah I've heard pretty good things about the Blackberry. But, like you said, the data plans are expensive. I'd probably opt for it over the Treo, but I was just saying I want/need a smartphone.

In CA you have 30 days to cancel the contract WITHOUT paying an ETF.

How does this work with porting your number over? If I port my number from Verizon, they will probably charge me the ETF. But I doubt that if I go back to Verizon after a few days they would give me my $175 back. I wonder if I could get a new number with the iPhone, try it out, and then if I decide to keep it, port my Verizon number after the fact.

 

[taylorwilsdon]

Verizon's network is trash around my hood. I had Verizon for about 4 years before I dropped it for AT&T this year, what a difference! I get coverage everywhere that I never did before and I got more bars in the places that I would have with Verizon. As always, YMMV and for some people VZW is better then the GSM carriers, but its not for me.

Specifically, I went from 3-4 bars with the Motorola Q to 4-5 bars with the iPhone in downtown, 1 bar or drops with verizon to 3-4 bars with cingular in wedgwood (close-ish to ravenna), from 4-5 bars to 5-5 bars in upper queen anne.

3G coverage isn't perfect. Its about 50/50 in wedgwood (I use an 8525 too) but its still better then dropping all the time with verizon.

 

[zap2]

Verizon's network being better is NOT a fact...it all depends on where you live. In my town, AT&T is much better!

 

[gceo]

How does this work with porting your number over? If I port my number from Verizon, they will probably charge me the ETF.

Activate a new number with at&t when you get your iPhone, then just forward your old number to it. It's an ugly fix, but it's ok for long enough to check it out. If you like it, then port your original number to at&t. It helped me justify the jump.

 

[makismagoo99]

Activate a new number with at&t when you get your iPhone, then just forward your old number to it. It's an ugly fix, but it's ok for long enough to check it out. If you like it, then port your original number to at&t. It helped me justify the jump.

That's a pretty good idea, and it never really occurred to me. I didn't think that you could forward your old number to a phone. It makes sense that you should be able to do that, though.

 

[adilux]

Verizon to AT&T

I've had AT&T in Hawaii before it took over Honolulu Cellular (TDMA). After the switch to GSM, reception was horribl, but has gotten much better (personal phone)

Recently, I ported my company's first 28 lines over from Nextel to Verizon and got a mix of Blackberry 8830 and Casio GzOne Type-V. It's only been 2 weeks into the trial period and we're experiencing a wavy voice quality on all the lines. I mean, it's not clear. Do you verizon experienced users notice this? The verizon guys were telling me it's the phone(s) and insisted on letting me try different phones. I declined.

I began my port of the 28 lines over to AT&T on Friday and I'm going to get the Blackberry Curves and Motorol V365 to replace them. I got about 13 days to get the phones activated, phone book transferred, and find boxes to send each phone back to Verizon so I don't have to pay for the phones.

The reason why I went with Verizon first was because the numbers for Verizon is slightly better (better Churn rate, larger amount of customers, etc). Apple first went to Verizon first to see if they would want to support the iPhone, but Verizon turned them down, so they went to AT&T.

I know AT&T's billing is messed up for corporate accounts. They lump all the minutes onto one number and I need to perform calculus to get each phone's breakdown.

more benefits i see going with AT&T,
1. phones are sim card driven, so if a phone fails, i could transfer the sim card to the new phone and no further work is needed to transfer the contacts (just make sure the contacts are saved on the sim card)
2. Phone selection is bigger with AT&T
3. AT&T blackberries support native AIM, ICQ, and MSN (also YIM, Google talk, and Blackberry IM). Verizon's blackberries only support YIM, Google talk, and Blackberry IM.
4. AT&T's Blackberry 8830 allows you to use the GPS with third party applications (google maps) Verizon's 8830 locks it for only for emergencies.

Benefits i saw going with Verizon
1. the phones seem a little more durable
2. billing is much more cleaner

 

[jjamesv]

I love my new iPhone, but AT&T has not been good. I live in Sacramento and my service has been spotty. I never knew what a dropped call was before I became an AT&T customer. How can they claim they have the fewest?

Having sad that, the phone itself is so revoltionary, it's worth generally sub-par service.

 

[sigamy]

You really have to mention what part of the country you are in when discussing coverage.

I'm in northern & central NJ and Verizon is king around here. I have an iPhone but my wife is still on Verizon and more than a few times she has said she calls me and it doesn't go thru. She just gets a fast busy signal.

I've called AT&T customer service twice. First time they told me it was a tower issue and they did nothing. Next time they sent an update to my SIM card and fixed a problem with VVM.

I bought the phone more for an internet device and iPod. I'm not a big phone user so right now it's not a big issue.

 

[Amblinman]

I live in Northern CA and have had no issues switching whatsoever. I generally give Verizon the highest marks for voice clarity, but I haven't noticed a difference with the iPhone. People I call also tell me they can't hear any difference. Perhaps I'm just lucky.

 

[scho52386]

i miss verizon. i hate cingular/att, but i love the iphone

 

[damienvfx]

i miss verizon. i hate cingular/att, but i love the iphone

Same here. Verizon was good to me.

 

[QCassidy352]

Also in the DC area Veriizon is (still) the only service you can get while riding the Metro. And even if the Metro allowed other carriers to extend service into the Metro tunnels, Verizon claimed it took 1 month for every mile of track to extend their service.

This is the only thing I miss about verizon. I have found AT&T's coverage to be every bit as good. My gf and I have spent the last week in decidedly non-urban areas - she has vzn and I have AT&T, and we've had equivalent coverage the whole time (both really quite good btw).

 

[donlphi]

Switched from Sprint to AT&T.

Sprint = EVDO
AT&T = EDGE

I can't think it works if you aren't in a hurry. I haven't had any UNEXPECTED problems with EDGE. It sucks though.

My phone coverage is MUCH MUCH MUCH better with AT&T.

The function of Safari is much better than anything the other phones have. Hands Down.

 

[devilot]

But the frustrating part with AT&T is, the phone might show a strong signal until you try to make a call. Then you get the 'no service' message. Verizon didn't play this 'switch' trick with me.

ARGH! I hate hate hate that about AT&T. Happens constantly! iPhone says I have full reception and then a couple hours later, I'll get emails/ IMs from folks asking why I didn't pick up-- my phone never rang despite showing full reception. Now, I've asked people to leave a quick voicemail as the phone still seems to pick those up. Hmph.

I live in Northern CA and have had no issues switching whatsoever.

I'm in the Bay Area and I've had horrid AT&T reception. On one corner of my desk, the phone gets no reception, period. In the middle of the desk a mere 8" or so away from the corner, the phone won't ring, but if I dial out, it'll work.

Likewise, having been with Verizon prior for over 6 years, I had never had a dropped call. With AT&T? Had over six dropped calls my first week. And everyday I get "phantom" calls-- meaning people call my cell but it never freaking rings.

All that said, I love the iPhone itself and I love that most of the people I ever talk to are on AT&T so I really make sure of the unlimited m2m. If, if I can ever get a reliable signal. *grumble*

 

[NewSc2]

I live in SoCal. The reception supposedly is "good", and I live in an area where I get 5 bars, but I get 1 or 2 at work, and 1 or 2 in random places (Costco, the mall, etc.). I don't have to walk far to get somewhere with good reception, but AT&T really needs to work on those 1000 sq. ft. dead zones. I switched from T-Mobile, so the coverage is exactly the same (bad). I don't have much regrets with the network, as I can still make 90% of my calls, but the coverage could certainly be better.

 

[Amblinman]

I'm in the Bay Area and I've had horrid AT&T reception. On one corner of my desk, the phone gets no reception, period. In the middle of the desk a mere 8" or so away from the corner, the phone won't ring, but if I dial out, it'll work.

Likewise, having been with Verizon prior for over 6 years, I had never had a dropped call. With AT&T? Had over six dropped calls my first week. And everyday I get "phantom" calls-- meaning people call my cell but it never freaking rings.

All that said, I love the iPhone itself and I love that most of the people I ever talk to are on AT&T so I really make sure of the unlimited m2m. If, if I can ever get a reliable signal. *grumble*

Just goes to show that coverage is an incredibly case-by-case situation. I've never had any of the issues you're describing. I have to tell you, though, that if I did I wouldn't have switched. I love the iPhone, but not enough to put up with the kind of sub par service you're describing.

 

[d21mike]

I live in SoCal (Torrance) and it works great here. I was with AT&T 5 years ago before switching to Verizon. At the time I could not use my phone in a couple of places. Now back to AT&T and I get better service at home and at work.

I recommend you go to the AT&T Web Site and check the places you use the phone the most (on the service coverage map) and make sure it says "Best" service. I have found that it you are in the "Best" then you are in good shape. But it only says "Good" or worse then maybe you won't be as happy. My home and office are both classified as "Best" coverage.

 

[thomash]

When AT&T was TDMA they had, bar far, the best coverage nationwide. Now it's a different story. They have rolled back most of the TDMA in favor for gsm. Granted i've been happy with their gsm coverage but it definately isn't as good of coverage as the old TDMA network.

 

[thomash]

The challenge AT&T has to overcome, as I see it, is the way that GSM networks are designed to be setup vs how tdma was designed to be setup.

Traditionaly tdma networks are built of of massive towers spaced far apart with lots of trancievers on each tower that go to ground immediatly. This works great for tdma, but not as good for gsm. It takes alot more towers to do the same thing (always going to ground) with gsm, and that gets very expensive.

GSM is designed to work with a few large towers that go to ground, and lots of little repeater nodes scattered around the cities to overcome dead spots. In europe you will see gsm repeater nodes every block mounted on everything from traffic lights to billboards, to subway walls. They even will place repeater nodes inside large public buildings.

 

[stockscalper]

I switched from Verizon Worthless two years ago, long before the iPhone came out and I have no regrets whatsoever. I travel a lot and overall I would say coverage is equvilent for the two carriers. There are going to be areas where Verizon has better coverage, but I go into areas all the time where AT&T has coverage and Verizon is either weak or non existent.

With an AT&T phone I can travel to Europe, take my phone with me and make and receive calls. Try that with a Verizon phone. Plus battery life on average with GSM phones is almost double CDMA phones. Not to mention CDMA phones are generally thicker and bigger all around than GSM phones.

 

[gceo]

That's a pretty good idea, and it never really occurred to me. I didn't think that you could forward your old number to a phone. It makes sense that you should be able to do that, though.

Did you pull the trigger yet? Enquiring minds want to know.

 

[jbellanca]

ARGH! I hate hate hate that about AT&T. Happens constantly! iPhone says I have full reception and then a couple hours later, I'll get emails/ IMs from folks asking why I didn't pick up-- my phone never rang despite showing full reception. Now, I've asked people to leave a quick voicemail as the phone still seems to pick those up. Hmph.

You know, I've had AT&T for 8 years and NEVER had this issue - until I got my iPhone. Now it happens pretty frequently. Other people I know with non-iPhones also don't have this problem. I'm convinced this is an iPhone bug/issue, not an AT&T issue.

 

[aloofman]

Just goes to show that coverage is an incredibly case-by-case situation. I've never had any of the issues you're describing. I have to tell you, though, that if I did I wouldn't have switched. I love the iPhone, but not enough to put up with the kind of sub par service you're describing.

I completely agree. The spotty coverage is much more varied than "in northern California" or "in Washington DC." I knew someone whose cell network had a dead spot right on top of his house. He could barely get a signal there, even outside in the front yard. But if he walked 30 yards down the sidewalk, it was crystal clear. People using other cell providers have had no issues at his house.

The best method I've heard of testing a potential new cell company: invite someone you know that already uses them to your house or office or wherever you make most of your calls. See how the reception compares to what you're getting now. Some of the variation will be in the phones, so this isn't perfect, but it's better than asking total strangers around the country how many bars they're showing.