Up until about a year ago, the CDMA network would not allow it at all. SVDO does now allow simultaneous voice and data, but it's up to the network to upgrade their towers to take advantage of the new tech. So while the story isn't the same as it has always been, your statement of "it has nothing to do with the network" is the complete opposite of what is true.
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Verizon iPhone to Ship in A Few Weeks with Unlimited Data Plans?
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Up until about a year ago, the CDMA network would not allow it at all. SVDO does now allow simultaneous voice and data, but it's up to the network to upgrade their towers to take advantage of the new tech. So while the story isn't the same as it has always been, your statement of "it has nothing to do with the network" is the complete opposite of what is true.
And you are like many student interns that work for me - all about the texting. There is one interesting thing which I haven't seen brought up but I know at one time, and think this is still a requirement, AT&T requires you to buy at a certain level of minutes. In other words, you can NOT get an iPhone and get the cheapest minute plan plus you are required to buy a data plan. I think for AT&T the lowest plan cost with an iPhone is $55 or $60.
It will be interesting to see if Verizon follows suite with a minimum minute plan. I think they would since the iPhone is very likely to be subsidized and they have to make their money back some how.
Thats false my friend has the iphone with the lowest plan cost which is $39.99 so i dont know where your getting that info from
Really? Can you point me to what needs to be upgraded on the network to allow this?
SVDO allows the setup of 2 simultaneous steams from the phone. It was chipset dependent.
MacRumors statements with question marks at the end are getting really annoying?
Seriously guys, come on. I've loved the site for years and my friends and have always joked about the way the headlines are presented but it's getting out of hand.
Look at the recent ones:
Verizon iPhone to Ship in A Few Weeks with Unlimited Data Plans?
Next-Generation iPhone Parts Caught on Video?
Apple Limiting Retail Store Staff Vacations Ahead of Verizon iPhone Launch?
AT&T 4G LTE iPhone Planned for 2012 Launch?
Design Drawings for Next iPhone?
Verizon iPhone to Launch February 3rd?
That's just the past few days.
Seriously guys, come on. I've loved the site for years and my friends and have always joked about the way the headlines are presented but it's getting out of hand.
Look at the recent ones:
Verizon iPhone to Ship in A Few Weeks with Unlimited Data Plans?
Next-Generation iPhone Parts Caught on Video?
Apple Limiting Retail Store Staff Vacations Ahead of Verizon iPhone Launch?
AT&T 4G LTE iPhone Planned for 2012 Launch?
Design Drawings for Next iPhone?
Verizon iPhone to Launch February 3rd?
That's just the past few days.
why can't you say unlimited? i just recieved a letter from AT&T 'reminding' me there are wifi hotspots i can use with my iphone. my data usage for last month was over 20gb and per the letter higher than 99.9% of att smartphone users.
so when you have unlimited... it's literally as much as you can use...
unless (which i probably did) misread your point.
*edit: oh i guess you just meant, it doesn't mean unlimited unless you use infinite data?
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As I said, I know at one time it was a requirement. I'm on a family plan so not looking for the cheapest rate for an individual. I wasn't sure so thank you for clearing this up.
A data plan is still required so at least with AT&T you can get away with $15/mo for some data, and if you are again like my student interns they know all the free Wifi spots to keep their data usage low.
The cheapest plan for the iPhone before discounts is $54.99 - $39.99 for Voice and $15 for 200MB Data
There is a possibility that you would be grandfathered in to an unlimited plan if you were to switch over.
There was no network requirement to implement SVDO.
Now, they did test VoRA which did require network changes. So there are 2 options for VZW/Apple to allow the same features as the GSM counterpart...
The educated among us accept it because we know that if everyone acted as if unlimited meant unlimited, none of us would have any use of the service at all. So whether they call it unlimited for 5GB limit, the reasonable and educated among us know that using less than 1 GB is what keeps the service accessible to all and available at a reasonable price, which it would not be if everyone used 10 GB on average.
Yes, I've just confirmed this. It will come up with a message saying "Ensure 3G is enabled" or something, and I verified that it was indeed enabled, but I could not load pages. Didn't think to try WiFi, so I'll assume your test there is correct.
Just like the iPhone 2G... all 2G owners who moved on to 3G know just how terrible it is to not have internet while you have phone access going.
Remember the Swiss Army Knife? It does everything...poorly.
While you suggestion may make good business sense, it also makes poor engineering sense.
Wait a year or two when 4G is widely installed and a single handset for most all service providers on that network will be a no-brainer.
Data usage...
What's really going to be interesting is the next year... I'm guessing we're going to see all carriers get serious about limits to GB's downloaded.
Why?
The flood of smart phone and mostly 3G/4G enabled tablets that will be more data hungry than a smart phone (I'm making a guess there). Anyway, with all these data hungry devices it's going to cause the carriers to impose limits to keep the networks going. At least this is what I think will happen.
What's really going to be interesting is the next year... I'm guessing we're going to see all carriers get serious about limits to GB's downloaded.
Why?
The flood of smart phone and mostly 3G/4G enabled tablets that will be more data hungry than a smart phone (I'm making a guess there). Anyway, with all these data hungry devices it's going to cause the carriers to impose limits to keep the networks going. At least this is what I think will happen.
Totally agree. However, AT&T was first when Verizon told Apple to go away when the iPhone launched. If you look at the original ROMs of the first iPhone, the firmware was configured to work with Verizon. However, the final mass production build didn't have the proper chip-set.
The volume that Apple did on the first two generations of the iPhone absolutely humiliated Verizon and thus why they jumped on the Android bandwagon quickly. Would not be surprised that the manager in charge of the initial Verizon / Apple deal was fired or had a serious career compromise with that action.
It is now 2011, Verizon's ego is deflated willing to be on the level with Apple. The Verizon iPhone is a fata compli this time next month. AT&T just now has to manage their margins with a domestic competitor and buy the right cell station equipment they have been putting off for the past two years.
We all win and the game goes on.
Actually AT&T is unlimited. Call and ask. I've used 10 to 13 GIGS a month with netflix and have never gotten a high bill. It's truly unlimited.
You said it best.
It will be a very interesting challenge for Verizon, largely "perceived" as the better network.
Are you talking about AT&T or Verizon?
The networks in Canada switched to GSM. Those are GSM phones you're getting sim cards with.
Unlimited is something ATT can go back to once those that have been using the ATT service and dreaming of a Verizon iPhone leave for Verizon thus decreasing the data demand on ATT thus allowing them to go back to their original offerings. So no real advantage except for the consumer should ATT do this.
Fat chance. AT&T won't do this.
What aspects of Verizon's network are in intimately familliar with to base this assumption?
And I should point out that most of AT&T's issues were not due to an overload of data using iPhones. That was a line of BS AT&T fed to their stockholders; a way to make it look like what was really a bad network migration was actually caused by a good thing....too much business. In reality, AT&T made some bad decisions in their WCDMA migration. However, those have been addressed since.
But to ease your little mind, there have been reports for quite some time that Verizon has been testing their network and preparing for this day. So don't worry yourself too much over Verizon and their abilities.
I gotta say, I think this is how it will go.
They don't. It's $30/mo.
Yes, but historically when carriers change terms they leave existing users on their existing plans. They only penalize new users. This goes for all carriers.
$30/month.
- Really? have you stood next to a friend and perfomed speed tests? My AT&T iPhone almost never sees over 1.5MB...which is what my Verizon friends get.
- Go do some research...CDMA does now have support for data and voice
- I didn't realize AT&T had international coverage?! (psst...they don't)
- If you have a ton of rollover minutes, you have the wrong plan
- Verizon could easily make this part of the deal on Tuesday
- The ONLY places I ever get free AT&T WiFi are the 3-4x a month I go to $bux. Not really a strong selling point.