Verizon v. ATT upgrades

[SR 7]

So I have had annual upgrades for my iPhone for about 4 years now but have lately decided about switching from AT&T to Verizon and have a few questions.

1) Heard ATT has taken out their annual upgrades, so if i were to upgrade to iP5, my annual upgrade won't exist anymore.

2) Does Verizon have one? I read that Verizon has a 20 month early upgrade date as opposed to AT&Ts new 24 months.

3) Is Verizon service really that much more expensive for a base family 2 line plan compared to AT&Ts?

4) I always preorder my iPhone online during the bandwidht crash hours when everyone is trying to preorder theres, if I change to Verizon i won't be able to preorder this on the preorder date right?

 

[The Californian]

1) I think it depends on your service history, if you already have this is your contract there is a chance you'll be grandfathered in. I've never had the pleasure of annual upgrades but my roommate told me that with his most recent upgrade the the 4S he was told that he will no longer be able to upgrade annually since his bill is too low.

2) My understanding is that AT&T and Verizon's early upgrade programs are identical - I may be mistaken though.

3) In my experience Verizon is consistently $10 per month more expensive.

4) Verizon did allow midnight pre-orders for the 4S.

I hope this helps. Out of curiosity, why do you want to change providers?

 

[SR 7]

I figure Verizon has better reception and internet than AT&T does even though I haven't had any problems unless I am in Nevada for instance where 3G and even Edge is useless with AT&T.

I'm already paying about $140 a month for a family plan that consists of only 1 data phone and if i'm not mistaken i calculated about 150 with Verizon including 2 data phones which is far better than AT&T's.

I'm viewing it in this sense, if the annual upgrade is gone from my options, 4G won't' be as good as Verizons, and I am paying possibly the same amount why not switch especially since Verizons might be 20 months as opposed to AT&Ts 24 months now.

 

[The Californian]

Makes sense. I have two roommates and all three of us have iPhone 4S's. One on Verizon, one on Sprint and I'm on AT&T. I consistently get the best coverage and fastest data speeds - I also pay less than the others with my FAN discount. That's just my situation though, everyone has different factors that go into what provider is best for them. One of my main reasons for being on AT&T is that I travel often and I have many more options when abroad with my GSM phone. I also use data a lot while I'm on the phone so that is another factor for me.

 

[SpaceKitty]

With AT&T, if your bill for services before taxes and fees is at $100, you can upgrade yearly. It doesn't have to be $100 the whole year just as long as it's at $100 for the past three months before your upgrade date is to happen.

I did this for the iPhone 4. I changed my minutes plan to the 900 or whatever it is in March and was eligible to buy the iPhone 4 on it's release. I then changed my plan back to 450 minutes.

On AT&T with the 450 minutes and 200SMS, I pay about $82. On my Verizon 4S phone with 450 minutes, 1000SMS and 2GB data, I pay $86.

I get 3G Data at home on AT&T and no 3G data at home on Verizon. It's why I'm keeping both for now. I'm eligible for an upgrade on my 3GS AT&T so I'll save it for the iPhone 5. I'll be month to month, no contract on it in May.

 

[Apple Expert]

I used to get annual updates with att. My bill was on average $150. The way to get annual upgrades was that line had to be at $100 per month. However with the release of 4S, they did away with annual. The best you can get is a partial discount, which I believe is $200 off retail. Of course you need to renew a two year contract. I currently moved to Verizon and now both companies off full upgrades at 20 months. Hope this helps.

 

[El3ctronics]

I used to be able to upgrade annually but AT&T changed their policy. My monthly bill is ~$175/mth and as of this year, I'm no longer able to upgrade annually like I was up until the iPhone 4S (fyi, only the primary line was eligible for the annual upgrade). The policy change has me contemplating switching to Verizon.

 

[Apple Expert]

I used to be able to upgrade annually but AT&T changed their policy. My monthly bill is ~$175/mth and as of this year, I'm no longer able to upgrade annually like I was up until the iPhone 4S (fyi, only the primary line was eligible for the annual upgrade). The policy change has me contemplating switching to Verizon.

Part of the reason I switched to Verizon because of their upgrade policy and stupid data throttling. However if you get good service with ATT why change to something that "might" be worst off?

 

[El3ctronics]

Part of the reason I switched to Verizon because of their upgrade policy and stupid data throttling. However if you get good service with ATT why change to something that "might" be worst off?

I live in NYC. There's no question that Verizon has better service. Only decision I need to make is whether I want to forfeit unlimited data...but with increased data throttling, that decision is becoming quite a bit easier.

 

[Apple Expert]

I live in NYC. There's no question that Verizon has better service. Only decision I need to make is whether I want to forfeit unlimited data...but with increased data throttling, that decision is becoming quite a bit easier.

If verizon offers better coverage, why stick with someone for sub-par service?

 

[cynics]

If verizon offers better coverage, why stick with someone for sub-par service?

I can't speak for him but I have Verizon and the coverage is by far the best in my area. But there 3g speeds are pretty bad borderline terrible. I typically get .3mbs down, best 2.4 mbs down. NYC from my experience is even worse. There LTE phones are pretty good in nyc but not the iPhone.

If I didn't use my phone for mostly voice I'd go with att, or an lte phone.

 

[Apple Expert]

I can't speak for him but I have Verizon and the coverage is by far the best in my area. But there 3g speeds are pretty bad borderline terrible. I typically get .3mbs down, best 2.4 mbs down. NYC from my experience is even worse. There LTE phones are pretty good in nyc but not the iPhone.

If I didn't use my phone for mostly voice I'd go with att, or an lte phone.

ATT is good for data because you can't tell if the data packets are broken up like on a voice call. Plus their speeds are alot better than VZW. I would of still been with ATT if they would stop their crazy data throttling. But they didnt so I moved to VZW. Yes slower speeds, but no data throttling.

 

[slippery-pete]

I used to be able to upgrade annually but AT&T changed their policy. My monthly bill is ~$175/mth and as of this year, I'm no longer able to upgrade annually like I was up until the iPhone 4S (fyi, only the primary line was eligible for the annual upgrade). The policy change has me contemplating switching to Verizon.

Same here

 

[koigirl]

Yep, seems it's 20 month upgrade policy for everyone now. If next iPhone version is LTE, I'm jumping to my family's plan on Verizon and just paying ATT ETF. Paid upgrade fee to get 4s because i wanted/needed better antenna over iPhone 4 plus simultaneous voice/data and data speed of ATT. However, I'm sick of spotty coverage and dropped calls. Will be cheaper anyway to be on Verizon family plan over long run in my case. Maybe ATT will back off and offer earlier (annual) upgrades when/if faced with mass exodus...