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There is no AT&T 3G in Wyoming and Montana. There also isn't any EDGE really. My iPhone dropped down to the "o" (whatever that is btw) and speeds were totally gongshow. Main reason why everybody has Verizon in those states. I live in Colorado so I have 3G coverage where I am, but anywhere in the mountains, it's all EDGE, but my friend gets 3G coverage where he live in the mountains with Verizon.

That "o" is GPRS. So yes, it is expected to be *very* slow.
 
Even ATT has stated that iPhones did not cause the biggest increase in data on their overloaded network.

True it might not have been the biggest, but it did increase it significantly.

iphone-data.png

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Re 2: Again no. Apple had to reduce the size of the SIM card to fit in the components for the current iPhone. What makes you think there is space left for the extra CDMA radio chip? Also, most (if not all) AT&T phones can be unlocked by someone other than AT&T. So this is a moot point.

No extra chip needed. You forget there is a CDMA/GSM hybrid chip out in the wild already being used by RIM.

True it might not have been the biggest, but it did increase it significantly.

This isn't due only to the iPhone. This is due to AT&T finally supporting 3G speeds. For years Sprint and Verizon got all of the heavy data business while AT&T was relegated to mostly voice only customers. This is due to Sprint and Verizon rolling out 3G LONG before AT&T.

Once AT&T launched 3G, they got a flood of voice users finally buying 3G data devices including aircards...and yes...the iPhone.

Verizon has long had 3G data users so while they will see a significant increase, it won't be the same increase a data carrier would see when moving from a 2G data tech (barely usable to browse WAP sites) to 3G tech (easily capable of browsing full blown sites).
 
Number 1 reason it's big news: because it would mean that Apple is worried enough about Android to build a special model for Verizon.

Rookie question, why is the Verizon iPhone a special model?

Here in the UK iPhone was only available on O2 for a long time. Similar to your situation with AT+T it wasn't to everybody's taste but people just put up with it just to have an iPhone.
When it was announced that it was going to be available on other networks here it wasn't a big deal, it just happened and people who wanted it, bought it. No big hype up or anything...
 
Rookie question, why is the Verizon iPhone a special model?

Here in the UK iPhone was only available on O2 for a long time. Similar to your situation with AT+T it wasn't to everybody's taste but people just put up with it just to have an iPhone.
When it was announced that it was going to be available on other networks here it wasn't a big deal, it just happened and people who wanted it, bought it. No big hype up or anything...

If you take a few minutes to read almost any articles on the subject (or some of the posts in this very thread) you'd realize Verizon uses CDMA which is not compatible with GSM.
 
False. Verizon is the US handle for Vodafone, a very large worldwide carrier.

Vodafone is the default carrier for Verizon's dual GSM/CDMA world phones.

Vodafone only owns 45% of Verizon Wireless. The other 55% is owned by Verizon Communications which was part of AT&T.

Here is my guess for Jan 11:

iPhone 4 re-launched with 4G LTE on Verizon.

Uses Verizon 4G microSIM.

iPhone 4 on Verizon also supports AT&T microSIMs if unlocked.

Maintains 2 SKUs for american market (16GB & 32GB). No separate hardware iPhones for AT&T and Verizon. Differences lie only in software.

Nothing else (maybe iPad with Verizon built in too?).
 
If you take a few minutes to read almost any articles on the subject (or some of the posts in this very thread) you'd realize Verizon uses CDMA which is not compatible with GSM.




Ok, perhaps I worded that wrong, maybe I should have asked what is different about CDMA over GSM...
 
How would this work since AT&T doesn't have LTE yet?

In regards to my self made rumor? It would work with AT&T's 3G assuming they don't remove any broadband functionality.

The iPhone runs on virtually every band offered in the US right now. Supporting Verizon's 800/1900 wouldn't be that much more difficult.
 
Ok, perhaps I worded that wrong, maybe I should have asked what is different about CDMA over GSM...

They are 2 different incompatible wireless technologies. If you want to go deeper than that I suggest googleing both...perphaps reading the Wikipedia entries on both.

In regards to my self made rumor? It would work with AT&T's 3G assuming they don't remove any broadband functionality.

The iPhone runs on virtually every band offered in the US right now. Supporting Verizon's 800/1900 wouldn't be that much more difficult.

Not possible. AT&T's 3G is WCDMA while the Verizon iPhone, even if it has LTE will not have a WCDMA radio in it.
 
They aren't incompatible.

Verizon intends to switch to the GSM path with LTE.

They have also released phones that work with both technologies in the US (dubbed 'world phones').
 
They aren't incompatible.

Verizon intends to switch to the GSM path with LTE.

They have also released phones that work with both technologies in the US (dubbed 'world phones').

Yes, they are incompatible. Verizon is moving to LTE, not WCDMA. An LTE phone will not work on a WCDMA network unless it has a WCDMA radio as well.
 
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palmerc2 said:
Some people will stick with AT&T because you can swap out SIM cards around the world since it is on GSM which is used all over Europe.

Some people say Verizon is useless because it can only be used in the States once it's activated, however.....you are referring to a country where 15% (give or take) of the population has a passport. pathetic. so really, it doesn't affect many, MANY people.

i bet a lot of people are just sick and tired of all the dropped calls / inability to make a call (i've been having this problem lately, I have to cancel the current call in progress about 2-3 times)

But I don't think that the iPhone population is representative of the American population as a whole. Those who would consider buying/buy an iPhone, most probably would have a passport don't you think?
 
Yes, they are incompatible. Verizon is moving to LTE, not WCDMA. An LTE phone will not work on a WCDMA network unless it has a WCDMA radio as well.

Co-existence with legacy standards (users can transparently start a call or transfer of data in an area using an LTE standard, and, should coverage be unavailable, continue the operation without any action on their part using GSM/GPRS or W-CDMA-based UMTS or even 3GPP2 networks such as cdmaOne or CDMA2000)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3GPP_Long_Term_Evolution
 

Yes, I've read this. Not sure why you think it means an LTE radio will work on a WCDMA network without LTE equipment on it.

What this means is that a Verizon iPhone with an LTE radio and a CDMA radio inside would be able to seamlessly handoff calls from an LTE switch/tower to a CDMA switch/tower.

Likewise, an AT&T iPhone with an LTE radio and a WCDMA radio would be able to seamlessly handoff from an LTE switch/tower to a WCDMA switch/tower.

But a Verizon iPhone with an LTE radio and a CDMA radio CANNOT transmit/receive on a WCDMA switch/tower.
 
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I don't see why they couldn't incorporate both technologies in a single chip.

If we can fit CPU/GPU on a single chip with RAM sitting right on top, I'm sure we can fit UMTS and CDMA2000 on a single chip.
 
I don't see why they couldn't incorporate both technologies in a single chip.

If we can fit RAM/CPU/GPU on a single chip, I'm sure we can fit UMTS and CDMA2000 on a single chip.

That is possible, but I don't think there is any news of such a chip existing yet. And you would need WCDMA/CDMA/LTE all on the same chip.

(UMTS/CDMA2000 exists as of now as a WCDMA/CDMA2000 chip...with no LTE support)
 
That is possible, but I don't think there is any news of such a chip existing yet. And you would need WCDMA/CDMA/LTE all on the same chip.

(UMTS/CDMA2000 exists as of now as a WCDMA/CDMA2000 chip...with no LTE support)

Which is why I'm happy Apple is a pioneer of technology ;)
 
Another possibility...

Apple fools us all and unveils a revised iPad with LTE (possibly iPad 2). Waits til June for the LTE iPhone 5.

Who knows, speculation is fun!
 
Man, American telecoms suck! No freedom whatsoever.

Hurrey for Europe and UK

O2
Orange
T-Mobile
Meteor
Vodafone
Three
...

Choices, choices, choices, and they are all GSM. That's why there is a huge market for unlocked phones here, you buy a phone and pick your carrier, you know it's going to work fine.
 
Verizon is meaningless to the rest of the world.
Not quite true, Verizon getting the iPhone means the CDMA iPhone(assuming it's not LTE only) could be sold on other CDMA carriers around the world as well.

e.g. There's only one carrier with UMTS capability in China, hence for people who want 3G the iPhone is tied to that carrier, even though Apple is selling them unlocked. If another CDMA carrier could somehow get a contract with Apple to sell the CDMA version, people who want an iPhone gets a second choice, thus the deal could be a game changer.
 
False. Verizon is the US handle for Vodafone, a very large worldwide carrier.

Vodafone is the default carrier for Verizon's dual GSM/CDMA world phones.

You missed my point. Vodafone already has the iPhone. Aside from a few Vodafone subscribers who frequent the States, a Verizon iPhone is meaningless to every other Vodafone iPhone owner.
 
You missed my point. Vodafone already has the iPhone. Aside from a few Vodafone subscribers who frequent the States, a Verizon iPhone is meaningless to every other Vodafone iPhone owner.

A Verizon iPhone can have some major impact. Consider:

So far, ATT has had the main input as to what apps had to be crippled and only run on WiFi.

Verizon is a very different dynamic in that respect... they've traditionally relied on their network instead of WiFi... and this will be especially true with LTE thrown into the mix.
 
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