Does any one know when the Apple/ATT contract is over? Googling it looks like 2010, but is that 1stQ, 2ndQ, when? I want to get an iPhone for my wife and switch away from Sprint. Preferably to Verizon, but I'm willing to risk ATT even though their coverage in Northern lower Mi isn't great (we're in SE Mi but like to go up North). I would be pissed if we switch to ATT then Apple move to someone else. Our Sprint contract is up in Feb so I’m looking to switch fairly soon.
yeah....ATT sucks when you get up north.... Go with Verizon
Grtechguy wrote: yeah....ATT sucks when you get up north.... Go with Verizon
AT&T sucks in the up, but up by my aunts house near torch lake it's fine. No 3g network, just edge. Buy I do have coverage. And my aunt has AT&T, and she says it's ok.
Joey
buy a used iPhone 3G and put it on Verizon.
In reply to joey48442:
They are rolling out a bunch more 3G setups this year, converting a bunch of towers nationwide just recently. All the towers in my town(eastwestnowhere Vermont), were just converted over prior to Christmas.
turboswede wrote: buy a used iPhone 3G and put it on Verizon.
No can do. iPhone is GSM, Verizon uses CDMA.
We just made the switch to AT&T for the main reason that Verizon and Apple ain't gonna solve their differences any time soon. Apple wants too much money and Verizon won't pay it. That's the main reason they brought out the Droid - they're hoping that it will make people forget the iPhone. We talked to Verizon a couple times before we quit them, and that was their basic story (in varying degrees of candor, depending on the rep).
I'd have probably stuck with Verizon and my old Palm Treo except that Palm abandoned Macintosh support years ago and we've kept the software cobbled together since then. It's getting hairier now and there is no support from Palm.
You're right, I got T-mobile and Verizon confused.
You can use the iPhone on T-mobile.
Verizon sucks anyway so you'd still want ATT, that is if you can get coverage where you live.
I had much better connection results with Nextel than I ever did with Verizon and Nextel had a much more limited service area.
According to all the adds you can't talk and surf at the same time on Verizon anyway.
I recommend calling an AT&T retailer in Northern MI to get their input on real experiences of coverage.
Here is a link: http://www.wireless.att.com/find-a-store/results.jsp?_requestid=113636
I picked Traverse City. Alter the search to meet your needs. Pick a retailer near where you need service and speak about specifics like the exact lake you need service at. Try a few for second opinions. You may want to try the Independently owner Authorized Retailer locations. These guys might carry more than just AT&T and therefore may be more forth coming with the opinion.
turboswede wrote: You're right, I got T-mobile and Verizon confused. You can use the iPhone on T-mobile.
Not without "hot rodding" the handset which then means no warranty, no customer service support, no direct techincal support, some incopatability of services.
You can also put a V8 in a Miata....
For me in Northern Wisconsin and being in the middle of a National Forest, I had 3G internet on my Verizon/Alltel Blackberry. I was streaming music off of Pandora at our cabin with no electricity or running water. For Northern Wisconsin, Verizon or US Cellular. Northern Lower Michigan it might be similar or maybe not...
I wouldn't trust ATT with anything, let alone my cell phone plan. The coverage here is absolutely horrendous, and they have more dropped calls than anyone in the game. The reason? ATT bought rights to said iPhone. Everyone purchases said iPhone, and ATT's network promptly goes belly up, with major outages across the country. ATT was SO into getting the iPhone that they bought it and shoved it out there, knowing full well that their network could not support the influx of people on data enabled phones. To date, they have not been able to recover. Verizon is smart enough to limit certain aspects of it, as is Tmo. FEASIBLY, you can talk and surf the web on Verizons network, but they disable the phones from doing that, to prevent network outages. Tmo taking a different route as a business oriented provider, has all the Blackberries they sell disabled at RIM to prevent them from tethering to laptops and acting as wireless access points...... and forcing you to buy a wireless aircard, which operates on exactly the same network that any data-enabled phone from Tmo does. Tmo even acknowledged to me directly that the software exists to hack a 3g Blackberry, so I have 3g on my laptop when driving places...... but they disable it so that most people don't attempt it.
Thanks for all the replies. These and talking to people I don't think ATT is any worse than anyone else so we may end up doing that. My work phone has switched from Sprint (why we had them for the family) to Verizon, but they don't do iPhones. Unlokcing/Jailbreaking just isn't an option. I'm a semi luddite and my wife is barely beyond the caveman stage when it comes to technology. I want to stay Apple.
Um, it is against the law to not allow you to use a phone on another compatible network. The phone isn't hacked to work on T-mobile, it is merely unlocked. Just like it is unlocked to work in other regions of the world.
Now, if you buy a new iPhone then you're bound by their contract to either pay the full price for the handset or for the subsidized price with a 2-year service contract through AT&T.
BTW, the standard warranty on the iPhone is 1 year from the purchase date.
It is not against the law to unlock a phone in the US.
It is also not the responsibility of the carrier to aid you in this unlocking in any manner.
You can put a V8 in a Miata.
Mazda is not required to help you with it or provide technical support.
My feeling is that ATT is going to pay whatever it costs to keep/renew the contract. Apple likes to keep a tight grip on how their products are used. Verizon said they would get the iphone, now they have anti iphone commercials, guess they aren't getting it :-)
I've been with AT&T/Cingular/CellularOne since 1998. I've gone from having 3-4 dead spots in my local area to 3G everywhere I roam. I have less dropped calls than my friends that were on Verizon. I have no thoughts of switching any time soon. They've taken care of me and our family for years.
turboswede wrote: You can use the iPhone on T-mobile.
You can, but not with 3G. The phone works in 1900Mhz and 2100Mhz. T-Mobile 3G uses 1700Mhz and 2100Mhz in duplex (one up and the other down). But T-Mobile does have a dataplan and a visual-voicemail app that work with the iPhone.
Apparently, unlocked Euro phones work in the right bands to be compatible with T-Mobile.
Some so-so discussion about it. http://www.hackint0sh.org/f148/52657.htm
Ah, good to know. A friend had one working on T-mobile, but I never inquired exactly how. Mostly because, well she and gadget discussions tend to just piss me off (no logical reason for many of her choices and she changes her mind almost daily, just like with cars. She sold a perfectly good CRX HF because it needed a distributor even though I called dibs.)
According to this rather comprehensive comparison, you can't go wrong with either the iPhone or the Droid. And since your company phone is on Verizon and you're concerned about AT&T's network, I'd say it's time to tear down your Steve Jobs poster, take off your iGlasses, and get a Droid. 
Tom_Spangler wrote: According to this rather comprehensive comparison, you can't go wrong with either the iPhone or the Droid. And since your company phone is on Verizon and you're concerned about AT&T's network, I'd say it's time to tear down your Steve Jobs poster, take off your iGlasses, and get a Droid.
Thanks Tom, but you know how I love Steve Job's, I'm just a hopless Mac Fag
Seriously, I love my wife dearly, but if you got phone calls a couple of times a week on the lines of 'How do I email a web site to someone?" Youd want to keep life as rediculously and stupidly simple as possible. There is a reason I'm a Mac fag at home.
Looks like the whole things on hold for a few months anyway. The hospital bill from when I was on vacation and thought I was having a heart attack just arrived (6 months later). BCBS is applying the whole thing to my deductable so the whole shooting match is out of pocket for me. Steve Jobs will have to wait a few more months for my money. Having lived in the UK until I was 25 no one will ever pursuade me that anything other than a full National Health system is the right way to go 
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