Verizon iPhone

mantakos said:
...I am very curious what happens mid-year, whether the Verizon and AT&T phones are "sync'ed" in new introductions.
-harry
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The word is a chip supplier has a 3-way LTE/GSM/CDMA chip that isn't quite ready for prime time yet. With that Apple can ship the same hardware and the only difference will be which features Verizon disables. :tongue:


Verizon has made steps toward “openness” on its network, but the company has a history of disabling phones’ features. For example, file-sharing with Bluetooth was disabled on the Motorola v710, a phone released in 2005, which led to a class-action lawsuit. More recently, the carrier disabled GPS features in the BlackBerry 8830 in 2007, and eliminated the FM radio in the HTC Touch Pro 2 in 2009.
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/01/verizon-or-att-iphone/all/1
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And again, look for the reports in very few weeks that the Verizon iPhone drops calls just as often as it did AT&Ts network, while not allowing simultaneous voice and data.
 
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ScottM said:
I know for a fact that it did not work in the iTouch, it was not enabled until a software update later (Version3.x I think). I had thought I heard that complaint about early iPhones as well. Maybe it was that the early iPhones did not support a bunch of BT devices or something, stereo BT? If it was the stereo profile then that is why they disabled on the iTouch, no need for mono BT on that device.
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Oh, I know what you mean then. The iPhone/iPod Touch did not support A2DP at first. That's not a matter of software disabling hardware entirely though, it was just a lack of the software to make the hardware do something.
 
mantakos said:
I would think that they would tout that, e.g. "LTE-ready".

I suspect that LTE is the planned obsolescence feature for the first-gen Verizon iPhone.

I am very curious what happens mid-year, whether the Verizon and AT&T phones are "sync'ed" in new introductions.
-harry
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There's a direct quote from the Verizon guy saying that the current-generation LTE chipsets that would have been used in the iPhone 4 on VZ would require Verizon to make significant changes to all of their base-stations. They didn't want to do that.

Reading between the lines, that means Verizon has gone back to Qualcomm and asked for a version of the chipset that will work with their planned network build-out.

That probably means: No LTE in iPhone 4 on Verizon. LTE more likely in iPhone 5 on Verizon, but network work will have to be completed to support it, nationwide. Not going to happen fast, unless they've already gotten a jump start on the base-station upgrades.

Make buddies with someone in your area who works for one of the tower management companies. They'll tell you when Verizon (or anyone else for that matter) starts shipping lots and lots of new gear to the tower sites.

(That technique doesn't always work though, if the change they're implementing is in software/firmware in the base-stations.)

The other thing to keep in mind... in order to jump to "full" LTE speeds, Verizon has to up the back-haul speed of the land-line or microwave-based back-hauls out of every cell site back to the central location where the cluster of cells is controlled from. If the land-line is fiber... that's probably easy. If copper, maybe not enough pairs. If microwave, that is likely an equipment swap, and more spectrum needed for the higher-speeds on their back-haul microwave frequencies.

Every cell site is its own little set of limitations. Some will haul-***, others will be stuck with a single T1 for all back-haul via copper, with no more copper available to multiplex more circuits together to get a bigger pipe.

This is what makes the "4G" claims so fun to watch as marketing fodder... sure, the cell site near downtown may have fiber to it, and all the bandwidth it wants, and the cell site near your house on the local mini-mart roof may have a slow microwave back-haul to the main network. The phone will still say "4G" or "3G" or whatever... it's connected to the base station at those speeds, but that might not be what you get to the Internetzzz!
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Word today is that iOS 4.3 will support the hotspot functionality on all iPhones whose carriers agree to support it. I wonder if AT&T will? They were AWFULLY slow to jump on the tethering bandwagon, and while I have free tethering and unlimited data right now, if I were to start paying AT&T for tethering they'd take away my unlimited data. (Not smart, but I guess I'll keep my extra $20 a month if they don't want it.)
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I don't know about AT&T, but when VZ enabled tethering (create your own hotspot) on the Android platform, they charged extra for it. IIRC, "hot spot" capabilities + wired tethering are something like $20/month for 2 GB, while wired tethering (only, no hotspot) is something like $40/month for 5 GB. It's an entirely separate bucket of data cost than the 'unlimited" device data.

So to use an Android as a hot spot, you need to pay for the regular phone package, the regular Android data package, plus the tethering package (and be limited to 2 GB).

I would expect VZ to do the same on an iPhone.
 
You heard it here first: Has anybody spotted any mention of the visual voicemail capability on the Verizon iPhone? :devil:
 
wsuffa said:
I don't know about AT&T, but when VZ enabled tethering (create your own hotspot) on the Android platform, they charged extra for it. IIRC, "hot spot" capabilities + wired tethering are something like $20/month for 2 GB, while wired tethering (only, no hotspot) is something like $40/month for 5 GB. It's an entirely separate bucket of data cost than the 'unlimited" device data.

So to use an Android as a hot spot, you need to pay for the regular phone package, the regular Android data package, plus the tethering package (and be limited to 2 GB).

I would expect VZ to do the same on an iPhone.
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TMO also started charging for tethering. They didn't "add" the capability, I had it on my old Berry. The new berry wouldn't tether. TMO says "yeah, that's now $10 a month."
 
gkainz said:
TMO also started charging for tethering. They didn't "add" the capability, I had it on my old Berry. The new berry wouldn't tether. TMO says "yeah, that's now $10 a month."
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Yep, TMo raised the cost for a number of services. Including BB data for their so-called 4G devices. And started charging for non-email data on international BB roaming.
 
mikea said:
You heard it here first: Has anybody spotted any mention of the visual voicemail capability on the Verizon iPhone? :devil:
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Ya know what else no one has seen? Pricing plans for Verizon's new iPhone! :devil::devil:
 
wsuffa said:
I don't know about AT&T, but when VZ enabled tethering (create your own hotspot) on the Android platform, they charged extra for it. IIRC, "hot spot" capabilities + wired tethering are something like $20/month for 2 GB, while wired tethering (only, no hotspot) is something like $40/month for 5 GB. It's an entirely separate bucket of data cost than the 'unlimited" device data.

So to use an Android as a hot spot, you need to pay for the regular phone package, the regular Android data package, plus the tethering package (and be limited to 2 GB).

I would expect VZ to do the same on an iPhone.
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Yup - But that's part of why I'm going to stick with AT&T until there's a compelling reason to go back to VZ. I switched prior to the introduction of the iPhone because VZ crippled everything. The networks, despite what you hear in the gossip mill, are comparable.

I would really like AT&T to come up with a plan that actually works for me - We'll see if that happens. Until then, I'm still grandfathered in on the truly-unlimited plan - I have used upwards of 8GB/month at times, and the only time I've heard a peep about it is when I start using too much data when I'm not on their network.

So far, VZ has some disadvantages: Like Mike mentions, I'm not sure Visual Voicemail will be there as Apple developed that with AT&T and it does require some back-end on the carrier's side. Also, VZ's network doesn't allow for simultaneous voice and data, and that's a MAJOR disadvantage in my book. So, until VZ addresses those concerns and comes up with a compelling reason to switch back, I'll stick with the "death star" (Mac OS Ken's euphemism for AT&T).
 
flyingcheesehead said:
So far, VZ has some disadvantages: Like Mike mentions, I'm not sure Visual Voicemail will be there as Apple developed that with AT&T and it does require some back-end on the carrier's side. Also, VZ's network doesn't allow for simultaneous voice and data, and that's a MAJOR disadvantage in my book. So, until VZ addresses those concerns and comes up with a compelling reason to switch back, I'll stick with the "death star" (Mac OS Ken's euphemism for AT&T).
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Not sure it's the same: http://wirelesssupport.verizon.com/features/calling_features/visual_voice_mail.html?t=3
 
wsuffa said:
Not sure it's the same: http://wirelesssupport.verizon.com/features/calling_features/visual_voice_mail.html?t=3
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Ah, I see Verizion hasn't changed much:

The cost is $2.99/month.
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It's free with AT&T...

As described, it sounds pretty much the same, except for every iPhone to date has had it and it's not a separate application the way the link you posted makes it sound - It's an integral part of the phone app.

It'll be interesting to see if Apple has twisted VZ's arm enough to get them to keep this feature free, or if VZ is going to nickel and dime their iPhone customers to death the way they do with everyone else.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
or if VZ is going to nickel and dime their iPhone customers to death the way they do with everyone else.
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HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

You're killin' me...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Ah, I see Verizion hasn't changed much:



It's free with AT&T...

As described, it sounds pretty much the same, except for every iPhone to date has had it and it's not a separate application the way the link you posted makes it sound - It's an integral part of the phone app.

It'll be interesting to see if Apple has twisted VZ's arm enough to get them to keep this feature free, or if VZ is going to nickel and dime their iPhone customers to death the way they do with everyone else.
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I have no dog in this fight, but, fwiw, when I had my iPhone, I didn't get Visual Voicemail. I don't know why.

I have seen other people's iPhone Visual Voicemail, and I have to say that Google Voice's implementation of Visual Voicemail beats the crap out of the iPhone's and Verizon's implementation....which goes to show you:

Get any phone you want, just make sure you have a GoogleVoice app for it (I think the iPhone has it again, right?)
 
tonycondon said:
wtf is visual voicemail?
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Your voicemail looks more like an e-mail inbox on the screen. It'll say who the message is from and you can just touch it to play it. Much easier then having to call your voicemail and push a bunch of numbers on the phone.
 
oh i see. i just look at my missed calls to deduce who the message is from. 5 buttons gets me into my inbox and one more button deletes the message.
 
SkyHog said:
I have no dog in this fight, but, fwiw, when I had my iPhone, I didn't get Visual Voicemail. I don't know why.
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Jailbreaking can mess it up (even after you restore, I think) and I know that when I first installed a tethering profile even on my non-jailbroken phone it got messed up too. I found out that the trick is to go into the Settings app and hit "Reset Network Settings." Then it works fine.

Get any phone you want, just make sure you have a GoogleVoice app for it (I think the iPhone has it again, right?)
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Yes, it did finally get approved. Believe it or not, it never actually got rejected - It just didn't get approved for a LONG time. But it's there now, and that's what matters. :yes:
 
tonycondon said:
oh i see. i just look at my missed calls to deduce who the message is from. 5 buttons gets me into my inbox and one more button deletes the message.
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If you ever save messages, though, Visual Voicemail is nice because you don't have to skip through other messages to get to the one you want to listen to, you just tap and listen.

Also, at least on the iPhone, the voice mail messages are stored locally after they're sent. That gives you two improvements on traditional voice mail: You don't use any minutes to listen to voice mail messages, and you can listen to voice mails even if you don't have any signal.
 
I really do like my visual voice mail on my droid thru google voice. It will transcribe the voice mail for you so you can see it right away. It does make some interesting transcription errors so there are times I need to still get the voice mail to see what it really was.
 
jtheune said:
I really do like my visual voice mail on my droid thru google voice. It will transcribe the voice mail for you so you can see it right away. It does make some interesting transcription errors so there are times I need to still get the voice mail to see what it really was.
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Yeah, I dumped my AT&T visual voicemail for Google Voice. Conditional call-forwarded my cell phone to Google Voice. Now, regardless if they dial my iPhone, or my Google Voice number, all voicemails end up at Google and the new GV app for iPhone is pretty good.

One (small) advantage for me is that the GV app uses data. If I am not in voice service but have access to Wifi, such as on a plane with wifi service, or in a part of rural Alaska that doesn't have ATT coverage, I can pick up my voicemails.
 
wsuffa said:
I don't know about AT&T, but when VZ enabled tethering (create your own hotspot) on the Android platform, they charged extra for it. IIRC, "hot spot" capabilities + wired tethering are something like $20/month for 2 GB, while wired tethering (only, no hotspot) is something like $40/month for 5 GB. It's an entirely separate bucket of data cost than the 'unlimited" device data.

So to use an Android as a hot spot, you need to pay for the regular phone package, the regular Android data package, plus the tethering package (and be limited to 2 GB).

I would expect VZ to do the same on an iPhone.
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And you would be right...

WSJ reports they'll be asking $30/month for the iPhone's unlimited data plan, plus reports at Macworld of an extra $20/month for the hotspot capability.

Note, the unlimited data is a temporary offer (presumably until they lock in the AT&T ship-jumpers), and VZ will be moving toward tiered pricing later. Also, the hotspot has its own pool of 2GB. Each additional GB is another 20 clams.
 
I don't know about ATT, but my house is a Verizon DEAD ZONE.. T- mobile i works fine. Dave
 
Ddayle said:
I don't know about ATT, but my house is a Verizon DEAD ZONE.. T- mobile i works fine. Dave
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Every house seems different there. My house is a dead zone for all except Verizon. I know other houses where only AT&T or T-Mo will work.

Of course, I don't like the AyePhone, so I'll either switch to a Droid or stick to my BlackBerry. Contract is up later this year.
 
I won't be getting a Verizon iPhone. They announced their pricing today.

$60/month for unlimited voice/text and another $30 for the data plan (not sure how many MB/GB it allows). $20 more if you want to use your phone as a hotspot.

So, $90/month, minimum?

I'll keep my Droid X, thank you very much.
 
TangoWhiskey said:
I won't be getting a Verizon iPhone. They announced their pricing today.

$60/month for unlimited voice/text and another $30 for the data plan (not sure how many MB/GB it allows). $20 more if you want to use your phone as a hotspot.

So, $90/month, minimum?

I'll keep my Droid X, thank you very much.
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Umm... For Unlimited everything, that's pretty good, isn't it? :dunno:

And seriously, who uses an unlimited plan? I share 1400 minutes/month between two phones and don't even come close to using them. I must have 10,000 rollover minutes. (Hmmm, rollover, something else VZW doesn't do.) Aren't they going to have a non-unlimited plan?

Of course, if I move down a plan, I would end up also losing the free calling list feature, which would mean I would use a lot more minutes. :incazzato: It might be time to look at changing anyway, though... And maybe change back when I'm done burning up my rollover minutes.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
And seriously, who uses an unlimited plan?
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My wife and I both do emergency management and disaster response. Our usage can fluctuate wildly based on what is going on. We can easily go over 3000 minutes each per month during hurricane season.

Additionally, our accountant advised us that an unlimited plan is fully deductible, where minutes plans must be prorated by use. Additionally, any overages are assumed to be personally used minutes, not business use minutes.
 
PilotAlan said:
Additionally, our accountant advised us that an unlimited plan is fully deductible, where minutes plans must be prorated by use.
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Huh... Well that right there would be worth it just for simplicity's sake! I'm not using my phone for business right now, though. (My number is still my old business line, though - We were called The Chip Connection and my number is still 305-CHIP! :))
 
TangoWhiskey said:
I won't be getting a Verizon iPhone. They announced their pricing today.

$60/month for unlimited voice/text and another $30 for the data plan (not sure how many MB/GB it allows). $20 more if you want to use your phone as a hotspot.

So, $90/month, minimum?

I'll keep my Droid X, thank you very much.
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Sounds like Sprint pricing. "What the market will bear".
 
TangoWhiskey said:
... So, $90/month, minimum?...
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That's not the minimum, that's unlimited talk, unlimited texting, unlimited data. There are lower-priced plans for capped numbers of minutes and texts.

So, for instance, 450 minutes + 250 texts + unlimited data would be $40 + $5 + $30 = $75.
-harry
 
PilotAlan said:
My wife and I both do emergency management and disaster response. Our usage can fluctuate wildly based on what is going on. We can easily go over 3000 minutes each per month during hurricane season.

Additionally, our accountant advised us that an unlimited plan is fully deductible, where minutes plans must be prorated by use. Additionally, any overages are assumed to be personally used minutes, not business use minutes.
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That's the antique 1980s-era IRS ruling. He's wrong in that even if you have a package of minutes you can't deduct the theoretical value of any minutes used for personal purposes.

Thus we have a corporate policy that if you use your personal phone for business and have a package of minutes you get no reimbursement whatsoever, but if you use the company phone and have a package of minutes you owe the company for the theoretical pro-rated value of any minutes you use for personal calls. If business use of your personal phone makes you pay for extra minutes you can get reimbursed for the cost of those minutes but never for the basic phone monthly charges.
 
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wsuffa said:
Sounds like Sprint pricing. "What the market will bear".
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Maria Langer wrote on her blog today an entry entitled "Five reasons why my next phone will be an iPhone."

She says that it will cost her the SAME as the Droid 2 she was looking at, and LESS than the Blackberry Storm she's currently using. :dunno:

I've never seen a plan that says "This is the iPhone plan" and had it be different than any other smartphone type plan - I had unlimited data on a not-so-smart phone, and when I got the iPhone, I was paying the exact same amount. Those who did NOT have unlimited data bitched and moaned because they were forced to buy an unlimited data plan (this was back in the early days, that's no longer the case). It's not like it's an iPhone thing, it's a "you have a data plan now" thing, which is true of any smartphone.
 
Wow! Didja see the crowd STAMPEDE to be the first to get the Verizon iPhone at launch?

 
PilotAlan said:
Additionally, our accountant advised us that an unlimited plan is fully deductible, where minutes plans must be prorated by use. Additionally, any overages are assumed to be personally used minutes, not business use minutes.
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Oh I could just kiss you for posting that Alan. Okay maybe not...

But thanks.

Guess what change I'll probably be making to our phones soon so I don't have to dig through phone bills anymore or guesstimate percentages? ;)
 
mikea said:
That's the antique 1980s-era IRS ruling. He's wrong in that even if you have a package of minutes you can't deduct any minutes used for personal purposes.
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Bah. Erg.

I wish the cellular companies would just get on with offering two phone NUMBERS to the same phone -- and split the bill up on paper even within a single "plan". The networks and phones have been technically capable of it for years...
 
With two carriers now selling the iPhone in the US there are some new partner opportunities coming out.

Before Verizon iPhones even go on sale — and before customers begin fleeing AT&T in droves — AT&T has hatched a new plan to make up for lost income.
Apple who? AT&T sees unlimited potential in its new partnership with Taco Bell

Unfazed by losing their “exclusive U.S. carrier” status with iPhone, AT&T will jack up that cash flow by entering a massive marketing partnership with Taco Bell.
325 AT&T Wireless locations across the U.S. will soon have a new name: AT&Tacobell.
“We’re super-excited to team up with Taco Bell,” said AT&T CEO Randall L. Stephenson at today’s joint announcement. “Now we’ve got the nation’s most reliable network of Mexican fast food on our side.”
According to sources, AT&T was attracted to Taco Bell for its unique ability to run cheesy mass-market promotions. This capacity will allow the company to clear out its vast inventory of iPhone cases and chargers, even as customers gleefully spurn their iPhone offering.
Glen Bell, founder and CEO of Taco Bell, flashed his competitive spirit at today’s press conference. “Verizon may have the iPhone now, but you won’t find a single chalupa on their shelves,” he says.
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attacobell.jpeg
 
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