First off, I am offering a disclaimer. I am both a Verizon and AT&T customer of over ten years. I am _not_ advocating for either of these companies, I do not work for them, nor do I care about their success or failures. Nor do I care about Apple or Samsung or RIM or any other brand. I am not married to any of them. Therefore I am not advocating, nor bashing any of them.
I don't agree with this whole Apple bashing that goes on here.
I don't either. However my observations reveal it tends to be a common practice on enthusiast forums.
The whole "exclusive" thing was a good deal for AT&T. I believe all wireless carriers would have jumped on this deal. The "exclusive" part of the deal had to have been AT&T's idea, not Apple's.
Not true. The fact is that Apple First offered the iPhone to Verizon. They were turned down because Verizon was not willing to pay Apple the obscene amount of money that Apple wanted Verizon to pay them on a per phone basis. Nor was Verizon willing to pay Apple a percentage of airtime and other fee splits that Apple demanded. Apple has always been very arrogant and maintained an air of superiority. No other carrier except AT&T even had the resources to pay the kind of money that Apple demanded (not requested). In addition the negotiations went on and on for a long time before the two parties finally came to an agreement. All because of Apples stubborn position and demand for a huge sum of money up front.
AT&T was willing to take a gamble, (remember this was an unknown phone at the time, therefore there was no way to know if it would be successful and to what degree). This is why the term of exclusivity was so long. It had nothing to do with AT&T and everything to do with Apple offering a multi year deal to get AT&T to accept their terms. Apple shopped this phone around, and there was little if any interest in the beginning.
Apple wants to sell as many iPhones as possible, and I would think it is better for them to have ALL carriers sell their phones.
I'm sure they do, but again let's not forget it was Apple, that dictated the terms of the contract. Apple is nothing if not controlling, this is a very well known fact. Yes they would sell a greater number of phones, but it was Apple that limited themselves to just one carrier.
The network is the main reason why they are rated last now. The amount of dropped calls, at least for me personally, is becoming unbearable.
Yes, and no. Yes there is a certain amount of overload due to the huge number of iPhones on the network. However that is not affecting the voice side, only the data side. Let's remember that GSM technology passes both data and voice over the lines at the same time. When one experiences a dropped call with a good quality phone (that excludes iphone which I will explain later) it's simply a reflection of the fact that all cell phones are radios and cannot always perform perfectly with no dropped calls. There are many variables, too many to list.
Most of the people I know have Verizon wireless as their carrier and not a single person complains about dropped calls.
I have been a Verizon _and_ AT&T subscriber for over a decade, with several activated phones that I use concurrently. I'm a huge mobile phone enthusiast that has been using a variety of unlocked, unbranded phones I've sourced from all over the world, and used them on my AT&T GSM network account. I've had very few dropped calls with only one exception and that involves the iPhones I've owned.
What very few people are aware of is the choice of chips that Apple uses. They are only marginally compatible with AT&T's GSM network. AT&T asked Apple to employ another chip, but they refused as the ones they chose, they chose based on price. A substandard chip that saved Apple some money.
Then because of the nature of Apple's rather cult like customer base, they believe anything that Steve Jobs tells them. Being the highly skilled sales person he is and very persuasive, he convinced his followers that it was an AT&T problem.
I know differently from first hand experience. As a long time Apple computer user, and enthusiast (not fanboy) I've had every iPhone from day one. Not one has proven to have decent phone performance. I can use one of my Android or BlackBerry phones and enjoy a loud and clear phone conversation with no dropped calls other than when in a weak area which is common to all carriers. Then if I'm in that same strong area and using my iPhone the call quality is very poor, and the phone has trouble maintaining the connection. This is nothing more than fact.
So at this point you may be asking why do I keep buying iPhones along with all the other smartphones I own? Simple really, I got involved with iPods, and iTunes early on, and all my music and entertainment is on my personal Apple eco system. A Mac Pro and MacBook Pro computers are part of what I use for my photography and video endeavors.
Yet that said I am a professional 3D aerospace designer that works in Windows by day. Therefore as multi-platformist, I have a unique perspective from first hand experience in both environments. Something that not every one has as a basis to compare.
Fast forward to today when there are a massive number of iPhones and all the whining customers who are convinced it's AT&T, and it's no wonder that AT&T's reputation has suffered. They are in fact a victim of the lemming mentality of Apple fanboys that have spread the word, if not for AT&T their phones would be perfect.
I'm here to say thats competely untrue. If it was, then every phone I have on AT&T (and I currently have three active lines) would perform poorly. AT the end of the day, AT&T gets a black eye over the arrogance and pompous attitude of Apple. That is simply a fact.
What will happen when the iPhone is offered on the Verizon network? I can assure you, that Apple will not repeat the same cheap approach, as they know they will be discovered. They will build a better phone for Verizon that is a certainty.
Cheers...
