Apple, AT&T originally agreed to iPhone exclusivity until 2012

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  • Reply 81 of 91
    rickagrickag Posts: 1,626member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Fireball1244 View Post


    That's a nationwide average. When I moved from Austin, Texas, to Irving, Texas, for a job, my connectivity on AT&T went very sour. For the six months I was using my iPhone 3GS in Irving, I dropped at least 90% of my calls. It's like deadzones are just floating randomly through my neighborhood. My iPhone 3GS became, in effect, unusable.

    ..



    Funny what just a few miles difference will make. I have an iPhone, live in Arlington, Tx and work in Dallas, Tx. In the past year I've had one dropped call. On a driving trip to Rome George I had no dropped calls round trip. Granted much of the trip dropped down to the older technology, EDVO? and the internet was much slower, but still no dropped calls. Most of my calls during the trip were to my wife driving a couple hundred miles in front of me also on an iPhone.
  • Reply 82 of 91
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by rickag View Post


    Funny what just a few miles difference will make. I have an iPhone, live in Arlington, Tx and work in Dallas, Tx. In the past year I've had one dropped call. On a driving trip to Rome George I had no dropped calls round trip. Granted much of the trip dropped down to the older technology, EDVO? and the internet was much slower, but still no dropped calls. Most of my calls during the trip were to my wife driving a couple hundred miles in front of me also on an iPhone.



    When I lived in Dallas before I lived in Austin (working in politics, I move at least once every other year), I never had problems with AT&T network service, either. But Irving is just a vast AT&T signal wasteland.



    Verizon's network is very, very impressive. I'll pay full retail price for a Verizon-based iPhone if one comes out this summer.



    It's important for Apple, and iPhone fans, to recognize how fast the Android platform is improving, however. This is a real challenger for Apple. Apple's got a solid lead, especially amongst application vendors, but over the last five months I've watched the apps available for the Android multiply rapidly, and the quality gap between Android and iPhone apps shrink markedly. Coupled with the faster hardware iteration due to a competitive field of handset makers each trying to one up each other, and Apple may want to rethink releasing just one new handset every twelve months. An eight month cycle might help them keep pace better.
  • Reply 83 of 91
    rickagrickag Posts: 1,626member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Fireball1244 View Post


    .... But Irving is just a vast AT&T signal wasteland.

    ..



    Yes, ATT coverage must be spotty at best, too much evidence supporting complaints about coverage.



    Just a note, this past Sunday my wife and I visited her mother in Irving, Tx (re: a couple miles east of Irving Mall). Using my iPhone, I called my mother in Deltona Fla. for Mother's Day. I spoke, her mother spoke and my wife spoke with my mother for maybe 30 minutes or more and had no problems.
  • Reply 84 of 91
    sdbryansdbryan Posts: 351member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mudpud View Post


    ...they will ALWAYS rely on CDMA/3G (1x EV-DO signal), a WORLD-WIDE ACCEPTED STANDARD - albeit in fewer countries than GSM - and a BETTER standard ...



    Your use of the word 'standard' leaves something to be desired. If you travel with a CDMA cellphone to almost anywhere else in the world and you will find it is incapable of making or receiving calls. Is there really anything more to say?
  • Reply 85 of 91
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mudpud View Post


    Did you know that if you try and use a calling card to make an international call on AT&T, they charge you as if you never used a calling card but dialed directly from their phone?!?!?!?!?!?



    Bullshit. I used to do just that all the time. Never once had a charge for it aside from using minutes.
  • Reply 86 of 91
    masternavmasternav Posts: 442member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TBell View Post


    Inconveivable? You do understand that over half of China uses the same standard as Verizon. So does Brazil. In other words, billions of people.



    The reality is if Apple is locked in for five years, it made a bad deal. Of course, that is easy to say in hindsight. At the time, it might have been Apple's only option. Further, at the time, it wasn't aware of Google's plans.



    Apple currently is locked out of over half the US cell phone market. A market that is free for Android to dominate. I hate AT&T. Further, I hate Verizon. Both companies really gouge their customers. Yet, plenty of people use those networks, and Apple is allowing the enemy to become entrenched.



    Apple has already stolen all the customers that it is going to steal from Verizon. Many such people have employer discounts and so they are not going to switch over to AT&T. I for one prefer T-Mobile, it has better family plans, the call quality is good in my area, and customer service has been better then my dealings with AT&T and Verizon.



    I am running a hacked iPhone on T-Mobile, but I am sure most regular people aren't going to take that chance and go throught the trouble of figuring out how to do that.



    The problem Apple is going to have is one somebody else alluded to: once people beomce familar with a platform (e.g. Android), they tend to stick with it.



    WOW! Half of China uses CDMA and all of Brazil! That's fantastic! That means....lessee... 662,327,500 Chinese are on CDMA! WOW! That's a lot of CDMA subscribers! Oh wait - the CDMA Group itself only reports some 282,200,000 for the entire Asia Pacific region... obviously the CDMA Group can't count properly!!!



    So yeah, billions of people on CDMA, good enough. But really try to tone down the hyperbole just a tad please. And if you don't need to travel much - CDMA works fine. Most of my world-travelling Verizon friends pick up monthly use throw-away phones when in Europe rather than deal with CDMA issues.
  • Reply 87 of 91
    ipaladinipaladin Posts: 20member
    I just wish people would quit referring to GSM as a single blanket standard. GSM from 2G EDGE to 3G UMTS might have the same voice codecs and application core, which is easy to port, but 3G is based on... drumroll please... CDMA.



    In fact, the standard is named Wideband CDMA.



    So, in that regard, the people clamoring for the CDMA iPhone can go out and buy one today.



    On the flip side, with CDMA 2000 (i.e. Verizon's CDMA standard used here stateside and in the Americas and the Pacific Rim) there aren't that many modifications to be made. The massive gain in Verizon customers who are locked in and can't bolt for AT&T for various reasons would be more than enough to make up for any differences in technology and production. Also remember that in non 3G AT&T areas, you can't talk and surf at the same time. 2G GSM puts in that limitation, it is only 3G GSM that removes it.
  • Reply 88 of 91
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TBell View Post


    Inconveivable? You do understand that over half of China uses the same standard as Verizon.



    Currently, China only has about 70% of the number of CDMA/CDMA2000 customers that Verizon does.
    — China Mobile » GSM(2G)/TD-SCDMA(3G) » ~550,000,000 subs

    — China Unicom » GSM(2G)/WCDMA(3G) » ~150,000,000 subs

    — China Telecom » CDMA(2G)/CDMA2000(3G) » ~70,000,000 subs
  • Reply 89 of 91
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by iPaladin View Post


    I just wish people would quit referring to GSM as a single blanket standard. GSM from 2G EDGE to 3G UMTS might have the same voice codecs and application core, which is easy to port, but 3G is based on... drumroll please... CDMA.



    In fact, the standard is named Wideband CDMA.



    So, in that regard, the people clamoring for the CDMA iPhone can go out and buy one today.



    On the flip side, with CDMA 2000 (i.e. Verizon's CDMA standard used here stateside and in the Americas and the Pacific Rim) there aren't that many modifications to be made. The massive gain in Verizon customers who are locked in and can't bolt for AT&T for various reasons would be more than enough to make up for any differences in technology and production. Also remember that in non 3G AT&T areas, you can't talk and surf at the same time. 2G GSM puts in that limitation, it is only 3G GSM that removes it.



    And a quasar and the iPhone are the same thing because they both transmit RF. W-CDMA is not CDMA! If you don't know the difference and don't understand why an iPhone with GSM/W-CDMA radios will not work on Verizon or Sprint I don't know what to say expect do some research.
  • Reply 90 of 91
    johnlewjohnlew Posts: 26member
    The funniest part about this is that everyone thinks that Apple can/did just redo or break the contract under whatever terms it feels like... as if AT&T doesn't have a very good, very expensive set of lawyers that approved the initial contract as ironclad and are there to make sure that, if there are any invalidation clauses, that they never come about.
  • Reply 91 of 91
    lilgto64lilgto64 Posts: 1,147member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mcarling View Post


    Your belief that CDMA is a world-wide standard is just as correct as your believe that every GSM user is on AT&T -- especially here in Europe. Only an american could believe that the world ends at the US border.



    no the world does not end at the US border - only the civilized world



    don't blame us for all the US haters out there - just crossing into Canada is hard enough when you tell them the reason for your visit is business - then they get all uppity and want to know why a Canadian citizen cannot do the job - and will the customer be paying you directly - and why are you crossing the border at 4:30 today if the meeting isn't till tomorrow - etc etc.



    okay - well maybe we are not all that civilized - especially if you watch COPS or Jerry Springer or any "reality tv" but at least we are open and honest about it - not like the former soviet union for example where they denied there were ANY serial killers in their country for example - oops - turns out we got that wrong after all yeah we do have those too.



    On the other hand we do get pretty uptight when it comes to sexuality -not sure whats up with that.



    What's that? we were talking about AT&T vs Verizon - oh never mind.
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