Why Verizon iPhone rumors are finally making sense, the real story.
If you have followed AT&T and iPhone talk since the beginning of time you know there has been a constant drum beat of rumors that the iPhone was going to Verizon. All these were just wishful thinking by frustrated bloggers and media writers who happened to live in the AT& T dead zones of New York and San Francisco. In both cases you have the tech capital of the world in SF and the other the media capital of world NY. Small problem with their rantings were that the rest of the country actually has really good AT&T reception so those of us in “fly-over” country had great signals and experiences with the iPhone. In July 73% of iphone users were satisfied with their network AT&T. Especially those of us in the South and Southeast where the roots of AT&T wireless are based. It used to be Cingular remember?? Which was owned by Dallas Based SBC and Atlanta based Bellsouth. When AT&T took over Cingular it acquired the very dense cellular network of the south and southeast where those 2 companies had invested heavily in their “home” territories. Then with acquisition of a large chuck of Sun-Com the network got even better in the sun-belt.
Turn to today as AT&T has become the biggest GSM network in the country and has the fastest albeit smaller 3G network than Verizon. This GSM network is also more of the global standard which is why every AT&T cell phones work overseas. Verizon has a CDMA network with better voice coverage but at much slower data speeds and can only be used on it’s sister network overseas Vodafone.
This brings me to the IPhone still the #1 smartphone in the U.S. even though Google has flooded the market with quality Android based phones. If you have an iPhone or have ever played with it you know it way more than a phone. In fact the phone is really just another app on many peoples iphones. The important part of the phone is the data it receives from the cellular connection for all the other apps you use. So having a data connection is important, this is where AT&T has surpassed Verizon with their 3G data speeds which are about 62% faster in major cities compared to Verizon. The reception is also slightly more reliable than Verizon according to testing done by PC magazine.
So I was always puzzled by why Apple would move to a slower and U.S. only network, when it could make one phone that works globally on the fastest U.S. network? This is why those rumors where always non-sense not to mention the lack of voice and data working simultaneously on CDMA networks. I mean us iphone users where dying for multitasking with iOS 4.0 and on Verizon you’d lose the most important of all multitasking…. talking on the phone and using another app.
This brings us to today when the rumors finally make sense. Why? Because Verizon is launching a true 4G network called LTE. LTE is theoretically going to be as fast as 100mbs if you believe the hype. Verizon will have 25 markets online by the end of this year and most markets by the end of 2011. This 4G network is also being rolled out by AT&T just at a slower rate. Which means if the iphone goes to Verizon early in 2011 and has a 4G radio in it for LTE. Apple could use the same phones or manufacturer on AT&T once it’s LTE network is up and running. This makes more sense from the business and technology standpoint.
Conclusion is this new competition on a level playing field of a LTE network for AT&T and Verizon, and both with the iPhone should finally settle who has the best network. Which means competitive pricing, plans, phones etc. Bad news is this likely means one of the big 2 will swallow up the smaller guys either Sprint or T-Mobile… likely both.
