{"id":233367,"date":"2010-01-26T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-26T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"Gizmodo-5456644"},"modified":"2010-01-26T18:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-01-26T23:00:00","slug":"what-if-the-iphone-cheated-on-att-iphone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/233367","title":{"rendered":"What If the iPhone Cheated on AT&T? [IPhone]"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>It’s rumored by some that Apple will announce that the iPhone is becoming available from carriers other than AT&T on Wednesday. That would mean you could leave AT&T while staying with Apple, among other interesting things.<\/p>\n

Price War<\/b>
\nIf you want an iPhone in the US, you’re stuck with AT&T. If the iPhone becomes available on more carriers, people have a choice. And if the phones are equal across the carriers, people will be choosing based on rate plans and coverage instead of whichever carrier has the phone they want.<\/p>\n

This would hopefully lead to lower prices, especially for services like text messages, data and voice. There’s already a mini-price war going on between Verizon and AT&T, who have both dropped their unlimited calling plans to $70. If they’re both fighting for iPhone customers, one expects this to only continue.<\/p>\n

Tethering<\/b>
\nAT&T still doesn’t offer tethering for the iPhone, while Verizon is offering it on phones such as the Palm Pre Plus. If Verizon has tethering, how fast do you think AT&T would scramble to get it? Assuming it’s a choice by AT&T, and not some other weird technical issue, we think it would happen pretty fast. These are the benefits of competition.<\/p>\n

Coverage and Reception<\/b>
\nAT&T’s network might not be terrible, depending where you live, but one thing is for sure: it’s stuck providing coverage for the biggest wireless data hog ever made. Verizon has a great network that really hasn’t been challenged. On the one hand, Verizon might handle the iPhone with aplomb. On the other, AT&T aced our 3G test and still sucks when the iPhone is on it. Is it the network, or is it the phone?<\/p>\n

As for the assumption that Verizon getting the iPhone would lighten the load on AT&T, well, it would be nice if half of the AT&T users just went over to VZ, but that’s definitely not how networks—or businesses—work.<\/p>\n

3G vs. 4G Wireless Data<\/b>
\nIf we don’t get a Verizon iPhone this year, the general expectation is that we’ll see an LTE iPhone on Verizon in 2011. (LTE is the 4G wireless protocol that both VZ and AT&T are supporting.)<\/p>\n

But if Verizon gets it sooner, it might not have Apple breathing down its neck for a sturdy LTE network by next summer. That could be bad news for not just iPhone users, but anyone looking to get an LTE phone. Remember: 3G was available when the original iPhone was released, Apple was just too cautious to hop on board before it was ready.<\/p>\n

GSM vs. CDMA<\/b>
\nVerizon runs a CDMA network, which would require a CDMA iPhone. CDMA phones are more difficult to hack than GSM phones, which would be a hit for the thriving homebrew and jailbreaking scene that currently exists. Not that Verizon—or Apple—would care.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, a CDMA iPhone wouldn’t be able to travel outside of the US without a GSM radio, as most international carriers use GSM, just like AT&T. Many of Verizon’s BlackBerry’s offer CDMA phones with GSM radios for international roaming, so it’s possible the iPhone could get it too.<\/p>\n



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It’s rumored by some that Apple will announce that the iPhone is becoming available from carriers other than AT&T on Wednesday. That would mean you could leave AT&T while staying with Apple, among other interesting things. Price War If you want an iPhone in the US, you’re stuck with AT&T. If the iPhone becomes available […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-233367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233367\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}