For everybody that wants iPhone on Verizon...

[kdarling]

That would put me off their network. I don't think that I've ever bought a wallpaper nor ringtone off my network operator; the amount I pay in each month should be enough.

Although we don't know for sure, it looks like Apple / AT&T will have people pay to load ringtones on iPhone.

PDA-phones from, well, any carrier, can do pretty much what they want.

Addendum: Seems a little ironic that people talk about not wanting to be chained in, and yet got a phone that has no third party apps, no themes, no ringtones, no keyboard or stereo or transfer Bluetooth... basically, nothing that the manufacturer won't give out.

 

[kdarling]

I've read on these forums about Verizon's president bashing the iPhone.

Never happened. The closest to something like that was when Apple fans took offense because the Verizon COO said that they were happy they passed on the first iPhone version.

Verizon passed on the iPhone because of a lot of reasons:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2007-01-28-verizon-iphone_x.htm

 

[buffalo]

Never happened. The closest to something like that was when Apple fans took offense because the Verizon COO said that they were happy they passed on the first iPhone version.

Verizon passed on the iPhone because of a lot of reasons:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2007-01-28-verizon-iphone_x.htm

Thanks for that link. I hadn't seen that before.

An off topic question... When/if Apple announces new versions of iPhone ("iPhone nano" or second generation iPhone), will each require the approx. 6 month FCC certification, or are they good to go because of the current iPhone's certification?

 

[kdarling]

An off topic question... When/if Apple announces new versions of iPhone ("iPhone nano" or second generation iPhone), will each require the approx. 6 month FCC certification, or are they good to go because of the current iPhone's certification?

Because it's so different, it'll require a different certification. It takes only about six to eight weeks to get the FCC cert, if all goes well and no changes are needed. Can take a lot less if you use an FCC authorized cert authority.

Last time I went through a computer (much easier than a phone) certification, 18 years ago, it cost my friends and me something like $15,000 and took about a week of testing. Naturally, you use the best components possible in the test unit and its cables

Kev

 

[DiamondMac]

I had Verizon for the last year and loved it. Service was VERY solid...Customer Support was very good...and it was the cheapest for my style of phone use and text messaging.

But, obviously...others have different experiences and I respect that.

 

[SMM]

Everybody like me that wishes for the iPhone to be someday available on Verizon should .........

snipped

You may have a good idea, or maybe not. My department (work) is tasked with the thankless job of evaluating service providers for voice, data and wireless. We only sign two-year contracts. So, it seems like we are in a constant Maytag cycle for one, or the other. We have, or do use QWest, AT&T, Verizon, ELI, MCI, and others I do not immediately recall.

Quite frankly, I really do not like any of them except ELI. But, they only provide our Point-to-Point T-1s. It is not like they are perfect. However, compared to the rest, they seem a 'cut above'. They all seem great until the contract is signed. Then you begin to see the difference.

Our company works over a wide terrain; Pentagon, Johnson Atoll, Hawaii, Alaska, LAX, Idaho, Pasadena, etc. So, we have to frequently deal with the local vendors. What I have noticed, not all regions come under the same management. Some are great to work with, others suck. Therefore, I am not convinced there is one company that really stands out from the group.

Second point; this whole iPhone think is less than two weeks old. I think that any effort to make a monumental change, right now, is not worth the effort.

 

[dr_lha]

I never paid for wallpapers or ringtones either back in the day when I had a razr. I simply emailed them to my vzwpix.com address, which was available to anyone on their network and it would relay the pics or ringtones straight to my phone via an MMS message for free.

Incoming MMS messages cost money though don't they? OK you might have a "plan" but you're still paying.

Also emailing to and from the phone is a damn site more complicated than just using Bluetooth file transfer. I actually left Verizon a few years ago because after waiting for ages for a Bluetooth phone to come out, Verizon crippled it. I dumped them and went to AT&T and a phone that not only had bluetooth but synced with iSync as well. Never looked back.

 

[kdarling]

Just picked up Verizon's new and wonderful blackberry 8830. One of the flagship features of this new blackberry is it's full-fledged GPS. Guess what Verizon has decided to disable in the firmware...the GPS.

Love their service, but am really starting to get annoyed by the feature squashing.

Yeah, now that was really stupid.

No doubt a single manager somewhere pushed for the GPS to be crippled until you bought their navigation application.

I hate beancounters and managers

 

[mduser63]

Seems a little ironic that people talk about not wanting to be chained in, and yet got a phone that has no third party apps, no themes, no ringtones, no keyboard or stereo or transfer Bluetooth... basically, nothing that the manufacturer won't give out.

Not really. I don't care about themes especially with an Apple UI. Verizon's UI is like a textbook example of ugly, while (obviously) Apple has the best UI in the industry by far. The iPhone does have a keyboard, most likely will have ringtones (though I don't care about these either) and as I explained, while it doesn't have transfer Bluetooth, you can do transfers over a cable which is just fine with me. The lack of third party apps does really annoy me, but only as a developer, not so much as an end user. I hope Apple addresses this with a real SDK in the future.

In short, while my Verizon phone was a crappy phone made even crappier by Verizon, the iPhone is the best phone on the market and actually doesn't have any shortcomings that I particularly care about with the exception of third-party apps.

 

[meagain]

I'll never understand why people are so hung up over ring tones. IMO, most sound like garbage and are cheezy as heck. I think the iPhone has pretty cool ringtones and can't imagine freeking out over not being able to pick my own.

 

[cookingmamaG]

We switched

I like Verizon...all my pals, many of my business contacts and family have Verizon. So I really like the whole free "IN" network calling and messaging plan. I have always gotten good reception and service. We've had Verizon for 8 years now. Then came the Iphone...and we went to AT&T. I was soooo bummed Verizon turned the deal down but we are now LOVING AT&T! Sure we have to pay early termination fees up the wazoo...but oh well. It's sooo worth it. My husband got a new Razor from At&t and he was shocked at how many things that baby can do. His Verizon Razor was so crippled....and we never knew! when Ipods first came out, i told DH I would wait for the one day "ipod/cell phone/palm" and now that day has arrived! I knew it would come out eventually!

 

[Nall]

Addendum: Seems a little ironic that people talk about not wanting to be chained in, and yet got a phone that has no third party apps, no themes, no ringtones, no keyboard or stereo or transfer Bluetooth... basically, nothing that the manufacturer won't give out.

I agree here to a point, but to me there's a major difference between features not included by the phone manufacturer and features being purposely disabled by the carrier. Furthermore with Cingular/T-Mobile, it's not a huge/impossible pain to get some unlocked phone and use it, and I SIM-swap a lot.

As for the iPhone itself, I am puzzled and saddened by the its limited file storage and lack of a real SDK. I think that people are hoping some of these missing features will eventually show up via Software Updates; I know I am.

 

[Sobe]

Although we don't know for sure, it looks like Apple / AT&T will have people pay to load ringtones on iPhone.

PDA-phones from, well, any carrier, can do pretty much what they want.

Addendum: Seems a little ironic that people talk about not wanting to be chained in, and yet got a phone that has no third party apps, no themes, no ringtones, no keyboard or stereo or transfer Bluetooth... basically, nothing that the manufacturer won't give out.

It is a bit odd. I think it's part of the mindset of people these days that whatever product is released will be theirs to operate any old way they want. And when it isn't...well you see what happens.

This concept, in general, came up in an ethics class I was taking earlier this summer. It was brought up that the classic ethical concept of autonomy has been morphed into a sort of egoist self-centered approach to the universe where one feels stifiled if not able to follow every id-generated drive to the fullest of his or her wishes.

And I think that's pretty much why you see such emotional and dogmatic responses to the iPhone by its detractors. It's not just that it can't, for example, do bluetooth file transfers, but rather that leaving out that functionality somehow insults people at a base level by denying them what they want when they want it.

It's rather an interesting phenomenon to experience.

 

[synth3tik]

From what I have heard the only thing worse then Verizon is Sprint

 

[Sobe]

for my basic mobile service Verizon was fine. I had no problems with them and would have been happy to stay a customer if the iPhone had been available on their network...but others' experiences may differ.

 

[Nall]

It's not just that it can't, for example, do bluetooth file transfers

Somewhat OT from your point, but before they can really implement bluetooth file transfer or a few of the other oft-requested features like Safari-based downloads and uploads, the iPhone needs a MobileFinder (for lack of a better term). For a device of this calibur, the absense of any file management is really quite conspicuous.

for my basic mobile service Verizon was fine.

This may not be off the mark. If all you care about is just calling people, then Verizon may be a good choice. If you consider your phone to be a multi-purpose digital device, I would most certainly NOT recommend them.

 

[JoJoCal19]

This may not be off the mark. If all you care about is just calling people, then Verizon may be a good choice. If you consider your phone to be a multi-purpose digital device, I would most certainly NOT recommend them.

I can agree with this wholeheartedly. I was with Verizon for several years and their service was the absolute best. AND YES, within the past 8 months I have had a Chocolate with Verizon, Blackberry Pearl with T-Mobile, then the Treo 700wx with Sprint and now the iPhone with AT&T. I spend lots of money on cell phones and switching but that is my own thing, I love cell phones. I never once had a dropped call with Verizon and I have traveled all over the state of Florida and never experienced horrible call quality, even in the most isolated areas, on beaches in the middle of nowhere, extremely rural areas and everywhere else inbetween.

I must however say that the BIGGEST reason I think Verizon didnt do a deal with Apple is because there wouldnt be an easy way for Apple to integrate Verizons music purchase service into the iPhone without going away from what Apple wanted to do with the software on the phone.

 

[Salty Pirate]

verizon lost me and my wife and now my daughter needs aphone, guess who it is gonna be with? AT&T. Verizon F'd up big time. I know one of their local managers and all he does is talk smack on the iphone. He has not seen mine yet, I really did not want to rub it in his face. Anyway, it is obvious these guys are scared. When the iphone got announced, I asked him about it and they are all so arrogant. He said things like it would be a POS and without their holy and mighty network, it would fail. I had their network. It was nowhere near blazing fast. I have gotten 150K on edge and while EVDO was slightly better averaging in the 200K range, the latency was horrible. You would access a page..........and wait........and then, all the sudden, burst, boom, you had your page. The ONLY good thing I can say about verizon was the voice quality is better than AT&T and I hardly ever had a dropped call. Now, could some of the iphone issues about call quality be the iphone itself or AT&T's network? Only time will tell. I have had a rash of dropped calls and when someone calls you, you cannot hear them for about 10 seconds sometimes. I suspect it is the iphone, since other people I know have AT&T with no issues at all. I am confident Apple will address these issues in due time.

The iphone, with a few warts, is infinitely better than using my moto Q or treo 650 on verizon.

 

[buffalo]

...This may not be off the mark. If all you care about is just calling people, then Verizon may be a good choice. If you consider your phone to be a multi-purpose digital device, I would most certainly NOT recommend them.

I agree with this. All I use my for KRZR is calling and text messaging. For those two purposes the phone and Verizon works flawlessly. Calls never drop and Verizon's UI on the KRZR is fine. I have never tried VCAST or any other feature Verizon offers so I cannot comment on the implementation of those services.