Exec Suggests AT&T iPhone Exclusivity in US May End Soon

[confucious]

They do use SIM cards actually. The BB Storm uses a SIM card to connect to VW network. My plan is if apple does go to VW then i'll get a storm, take the SIM card out and plug it into my iPhone and pray that it works. If it does then i've got it made!

Certain Verizon phones have a SIM card as well as CDMA - this is so the phones can be sold to people who travel outside of the USA (as lots of business people do and they are sold as business phones) to allow the phones to be used elsewhere in the world on roaming agreements.

Verizon do not have UMTS and if you use a Verizon SIM you would be charged for roaming if they had an agreement with another carrier in the USA (I'm not sure if they do allow roaming on to AT&T). That could work out a tad expensive if their roaming charges are anything like most European carriers....

[iPhonePilot]

Your 2 cents means nothing especially since its a biased opinion. T-Mobile does have the best customer service but in the U.S. They don't measure up and that's just fact. Analyze all 4 major network maps in the US and tell me which you see is the lowest rank of all. 7.5 HSDPA? Tell me how many cities on T-Mobile network actually have that data rate? Them merging with Orange does nothing for us here. Verizon is the next best choice since they pretty much own the entire U.S. when it comes to network reliability. T-Mobile can never catch up that quick it will take them a long time before they even put a dent in that. They are only good for people who want a low priced phone plan with minimal needs of 3g connectivity. And as far as a 2 year contract i'm sure T-Mobile would offer a 1 to 2yr contract to get the phone with a discounted price..like every other carrier.

I appreciate your "opinion" (educated or not); afer all this is what this forums are for...!!

2 things you are forgetting- first over 87% of the "users" DO use their phones where T-Mobile's network is as good if not better than Verizon's (wich yes, I do admit have a more "expanded" network). So what this means is that for close to 8 out of 10 people experiences is irrelevant and only affects when someone is in BFE rural...
AT&T had HSPA just like T-Mobile; what they dont have and WILL NEVER HAVE is this thing we "saveys" call BANDWITH...!! and that T-mobile have plenty of.. think about it as you driving your Ferrari in a very busy residential 2 lane street in rush hour traffic or a wide six lane autobon in Europe with no speed limit... I'll let you pound with that...

As far as the "Them merging with Orange does nothing for us here.." remark??
I think that is a very ignorant remark considering that is no secret to any comany, SPECIALLY in the communications industry. This is what we call here in US- Buying Power... think of Walmart- why they have such low prices?? because they buy and do business in LARGE quantities!!
In the communications industry if you are a mom & pops or a small carrier or worst yet an "exclusive" technology and go to Nokia, Motorola, etc and say I want you to build me xxxx amount of handsets and they laugh at you. they will not do it because is not in their best interest to generate something that they might get stuck with if it don't sell... People dont know this but before Nextel had the 2 way walky-talky system TMo (Aerial communication back then) had the technology to do the very same and better; in fact it is a feature of GSM. When they approached the handset carries nobody wanted to make this device for them because Aerial was a GSM carrier- the ONLY GSM carrier may I add, where AT&T and Bellwouth Mobility (then became Cigular) and every one else was TDMA (Ericsson RBS 882/884 equipment). So these phone manufacturers falt out said NO; because exactly that- it was THE ONLY gsm carrier in the US and they were small... YOU get my drift... (I hope) So Now that T-Mobile become THE larget carrier in the rest of the WORLD (not in US I know!!) they are in better position than ANY company in the world AND they now have that POWER...

DATA SPEED- AT&T vs T-Mobile !!

No offense but people need to stop reading comics and start picking up articles worthwhile reading- Consumer Reports, NY Times, Wall-Street Journal, etc, etc.. If you did, you'd know that a couple of months ago BOTH NY times and Wall-Street did a head-to-head speed test where TMo network CONSISTENTLY ripped AT&Ts network appart... "...even their 2G EDGE network is almost as fast than AT&Ts 3G network here in NY..." they added... that's NOT even Tmos 3G network now!!! again, where it matters- IN BIG CITIES!!!

Bottom line??- We all know that every carrier "says" that they have the best coverage/fastest network/better handsets... I mean, look at the wars between AT&T and Verizon now?? if YOU believe their adds, false claims and their laying employees then be it- this is where retailers love you... but if you do the research, do your homeworks and read about things that puts you in a much better "Savey" position.

Cheers!

Not that it matters, but AT&T doesn't have any Nokia UMTS sites, only Ericsson and Lucent.

Depends on the market my brother... they do have Ericsson in some markets and Nokia in others..

Example- they have Nokia UMTS in FL but Erricson in GA or CA.. ALL carriers do this because it would be way too much for one technology vendor to handle that much equipment(remember is not only just equip but replacement parts, warranty, etc, etc) ALSO is not wise for a carrier to put "all the eggs in one basket" in case something goes south with that vendor/technology/life cycle/etc,etc..

[thetoothfairy]

^toothfairy, u should unlock ur 3gs get a tmobile prepay sim then use tmobile prepay onurunlock iPhone and get better service since AT&T is that bad in ur location cuz the iPhone is really the best phone made

I might have to go this way if my service keeps up like it has been. AT&T have been working on my account etc to see if they can get me better service. They stated that they are supposed to add another tower in this area in January.... that is a long way from now....

And I can not agree with you more as far as the iPhone is the best... I have all three models....

[rhekt]

i love you atat