We all know that when AT&T does come, it will be at a price which will be rediculous. So what are our options to get an awesome phone for verizon/alltel? Get a Droid. I am looking at the Eris right now, but my only consern is transfering my number and the price verizon charges.

Here's my Alltel plan right now:

2 Lines - 2 Blackberries
1200 Minute SmartChoice Plan
Unlimited Night and Weekend starting @ 7pm
Unlimited Text, Pic, Video, Data, Email
Ringback Tones

All for 160ish with taxes.

So, has anyone switched to Verizon? Was it painless? My only issue is that Verizon charges an extra 30 bucks per smartphone, which is stupid, but i can understand it. My mom doesn't use her blackberry for blackberry stuff, just calling, texting, and snapping pics... It was just an old phone and she needed it cause her rhythm broke.

So My question is, is it worth switching? Or should I wait for the big blue to come on down?

The benefits of living in Seattle is that the choice of carriers and cell phones are virtually limitless.

Hence my phone:

Speaking of cell phones, remember these monstrosities:

We have two iPhones similar to the loadout you listed, Josh. The cost is roughly the same.

We have 1700 minutes but even with business use I don't exceed that and we ditched our landline last year - so it's our two iPhones for two busy people.

Maybe some of the pricing packages are regionalized?

Add-in a few choice (and often free) apps and you'll have more goodies than any service carrier provides anyway. So, maybe it won't be as expensive as you anticipate?

When we were shopping for Blackberries on different carriers (leaning toward US Cellular at the time) they were the best choice. A close second would have been a Nokia N70.

However, if I had to make a non-iPhone choice now (which I'm really glad I don't) I'd probably go Droid on Verizon, yes. I'd still feel it was not a great fallback position, though.

So, when does AT&T/iPhone expect to be in MC? Or, were you just saying in general when they arrive?

They has said Q1 of 2010 is when they are beginning the tower transition. They expected to be done in Q1 of 2011. The plan, as I understood it, is that AT&T is required to keep the tower CDMA, but they can add on their GSM 3G. Once every Alltel Contract is up, they will be required to purchase a new phone from AT&T, or go to another carrier, as I heard.

Which Means... My brand new Blackberry Tour would not work, although it has a SimCard slot. So, this is why I wish to switch to Verizon. Plus almost all my friends are now on it, and everyone I know that has Alltel will soon enough be on it or AT&T.

Between that time line, multi-term contracts, phone subsidies, etc. I'd say the chances are pretty good that both Apple and Google (and whatever other contenders) will have new phones and you'll be making all new decisions based on yet-to-be-see lineups. Unless that First Quarter tower change means THAT is when your current phone will get dropped?

I, as many others, are unsure. AT&T hasn't even announced anything about us yet. I just want to get to a carrier I know isn't planning on disappearing sometime in the near future.

Josh: I had several of the same questions. As I understand it from the manager of the Alltel Corp store here in Gillette, when Cellular One, the fore-runner to Alltel, installed the towers they were equipped with both CDMA and GSM. It is simply a matter of flipping a switch on the tower to go to GSM. ATT will have to add the 3G capability to the towers down the road. There are a lot of places in the the country with a lot more people than in the greater Wyoming-Montana metroplex that are not 3G on ATT, so 3G might be a while. We should have ATT in 1Q of 2010 and thus the iPhone. Based on my experience with my iPhone on another local GSM carrier, browsing will be a little slow, but not unbearable.

I recently dumped the local GSM carrier and bought a Verizon MiFi and am using the iPhone with VOIP software. It works pretty well and gives me a lot of flexibility as I can also connect 4 other devices simultaneously to the MiFi. I also have a Verizon cell phone. The whole verizon bill is about $130/mo. The coverage/service is pretty decent.

I also looked at the Droids but the OS is not nearly as polished as the iPhone. With a Droid you are also going to be syncing lot more data (calendar, etc) over the phone rather than connected to the computer. With the sparse cell coverage in this part of the world I suspect that will be somewhat of a problem. Also not sure I want to switch to google calendar and then sync it to iCal.

My thought is to keep the powder dry until after Macworld 2010. I think we will have a lot of answer as to the long term strategy for Apple, the iPhone, iPhone OS vs Android, the TABLET, etc. With that info we can spend those technology dollars wisely.

I had one of the Motorola Banana phones Kyle posted. It was a great phone. I had it hooked to a gain antenna and you could call from the middle of no where.

[This message has been edited by Richard Bonine, Jr (11/28/2009)]

Richard, Apple is not going to be at MacWorld 2010 this year. Last year was their last, remember?

Plus I just got off the phone with Verizon.

1400 Minutes a month, 2 lines.
One Unlimited Data Package for Smartphone
Unlimited Text, Pic, Video
Night and Weekends start at 9

160 a month.

I forgot that Apple wasn't going to be at Macworld. Surely Steve Jobs will hold some media event to announce what is coming down the road early in 2010.

[This message has been edited by Richard Bonine, Jr (11/28/2009)]

I am not as much into phones, but I have at&t cell phone, which I think is the only carrier in this area that won't work at my house. I never change untill I have to. I may have been the last person anywhere with a Motorola bag phone. Which by the way was the best phone I ever had. I spend a lot of time at sea, I could make and receive calls about a hundred miles off shore. Then when they finaly told me I had to switch to the hand held analog phone with a 3 watt booster and a out of the wheel house antennae I could get service about 60 miles off. Now with digital never over 20 miles.

At home for my only land line I have is the magic jack, I was sceptical when I first heard about it. It is every thing they say it is. never any trouble with it except when something happened to my internet connection. Just went for the 5 year 59.95 plan. It is a great way to cut down your cell phone mins. it does take high speed though.

The Droid on Verizon is a pretty great phone. I have never used an iPhone so I can't say which is better but its way better than my old windows mobile 6.1 phone. And I really liked my old phone. The turn by turn gps navigation works great as long as you are in cell phone service range. And the voice search works pretty well. The camera isn't terrible and the keyboard could be better but other than that its a pretty sweet phone.

Oh and Josh, if you have a gmail account w all your contacts in it they will automatically sync to the droid when you first set it up. I assume it would work on Android 1.6 on the Eris, too.

[This message has been edited by Bill N (11/28/2009)]

I know bill, trust me. I did my research lol. Only thing is, I could care less if it syncs or not, because i only use gmail. No Google Calendar, No Google Contacts, nothing.

Whoops. Sorry josh. I read "transfer my number" as "transfer my contact numbers". I need to work on my reading comprehension.

Haha, no problem. I've done it more than once on these forums.

Oh ya.. Be prepared to kiss your data goodbye if you switch to Verizon or AT&T.

I'm with Alltel and I'm getting grandfathered in. I'd say keep your phone (or get a Touch Pro while you still can) and stick around. That way you don't have to worry about going over their 5GB cap.

Word of advice if you're looking for a Touch Pro, dump the default firmware/software and flash the EnergyROM onto it. Makes it a hell of alot less annoying and alot more useful.

[This message has been edited by James Shaw (3/7/2010)]

Incorrect James, on the data. Verizon only caps the Tether/Aircard Data, not cellphones. If you get a data plan on your cellphone, it IS UNLIMITED. Same with AT&T. Know your stuff before becoming an airhorn.

I know my stuff and that's the reason I haven't switched over. I'm with Alltel and I use quite a bit of data (around 15-20GB/month) with my business.

I've talked with several Verizon reps in Billings and they say the same thing.. Don't use over 5GB of Data.. Even their website says it. If you do, be prepared to get charged around $0.49/MB.

Now, if you just use your phone and *NOT* tether it (connect it to a laptop or desktop), it looks like you're good to go. If you do, stay under the 5GB limit or expect a BIG bill.

Dur! They TELL YOU THAT from the getgo. On Alltel it is indeed unlimited for everything, but alltel is gone VERY VERY SOON. And I do tether... And I use about 30gb a month... and my bill hasnt been charged extra, because it is through my android phone. Also, since You cannot buy a tethering plan for the Droid, it is perfectly fine.

All I can say is just be careful.. I was looking at Verizon's TOS. Here's what it says:

The Data Plans and Features MAY NOT be used for any other purpose. Examples of prohibited uses include, without limitation, the following: (i) continuous uploading, downloading or streaming of audio or video programming or games; (ii) server devices or host computer applications, including, but not limited to, Web camera posts or broadcasts, automatic data feeds, automated machine-to-machine connections or peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing; or (iii) as a substitute or backup for private lines or dedicated data connections. This means, by way of example only, that checking email, surfing the Internet, downloading legally acquired songs, and/or visiting corporate intranets is permitted, but downloading movies using P2P file sharing services and/or redirecting television signals for viewing on laptops is prohibited. A person engaged in prohibited uses, continuously for one hour, could typically use 100 to 200 MBs, or, if engaged in prohibited uses for 10 hours a day, 7 days a week, could use more than 5 GBs in a month.

For individual use only and not for resale. We reserve the right to protect our network from harm, which may impact legitimate data flows. We reserve the right to limit throughput or amount of data transferred, and to deny or terminate service, without notice, to anyone we believe is using an Data Plan or Feature in any manner prohibited above or whose usage adversely impacts our network or service levels. Anyone using more than 5 GB per line in a given month is presumed to be using the service in a manner prohibited above, and we reserve the right to immediately terminate the service of any such person without notice. We also reserve the right to terminate service upon expiration of Customer Agreement term.

So, 1 major Windows Update (or a Service Pack) automatically puts you into the prohibited usage category.

[This message has been edited by James Shaw (3/7/2010)]