Would you switch from AT&T to a Verizon iPhone 4 if such a mythical beastie ever proves real? You’d gain a different network footprint, which could provide better voice and data coverage in your area, but you’d also lose simultaneous voice and data as EVDO Rev A currently can’t walk and chew that gum at the same time.

You’d also trade AT&T customer service for Verizon customer service, which could be good or bad depending on your experience. Likewise, while AT&T has received tons of flack for their network, they’ve also had 3+ years of experience handling massive amounts of iPhone traffic, something Verizon may also struggle with.

We’ve already asked if Verizon Droid owners would switch to a Verizon iPhone, so fair’s fair, if you’re an AT&T iPhone owner, would you switch to Verizon iPhone? Simple answer in the poll up top, and tell us why or why not in the comments.

Would you switch from AT&T to a Verizon iPhone? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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No one outside a very few at Apple and AT&T know exactly how long iPhone will remain exclusive in the US. While the original deal was for 5 years, deals are subject to all manner of renegotiation, renewal, termination, amendment, and service level agreements. It could run out earlier than expected or it could continue on longer. While we can’t see the dark matter that is Apple and AT&T exclusivity, we can see some of the gravitational ripples around it.

Holding out for BlackBerry, Android, and Palm heroes

Since launch in 2007 through 2009, iPhone was AT&T’s single hero phone. iPhone 2G, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS were not only the biggest they were the one and only flagship release of the year. They were also the only real, full screen, touch-centric devices on AT&T’s network. You went to AT&T for iPhone and some even stuck with abysmal AT&T service in their area just to get iPhone.

In 2010 iPhone 4 was still a huge deal. The hugest deal perhaps. But for the first time it wasn’t the only deal. AT&T got Palm Pre Plus. They didn’t do much with it, of course, nor with the first Android phone they got — the unfortunate Backflip. In July they added a real Android, the Samsung Galaxy S branded as the Captivate. Both the Palm Pre Plus and the especially the Captivate offer very iPhone-like experiences. They’re both real, full screen, touch-centric devices on AT&T.

Then August brought the BlackBerry Torch. Back in May we wondered what this device meant for AT&T and iPhone. While media reception to RIM’s first slider has been lukewarm to say the least, the device itself was built specifically for and with AT&T, and was introduced by AT&T head honcho Ralph de la Vega who reportedly ordered millions of them.

Again, real, full-screen, touch-centric device on AT&T’s network, and this time with a huge network push behind it.

From zero comparable devices/OS to three in a year? The pace is being picked up.

Look at the locks

In recent SEC filings AT&T has gone further than ever to try and assuage investor fears about what losing iPhone exclusivity would mean to the carrier. Much of this involves new iPhone 4 customers who are just beginning a 2 year contract stint, but also states that 80% of iPhone users are locked into hard-to-transport corporate and family plans. And there’s that new ETF.

AT&T also remains the only US carrier fully compatible with current and past GSM/HSPA iPhones. T-Mobile is compatible for EDGE data but their 3G bands are another story and Verizon and Sprint use CDMA/EVDO radios that would require a completely different radio.

That AT&T is taking the time to point all this out, and doing it now, at the same time they’re releasing other hero phones in noteworthy. That they’re pointing it out to investors — the people who know just how much of AT&T’s profits and ARPU (average revenue per user) have been tied to iPhone over the last few years — is noteworthy.

Lies, damn lies, and iPhone on Verizon

It used to be that everyone was talking about the next iPhone having a hardware keyboard. No one cares about that anymore. 4 years later and they’re still talking about the next iPhone coming to Verizon. That they care about. And the punishment for that caring is year after year, rumor after rumor, that an iPhone on Verizon is just around the corner. Always, just around the corner.

Better service is one of the most closely held hopes. Whether AT&T has a poor network or any single network would suffer under the sheer volume of iPhone usage — or both — the reality and perception is that, for many users, Verizon is their network of choice.

We heard back at CES in January, and many other outlets have heard since, that the technology for a Verizon iPhone was in place but Verizon and Apple couldn’t come to an agreement. Two such controlling companies, go figure?

Since then it’s been revealed that Apple has flirted with Verizon several times over the years but never pulled the trigger.

Follow the money

The bottom line is, there will come a point where everyone who wants to or is willing to use AT&T for an iPhone will have one. Apple will reach saturation on a single network. 4 years in, old contracts are done, new towers are in place, the price is cheap-ish and brand awareness is through the stratosphere. It’s becoming an upgrade, not a new user business for both AT&T and Apple in the US.

AT&T obviously knows this, hence the Palm Pre Plus, Android Captivate, and BlackBerry Torch. Users who actually like AT&T but for some reason don’t like the iPhone might just come on over for one of those. (And, of course, when iPhone does go non-exclusive, AT&T will have other platform bases established from which they can attempt to build).

For Apple, selling tens of millions of additional iPhones in the US means getting on Verizon. (Or, okay, Sprint and T-Mobile since why leave any money on the table?). Verizon tried and failed to appease would-be iPhone converts with the BlackBerry Storm, and tried and succeeded with the Android Droid line, but while that stemmed the bleeding it didn’t suck in the massive iPhone market. An iPhone on Verizon would.

Apple probably won’t let Verizon paint a huge logo on iPhone, stick on garbageware, or BOGO it come January, but Verizon has Droid now for all that.

It’s just, and all, about the money both will make from the deal at this point — if they can reach it.

But what about the LTE, man?

While AT&T and Verizon don’t have compatible 2G or 3G networks, they’re both moving to 4G networks based on LTE (Long Term Evolution). This makes many believe Apple will wait for LTE before releasing a Verizon iPhone.

Maybe.

It has less to do with LTE and more to do with timing. When Apple and Verizon have a deal in place, iPhone will ship on Verizon. If that’s after LTE is ubiquitous, it will be an LTE iPhone on Verizon. If not, it will be CDMA. The first AT&T iPhone didn’t even support 3G.

Sure a CDMA iPhone will be a re-design, but so would an LTE iPhone and the only thing that matters — again — is what return on that investment Apple figures they’ll make.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Time is running out on AT&T iPhone exclusivity. AT&T knows it; they’re lining up alternative hero phones and preparing their investors for the day their profit reports aren’t lined with Apple gold. Apple knows it; they’ve been talking to Qualcomm about CDMA chips and seeing what multiple carriers have done for them in almost every other market outside the US. We all know it, hence the annoying amount of rumors that keep hitting the interwebs.

It’s just a matter of time and Apple and Verizon making the deal.

Regarding AT&T, Verizon, and iPhone exclusivity is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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There have been complaints of the iPhone 4 experiencing audio problems when connected to AT&T’s 3G microcell. Specifically, the incoming sound will skip, making it nearly impossible to understand the person you’re talking to. There does not appear to be a relation to signal strength and the skipping does not affect outgoing audio. It also only seems to only be a problem with the iPhone 4.

I have owned a microcell for a few weeks now and have experienced this issue on multiple occasions. It has only occurred in one spot of my house – at my desk. Once I move, the call clears up and I can hear everything fine. Not once has this skipping resulted in a dropped call.

What about you? Have you noticed skipping audio when using an iPhone 4 on your AT&T microcell? What about another device?

Video demonstrating the problem after the break!

[AT&T forums - thanks Allen for the tip!]

iPhone 4 skipping audio on AT&T microcell is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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A bunch of readers are telling us AT&T and Alcatel Lucent have fixed the issues with HSUPA (high speed uploads) and their iPhone 4’s a positively racing up the information superhighway again. Not everyone in every place seems so lucky, however, as our good friend @TCPJ_Mickey, still seems to be chugging along sub-100 in Arizona.

You know what this means, right? Speed test!

We use speedtest.net’s app [iTunes link] but whatever your choice of measure, post where you are and what your upload speeds look like today and we’ll see if we can figure out if AT&T really is giving more Mbps in more places.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in, sorry to Mickey!]

Has AT&T fixed HSUPA upload speeds in your area? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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In addition to the 3.2 million iPhones AT&T activated on their network last quarter they also switched on 400-500K iPad 3G. What’s more:

It’s “surprising” how many business customers are approaching AT&T about the iPad.

Business Insider quips that Microsoft should look out, but given the profit share Apple has taken on iPhone and the low margins of typical PC hardware, what damage they may not do to unit sales they may well do to revenue.

What’s also interesting is that iPad users are consuming more data than iPhone users though less than 3G laptop users and 75-80% are on the unlimited 2GB plan.

[Business Insider]

AT&T Activates 400-500K iPads 3G in Q3, using more data than iPhone is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Hot on the heels of Apple’s 8.4 million iPhones sold in Q3, AT&T announces a record-breaking 3.2 million of those were activated on their network. Their churn levels were lower than ever as well, 1.01 percent postpaid churn and 1.29 percent total churn, and the all-important ARPU (average monthly revenues per subscriber) up 3.4 percent.

On June 24, AT&T began offering iPhone 4, the most powerful iPhone yet. Preorder sales of iPhone 4 were 10 times higher than the first day of preordering for iPhone 3GS a year earlier. For the full second quarter, AT&T iPhone activations totaled 3.2 million, the most quarterly iPhone activations ever. Approximately 27 percent of those activations were for customers who were new to AT&T.

27 percent new to AT&T, going into the 4th year of exclusivity? Yeah, that’s probably why they stick with that “I hate you, don’t leave me” borderline relationship with Apple.

And all this with iPhone 4 demand still exceeding Apple’s supply, and the white iPhone 4 still waiting on a limited, late July launch.

[Business Wire via TechCrunch]

AT&T activates 3.2 million iPhones in Q3 is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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AT&T appears to be down in at least parts of North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee right now, but luckily TiPb readers still have land lines to light up our alert lines. We’re not sure whether it’s voice, data, or both as we’re getting lots of different reports. If you’re having a problem with your iPhone on AT&T, let us know where you are, what kind of service outages you’re experiencing, and if you’ve heard anything from AT&T.

[Thanks Roger and everyone who sent this in!]

AT&T outage in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Wired has a great article up detailing the borderline relationship between Apple and AT&T, how both feel the other has failed them, and how both just can’t leave.

The two corporations have argued about almost everything. Jobs has been apoplectic about the state of AT&T’s network and what he views as its slow-footed upgrade efforts almost since launch day three years ago. One Apple source says that Jobs has discussed dropping AT&T at least half a dozen times.

AT&T executives aren’t so crazy about Jobs, either. They complain that Apple hasn’t accepted its fair share of the blame. They say — and Apple sources confirm — that the software running the iPhone’s main radio, known as the baseband, was full of bugs and contributed to the much-decried dropped calls. What’s more, Apple had chosen to source the radio from Infineon, whose hardware was used widely in Europe but rarely in the US, where cell towers are placed farther apart and reception is therefore less forgiving.

There are lots of zingers, threats of escalating to Steve Jobs, threats of Jobs screaming at AT&T CEO de la Vega, and threats to go to Verizon. Scott Forstall and an Apple team reportedly examined the Verizon option from a technology point of view, and collaborated on that hybrid Qualcomm GSM/CDMA chip we heard about back during CES.

For their part, AT&T is spending billions, building out their network, while at the same time capping data and introducing tiers that seem comfortable now but will become a huge constraint as LTE/4G and wireless video and other data-heavy technologies take off.

Check out the full article via the link below. Well worth the read.

[Wired, thanks Doug and everyone who sent this in!]

Apple and AT&T: network problems and the Verizon option is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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The class action lawsuit against AT&T’s US iPhone exclusivity has been certified, which means a judge thinks it meets the legal requirements to go forward. If you remember back, The crux of suit states that customer contracts are 2 years, but the AT&T exclusivity is 5 years — so customers were falsely lured to AT&T for 5 years, not 2 — if they want to keep iPhones, that is. The lawsuit seeks to include all current AT&T iPhone customers.

Now, whether or not that original 5 year exclusivity has changed over the past few years is anyone’s guess — the only people who know that for sure are the AT&T and Apple higher ups that sign the contracts. In this day and age, contracts change constantly.

My opinion? I don’t know if a court will buy this as falsely leading on customers. Most carriers don’t ever specify how long their exclusivity deals are, it’s all hearsay until they announce it. Yes, the iPhone deal is unique in length (I don’t believe any carrier has ever had an exclusive anywhere even close to the length AT&T scored with Apple), but I don’t necessarily know if I believe it misleads customers. When the first iPhone was released, the 5 year deal was already publicized, even if it was hearsay, and people still bought iPhones. And honestly, if you get an iPhone, no one’s forcing you to get another one. If you upgrade and lock yourself in, that’s pretty much your decision, your hand isn’t forced.

We’ll watch this one but I personally don’t think it will go very far.

[Engadget]

Class action lawsuit over iPhone/AT&T exclusivity gets certified — should it go to court? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Yesterday, we were concerned that AT&T might have capped iPhone 4 data upload speeds in certain areas. AT&T has responded and assures us that they have not; in fact, it’s a software problem.

You may have seen some speculation that we were somehow capping data speeds. We’re not. Here’s the deal: It’s a software issue which AT&T and Alcatel-Lucent have now jointly identified. It’s only triggered under certain conditions and has only impacted uplink performance for less than 2% of our customer base — those using Laptop Connect and smartphone customers using 3G HSUPA-capable wireless devices in markets with Alcatel-Lucent equipment. Alcatel-Lucent is developing a longer-term software fix in the coming weeks, but in the meantime we have implemented an alternative that provides normal 3G uplink speeds and consistent performance for affected customers using HSUPA-capable devices.

So the problem has been identified and a fix is in the works. Just to be clear, this is not an issue with iOS 4, but with Alcatel-Lucent’s software. More details about the alternative quick fix would have been nice, but if speeds are improving, that’s ultimately what matters.

Were you one of the ones affected by slow upload speeds? If so, have you noticed an improvement?

[AT&T - Thanks Gregg for the tip!]

AT&T comments on slow upload speeds: software issue is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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