I switched to AT&T Wireless almost five years ago when I bought the original iPhone. Now, after five years, I will 95% switch back to Verizon Wireless – but not for the reason you think.
Call quality doesn’t mean a lot to me. My area, it works fine and I hate talking on the phone. So I actually enjoy when my calls drop, so I can not have to talk on the phone.
AT&T’s 3G, especially on the the 4S, is super fast 3G. But when 4G comes out, the speeds between AT&T and Verizon should be comparable. It should really put Verizon and AT&T on the same wave length in terms of data and data features (i.e. talking and using data at the same time).
So why am I switching?
I want to unlock the SIM and use it internationally. AT&T will only do it on devices out of contract, which I have plenty of. But they won’t do it on devices in contract. Verizon will reportedly unlock the SIM component when you travel internationally for customers in contract.
I have historically had every single new iPhone that has come out, so if I keep that trend up, I would never have a phone out of contract. Yea, I can take an old iPhone or Android phone and pop in a SIM, but I want my phone with my data when I travel, not a different device.
So after 5 years with AT&T, and 5 devices, the iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G and the original iPhone – my next iPhone will likely be on Verizon.
Oh, and all the other phones on my AT&T plan (3 others) will be out of contract by the time the new iPhone comes out. So leaving AT&T won’t cost much.
I am not sure what country you are traveling into or why you want to change your provider on your Verizon phone. You have to know though that AT&T is GSM and because of that it works in most parts of the World. All you do is just pop the SIM change it and go. Of course when in contract the provider can decide not to unlock your phone so it wouldn’t work with any other GSM provider’s SIM. However Verizon is not GSM it is CDMA. CDMA is not used in Europe at all. For this reason it wouldn’t work in Europe. I am not sure about other places. But surely where they only provide GSM system, your Verizon phone won’t work. Although I believe even Verizon have a world phone that works everywhere but that’s not the iPhone.
SEOPerson, what you do not understand is that the iPhone has GSM and CDMA in it. The Verizon iPhone and AT&T iPhone (at least the 4S) is exactly the same.
In the US, I’d use Verizon CDMA and internationally, I’d stick in a SIM into the SIM slot and use that. Verizon said you just call before, so they can make it work.