With Verizon on the Horizon, iPhone Users Weigh Leaving AT&T - but there's a Catch [telecom]

Jan 09, 2011 4 Replies
M
With Verizon on the Horizon, iPhone Users Weigh Leaving AT&T - but there's a Catch [telecom] open original image

With Verizon on the Horizon, iPhone Users Weigh Leaving AT&T-but There's a Catch



By ROGER CHENG OCTOBER 9, 2010



Network quality won't be the only issue for iPhone buyers trying to decide between AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless when the smartphone becomes available to a second U.S. carrier. The technology behind their high-speed networks matters, too.



The cellular network of AT&T, the current iPhone provider, runs on a standard called UMTS. Verizon's uses something called CDMA, and that will make a difference in how the phones work.



Most notably, Verizon customers aren't able to surf the Web or exchange email while they're talking on their phone. That sort of on-the-go multitasking-which AT&T and iPhone maker Apple Inc. have touted in advertising-might seem a little much to many people, but it's often what iPhone users are signing up for.



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S

I've had no problem using my Droid's browser during a phone call (on Verizon).

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J

This one has me confused. I've heard and read:

A. VZW decided not to allow voice and data simultaneously to protect their network. B. It's a limitation of the technology.

I tend not to believe A since, IIRC, voice and data operate on different frequencies.

You're not the first VZW customer I've heard from who say they can talk and use data simultaneously making me think it is a technology limitation, but a limitation that is being slowly rolled away as VZW upgrades their infrastructure.

John

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T

What I've read on paper, and over the net, seems to point to voice and *LTE data* being mutually exclusive (i.e., B applies there), while voice and

*lower-tech* data are perfectly compatible (i.e., customers *can* talk and use data simultaneously -- just not LTE data).

HTH. Cheers, -- tlvp

-- Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP

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J

For me it's a case of...

  1. Ever changing technology
  2. Half the stuff I read isn't true
  3. My brain is full and just can't process anything new :-)

Not being a VZW customer I really don't have a clue what their network can and can't do. So this is all I'm going to say about it. :-)

John

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