"I switched from AT&T to Verizon to get the iphone..."

Curious to know if anybody has jumped ship from AT&T to Verizon and bought the iphone. If you have and also had the iphone on AT&T, would you mind sharing your experience to compare the two service as the phones are almost identical?

One of my main questions is, how is the call reception? Do you feel that it's better with the "redesigned" antennae placement of do you feel that it's the same? Have you had many, if any at all, dropped calls?

I'm currently a vz customer and although I've always wanted an iphone, I hated at&t (and cingular prior to merger) because the reception was absolutely horrible. I actually paid the early termination charge back when it was cingular to get out of my contract and went to vz and never looked back. Now that the iphone is available on vz, I'm interested in switching but with the antennae-gate that happened, I don't want to have buyer's remorse as my current Droid has served me well but it's still no iphone.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Your issues with AT&T are not likely to be solved with the iPhone. Obviously AT&Ts service in your area is poor. It happens. I don't think the VZW iPhone antenna is going to have much impact if VZWs service is good in your area in general. The nature of the two networks required an antenna change in the VZW iPhone. Wether this was in response to AT&Ts issues or not is up for much debate but Apple says it wasn't.

As for the "Antenna-Gate" issue as you call it, it was really much ado about nothing. A very small group of customers may have had an issue, it was only in areas where AT&Ts service was already poor, the vast majority of us did not. If you bothered to put it in a case at all it was a complete non issue. If your Droid works fine on VZW in your area, an iPhone will work just fine. You're worrying to much about an issue that only impacted AT&T. Get the VZW iPhone and be happy.

No antenna problems with Verizon Iphone

I had the Iphone with AT&T since it came out back in 2007 until June 2010 when I switched to Verizon because of the constant drop calls and "Call Failed" notifications. I must say that I am very happy with the Iphone on Verizon Network, I've had the phone for two days now and no even 1 drop call. I really dont care about surfing the web while talking on the phone.
I think you should buy the Iphone, U wont regret it.

baggss said:

Your issues with AT&T are not likely to be solved with the iPhone. Obviously AT&Ts service in your area is poor. It happens. I don't think the VZW iPhone antenna is going to have much impact if VZWs service is good in your area in general. The nature of the two networks required an antenna change in the VZW iPhone. Wether this was in response to AT&Ts issues or not is up for much debate but Apple says it wasn't.

As for the "Antenna-Gate" issue as you call it, it was really much ado about nothing. A very small group of customers may have had an issue, it was only in areas where AT&Ts service was already poor, the vast majority of us did not. If you bothered to put it in a case at all it was a complete non issue. If your Droid works fine on VZW in your area, an iPhone will work just fine. You're worrying to much about an issue that only impacted AT&T. Get the VZW iPhone and be happy.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure most would agree with this. If you happened to be in an area with a very strong AT&T signal - then the antenna was never an issue, but other wise it was. Absolutely it was affected by hand position for many users. Clearly Apple recognized that an improvement was needed - or they wouldn't have opted for this redesign. Antenna diversity is never a cheaper solution. There shouldn't be any antenna issue with the Verizon iPhone whatsoever. That's clearly the purpose of the redesign.

baggss said:

Your issues with AT&T are not likely to be solved with the iPhone. Obviously AT&Ts service in your area is poor. It happens. I don't think the VZW iPhone antenna is going to have much impact if VZWs service is good in your area in general. The nature of the two networks required an antenna change in the VZW iPhone. Wether this was in response to AT&Ts issues or not is up for much debate but Apple says it wasn't.

As for the "Antenna-Gate" issue as you call it, it was really much ado about nothing. A very small group of customers may have had an issue, it was only in areas where AT&Ts service was already poor, the vast majority of us did not. If you bothered to put it in a case at all it was a complete non issue. If your Droid works fine on VZW in your area, an iPhone will work just fine. You're worrying to much about an issue that only impacted AT&T. Get the VZW iPhone and be happy.

Click to expand...

I'm not so sure I agree with you where you say that the antenna-gate issue was a non-issue. There were many tests and reports that showed the phone dropped the call when you held the phone a specific way. i.e. touched the antenna bands around the phone. At first apple dismissed the claims but it wasn't until consumer reports issued a "don't recommend" rating that apple came out and quickly issued the free bumper "fix."

I believe that was a band-aid to the problem. Now that the iphone is on vz, it required an internal update and I believe apple took this opportunity to re-work the antenna design even though they aren't saying that the antenna was redesigned due to a previous flaw. As you said, "if you bothered to put it in a case at all it was a complete non issue," therefore this acknowledges that there was an issue and whether the bumper "fixed" it or a case "fixed" it didn't matter because as long as something covered the antenna strips and wasn't conductive, you weren't subject to the dropped calls due to touching the antennas.

I don't care either way because I hate at&t and I won't switch to them to have the iphone. Now that the iphone is on vz, I don't care if the antenna-gate issue is still there or not. I would just to hear some feedback and so far from news reports and from Fireman91180, it seems to be working fine which is what I hoped for.

The Verizon iPhone still has the attenuation issue and an additional issue where it can also lose a weak WiFi signal (called the "death hug").

But, it really is a non-issue since most people use a case anyway, and it really only impacts people who have very poor signal quality.

As for AT&T or Verizon, all the tests show Verizon has slightly better call quality on the iPhone, but AT&T has much fast data speeds.

Choose the carrier that has the best coverage where you live. The phone is the same pretty much on any carrier.

It seriously amazes me the number of people who try to figure out about carrier coverage or signal strength from a group of people who probably don't live anywhere near where you'll use the phone. You really have to ask people in your area how the coverage is.

schweb said:

The Verizon iPhone still has the attenuation issue and an additional issue where it can also lose a weak WiFi signal (called the "death hug").

Click to expand...

Interesting....

'Death Hug': Verizon iPhone Demonstrates Antenna Attenuation Issues - Mac Rumors

I just ordered the Verizon phone for the wife yesterday, will have it by next Friday. Would like to have switched her to AT&T but her buyout was too costly. There is one big difference between the 2, the most my monthly bill has ever been is $90. The Verizon iPhone starts off at $90 before you even add the data package or warranty and you only have an option of unlimited data at this time. Needless to say the monthly bill is $122 which is right around the same as her Blackberry was.
All in all you may get unlimited data and texting, probably even better coverage but you pay for it. I've also read the data speeds are slower, we'll see in another week as I start doing comparisons of the 2 phones.

baggss said:

Interesting....

'Death Hug': Verizon iPhone Demonstrates Antenna Attenuation Issues - Mac Rumors

Click to expand...

This all strikes me like the old joke, "Doctor, it hurts when I do this!" the reply is then, "well, don't do that."
It is obvious that it is possible to degrade the performance of the antenna depending on how you hold it. But, I don't see anything that requires some one to hold it that way to use it, or that is even any particular value in doing so.

Razormac said:

This all strikes me like the old joke, "Doctor, it hurts when I do this!" the reply is then, "well, don't do that."
It is obvious that it is possible to degrade the performance of the antenna depending on how you hold it. But, I don't see anything that requires some one to hold it that way to use it, or that is even any particular value in doing so.

Click to expand...

I see lots of folks who text with their phones in the landscape orientation, although I am not one of them. It seems to be a personal preference. You and I may not see any value but I'm willing to be someone out there does.

halfmonkey said:

I'm not so sure I agree with you where you say that the antenna-gate issue was a non-issue. There were many tests and reports that showed the phone dropped the call when you held the phone a specific way. i.e. touched the antenna bands around the phone. At first apple dismissed the claims but it wasn't until consumer reports issued a "don't recommend" rating that apple came out and quickly issued the free bumper "fix."

Click to expand...

Sure there were "lots of tests" but those don't equate to real world experiences. The link I posted about the VZW issue is the same thing. It happens, but that doesn't mean anywhere near a majority of users will ever expense it. The press and tech sites can rant all they want, if the issue as huge as they claimed sales would have dropped off a while back.

EightmanVT said:

I'm not sure most would agree with this. If you happened to be in an area with a very strong AT&T signal - then the antenna was never an issue, but other wise it was. Absolutely it was affected by hand position for many users. Clearly Apple recognized that an improvement was needed - or they wouldn't have opted for this redesign. Antenna diversity is never a cheaper solution. There shouldn't be any antenna issue with the Verizon iPhone whatsoever. That's clearly the purpose of the redesign.

Click to expand...

Actually it's probably NOT the purpose of the redesign. VZW uses a completely different frequency range than AT&T. Different frequencies require specific antenna configurations to best exploit their characteristics. There is no real reason, other than conspiracy paranoia, to assume that the VZW Antenna had anything to do with the AT&T issues. The real truth will come when we see what changes are resident in the next version AT&T iPhone that is released in the summer.

baggss said:

I see lots of folks who text with their phones in the landscape orientation, although I am not one of them. It seems to be a personal preference. You and I may not see any value but I'm willing to be someone out there does.

Click to expand...

I text like that. Easier to use my thumbs that way.
As already mentioned (I think it was schweb) that you can force the signal to lower by a couple of bars but I've never made it actually drop the call or lessen the quality of the call. I'd describe it as more "cosmetic" than anything else. Meaning it "looks" like you have poor signal but it doesn't really effect anything unless you can only get one bar to begin with.

It truly is a non-issue.

MYmacROX said:

It truly is a non-issue.

Click to expand...

So it ends up like the AT&T issue. If you are in an are with weak signal strength, you could have an issue. otherwise it's no big deal.

Imagine that.

Razormac said:

This all strikes me like the old joke, "Doctor, it hurts when I do this!" the reply is then, "well, don't do that."
It is obvious that it is possible to degrade the performance of the antenna depending on how you hold it. But, I don't see anything that requires some one to hold it that way to use it, or that is even any particular value in doing so.

Click to expand...

Yes. I didn't watch the video but it seems that there is probably limited mileage left to be had here but that won't stop people from trying. BTW - if you stand between your laptop and your access point or wireless router - you'll see a measurable reduction in performance - even more so as you move to the 5GHz band.

EightmanVT said:

BTW - if you stand between your laptop and your access point or wireless router - you'll see a measurable reduction in performance - even more so as you move to the 5GHz band.

Click to expand...

I'm physically sitting in that zone now and don't see any difference if move and provide a clear shot across the room. Just saying.

Your scientific method I'm sure is above reproach - but I can provide columns of data to support my premise - considering it was the topic of my thesis research years ago. But you don't have to take my word for it - just google scholar RF absorption. Just for an easy check - sit right infront of your access point and see if your RSSI changes. If not - congrats on being one of the few RF transparent people walking on this planet.

EightmanVT said:

Your scientific method I'm sure is above reproach - but I can provide columns of data to support my premise - considering it was the topic of my thesis research years ago. But you don't have to take my word for it - just google scholar RF absorption. Just for an easy check - sit right infront of your access point and see if your RSSI changes. If not - congrats on being one of the few RF transparent people walking on this planet.

Click to expand...

I'm not doubting the authenticity or validity of your claim (I work with RF on a regular basis as part of my job. I get it). I'm simply pointing out that much like the supposed antenna issues on the iPhone(s) real world results will vary wildly based on the individual situation. Reams of technical data may not mean anything to the average user who sees no difference in performance despite documented deficiencies.

baggss said:

Interesting....

'Death Hug': Verizon iPhone Demonstrates Antenna Attenuation Issues - Mac Rumors

Click to expand...

Very well refuted in this article:
Are Verizon iPhones subject to "death grip" issues? | MacNN

As the video itself shows, you'd have to be some kind of grizzly-human hybrid with a comical death-grip on the phone to reproduce the results.

The fact of the matter is that LESS THAN 1 PERCENT of Apple's customers EVER returned an iPhone 4 due to "death grip" issues. To me this is the very *definition* of the phrase "non-issue." In short, "antennagate" was then and is now a non-issue. You're more likely to get a plain old "lemon" iPhone than you are to have a serious problem with the antenna. The return figures versus the sales figures tell the story.

chas_m said:

Very well refuted in this article:
Are Verizon iPhones subject to "death grip" issues? | MacNN

As the video itself shows, you'd have to be some kind of grizzly-human hybrid with a comical death-grip on the phone to reproduce the results.

The fact of the matter is that LESS THAN 1 PERCENT of Apple's customers EVER returned an iPhone 4 due to "death grip" issues. To me this is the very *definition* of the phrase "non-issue." In short, "antennagate" was then and is now a non-issue. You're more likely to get a plain old "lemon" iPhone than you are to have a serious problem with the antenna. The return figures versus the sales figures tell the story.

Click to expand...

Which has more or less been my point all along. The issue is, there is no issue.

baggss said:

Actually it's probably NOT the purpose of the redesign. VZW uses a completely different frequency range than AT&T. Different frequencies require specific antenna configurations to best exploit their characteristics. There is no real reason, other than conspiracy paranoia, to assume that the VZW Antenna had anything to do with the AT&T issues. The real truth will come when we see what changes are resident in the next version AT&T iPhone that is released in the summer.

Click to expand...

Not to mention, Apple would have also made the same redesign for the AT&T version also, thereby proving the change in configuration was due to CDMA, not antenna issues.

EightmanVT said:

Your scientific method I'm sure is above reproach - but I can provide columns of data to support my premise - considering it was the topic of my thesis research years ago. But you don't have to take my word for it - just google scholar RF absorption. Just for an easy check - sit right infront of your access point and see if your RSSI changes. If not - congrats on being one of the few RF transparent people walking on this planet.

Click to expand...

To be perfectly honest, who the heck cares. Does your Mac work? Does your Internet work? Does your phone work?

I'm going to guess yes. So why keep obsessing over something that doesn't matter?

I just don't get it.