Blog: The devil you know vs. the one you don't - iPhone coming to Verizon

The devil you know vs. the one you don't - iPhone coming to Verizon

There is little doubt Verizon and Apple will announce the coming of iPhone 4G (not to be confused with a 4G iPhone, which would be totally different) to the Verizon network on Jan. 11, 2011 at 11 a.m. Eastern (1/11/11 at 11, for numerologist - lots of 'ones' there). The question for me, however, is what to do with my iPhone service.

I've had my 3G iPhone for two years now. I was one of the lucky who were given the opportunity to upgrade their iPhone after only 18 months, but I stayed pat on my plan, awaiting to see what Apple's next move was. Now the question is does it make sense to jump ship from AT&T for Verizon or should I just stay where I am and upgrade into a new AT&T contract.

Here's the problem, as I see it. I know what I have in AT&T. I know where it doesn't work. I know when the phone is going to drop. I know when the data services will rock and when it won't. I don't know what I will get by moving to Verizon, however.

I live in the hills where service is sketchy anyway. My iPhone works pretty well from my house. Just about anywhere in the house or in the yard, it works. Very rarely do I not have service. The rest of my household has Sprint phones which just don't work at home. If we walk out into the middle of the street out front of our house, then the Sprint phones sort of work, but in the house or in the yard, no way.

So, there is my dilemma. While having data is important on my iPhone and using it on the WiFi network at home works great, if I can't get calls from my clients at home, it's pretty useless to me. What happens if I decide to switch and for the next two years, the phone part of my smartPHONE doesn't work? What if it's worse than Sprint at my house?

What? What? What to do?

Maybe there will be some other great reason to switch. Maybe the service will be cheaper. Maybe I'll be able to tether with unlimited data on the Verizon network. Maybe it will be a 4G phone. I'm really not holding my breath on any of these things, but who knows.

If someone has experience with Verizon, especially in San Carlos, I would love to hear.

In any case, I'll wait until Tuesday and see what Apple and Verizon has planed.