And the winner is...
The network is good enough that I can comfortably keep this phone. But count me amongst the vast majority of iPhone users that will leave AT&T as soon as Verizon gets the iPhone someday. But that day is at least two years away and I am very happy that this worked out as well as it did. I really expected that A&T was going to be awful and not a useable option.
With one week until decision time, here's what I have so far.
Hardware: Love it, best phone ever used. No surprise there, but adding the camera and microphone capabilities has been very useful.
AT&T Phone: So far I have only had one dropped call, and it was in the same place that my wife's company issued AT&T blackberry dropped as well, so it's clearly a dead spot. Good news is that I could reconnect after abut 100 yards of driving. Not a spot I stay at for long so not worried. Signal in office is good to great, sometimes as many as 5 bars. Reception in Toledo is most times full bars both inside and out. Around Temperance the closer to Toledo you are the better the signal, but outside of that one spot have not seen an outside dead zone. Recption in north Temperance inside is not good, but that was expected. I can use WiFi and Skype if I need to place calls at in-laws house, and forward incoming calls to landline while I am there so far has been no problem. Trips to other locales in area have been surprisingly good, even as close as the next town over (which is farther away from Toledo). I was told that this area is in a depression in places, that could explain some of it. Trips to Monroe (10 miles away) and Detroit had full bars everywhere.
Assessment: Not as good as Verizon (expected) but a lot better than I thought. At this point not a deterrent to keeping phone. When/if day comes that my office moves to teh basement, I will be getting that Microcell they are testing now to ensure coverage (initial reviews of that looking good).
AT&T Data: A much bigger disappointment, but not a detriment. Even though claims of 3G in all of south side of Temperance according to maps, I only get EDGE anywhere. While more of a nuisance (some things require 3G, some will work slowly on EDGE) it's not a killer. Plus I have WiFi in the places I am the majority of the time. Crossing into Toledo seems to be like a magic switch for 3G, I get it fine at the bowling center both inside and out.
One thing that has been a fairly major fail is the newly rolled out MMS service. All attempts to send to Verizon phones go out but are not received. Tests to another iPhone were received fine. I'm not willing to be too upset by this because I can send these via email attachment if needed until AT&T clears things up, and a quick Google shows that in many respects I am better off than a lot of iPhone owners.
Assessment: Disappointment, but not a deal breaker.
If I had to choose right now, I'd be keeping the phone. I still want to test indoor coverage at the Kroger in Lambertville, thats the one other place I can imagine needing the phone ("Homey, what was it I am supposed to buy?").
For a long time, I have had my eye on an iPhone. For the longest time, I have stayed away from it because of AT&T. A while back, I purchased an iPod Touch to fill that void while I waited out the iPhone coming to a better network (like say, the one I am on - Verizon). I loved it, I used it as my iPod and my PDA.
Two weeks ago, I learned that when you leave your iPod on top of your car and then drive off somwehere, you shouldn't expect to find it when you get home. I was furious with myself for doing that. I started trying to figure out how I was going to replace it, when a thought came to me. For the same cost as an iPod Touch, I could get an iPhone with an AT&T contract. And if I were to cancel it inside of a month, I'd be out $20 plus the pro-rated plan costs for that time. And finally answer the question of whether AT&T could work for me.
So that's what I am doing until October 4th. I forwarded my main cell number to the iPhone, and it's now my main phone. I'm trying to use it in as many locations as I can that I would normally go to. I know it won't be the hardware that determines if I keep this or not, it will be if I can reliably count on AT&T for this to be my main phone. If it all goes as I hope it does, I'll transfer my number over and keep the iPhone, timing it to not incur mid-cycle charges on Verizon. And I can sell my Alias2 on eBay to recoup some of the costs of this.
I'll be posting here and there about how it's going.
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