Is an AT&T to Verizon iPhone switch possible?

People currently with Verizon: I truly believe your dreams have come true. The iPhone 4 is the best phone, Verizon the best network. You are in a good place to have your wishes answered. But what about you people that already have an iPhone? Is it time to throw in the blue AT&T towel?

Well, that all depends on a number of things. The first is whether or not you have problems with AT&T's service. There could be any number of problems that result in degraded signal quality or slow speeds, such as geographic location, distance from towers, local population all attempting to access the same network, and the device's antenna integrity. Whichever it may be, if you hurt for better service or at a point were your iPhone is nearly unusable for calls and data, a Verizon switch may seem like the only option.

Secondly, deciding whether or not to end your service with Ma Bell depends if you're still on contract. For those that don't straight-up buy their phones so to avoid contract, chances are that early-termination fees are substantial, especially if you bought an expensive device like the iPhone 4. Even so, that iPhone 4 won't work on Verizon, so here's to your endeavors for the Verizon-iPhone pipe dream.

Another point of speculation is wondering whether or not enough people will switch over to Verizon so that AT&T's 3G network becomes less crowded and faster. There's no telling how much network traffic will dwindle, but I'm willing to bet not much (if at all). If you live in a not-so-great an area for service, don't expect that all your problems will go away once Verizon iPhones take up a little slack. Chances are that Verizon's network will eventually see much more data than they do now and possibly even choke up in heavy-use areas. Given all these factors, I've realized that almost everyone in AT&T iPhone contracts won't care much for Verizon's offering; that is unless of course they are due for a contract renewal and upgrade in the first place.

While we're still on the cons about the Verizon iPhone, you should be aware of the no voice and data and the same time thing. For many this is not a big issue, but for yours truly, I don't think I could live in that world -- a world were I can't check for movie times while talking to a friend about which movie we should see.

And one last con for Verizon iPhone users is that the iPhone Apple is releasing early next month is still a purely 3G devices, while Verizon has been fervent in its efforts to promote its new "Rule the Air" LTE 4G campaign. That's right, LTE (long-term evolution) technologies by Verizon can be expected nationwide in a few years and are already rolled out in major cities. However, many industry onlookers say that you shouldn't expect to see Apple implementing 4G radios in their phones until the iPhone 6, which would be somewhere around summer '12. That seems like quite a time to wait, but as they say, we'll just have to wait and see...

In all this news and speculation, really the best position to be in right now are those folks that still have yet to even buy a smartphone -- those that have been hanging out with their usable flip phones and Razors, watching their friends having fun with iPhones, Palms and Androids. Your day has come. It's time for you to enter the next decade.

Big Red iUnicornPhone 4 Thingy

Verizon iPhone, people!!! It exists!

It's looking at a launch date of Feb. 10.

I would get on this newsletter from Verizon to keep you on the up-and-up.

This new iPhone = universal iPhone 4 = Verizon iPhone [u]

If you've been reading any of the gadget news lately, then you've probably seen the oh-so-certain wrap-up by the tech community that Verizon is set to announce the iPhone on their networks this coming Tuesday, Jan 11.

Gotta say, I'm a believer too.

The recently discovered redesigned iPhone 4 -- the one with four different "black strip" antenna marks in the steel ban -- is not an early iPhone 5 design. It's a universal iPhone 4.

Of course, I'm saying this out of pure speculation. But too many facts have fallen in place recently that make this iPhone's purpose all too obvious.

First off, Apple started restricting vacations on its employees around Feb. 3, a move usually made around big product launch times. Then Verizon sent out invitations to a media event just after CES (consumer electronics show), curiously barring Gizmodo from the event, which because of their previous battles with Apple and the iPhone 4, have also been barred from Apple events. That could only mean one thing: Apple is involved somehow with the announcements to be made.

Then, as chance would have it, this video comes out showing some newly redesigned steel band and antenna system -- this one with an additional black strip. The YouTube video claims it to be parts to the upcoming iPhone 5, but I beg to differ.

The additional black strip? Yeah, it's a CDMA radio antenna. I mean, what else could it be? I imagine the to-be announced iPhone 4 will be a global device -- a buy one, use anywhere phone. That means it will contain both GSM and CDMA radios. Apple, being a few-device, simple-product-line company wouldn't have it any other way.

Not to mention the Wall Street Journal has recently confirmed most of these rumors, which, for some, is all the confirmation one could need.

Update: Well, it looks like I was wrong about the whole "world phone" thing. But, here we have a new iPhone for those Verizon users. I personally know many people that love the iPhone, but also love Verizon. I think dreams were made today.