I am curious, though, what happens on June 29, 2009, when I and about 1,000,000 other people are no longer contractually enslaved to AT&T's horrific reception and customer service. Will I be able to switch to another carrier? And if so, will I still be able to use visual voicemail and all the other iPhone features? (Gen1 iPhone)

Apple was the one who made the decision to get in bed with them. They could have sold it free of any service, at full price, and let you pick the service provider you wanted. But they wanted their subsidies, they wanted a carrier to change some of their infrastructure to support VV, that they locked it in.

ATT was just desperate enough to sign into Apple's contract requirements in order to get the phone and the hope of the customers it would bring in.

Candez - Sadly, no. Your iPhone is bound to a GSM cellular system and will always have to run on one, so you couldn't move it to, say, Verizon's network, which is CDMA.

While I think the iPhone is a cool piece of technology, and I've always been an Apple supporter, I'll be using my Crackberry until the iPhone finally goes 'carrier independent' in a couple of years. Once I can buy one for whatever network I choose to be on, then I'll pop. Until then, I just don't like corporate America telling me when and where I can use my technology.

I've been a happy Verizon customer for over 9 years, and I waited a year so that my contract expired so I wouldn't have to pay an E.T. Fee from Verizon. Took the plunge & bought the iPhone 3G even though I know that AT&T is royally ripping customers off with such high costs for texting.. Family plan of $129 for 2 iPhones and then either .20 / txt or $30 for unlimited text for 2 people. I probably use 250 texts/month and my partner does also, but $30 a month to text! This should cost no more than $5 for 250 texts or $10 for 500 texts/month. AT&T is charging this because they can, and since they have exclusivity, why be reasonable? Gouge your customers. My partner had a 1st gen iPhone and the Internet was slow when not on WiFi, so I though the new 3G looks so much faster. Once again AT&T screws their customers.. I rarely get 3G coverage in Orange County, CA which according to the map, I should be covered. I wish I could switch to a non 3g plan and at least save some money since the service I am paying for doesn't exist. Thanks AT&T. As soon as this exclusivity deal is over, I am leaving AT&T just for the principle of it. You should not s**** over & overcharge your customers just because you can.

AT&T IS THE WORST COMPANY I HAVE EVER DONE BUSINESS WITH IN ANY SPHERE OF MY LIFE. EVER.

s**** Apple: for (a) going with AT&T, for (b) ignoring the gaming/VR market and having crappy GPU drivers in their machines, and (c) for focusing on phones and walkmans instead of WHAT THEY SHOULD BE DOING which is computers!!!!

I'm TIRED of my GPU drivers SUCKING and not being able to get an iphone because it's on the sheistiest carrier known to man.

PS -- THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN "iTouch" !!!!!

I cannot believe how iPhone users feel they are justified to be receiving preferential treatment from ATT. Why should you be different than any other customer?

Took the plunge & bought the iPhone 3G even though I know that AT&T is royally ripping customers off with such high costs for texting..

Here's an idea. Text less. Wow, that was hard.

AT&T is charging this because they can, and since they have exclusivity, why be reasonable?

What are you talking about? Go to ATT's site, pick ANY phone, and add texting. What's that? It costs the same amount for ANY of their phones? And if they charged $5 for 250, someone would say it should cost $5 for 300.

And notice that ATT follows the Apple way of offering simple basic cost schemes for everything.

My partner had a 1st gen iPhone and the Internet was slow when not on WiFi, so I though the new 3G looks so much faster. Once again AT&T screws their customers..

It wasn't Apple s******* you? They're the ones telling you it will surf twice as fast.

And why not leave your partner with the iPhone 1G model until you tested out the new model? Esp. considering the plan was better.

I wish I could switch to a non 3g plan and at least save some money since the service I am paying for doesn't exist.

ATT does not offer a non-3G plan for anyone. Have you called ATT about your lack of 3G coverage? Maybe its a problem with the phone?

And what people don't want to realize (because they expect special treatment because they own an iPhone, apparently) is that the previous iphone's plan was such a sweetheart deal for Apple. They had a special plan for the iPhone, probably to help spur purchasing (as well as Apple's insistence on requiring a data plan). ATT changed the pricing to match their standard pricing models.

But no one complains that it is Apple who is forcing people to spend $30 extra a month.

You should not s**** over and overcharge your customers just because you can.

Right, because Verizon is known for treating their customers fairly and never charging more than what is fair.

Oh, and you do realize you did NOT have to buy an iPhone, right? I mean, every cost you complained about you knew about before purchasing the device. You made the call that owning an iPhone was important enough to warrant the plan.

I've never seen so many complaints about one carrier in a single thread. I travel to the USA a lot whether visiting family or just going on a trip shopping, etc. Unlike what a lot of you posted here my AT&T coverage has been great. I even got reception while on the ferry to San Francisco where other passengers who stated they were with T-Mobile complained they were getting dropped calls. While I wish their roaming rate agreement with my carrier Rogers could be cheaper I've never really had any complaint about coverage. Taking a look at their GSM coverage map http://www.wireless.att.com/coverageviewer/ shows they have extensive coverage across the USA. As for HSPA it could be faster in the USA but the technology is still being expanded by AT&T and developed further so hopefully they will soon catch up to the speeds of other carriers. The only thing I find about them that is confusing is their restriction on tethering with the $30.00 unlimited data plan. They want customers to pay $60.00 for 5 GB of data to tether but for $30.00 it's unlimited for non-tethering. Isn't that a contradiction? I was under the impression the word "unlimited" meant exactly that. Here in Canada our $30.00 6 GB data plan is allowed on all Smartphones such as the iPhone 3G and is allowed for tethering. The carriers are very careful about choosing to use "unlimited" if they don't really mean that due to not wanting lawsuits.

Very bad but probably makes business sense.

As much as I abhor the Bellsouth division of AT&T, I actually like the cell service. I have an account with each of the major carriers (AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and Sprint) and I'm very happy with AT&T. Ok, customer service is much better at t-mobile, but AT&T beats Verizon and Sprint HANDS DOWN. VZW and Sprint couldn't pay me to use their service right now. (and neither could the Bellsouth division of AT&T for that matter).


So ... apparently each person's experience is different.

Thanks for the reply, CadetStimpy! I'm not necessarily pining for Verizon or Sprint. I'd be perfectly happy to switch to T-Mobile, which I think is also a GSM carrier. T-Mo is an iPhone carrier in other countries, so I would assume that they have the capability of offering Visual Voicemail and serving the iPhone's data and voice, but I am curious if they will offer it for out-of-contract iPhones in the US after June 29, 2009.

I would have had an iPhone when they were released if they offered it through Sprint or Verizon. It makes no sense to have such a device with at&t's almost useless data service and extremely poor voice coverage.
With CDMA, you can get almost upto cable modem speed(2-4mb/sec), at&t's 3g data is about twice as fast ad dial-up(where it even works at all).

I would have had an iPhone when they were released if they offered it through Sprint or Verizon. It makes no sense to have such a device with at&t's almost useless data service and extremely poor voice coverage.
With CDMA, you can get almost upto cable modem speed(2-4mb/sec), at&t's 3g data is about twice as fast ad dial-up(where it even works at all).