Verizon: iPhone is outdated, pushing LTE Android phones

[podspi]

Weird, that isn't my experience. VZW reps pushing the iPhone hard, when we came in for a Moto Bionic. Very annoying, actually...

 

[bearxor]

I have a feeling that VZW sales reps in New York are probably more geeky, and more apt to push Android

 

[zerogear]

"It's all about the 4S now," one AT&T rep said over the phone, unprovoked. "The iPhone is the most popular phone, you know what you're getting, and it's a status symbol you can't get anywhere else."

lol, status symbol that you're willing to overpay for outdated technology.

 

[Bateluer]

"It's all about the 4S now," one AT&T rep said over the phone, unprovoked. "The iPhone is the most popular phone, you know what you're getting, and it's a status symbol you can't get anywhere else."

Not sure what he meant by 'anywhere else', since you can get the 4S on Sprint and Verizon as well, and a few regional carriers. Only 'decent' carrier that doesn't is T-Mobile.

Is LTE available every where?

Not quite, but Verizon offers it in over 400 cities right now. Odds are pretty good that the majority of Verizon's customers are in one. Remember, Verizon make LTE a requirement for all future smartphones on their network.

Also, remember the next iPhone will be called the iPhone 4GS, and will be an iPhone 4S with an LTE radio.

 

[gevorg]

If you rely on sales rep on your gadget purchasing decisions, then you deserve to buy extended warranty on the monster cable they sell you.

 

[jpeyton]

Most cell sales reps work on commission, and Android phones have a fatter margin than iPhones.

A friend of mine who works for Verizon told me their biggest money-makers are the FAR cheapie Android phones, like the Pantech Breakout, Motorola Citrus, etc. They love finding suckers to sign two-year contracts on those phones.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

One of the reasons I have zero interest in the iPhone 4S is because it does not have LTE.

This and a small ass screen

 

[yh125d]

Those reps are absolutely right imo. I'm not saying it's necessarily a bad idea for buying an iphone if that's what you want, nor that android phones are necessarily better. I will say that it is very good advice to, if buying a new smartphone today, to get a 4g phone. Sure, iphone is still as fast/faster than many android phones, but for 90% of users even an old 1ghz single core phone is plenty fast enough still. This is particularly true on the iphone since Apple has done so well getting iOS to run way smooth on not that fast hardware.


However, just about anyone can notice a night and day difference between 4g and 3g

 

[bearxor]

However, just about anyone can notice a night and day difference between 4g and 3g

I disagree. I think that should probably read 'difference between 4g and Verizon's 3g.'

When I was testing out my LTE iPad 3, I couldn't tell any kind of speed increase between it and my AT&T iPad 2.

I think the biggest thing here is just how terribly bad Verizon's (and Sprint's) EVDO network are.

I just ran a few speed tests at my desk. I have a VZW LTE USB modem and can hit between 8-10 consistently here at my desk. With my iPhone 4 (not 4S), I can hit between 5-6 consistently. I suppose if I was downloading a bunch of files directly all the time I might notice a difference, but just for web browsing/watching videos/doing server admin stuff? Can't tell.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

I own a s2 and will buy a s3 next. But the fact is that apart from 3G or lte, the iPhone 4s is smoother and snappier than s2 or even from one x marginally

 

[QueBert]

lol, status symbol that you're willing to overpay for outdated technology.

outdated on paper maybe, I was playing with the iPhone 4S next to a Lumia 900 & One X at the AT&T store the other day. The iPhone felt the fastest and most responsive, followed by the 900 then the One X. Paper specs wise the One X should blow both out of the water. But that's definitely not the case. And it absolutely blew high end phones like the Skyrocket & Note out of the water. Both are much beefier specs wise.

 

[Robert Munch]

What's the next big Android device for Verizon?

 

[yh125d]

I disagree. I think that should probably read 'difference between 4g and Verizon's 3g.'

When I was testing out my LTE iPad 3, I couldn't tell any kind of speed increase between it and my AT&T iPad 2.

I think the biggest thing here is just how terribly bad Verizon's (and Sprint's) EVDO network are.

I just ran a few speed tests at my desk. I have a VZW LTE USB modem and can hit between 8-10 consistently here at my desk. With my iPhone 4 (not 4S), I can hit between 5-6 consistently. I suppose if I was downloading a bunch of files directly all the time I might notice a difference, but just for web browsing/watching videos/doing server admin stuff? Can't tell.

I've used sprint, ATT and verizon 3g extensively throughout OK/AR/TX/LA and the fastest 3g I ever had was about 10x slower than the 4g I've used. I'm not gonna pretend that it's this way everywhere but I'm confident in saying that except for some outliers, the 3g->4g jump is way bigger than the difference between any two recent SOCs or whatever. I'm even more confident that you getting 5 megs down on 3g is drastically higher than normal. Wasn't there surveys recently showing that the fastest 3g provider was in the 300k range on average?

 

[Red Storm]

What's the next big Android device for Verizon?

S3 (if Verizon gets it), and there's rumor of a Galaxy Note competitor being made by HTC for Verizon, due this fall.

 

[AstroManLuca]

I've used sprint, ATT and verizon 3g extensively throughout OK/AR/TX/LA and the fastest 3g I ever had was about 10x slower than the 4g I've used. I'm not gonna pretend that it's this way everywhere but I'm confident in saying that except for some outliers, the 3g->4g jump is way bigger than the difference between any two recent SOCs or whatever. I'm even more confident that you getting 5 megs down on 3g is drastically higher than normal.

The 3G to 4G jump is huge when you're talking about Sprint or Verizon since they have the slowest networks. He was saying that going from HSPA+ to LTE isn't as noticeable since HSPA+ is already pretty fast.

Wasn't there surveys recently showing that the fastest 3g provider was in the 300k range on average?

No, that was Sprint, the slowest 3G provider, with an average download speed of around 600 kbps (although I get 300 kbps on average as do many others). T-Mobile has the fastest 3G service, averaging nearly 4 Mbps.

Full details here: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2538...peed_showdown_which_networks_are_fastest.html

 

[dagamer34]

What's the next big Android device for Verizon?

Droid Fighter, which is basically a Motorola Verion of the One X: 720p screen, Snapdragon S4, huge battery. In fact, I have little faith in Verizon ever getting the HTC One X because of how in love with Motorola they are.