The Q&A series is where we ask influencers and friends of ZURB for their opinions on hot recent news. This week we were curious about people's take on the recent news of Verizon iPhone.
ZURB has a group Verizon plan covering the fees for all employees with a Verizon phone, yet half of the team are loyal Apple fan boys & girls and choose to have an iPhone with AT&T. As a result we almost never call our clients from our AT&T phones because of the dropped calls issue. Most people opting to switch to Verizon want to eliminate dropped calls, an issue that has plagued AT&T since the iPhone's release. Not everyone sees this issue, however, and in those cases the likelihood of switching is much lower. We decided to ask the following question:
Question: Would you choose AT&T or Verizon for your iPhone? Would you break your contract to switch over?
I choose AT&T because, at the end of the day, it's about what coverage you get in the places that are important to you. I can't get a Verizon signal at my house; I get four bars of AT&T. I know people who have the opposite problem, and they're delighted to be able to switch to Verizon. But for me, AT&T fits better with where I live and work. I've been a customer of theirs for years now and find their service acceptable.
Right now because I don't call very much, I'd say Verizon--since the voice + data limitation wouldn't really apply to me. That said, I wouldn't break my current contract, since not being able to call isn't a huge deal when you don't call much, and honestly reception isn't THAT bad for me 99% of the time.
I'd choose iPhone with Verizon. iPhone with AT&T has always had horrible reception in San Francisco (where I live). Before my iPhone I had Verizon and never complained about the service. Maybe iPhone with Verizon will have the same problems, but I've at least had a good Verizon experience. I've never had a good AT&T experience. Yes I have a contract. I would be willing to break it, but it depends on what happens with the iPhone 5 and what people who get the Verizon iPhone say about the service.
I have an iPhone on AT&T. I'm actually pretty happy with it and wouldn't switch to verizon. I get great reception in my house, and haven't really had issues with it except skiing in tahoe. Verizon will have a slower ramp than AT&T had. 100% of iPhone buyers hit AT&T and swamped it. But Verizon won't have 100% of those folks switching over all at once. So I suspect the uptick in bandwidth use for them will be manageable. It will also offload AT&T to some extent, making folks who stick with AT&T happier. Including me. :-)
Currently with AT&T and always thought I would switch right away. That being said, I am going to wait a month or two to see if service improves with the large volume of people jumping off. Will also ask friends how the Verizon iphone service is. Curious to see if it is AT&T or the iPhone that is the issue.
-AJ Vaynerchuk, Co-Founder of VaynerMediaWe decided to use our tool Verify to quickly poll our friends, followers, and business contacts with the same question. Of the other 84 people which responded 60% chose Verizon while the other 40% chose AT&T. The most common reasons for sticking with AT&T were that it's cheaper, people are loyal to the service, and the service is not bad. The reasons people gave for switching over to Verizon all had to do with better voice service and less dropped calls.
I'd stay with AT&T. I've been with AT&T for years and haven't had an issue yet. I fear change!
I'd switch over. I have an iPhone on AT&T now and it honestly is NOT worth the dropped calls. Can't wait until my two-year sentence is up!
So what do you think? Would you switch? Do you think the problem with dropped calls is an iPhone hardware issue? Or is it an AT&T service issue? Could it be that Verizon iPhone will have the same dropped calls problem? Let us know in the comments below.
