Verizon iPhone Shows You Can’t Win: Carriers Hold the Cards

The launch of the iPhone on Verizon adds to the mountain of evidence that you just can’t trust wireless carriers.

On the day that iPhone preorders began last week, Verizon quietly revised its policy on data management: Any smartphone customer who uses an “extraordinary amount of data” will see a slowdown in their data-transfer speeds for the remainder of the month and the next billing cycle.

It’s a bit of a bait-and-switch. One of Verizon’s selling points for its version of the iPhone is that it would come with an unlimited data plan — a marked contrast to AT&T, which eliminated its unlimited data plans last year.

Verizon incidentally announced a plan for “data optimization” for all customers, which may degrade the appearance of videos streamed on smartphones, for example.

Verizon didn’t send out press releases to alert the public of this nationwide change regarding data throttling and so-called “optimization.” The only reason this news hit the wire was because a blogger noticed a PDF explaining the policy on Verizon’s website, which Verizon later confirmed was official. Obviously it’s bad news, so Verizon wanted to keep a lid on it.

And here we thought Verizon’s network technology was better-prepared than AT&T to handle a big crowd of iPhone customers. While our initial tests showed that Verizon was better at making and holding phone calls, its data speeds are slower than AT&T’s. The company must be worried about the effects of an influx of iPhone customers — otherwise, why would it throttle bandwidth like this?

“We’ve been working on this for a very long time,” John Stratton, Verizon’s CEO, said during the Verizon iPhone press conference last month. “We expect unprecedented demand, bigger than anything we’ve ever seen before. We feel good about being able to handle it.

Working on what for a very long time? A plan to handle a flood of new data-heavy customers by slowing everybody down? Brilliant.

The throttling policy will impact only a small number of users: Verizon claims only the top 5 percent of data hogs will be throttled. (AT&T also previously claimed that a small number of users were hogging a massive amount of network bandwidth before it dropped unlimited data.) But the “optimization” method involves caching less data and resizing video, which “may minimally impact the appearance of the file as displayed on your device” — and that affects every Verizon customer.

That’s an abuse of the word “unlimited.” Sadly, this Orwellian use of language is becoming a common practice in the broadband arena. Comcast used to promote unlimited data as well, but customers reported their service was cut off after exceeding an invisible limit; the broadband provider later switched to monthly data caps.

Actions such as data throttling are symptomatic of an ugly truth about the broadband industry. Internet providers would much rather slow everybody down than invest in more hardware to support more customers.

“ISPs have a vested interest in trying to extract as much money as they can and changing the net’s architecture to bring them more profits,” Wired.com’s net neutrality expert Ryan Singel recently wrote. “They would rather do that than add more infrastructure to handle the growing traffic.”

Meanwhile, Verizon is advertising an unlimited data plan for the iPhone — which appears to give it a leg up against AT&T, who discontinued unlimited data in 2010 and transitioned to a tiered pricing structure.

But just like AT&T, Verizon plans to switch to tiered pricing in the future, according to Stratton. Verizon’s unlimited data plan, available for a limited time, is just another example of bait-and-switch.

AT&T gets most of the heat because independent tests have shown that its network is less reliable than Verizon’s with handling phone calls. But at the end of the day, we’re dealing with the same evil.

AT&T increased the early-termination fee last June from $175 to $325. Guess what? Verizon, too, doubled its termination fee, to $350.

Verizon used to have a popular “new phone every two years program,” in which customers would receive juicy discounts on new phones every two years as a reward for staying loyal. Days after the Verizon iPhone was announced, Verizon discontinued the discount program. Tough beans.

But above all, Verizon’s data throttling is shady in areas where even AT&T can’t compete. Even when AT&T had unlimited data, the company did not practice throttling, and an independent test showed its unlimited data was truly unlimited.

Transparency is going to be the key issue with data-throttling. How much data is too much? How will Verizon notify customers when they’ve surpassed the limit? How much will they be slowed down?

If Verizon isn’t transparent on each of these issues, the company could quietly slow down anybody’s transfer rates just to cram as many iPhone and Android customers on its network as possible, to maximize profit without doing what it should do: invest heavily in network expansion to provide the fast, reliable network it promised to everybody.

Given its actions, Verizon may be better at holding phone calls, but as a broadband company it sucks at keeping promises.

See Also:

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com


Verizon’s iPhone Could Have Been a World Phone [Teardown]

As they’re wont to do, iFixit and 9to5Mac have (separately) torn apart the new Verizon iPhone, discovering some small changes and one big one: the Qualcomm MDM6600 chip inside. That chipset supports both GSM and CDMA transmission (HSPA+ data rates up to 14.4 Mbps) and it happens to be the one that you’ll find inside a Droid Pro world phone. More »

LA Cops Seize $10 Million Worth of Fake iPhones, iPods, and More [True Crime]

Look at them all: iPods and iPhones of every color and every generation. It’s a king’s ransom of iProducts—except every single one of them is a fake. More »

Verizon iPhone 4 (iOS 4.2.6) jailbreak now available for Mac and Windows, courtesy of greenpois0n

Aw, suki suki now! Merely hours after the first Verizon iPhone 4 units began to land in the hands of mere mortals, out pops two download links that you’ll most certainly want to give a little consideration to. Chronic Dev Team has just pushed out greenpois0n RC5.4 for Mac and Windows machines, enabling those with iOS 4.2.6 devices to uncage their phone and mate it with Cydia. Hit the links below to get started (including a tutorial over at Quickpwn), but make sure you consider all possible outcomes before doing the deed. Will you life be forever altered for the worse? Will your Verizon iPhone suddenly have less coverage than your old AT&T iPhone? Will you find the always-elusive “true happiness?” Let us know how fate treats you in comments below.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Verizon iPhone 4 (iOS 4.2.6) jailbreak now available for Mac and Windows, courtesy of greenpois0n originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 Feb 2011 16:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon iPhone 4 gets torn apart, Qualcomm MDM6600 chip found inside

Not exactly a huge surprise here, but the folks at iFixit have gotten their hands on a Verizon iPhone 4, and they’ve already torn it apart without even bothering to make a phone call. In addition to the expected differences, they found that the phone packs a slightly lighter battery than its counterpart (same capacity, though), that the mechanical vibrator has been redesigned and moved from the top right corner of the phone to the bottom left and, most notably, that it boasts a Qualcomm baseband chip, which lines up with what we’ve been hearing since last month. That’s a Qualcomm MDM6600 chip, to be specific, which supports HSPA+ data rates up to 14.4 Mbps, and is the same chip used in the Droid Pro. Yes, that also means that the chip technically supports both GSM and CDMA, although Apple has apparently decided not to take advantage of that capability for one reason or another — iFixit speculates that it may have been easier to design antennas for a CDMA-only phone. Hit up the link below for the complete teardown.

Verizon iPhone 4 gets torn apart, Qualcomm MDM6600 chip found inside originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 Feb 2011 16:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First Verizon iPhones now being received, FedEx now awaiting your impatient calls

If you got in quick and ordered your Verizon iPhone early you might just be getting a surprise in the mail this morning. We’ve heard from a number of people that their special somethings were out for delivery, but our man Chris was the first to provide conclusive proof, freshly in the door and photographed for your viewing pleasure. Still haven’t ordered yours and are on the fence? We can help.

[Thanks, Chris]

Continue reading First Verizon iPhones now being received, FedEx now awaiting your impatient calls

First Verizon iPhones now being received, FedEx now awaiting your impatient calls originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 Feb 2011 10:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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10 Geeky Gift Ideas for Valentine’s Day

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It’s that time of the year again. Stores are wall-to-wall with boxes of chocolates, roses, and cheesy Hallmark cards. If you’re reading this blog, chances are you’re on the nerdier side of the divide, and there’s a good chance your significant other is on that side, too. With Valentine’s Day only one week away, it’s time to start shopping for those V-Day gifts.

If you’re married to or dating a geeky guy or gal, chances are they’d rather get an upgrade in RAM than jewelery or boxers. From cute plush stuffed animals, to bath time fun, we scoured the Web and we were not surprised to find a plethora of geeky gifts perfect for Valentine’s Day. Check them out after the jump!

White iPhone 4 starts to get Best Buy, The Source shelf space

This shelf tag was apparently spotted this weekend at a Best Buy in Houston, and it speaks for itself: white iPhone 4, AT&T, $599.99 off contract (the same price as the black). Of course, we all know this thing is coming within the next few weeks at this point — there’s just too much evidence pointing in that direction — but the fact that we’ve got big box retailers printing and placing tags for it now suggests that it’s coming sooner rather than later. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, that QR code link is dead at the moment — we’ve linked it below in case you want to give it a shot.

Update: Looks like The Source (Canada’s version of Radio Shack) is also making room. See for yourself after the break. Thanks, Anonymous!

[Thanks, Joel P.]

Continue reading White iPhone 4 starts to get Best Buy, The Source shelf space

White iPhone 4 starts to get Best Buy, The Source shelf space originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 Feb 2011 21:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Screen Grabs: Tango supplants FaceTime for Big Bang Theory videocall

Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today’s movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dot com.

It may not share the same level of name recognition as FaceTime (or heck, even Fring), but Tango’s multi-platform videocalling app is still a very real alternative. So real, in fact, that it was just used in an episode of The Big Bang Theory as a highly fictional (and severely busted) character makes an outlandish videocall to a mythical group of friends. Or was it all just a dream? Hop on down to the source link (and fast-forward to the 13th minute) to find out.

[Thanks, Sowmitra]

Screen Grabs: Tango supplants FaceTime for Big Bang Theory videocall originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 Feb 2011 06:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Greenpois0n untethered jailbreak for iOS 4.2.1 comes to Windows

It’s been a painful two days, hasn’t it? If you’re a Windows user looking for an untethered jailbreak for your iDevice, the answer is most certainly “yes.” The Chronic Dev Team has just let loose the greenpois0n untethered jailbreak for iOS 4.2.1, but unlike the build released 48 hours ago, this one’s meant for Wintel boxes. The team’s site seems to be down at the moment (shocker!), but there’s a download mirror linked below if you just can’t wait to get going. As always, we’d caution you to back up your iPad, iPod touch or iPhone before doing the deed, and since it’s the first of its kind (for this version of iOS, anyway), we’d be ready to see a few bugs along the way. Minor details, we know.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Greenpois0n untethered jailbreak for iOS 4.2.1 comes to Windows originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 05 Feb 2011 21:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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