Data tethering
Unless you use your iPhone as a dedicated YouTube and video-chat station, you’ll likely not run into AT&T’s 2GB data limit, but if you do a quick cost comparison, you’ll see that AT&T is practically raping customers for 2GB of monthly downloads when Verizon offers unlimited downloads for $5 more.
In addition to the scrupulous data misering, AT&T has imposed a tethering fee in case you want to use your device as a hot-spot, and that requires being tethered to a PC or laptop. Jailbroken phones can enjoy MyWi, which not only enables wired tethering, but can transform your device into a wireless mobile hotspot. This is invaluable for users who want to surf the web without the office IT department knowing (you know who you are). This has been a priceless feature whenever our home internet or power goes out, and it even allows your family to go online in the great outdoors.
Winner: Verizon (slight edge to Jailbreak)
Flash support
As of yet, there is no Flash support for the iPhone 4. This means that no Flash games, Flash videos, or even Flash widgets in the web browser. If you jailbreak your iPhone then you can have all of these features.
Winner: Jailbreak
Video Chat
Jailbreaking your phone can allow you to do voice chat without having to use a WiFi hotspot. As mentioned in the Bandwidth point, Verizon’s theoretical bandwidth is lower than AT&T’s, but is still enough to do video chat. It is unclear at this point if Verizon will require WiFi in order to make a video call, as AT&T does. With a jailbroken phone you can easily get around this limitation.
Winner: Jailbreak (slight edge to AT&T)
Call reliability
Because the cell phone is on a completely different network, it requires a completely different antenna. Apple said it has fixed the antenna on iPhone 4 devices, but Verizon’s device has been updated even more, which they assure results in maximum signal. AT&T’s reception has been notorious for dropped calls, but this varies depending your location. Call reliability has been relatively stable for me in the Washington area, but I’ve run into many problems in Hawaii and the East Coast.
Winner: Verizon
Bandwidth
The original iPhone 4’s 3G chip supports download speeds of 7.2 Mbps, but Verizon’s network cannot make use of this, and requires a EVDA Rev. A chip, which is limited to 3.1 Mbps. In practical use most users will probably not notice, unless you’re tethering via a PC (but more on that later)
Winner: AT&T
Voice and Data
Verizon’s CDMA network has some problems when it comes to using voice and data at the same time. Honestly, being able to look up information while talking on the phone is one of the best features of any cell phone, and unfortunately you need to be on AT&T’s network to pull this off, even if you have a jailbroken iPhone.
This may be a catostrophic fail if you are using Google maps and a call comes in. Google maps will not be able to fetch new map data while you’re talking. You can purchase the TomTom app, which stores all of your maps locally, but that program costs $100.
Winner: AT&T
Cost of Ownership
The cost for the hardware itself remains the same as it does for AT&T customers. A 16GB iPhone 4 will cost $200, and the 32GB version is priced at $300.
Verizon’s data plans will remain the same as they are today, including an unlimited option. For $30 users can get unlimited data on Verizon’s network. Compare that to AT&T’ $25-for-2GB tiers, and you can see who the winner is in this fight.
Winner: Verizon
It seems like many of the pros and cons are fairly spread out. Who’s the real winner?
