I really appreciate that this article has actual technical details in it. Too often, people talk or write about a Verizon iPhone without ever saying “CDMA” which means they are saying less than nothing, just adding noise. It’s like a free Verizon ad campaign but it is for a fictional Verizon GSM network, not the real CDMA one.

I would never buy a CDMA phone. That is fundamentally a scam. Like buying a car that can only run on a private network of toll roads. I live in the US but I went to school in Canada and am originally from Europe. The fact that my iPhone works in all of those places instead of US-only is a feature.

Also, people are complaining about the exclusivity of AT&T, but it’s a Verizon iPhone that would truly be exclusive, only able to function on the Verizon network. Right now you can buy an unlocked iPhone to run on T-Mobile in the US if you don’t want AT&T. So when I hear people complaining about AT&T iPhone exclusivity it seems that they are either tragically misinformed or deliberately disingenuous. An iPhone on Verizon or Sprint would be incompatible with the rest of the universe, which seems much more exclusive to me.

Verizion is the most expensive carrier by far, and the most customer-hostile cellular company in terms of features (intentionally blocking bluetooth sync. to force people to move files via their network at network rates, etc.). I’m not about to give them my money until they smarten up.