Today is an exciting day: Verizon announced that it will carry the iPhone.  No, I haven’t sold my soul to Steve Jobs, this means great things for us AT&T zombies.

It’s no secret that AT&T’s coverage leaves a lot to be desired, particularly in New York City.  I was walking through the city having a fifteen minute conversation the other day and dropped the call THREE TIMES.  Every day as I walk home from work, I drop calls.  It’s remarkable that in one of the most advance cities in the world I cannot make phone calls.  For a long time I thought AT&T was to blame, it still may be, but I’m not sure it’s that simple.

Apparently, AT&T and Verizon have similar, if not the same, systems.  The high level of data use from smart phones and the iPhone in particular has clogged up the system.  This means that not only will all the new iPhone Verizon customers slow down Verizon’s system, but potentially many current AT&T iPhone users will actually switch over to Verizon, thereby relieving AT&T.

This means that potentially AT&T could improve, but also the Verizon might suffer so it wouldn’t make sense to switch.

In other news, I have been waiting to write a Google Voice post and feel now is the moment.  For those of you who don’t know about Google Voice, it is one of the few mobile applications that has actually affected my life for the better.

Google Voice replaces your current voice mail box.  It works in exactly the same way, except Google Voice also transcribes all your voice mails!

No more listening to the “Hey, it’s me.  Call me back.” Now, you receive an email and/or text message instead.

Granted, not all the transcriptions are accurate.  The quality of the transcription depends on the clarity of the connection and the pronunciation, but it’s usually pretty good.  Furthermore, because you receive an email for every voice mail, you can archive all your voice mails to keep track of them.  Previously, they were gone forever upon deletion, but now, you can keep a record.

I would highly suggest joining Google Voice, maybe even on your new Verizon iPhone.

This is on par with other smart phones, with the iPhone running $599 or $699 without an AT&T contract, depending on size.  However, it also means that that phone will be fairly prohibitively expensive, unless you are on T-Mobile.  Tech Crunch does a nice analysis.

Given the lack of press (a press conference has been announced for January 5th, my invite must have been lost in the mail) and hype, Google may just be testing the waters with this phone.  Very few phones are available unlocked, so its success could affect future phone launches.

Will you still buy one?

1. Sometimes BlackBerries #fail
2. The customer service representatives do want to help
3. There are support centers to streamline your life
4. Sometimes interactions with AT&T are easy AND pleasant

Let me start my saga at the beginning, this is a Blackberry Outage of One:

1. Sometimes Blackberries #fail.

This morning I woke up early and dashed to an appointment.  When I finally had a chance to look at my phone, it seemed completely normal.  I checked my email, made a couple phone calls through speed dial.  Then I tried to check my Facebook application and realized I couldn’t scroll to the right to open the application.  Hmm.

Next the ‘selector’ started spazzing.  It was flying around selecting different icons without my touching the trackball.

Finally, I tried to type in my password (the screen had locked at this point) and not only was the cursor flying around like the ‘selector,’ but the wrong letters were coming up and there were weird symbols in place.

This is when I started having my own meltdown.  During the recent BlackBerry Outage, I endured life without email for a brief period.  So I’ve had a taste of what being disconnected is like (as if I couldn’t remember the stone age before the BlackBerry): Frustrating. But now I couldn’t even get into my phone to try to fix the situation: Infuriating.

2. The customer service representatives do want to help

I immediately called the At&T helpline and was connected to a representative (Daria Hewitt?) within a minute.  She could not have been more patient or helpful.  Basically, my phone is still under warranty (no water or physical damage) so I could get a replacement phone. Then I had two options: either going through the warranty department (could take up to 90 days) or stopping by a local service center (fix the problem that day).  She gave me the the info for the support center and even scheduled a check-up call for next week to make sure everything was resolved.  How lovely .

However, I was not ready to give up on this phone.  For a brief instance, I thought it could be a software issue, so I wiped the phone.  This is hidden beneath layers of menus and options, mainly because it’s such a last resort option.  Wiping a phone restores everything to the factory settings and deletes all the data.  After the wipe, I still had the same issues, but could no longer connect to the network.  Great.

3. There are support centers to streamline your life

I tried to do some more research on the support center before running to the car.  I had the address, but could not find a phone number.  Being the day after Christmas, I wanted to make sure it was open before trekking over.  Hmm, why would a cell phone center not have a phone number published?  I wondered if customer service had given me the run around.

In my phone-less mania, I decided just to jump in the car and drive to the support center, which happens to be 25 minutes from my house — it’s the only one in the state.  After nearly driving by the nondescript building, I pulled into the parking lot and saw other cars = warm bodies, this was a good sign.  The support center must be open at the very least.  Walking in, the room felt more like a sterile dentist’s office than a mobile phone support center.  I checked in on the form and sat in the seats until my turn.

There were about 4 people ahead of me and 2 representatives — I thought this might take a while.  However, the line moved remarkably fast.  Not only were the representatives helpful, but they went out of their way to be thorough for the people in front of me.  This is such a rare quality, I didn’t mind waiting the extra few minutes.  One woman’s phone was out of stock, but the representative explained the process (including prepaid priority mail boxes) and that she would have her phone by Tuesday (it is Saturday).  Not a bad turn around.  Still, I hoped my phone was in stock….

Now, it was my turn.  I explained the situation: roller ball, cursor, keyboard.  The rep asked, “Have you tried cleaning it with Purell?”  Um, No.  Apparently, gunk (the technical term) can get into the ball causing it to malfunction, but the alcohol based Purell cleans it up.  Amazing.  However, my phone was too far gone to be salvaged by Purell .

Given I had already wiped it, there wasn’t much for the rep to do expect give me a new refurbished phone. Luckily, I had everything backed up with Google Sync, so all my contacts were intact and the new BBM saved all my BlackBerry contacts, so I didn’t have to deal with new PINs.  Other than downloading the necessary UberTwitter and Pandora, the process of outfitting my new phone was pretty painless itself.

4. Sometimes interactions with AT&T are easy AND pleasant

Basically, I tried to do everything I could so not to deal with the people at AT&T.   However, every step of the way I was pleasantly surprised.  But, it occurred to me, most of the time I am at a retail store, not working with customer service.  Retailers are inherently the villain they are trying to take your money.  Customer service already has your money and wants to keep getting it.   Maybe AT&T ought to retrain their retailers to bring up reform their service and bring up customer satisfaction levels.

From the initial phone call to the service center, everything was easy.  It really made my day.  So, thank you, AT&T and the people at the support center for my new-ish phone!

Cell phone companies need to make money — people need cell phones.  Even with the oligarchy of service providers, we are pretty much at their mercy.  The open networks and free phones are pretty appealing, but its kind of like how a doughnut is appealing, its fleeting.

In the article, Segan points out that the iPhone and the HTC Hero cost nearly the same amount, around $200.  However, the talk plan will cost $1,200 more on the iPhone over two years.  (Note:  he doesn’t give his sources for this information, so I am not sure how he came up with this number. )  We can all agree that the iPhone is a pretty neat and powerful machine, but is it really worth that price tag?

This summer, I was buying a new phone and faced the monster that is AT&T.  My previous phone was spotty and wasn’t acting reliably, and living in the city, I felt that I need a phone I could count on.  So I desperately headed over to the nearest store and was at the mercy of the sales person.

I had wanted to get off the family plan so were weren’t locked in for another two years.  I also wasn’t set on any phone when I walked in the store, but wanted some real advice.  I didn’t get either.  I ended up with a phone that I had don a fair amount of research on, but the sale person clearly had sale objectives and did not give me any real guidance.  I also thought that I had created my own plan, turns out, I was still on the family plan — and so will my family, for the next two years.

Whatever, I can deal with all that.  At least I was getting a rebate, right?  The purchase was a large one, but I told myself it was okay because I would be getting $100 back soon.  Nope.

I filled out the rebate exactly how I was supposed to and mailed it in before the deadline.  I even received a text saying that my rebated had been received and was being processed.  But then I didn’t hear anything.  I waited and waited, but nothing.  Finally, over two months later, I called the company and it turns out that my rebate had been rejected!  Why!?

I pushed the woman further and she disclosed that someone had accidentally marked the wrong box and that I did deserve the rebate.  Well, it’s been about six weeks since then, and still no rebate.

Finally, I received a text this morning, at 6:30 AM (icing on the cake, AT&T), saying that my rebate has shipped.  Awesome.

Apparently, my persistence was worth $100 and I will take that.  Now, what should I spend it on?