It’s inevitable. Any doubters at this point are playing devil’s advocate on purpose, just to be asses. Verizon is scrambling to get it’s 4G LTE network finalized for the 2009 holidays, allegedly to make way for the rumored Apple Tablet and/or iPhone. I can’t say I know anything more than other speculators but I can tell you one thing: Next summer when the iPhone 4G debuts (hopefully with the upgraded Samsung ARM processors that finally reach the 1GHz mark) for Verizon’s better and faster LTE network I’ll be taking my contract with AT&T and wiping my ass with it.

At this point what is there to lose? After all AT&T has turned into the “fuck the customer base, we can do what we want” bully company that no one likes. It’s nearly August, where is my [carrier-sanctioned] tethering plan? Where is my MMS capabilities? It’s mid-2009, MMS is practically an unalienable right for any mobile carrier. I know that Apple is partially to blame for being so late to the game but let’s be honest, the rich set of features that come with the iPhone more than make up for the fact it is/was lacking in other areas like MMS and camera abilities. All other carriers have their MMS in order, I guess it’s pretty telling that AT&T is refusing to unlock that gate for it’s iPhone customers only. Talk about discriminatory practices.

It’s not like Verizon’s network is shit either, they’re “America’s most reliable” and are even taking action to have that claimed court-backed. I’m sure their service can outpace that of AT&T. The LTE architecture itself isn’t even riddled with doubt, AT&T is planning to eventually get around to upgrading to it as well… in 2011. That’s AT&T-speak for 2012 though, once again coming a day late and a dollar short. Verizon just seems to be on the crest of the wave, always a step ahead whether it’s FiOS or looking ahead to 4G and beyond and taking the right steps. Meanwhile what is AT&T doing exactly? Upgrading their towers to 7.2 Mbps instead of 3.6? Blocking websites with questionable content because there was a spoofed DDoS attack from their IP? Playing at being police because they love being the government’s lapdog and bending over and grabbing their ankles when the NSA comes-a-knockin?

I say fuck that. June of 2010 will be my last stint with AT&T. I don’t think there’s any reason for it to go any longer than it has. Anyone who can stand up for them has no idea what they’re talking about. You know the only reason I can’t MMS right now is a check box on my internal profile for allowing it? Are you serious AT&T? Another benefit for jumping a sinking ship is the fact that after my $100 ETF for AT&T, I’ll be grabbing the newest model at the subsidized price instead of having to hawk my phone on eBay again to cover my upgrading expenses. You’d think AT&T would recognize these warning signs and pay attention to its customers and, you know, do anything short of blowing them in order to keep them but who knows. Maybe AT&T execs think that becoming the next Sprint is a good thing.

Sources:

Update!

It appears that the recent yank of Sean Kovacs’ ‘GV Mobile‘ Google Voice app and the subsequent rejection of Google’s own Voice app were due to AT&T’s police-like barricade on anything they don’t really like. (See also: Skype over 3G)

This has seriously taken a turn for the worse and further cements AT&T’s feet in concrete shoes. Adios fellas.

Source:

• Who Killed The Google Voice iPhone Application?