By Kevin Purdy

Everything You Need to Know About the Verizon iPhone and Making the Switch

It seems like the phone-owning world was holding their breath for this moment. Now that Verizon's own iPhone is almost here, you might be thinking of switching—and have many questions. We've got answers—on price, networks, transfers, you name it.

Some Verizon iPhone owners may be upgrading from their existing Verizon phone. Some may be AT&T customers who have been patiently waiting for a better service option. Others may be tied to neither AT&T, Verizon, or even Apple, and just want to know whether it's worth looking into. We hope to have answered some of the most likely questions for all parties.

Got additional Verizon iPhone questions you'd like answered? Sure you do. Leave them in the comments, and we'll circle back occasionally and update the post with more answers.

You can jump right to a particular answer from the list below:

What to Know About the Verizon iPhone for:

The Basics
AT&T iPhone Owners:
Verizon Customers:
The General Android-to-iPhone Switch

The Basics:

What: Verizon offers the iPhone on its (3G) network.
When: Pre-orders for existing Verizon customers start Feb. 3. General sales start Feb. 10.
Where: Pre-orders will be offered on Verizon's web site, or taken in-store. Verizon and Apple retail stores will offer the phone on Feb. 10.
Who: New customers and Verizon customers eligible for upgrades can get the phone at a relatively friendly price. Impatient contract-terminators will pay a bit more, and very impatient Verizon subscribers will hand over a whole lot of cash for one phone.

I'm an AT&T iPhone Owner, and I'm Considering Switching

How Much Will It Cost to Drop My Contract and Switch?

Everything You Need to Know About the Verizon iPhone and Making the Switch
At most, a $325 Early Termination Fee (ETF); at the minimum, something around $50, if you're perhaps a month away from the finish. You can figure it out more precisely using Wolfram Alpha's iPhone ETF calculator. Then there's the $199 cost of buying a new iPhone which, while significantly reduced from the full unit price, is still no shake-off.

Luckily, because you already own the newest model of iPhone on the market, you can sell your iPhone and likely cover the cost of both your ETF and your new phone. Adam D. showed us how to ditch your AT&T iPhone and switch to Verizon for free, using a combination of value-added selling, crafty carrier negotiation, or contract reselling, if necessary.

What Difference Will I See on Verizon's Network?

Everything You Need to Know About the Verizon iPhone and Making the Switch
The most popular answer, and the one Verizon wants you to think of most, is "fewer dropped calls." But while the phones themselves may look almost exactly alike, the Verizon and AT&T phones come with very different networks attached:

AT&T's GSM-based service can be used in more countries around the world (at a significant cost, of course) and, through the use of SIM cards, makes it easier to switch an account between phones. Verizon's phones aren't quite as interchangeable, and (with some exceptions) work only in limited areas overseas.
AT&T service allows for simultaneous phone talk and data connection, so you could surf the web or pull up data while talking. Verizon's network does not, so you can't currently talk on the phone while checking your email over 3G. (They claim to be working on a "fix.")
AT&T's 3G service is generally faster than Verizon's own 3G-esque offering, although Verizon covers a larger portion of the country. Verizon is starting to roll out an LTE network that's faster than AT&T's 3G service, but the iPhone, at least as it is released next month, won't support that LTE technology.

How Much Will the Verizon iPhones Cost?

Verizon is charging the same amount for each iPhone as AT&T: $199 with two-year contract for a 16 GB iPhone, $299 for a 32 GB model with a two-year contract. If you wanted to buy the phone without a contract, for some reason, that's $649.99 for 16 GB, $749.99 for 32 GB.

How Much Will My Monthly Bill Change When I Switch?

It's unclear at the moment, but you can guess at some basic outlines. Verizon has reportedly re-opened their "unlimited" service options (generally around 5 GB per month before a "warning" or speed reduction is enacted) to accomodate the iPhone, rather than offer the two-tier 150 MB/"unlimited" plans that were recently applied to Android smartphones.

Update: The Wall Street Journal confirmed a $30 unlimited data plan for Verizon's iPhones this morning.

The Wall Street Journal also outlines the current plans from AT&T and Verizon. Strangely enough, the basic voice plans look almost exactly the same, and the data plans aren't that far apart, either: $15 for 200 MB per month on AT&T or 150 MB on Verizon, and $25 per month for 2 GB on AT&T or $29.99 for "unlimited" on other Verizon phones. (Update: And on iPhones, too). Each service, too, offers family plans, in-network calling, and texting bundles that may move the dial one way or the other.

What About Tethering?

Verizon's said it will offer a hotspot feature that will allow up to 5 devices to wirelessly connect to an iPhone and use its cellular internet service. That feature is included in the latest beta of Apple's mobile operating system, iOS, so it's possible that wireless tethering may come to AT&T and other carriers.

At the moment, AT&T customers must pay $20 per month to tether their phones through USB or Bluetooth connections, and they use the same portion of data as their plan allows. Verizon hasn't revealed if it will charge for this hotspot capability. At the moment, it charges $20 for its Android users to use official tethering tools, with 2 GB of data provided, regardless of your plan; on the flip side, webOS users—like those using a Palm Pre or Pixi—can turn on their phone's wireless hotspot feature free of charge. Right now we're in wait-and-see mode.

Wondering about unofficial tethering options, and whether you use enough data to worry about it? We've previously done a comprehensive guide, "Whether to Tether", on the world of phone-to-laptop/iPad connections.

Will Verizon's iPhone Have Built-In, Unremovable, Verizon-Branded Apps?

That's not a bad guess, but, thankfully, no. Apps will be available in the App Store to access Verizon's VCAST and other services, but there won't be built-in apps that users can't remove on Verizon's version of the iPhone—with the exception of Apple's stock apps—the same ones you can't remove from the AT&T iPhone.

Will All My iPhone Data and Settings Transfer to My Verizon iPhone?

Everything You Need to Know About the Verizon iPhone and Making the Switch
If you're up and running with iTunes, and you make sure you've got a good backup in place, you should be ready to roll when you get your new phone. Everything, including your apps, will transfer over to the Verizon iPhone. Even if all goes astray, you can re-download apps you've previously purchased from the App Store at no cost on your new phone, assuming you sign in with the same iTunes account.

Will the Verizon iPhone Suffer the Same "Death Grip" Antenna Problem?

According to Ars Technica's tests, no. It's not that much of a problem for AT&T iPhone owners, though, as Apple seems to have patched the problem up in software and hardware updates, but if it's somehow been the bane of your existence, it doesn't seem to happen on Verizon iPhone 4 models.

I'm a Verizon Customer, and I'm Considering an iPhone Jump

How Much Will the Change Cost?

It depends on where you're at with your New Every Two credit. As explained in Verizon's iPhone FAQ, existing customers can use their New Every Two credit to upgrade, but note that Verizon is ending New Every Two and early upgrade credits. If you're not eligible for a new phone from Verizon, and you're already on a contract, you'll need to pay the full retail price: $649.99 for 16 GB, $749.99 for 32 GB. Here's more on the New Every Two program.

Should I Hold Out for a "4G"/LTE Model?

Everything You Need to Know About the Verizon iPhone and Making the Switch
Apple's Tim Cook said they weren't supporting Verizon's LTE network for the iPhone 4 because it would have "forced design compromises" that the electronics giant wasn't willing to make. That doesn't mean they won't eventually get there, but it's a question mark at the moment.

Apple tends to refresh its iPhone lineup in June—that could mean a 4G chipset is installed, or potentially a white iPhone offering, or no network upgrade at all.

If speed is of the utmost importance to you, you might want to consider one of Verizon's Android models that supports their 4G service—if you live anywhere near a coverage area. Adam D. ran down everything you can know about "4G" at the moment, and found that Verizon is tops in speed with its next-generation network—although not in cost, coverage, value, or device offerings.

Will It Cost to Move from a Verizon Droid to an iPhone? How Much?

Right up front, it's probably going to cost you, unless you're crafty with selling your old (and maybe self-unlocked) phone, smoothing over Verizon's customer service representatives, and general good luck. Even owners of the first Verizon Android phone, the Motorola Droid, aren't quite up for their two-year upgrades, so most Verizon Android owners with two-year contracts will have to pay the $650-$750 retail cost for a new iPhone, or at least a discounted retail price with an early upgrade.

Can I Transfer Contacts, Apps, and Other Data from My Existing Verizon Phone an iPhone?

Possibly yes, and maybe a resounding yes, with everything except the apps. Verizon has an account-linked Backup Assistant tool that can, at least, save your contacts.

What Verizon is really recommending, however, is trying to get as much of your phone's data into your home computer, then hooking it all into iTunes for a future transfer to your Verizon iPhone. You can have iTunes pull data from Google contacts and calendars, Outlook, picture folders on your computer, and many other spots.

I'm an Android Owner—What's In It for Me to Switch?

Everything You Need to Know About the Verizon iPhone and Making the Switch
Tough question—really tough question, and one we've tackled before, though the answer is always hanging on how one wants to use their portable computing device, and what they want to get done with it. This editor is the author of The Complete Android Guide, but he has a lot—we're talking dozens—of friends and acquaintances who like to poke fun at that with barely restrained taunts of iPhone superiority, so I'll try to find the middle path.

Adam put on his objective 20-feet-back hat and compared iPhone and Android systems for power users. If you had to sum it up, it would seem that iPhone is a phone that makes it easy to hear music, play games, surf the web, and generally get around your smartphone for more people. Android is less easy to jump into upfront, but rife with possibilities, especially for those with a geeky inclination, and probably a Godsend for those with a Google fix. Polling our readers, they tend to like Android.

If you find things annoying about your Android, and you generally feel like you can't get anything done with it, you might consider trying out the iPhone life. If you're a big fan of iPods, iTunes, and some of the apps you've seen in the App Store, you'll probably love it.

But let's say you've got an Android phone, on Verizon or elsewhere, and you're happy with it. You check email, browse the occasional site, find most of the apps you need in the Marketplace, and maybe even like the variety of hardware options you have. What could you find that's unique in the Apple-verse?

New apps, faster: Generally, the makers of clever new services, and new offerings from established sites and services, offer an iOS app right away, then work on a similar app for Android to follow. There are exceptions, but that's the reality: iPhone owners and their iTunes familiarity are a lucrative, motivated market, especially for apps that cost.
Fewer options, easier upgrades: There's one kind of iPhone available, new, at any given time, with older models offered at notable discount. When Apple pushes an upgrade to its iOS, it arrives as a beta for the tech-inclined, then pushes out to all the phones Apple still considers worth supporting. It can be harsh when an iPhone is pushed off the support shelf, but it's straightforward. When Android owners buy a phone, they buy into probabilities of manufacturers' upgrade records, their carriers' own motivations in making them available, and knowing that newer Android buyers are almost always going to have a newer Android OS—with perhaps some of your annoyances and shortcomings fixed, and just out of reach. Whether that just sounds like first-world whining, or something you can work around with third-party firmware solutions, is up to you.
Games and iTunes: iPhones and iPads get more love from game makers, and those who like their iTunes collections have it easier with iPhones. That's as close as you can get to facts in the smartphone debate.

As we said up top, we're soliciting your further questions and concerns in the comments, so post 'em if you got 'em, and we'll update this post with answers.