As far as I'm concerned, the Blackberry Storm is just another useless phone that WILL fail on the Verizon network.

I was looking forward to the Blackberry Bold, and the Blackberry Storm, but neither of which are going to do anything for me now that I have seen preliminary specs on the Storm.

Verizon is the best provider out there in my opinion, in terms of call quality, clarity, and the least to drop calls. However, as such, they also have downfalls, which I consider to be not necessarily a show stopper, but perhaps a thorn in their side.

1. No Rollover Minutes
2. Not a very diverse selection of phones that other providers have
3. Cost of service per month (this really applies to all cell providers)

Having access to carriers internal dropped call data, it is clear that users perceive far more dropped calls than actually occur. I would be surprised if any of the carriers had an actual dropped call rate greater than 2% unless you polled heavily from zones that had recently experienced hurricanes or other natural disasters where 10-20% drop rates aren't uncommon in the first few days of recovery.

Of course users perceptions become reality to them, and thus their reports are valid. It would be interesting to identify the factors that account for the difference between perceived and actual drops.

Great post. I think the BlackBerry Storm will help but it shouldn't stop there. I want choices and would switch to a carrier that had choices of new, cutting-edge phones. Why doesn't Verizon start carrying Nokia's N-series, put Google's OS on a phone, and carry the BB Storm. The only choices I see these days from carriers are the choice between crappy free phones and 2-year plans.

I am currently using Sprint, and while at a family reunion in NE Montana, Sprint worked fine but those who had AT&T could not get a signal. I have experienced very few dropped calls, and not sure they were at my end!

I continue to be amazed at the number of phoneiacs that apparently have some emotional relationship with their "phone". You have to be kidding...it is a telephone not a spouse/lover or life partner.

I think that these survey results are very skewed by Changewave members (the pool from which the survey was produced) being early-adopters of technology (i.e., technophiles, gadget-freaks, or whatever). In my area of upstate New York, Verizon is the provider of choice, and that is not contested. Most people use Verizon, and many of the rest will switch when their contract is up.

Apple iPhone? I know of one (count 'em, one) person here who has it, and he is a bleeding edge gadget guy. So I don't think Apple Iphone is a compelling driver of market share.

Bruce, you are right in that our survey results are not necessarily reflective of the entire U.S. population. However, we have found that our primarily early adopter demographic has enabled us to identify spending and tech trends much earlier than other available sources.

My provider is AT&T. I recently purchased an iphone. I don't play games. I don't listen to much music (mostly talk radio). It is by far easiest to learn and easiest to use mobile phone I have ever had, I was skeptical for a long time about what's so great about this phone. I have had this phone 3 days and now I think it's the best thing since corn bread. Apple knows how to make a great product.

Based on actual subscriber addition numbers in SEC filings, Verizon Wireless has basically beaten AT&T Wireless every quarter since the iphone was launched a year ago.

The numbers are even worst when AT&T's numbers included Tracfone numbers --- something that is not included "ChangeWave" survey.

So if the ChangeWave survey is saying AT&T beating Verizon 31 to 19 --- the actual numbers will be Verizon beating AT&T 31 to 27 (with Tracfone included in AT&T's number) or Verizon beating AT&T 31 to 20 (without Tracfone).

If ChangeWave can't reconcile their surveys quarter after quarter with the actual SEC filing numbers --- then there is no point of looking at their surveys.

The iPhone is a great phone! Bar none. But that should just mean that their competitors are going to step up to the plate right? C'mon Blackberry, Nokia, Sony, Samsung . . . . . get off of your butts and start innovating like never before. You will need to make long range plans. Apple took 3 years to bring the iPhone to market and who knows what it will take.
GM, Chrysler and Ford need to do the same. Or else go by the way of the Polaroids, Kodaks, Xerox, Compaqs, photographic darkrooms,film cameras, trans fats, saturated fats, tyrannosaurus, platform shoes and bell bottom pants.

Hire visionaries and turn our technological prowess upside down to accomplish these visions. Steve Jobs, does not allow engineers to say that, "it can't be done".