iPhone Saga

JGray

Only a few panels today but I rather like them.

I got an iPhone 4S from my mom (her old one because she got a 5C a while back) over the weekend. Of course, she got it as part of an AT&T contract (though she owned the phone outright by the end which is why she still had it). I use Verizon. So, the quest to see if I could replace my old, battered generic smart phone with this older but still much better iPhone began.

For those of you outside the US, you need to understand that cellular companies do NOT want you to switch carriers and do everything in their power to make sure you do not. We have some laws to help but...

Anyway, I've heard every excuse today. From "you can't switch an AT&T phone to Verizon", which isn't true because there are laws now that allow you to take your phone to any carrier you want (and Apple sells the phones without specific carrier imprints) to "the AT&T version of the iPhone 4S uses an antenna which can't communicate with the Verizon network" (which is, as far as I can tell through research, false because the 4S was the first Apple phone that was physically the same across all carrier models - it, in fact has two antenna, one for each network type).

Finally, I got someone at Verizon proper to admit that all I should HAVE to do is install a new SIM card for Verizon and flash the software so it uses the Verizon software which optimizes the phone for their carrier network.

So, I went to a nearby store, told them that and they said "Oh, no. The AT&T 4S can't communicate with our network and I know that since I've been in this business for 20 years..." I walked out of the store.

I'll try another one later.

So, what's your cell phone horror story? Share!