This is going to get me in trouble

I started a couple of years ago with an iPod Touch, but sold it to pay the power bill. 

Then I got an iMac.

Then the 3rd gen iMac.

Now I've had the iPhone 5 for three days. 

There's been a billion articles written about the iOS vs Android back and forth, this vs that -- blah blah blah. For me the ONLY reason to switch was to see if the iPhone picked up better than the S3. The S3 has been a PITA since I got it the Jelly Bean update, dropping LTE and 3G, shaky connections and worst of all, the mobile hotspot didn't work worth a flip. I reset the phone almost weekly, tried flashing different radios on it, flashed a couple of ROMs on it to try and see if there was some magic combination of ROM and radios that would work for me. Nothing worked. Verizon did everything they could, even upgraded the equipment at the tower I use at home (it was scheduled to be upgraded anyway, they just did it faster.) Nothing worked, I was sent 3 different S3s, and even got an Ausrion replacement S3 that was refurbished in the USA. Nothing worked. 

My wife's Razr Maxx had this really bad thing where it wouldn't hold LTE even though the S3 was chugging along with a 4-5 bars of LTE. It would drop to 3G and sometimes 1X, flipping around like crazy, but the hotspot worked since she was on ICS and not Jelly Bean. This problem is well documented on the Razr line and maybe the Jelly Bean update would fix that. 

I'm sick of the bullshit. I've tried and tried to make this work, but I need my phone to have LTE, and have a good enough hotspot connection that I can get my schoolwork and such done. 

Anyway, you know how this story is going to turn out. I got the iPhone 5. I don't have any problems with reception. My hotspot works great and it even seems to work better than on Android since my iMac does USB tethering natively and the iPad works great off the iPhone hotspot too. 

My phone needed to have a strong connection, and I suspect that there is something going on with Android and CDMA that isn't playing nice when in a somewhat fringe area of coverage. For whatever reason, the iPhone just works for where I live and I have to live with that.

I'm not an Android fanboy, and I'm not an Apple apologist. Apple has conducted a hack and slash campaign of litigation that I personally find disgusting. I still have the Razr Maxx and I hope to get it updated to JB through WiFi. Hopefully I will get into the soak test. I still have my Nexus 7 and quite possibly will have this tablet until it just won't run anything anymore, I love my N7.

If I need to spell this out for you, I will. Android has a serious problem when it comes to carriers and OEMs mucking up the code. Android comes out clean, fast and for the most part problem-free. Some will argue that 4.2.1 was a clusterfuck, and it was but 4.2.2 has fixed most of what I had issues with. My Nexus 7 is pure Android. It works wonderful, I love the thing. I imagine that the Nexus 4 is a lot like the  Nexus 7, but I am tied to Verizon and I can't up and leave the only carrier that has LTE where I live. My last experience with a Nexus phone was the Verizon Galaxy Nexus. What a clusterfuck that was, thanks Verizon. 

So the only way to get a pure OEM experience, which is very important to me is to get a newer Android phone, and root and unlock the bootloader, and install an ASOP ROM, which voids your warranty. Or go to the one company that sticks a middle finger up at Big Red and get an iPhone. 

So what does this mean? Do I lose my Android Cred since I have an iPhone? Maybe. Maybe I love technology and need to know that my phone is going to work, and be updated in a timely manner. That's why I got a Nexus 7, updates right from the el Google. To be clear what drive a wedge between me and Android is Verizon. Carriers suck and they need to stop putting custom skins on stuff, this goes to OEMs and fuckWiz and Sense and all the other LG cartoon skins. It needs to stop. 

Why the (#*$&!!* is Verizon's Network Not Working?

It used to be pretty simple to be a Verizon customer. You buy a phone, and you knew that while you might be paying a more than the average customer, you knew that not only was your network everywhere, it worked all the time. There was a time when Verizon customers would make fun of AT&T or Sprint customers when their phones lost data, or text didn't work. You really do get what you pay for, especially at a sporting event or other large gathering of people in a small area. Verizon always seemed to work better than the competition.

As more people are buying LTE devices on Big Red, there are more and more people grumbling about Verizon's phones not working as intended. Dropped data is a big one, or getting stuck on 1X. It isn't any fun when you expect 4G and get 1X. So what's going on? Let's take a look at what's going on with Verizon today.

There aren't any engineering degrees hanging on my walls, I am a chef by trade. However, explaining what's going on with Verizon right now isn't rocket science. It is just a matter of math.

Currently, Verizon is supporting quite a few different kinds of networks. Most of the USA is covered in 3G, and that's what most people are thinking of when they buy or use a phone. 3G works great, it transfers data to your phone relatively fast, and the phone and tower talk to each other with a minimal delay. That's to say that the 'ping' or 'lag' is low. What that means is stuff starts happening almost right away when you press a button in your phone's browser.

In areas that are far away from towns, or fringe coverage areas, your phone might pick up 1X. That's an old network. It is 1G so to speak, compared to 3G and 4G. (2G wasn't really adapted.) It works fine for calling and texting, but you might notice that data doesn't work all that great on 1X. Not only does the data crawl along at a snail's pace, slower than dial-up speeds, it also has a very high amount of lag. It might take 2 seconds for data to travel back and forth from the tower, so browsing websites and apps might act like they are not connected at all when you start using them.

The technology used above is CDMA. You don't need to know what that means, except that CDMA phones don't need SIM cards. But wait, 4G LTE uses a SIM card so what's up with that? LTE technology is based on GSM, like your friends on AT&T there is a SIM card involved, and all Verizon 4G phones have a SIM card tucked under the battery cover.

Here's where the issue comes in. CDMA doesn't talk to GSM. It just doesn't work. So Verizon had to make another network to manage the handoff between 4G and 3G. That network is eHRPD. If you have a Verizon LTE phone that's on 3G, it's hanging out on the eHRPD network. You can check this yourself by going into your phone settings--> About phone--> Status and it's listed under Network.

This go between network is what's causing most the issues with Verizon's network lately. It is also why when the LTE network goes down, 3G tends to go down for 4G phones, despite what Verizon's PR teams might say. It is also why the transition from 4G to 3G can be painfully long, as the phone tries to handshake back and forth from 3G to 4G.

Well if eHRPD is the problem, can I just disable it? Well there is a way to do it on most phones, but it doesn't always stick if you reboot the phone, not to mention it involves digging into test menus that Verizon really doesn't intend the general public to get into.

So where does that leave us now? Well Verizon is in a transition phase right now. The idea is to get the whole country in LTE coverage by the end of 2013, that means phasing out 3G and also 1X. Once Verizon has us all on LTE phones, then you will see phones that don't have 3 different radios in them-and hopefully battery life will be much improved by then. Verizon is going to have your voice data over LTE soon, the concept is just now breaking. This isn't ideal for us now, and believe me, if you buy a LTE device now or in the next year, you are an early adaptor of this new technology. Things are going to be so much better when these legacy networks go away.