Rumor has it that the iPhone will go 3G sometime next year. Here's one rumor
http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/29/a...-it-next-year/
I'm waiting for GPS on the iPhone. I also want more than 16GB (bigger IS always better) I'll have to wait for both of those.

It actually depends where you are. I checked into that plan and for $5.99/mo it will get you discounts on international fares, but for UAE it was still going to be $2.29/min and Paris was $1 i believe. I still may pick that plan up, just wanted to do some math on it first. I expect that they will prorate that plan as well.

a 3G iPhone next year isn't a rumor, both Steve Jobs and Randall Stephenson have publicly stated that the 3G iPhone will be released "next year." In Apple-speak this probably means late Q3 or Q4 of next year so while we may see capacity increases in the iPhone at MacWorld we certainly wont see 3G there and even capacity increases arent a given. That said, if youre in the market and you don't need to buy before mid-Jan there is no reason not to wait. Steve said that they want to get 5 hours of use out of a 3G version before they release one, so either the 3G chips/radios need to stop sucking juice so damn fast, battery technology needs to get better or both.

unlocked phone with local pre paid sims
 

I also live in the NE and the ATT service where I am at is terrible. That is why I dropped them and never looked back. Since I am on Verizon I needed a 2nd phone for international. I only use the phone for talking so my presepective may be different, for Internet service I use the hotel or my local office (if hotel is not free).

What I have been doing is buying prepaid SIM cards. I just came back from a week in Singapore all call to the US everyday multiple times and never used all of the initial cost (20 SGD). What you need to do is check to see if the carrier has a low cost dialing option. In the case of SinTel it was 019 dialing this reduced the cost significantly. So for about 14 USD I made 30 or so calls back to the US.

IMHO, this is the way to go.

Don't know if this would be of benefit. But I travel quite frequently to Japan and carry my laptop. During my recent trip the hotels I stayed at all had either free HiSpeed Internet or some small fee ($10 for 24Hours). I used "Skype" to make all my calls to home and my co-workers at next to nothing cost. Not to mention being able to surf at the same time and also 2-way video with the family. Might work out a little cheaper unless you absolutely have to have a cell for when you are on the move when not at your hotel. Just thought I would throw that out....

Bill......:)

Sounds like the ATT Tilt is what you want. $199 through Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/AT-T-Tilt-Smar...8160843&sr=8-1

3MP (video)camera, 3G Quadband, "real" browser, GPS and much more.

IMHO the best value smartphone available at the moment.

I have both an iPAQ and a Wing. I prefer the iPAQ for a number of reasons. In fact, I listed the Wing on eBay. But before you take one poster's opinion as fact, read all the reviews you can find.

Well, you know what they say about opinions...so here's mine. If you can get a Tilt for $15, go for it. It's a nice unit.

Otherwise: You have to be willing to put up with The Death Star's abominable business practices and "Customer Service" to get the $199 price.

But don't take one poster's opinion as fact - read as many reviews of AT&T and T-Mo as cellular carriers as you can get your hands on. Personally, I think it would be extremely short-sighted to get locked up by AT&T just for the sake of the Tilt deal. They HAVE to make juicy offers like that just to offset their abysmal reputation.

Update: as of this writing, AT&T is offering a discount that makes the net price $174.99 - sounds kinda desperate to me.

As opposed to all those carriers with great reputations :p

Seriously, every US carrier sucks for one reason or another.

I see other carriers with operational issues that they're addressing as expeditiously as possible - but unlike their competitors', AT&T's problems are SYSTEMIC and ENDEMIC and the result of their corporate culture and policies.

I like the HTC Kaiser (Branded as the ATT Tilt). It's more of a fun phone than a blackberry and has better reception than them. It'll work in the basement where I work while no other AT+T phone will.

AT&T fine for me
 

Love these comments about one carrier over another. I'm sure call quality differs in some areas among carriers and that's a rational reason for a choice. But most of the comments seem about equal to "Apple vs. Microsoft" level and life is too short for those.

I've used Cingular/AT&T for about five years now. Based in Michigan. Works fine throughout the state... and on trips to Houston, San Francisco, San Diego, Orlando/Daytona Beach, Chicago, NYC and various other places. Don't remember the last trip to Boston to say.

Knock on wood, but I've never had to test customer service with a problem. So I'll go merrily along until I hit that speed bump.

Meh, i guess. I've never had a issue with reception and i was really pleased with the customer service the only time i had to use it. YMMV.

Apple is suited to right-brained people, Microsoft to left-brained. They're about on a par technologically.

This isn't about coverage. It's about intransigence at the corporate policy level. AT&T's reputation for sucking is well-deserved IMO, and the others are all pretty good.

You'll know when you do. You'll also pay obscene rates for basic data services.

By "real" browser, do you mean one that will work like the browser on the iPhone or the Voyager? I ask because my buddy has the newest HTC model from Sprint and it has a WAP browser (meaning a lot of sideways scrolling, as it's unable to resize pages to the size of the small screen and then allow easy zoom-ins, like the iPhone's Safari browser).

As for customer service, I really don't think one company will be better than the other. Most people complain about Sprint. I've had them for years, and they're fine...I'm sure others aren't any better or worse. Not really an issue for me right now.

All current HTC phones have a REAL internet browser. On the 2 current Sprint models (the Mogul and Touch) you get Pocket Internet Explorer. It's not as polished as the browser on the iPhone, but if you add Opera to the phone you get something pretty damn close. There are other browser options as well (Netfront is pretty decent) that will give you the desktop view option that the iPhone offers. But honestly, none of them are really as good as the iPhone, but that really is the only strong feature of the iPhone IMHO.