From the files of the "Obvious Department" it turns out that AT&T uses experince more dropped calls than any other wireless carrier.

"ChangeWave Research, the company that does the polling for the InvestorPlace.com site, released the results of a survey of 4,040 smartphone users in the US done during March of this year. They were looking into "trends in customer satisfaction and loyalty, future market share demand, and the issue of dropped calls," and discovered that AT&T's results were in a death-spiral on all those measurements. As far as dropped calls go, while Verizon customers reported that 1.5% of their calls were dropped - the best result of the 4 US major carriers - AT&T customers said that 4.5% of their calls were dropped. Sprint and T-Mobile customers were essentially in a tie for second, with 2.4% and 2.5% of calls dropped respectively. And unsurprisingly, only 23% of AT&T customers said they were "very satisfied" with their service, as opposed to 49% of Verizon customers."

So maybe us iPhone customers are not simply crybaby types. Perhaps there is more to it than AT&T wants to admit.

Will AT&T's investment in new towers pay off? And how will we customers fare when the new iPhone is released later on this year. Will chaos ensue or will we see a smooth ride?

No Verizon iPhone till 2011 says an analyst.

Look for the iPhone to be exclusive to AT&T for at least the rest of 2010 and first half of 2011 says an analyst.

According to Brian Marshall, a Wall Street analyst at BroadPoint AmTech, "AT&T had to do something dramatic to get the iPad." So what they did was to give Apple the rock-bottom pricing it wanted for 3G data. No other US 3G carrier can touch the $29.99 all-you-can-eat plan, and so, Marshall told Computerworld's Gregg Keizer, "AT&T was able to negotiate a six-month extension on the iPhone exclusive."

So it seems that all those people who thought that $29.99 iPad unlimited data plan was "to good to be true" were right. However true as it is, it was a business decision to extend AT&T's exclusivity through the key Christmas shopping season.
Consider this a loss leader for AT&T who may lose money on the iPad data plan on some customers, but who will gain new subscriptions and customers looking for phones over the Christmas season.