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It's not AT&T's fault though, it's Apple's for allowing an exclusivity deal. If you did a wholesale move of every US iPhone owner to Verizon or Sprint, their networks would be similarly suckified.

Here in Australia the iPhone is unlocked and sold by every major carrier, and yet its launch still utterly trashed a couple of the networks. The situation has improved, but it shows what happens...

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The exclusivity deal was arranged when AT&T held most of the leverage. Steve Jobs shopped around the different carriers to get the iPhone off the ground and with the exception of AT&T, they all balked at the terms he was seeking. AT&T was the only one willing to play ball, and as such could insist on the lengthy exclusiveness.

I'll just go buy my Verizon HTC EVO and laugh and laugh. Oh wait.

For better or worse, phones exist largely in an environment of exclusivity to carriers in many western countries. Apple has slightly improved the situation by creating a massive demand for a cross-carrier device. Blaming them for not simultaneously kicking the smartphone industry into high gear AND entirely reformatting the industry seems a little unfair. At some point other vendors need to step up as well.

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