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There are at least 3 major nationwide providers competing against each other on service and price. There are also many secondary local providers and providers r

• bifftannen 14y ago
  You can't take a unlocked GSM phone onto Verizon or Sprint. You can't take a Verizon phone onto Sprint. You can't take a Sprint phone onto Verizon. The only carrier you can choose with GSM is T-Mobile. But wait, they use the 1900MHz 3G band, so if you've got a phone that doesn't use that band, you're stuck with EDGE data. LTE won't change this, they've chosen different bands.
  • aneth4 14y ago
    You can however sell your phone and buy one for a different network. iPhones in particularly have a very high resale value, and regardless the phone you bought maintains its market value and is resalable. Telecom networks are extremely expensive to build. Having more than a few on the same technology would be wasteful, and consumers benefit from a diversity of technologies in the long run in addition to some level of network compatibility. But seriously, don't like your network? Sell your phone on eBay and buy a different one that works on a different network. How hard is that?
• krschultz 14y ago
  "Competitive" is not binary. Yes, 4 networks is better than 1, but it's not like you have 30 choices. Even with MVNOs, there aren't many real options. If Verizon were GSM it'd be a lot better, but as of now you are really locked in.
  • aneth4 14y ago
    Your phone is freely salable. You are not locked in.