Simultaneous Data and Voice Will NOT Work on Verizon iPhone

To avoid disappointment or anger, be aware that voice and data will not work at the same time on the Verizon iPhone.  For example, if you are in the middle of talking to a person over the Verizon Wireless network, you cannot concurrently do a web search, receive map updates for GPS navigation, or even receive notification of your most recent e-mail.

To be clear, this is not a problem specific to the iPhone.  This effects all Verizon Wireless phones.  This is also not something new either.  Every Verizon Wireless customer has this problem with any phone on the Verizon Wireless network.  To be fair, Verizon does not intentionally block simultaneous voice and data. The problem is with the underlying 3G technology that Verizon uses called CDMA.

For most consumers, this simultaneous voice/data issue does not become a significant issue as there are very few times there is a need for voice and data at the same time.  One way to avoid this issue to use a SIP phone like Sipdroid for Android. SIP phones are Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) phones that only use the data network of the CDMA technology.

It is also important to note that the simultaneous voice/data issue does not effect Verizon new 4G/LTE network. Maybe that is another reason to wait for a 4G/LTE version of the iPhone to work on Verizon Wireless.