I assumed this issues would be resolved with the iPhone 4. I was decidedly wrong. If anything, the frequency of problems has increased to an annoying degree. My bottom line: The iPhone 4 isn’t worth getting married to AT&T for another two years. No chance.

So, I’m currently rockin’ my old 3G (but won’t update to the iOS 4.0+). I’m going to sit on the sidelines, free of any contract from AT&T, pay on a monthly basis and watch the market. The Internet is buzzing about other iPhone carriers so that is where I’m going to focus my attention. I may give the Verizon Droid HTC Incredible a spin but aren’t sure. Rumor has it T-Mobile may get the iPhone before Verizon? We’ll see. Verizon iPhone in January next year? Possibly but I’m not holding my breath.

Apple has also said it will accept returns from iPhone 4 owners who don’t want their phone any longer. This situation and that offer represent a unique confluence in the smart phone market — something that provides an unusual “out” of a standard two-year contract. Since owning the iPhone 4, I’ve encountered a few dropped calls, calls going directly to voice mail, and weak signal strength. I do enjoy the capability of the phone as a device but when I need it to access the Internet or actually use it as a phone, I sometimes run into issues.

Thus, I would describe myself as someone who is seriously looking to jump ship and leave the Apple camp. With this purchase and subsequent offered return, owners of the iPhone 4 can stroll back into an Apple store, return the phone and opt-out of the two-year AT&T contract with little hassle and certainly no early termination fee. That is something to ponder if you, like myself, are considering a move to an HTC Android.

I purchased my iPhone 4 around 3pm local time. The sales rep “activated” the phone using a Mac in the store, then told me there were some issues with phone activation but it shouldn’t be much of an issue. I left the store with my old iPhone 3G still working and my new iPhone 4 without service.

About 20 minutes after leaving the store, my old iPhone 3G lost service. I figured, “Ah, the network is transitioning from the old to the new phone.” However, three hours later, still no service on either phone. I was in the proverbial cone of silence!

I searched online and found some tweets from other people saying they had no service either. I noted one particular tweet from hwatkins which suggested people without service should call AT&T at 866-895-1099. I called.

I spoke with Lisa, a nice gal who, after 25 minutes of researching, said she could not find any issues and passed me to tech support. Tech support specialist Jennifer went right to the heart of the issue and had me remove the SIM card from the right side of the phone and read that SIM number to her. She asked me to replace the SIM card back in the phone. As soon as I did, the phone activated and I was back in business.  She claimed not to have done anything with the network but simply reinserting the SIM was the fix.

One small note: Jennifer asked me to use the SIM removal tool which, “should have come in the box.” I looked but found no tool She recommended any narrow tipped device and suggested a paper clip. I used the paper clip but it was tedious and not exactly simple. Use the paper clip at your own risk.