Why I think iPhone is going Multi-Carrier tomorrow

WWDC is right around the corner and I figure I would share with you my thoughts about what might be announced.  As you know AT&T is the single provider of the Apple iPhone and no other U.S. cell phone carrier carries it.  Well there has been some actions taken by AT&T that makes me think that they are preparing for their customers to jump ship on Monday.  Let me lay out the points.

1.  On May 21st, AT&T raises ETF to $350 from $175.  Locks iPhone customers in from going somewhere else (or pay a high fee for leaving).

2. On June 2nd, they ax the unlimited data plan for new users and make it “cheaper” for 200MB of data and 2GB of data, that they say 98% of their users don’t go over 2GB. They also add tethering for the iPhone, which is announced a couple of days before WWDC.  Current iPhone customers can keep the unlimited plan but if they want tethering they have to drop the unlimited data plan.

3. Between June 5th-6th, AT&T is allowing some “valued” iPhone customers (including me) the ability to upgrade early to the newest iPhone.  They did this last year when the iPhone 3GS came out but they only gave it to some limited customers who pay more than $100 a month on their AT&T bill.  Now I don’t pay $100 for my bill, in fact I pay $88.87 a month and have been ever since the iPhone 3G.

Now I plan to buy the new iPhone when it is available for pre-order or purchase (thanks to the early upgrade).  This maybe in response to all of the Android phones coming out but the timing of it all sounds like there will be more carrier options available very soon.  We will see.

One more thing…