I switched my entire family to Verizon when the iPhone 4s came out. Overall it was a great decision. No more dropped calls. Great coverage throughout San Francisco, even in the Mission. Wonderful customer service.

But I got a surprise bill this month that was $100 more than I expected. The problem is: most of my friends have iPhones on AT&T. So those calls no longer qualify as "free mobile to mobile." And I talk on the phone a lot.

Those friends who I was talking to this past month also probably don't realize our calls aren't free anymore.

Free mobile to mobile is a weird perk. It's something that reduces how many minutes you pay for, but it's not something you can predict or take into account. You don't know what carrier people are on.

Hopefully Apple extends iMessage and Facetime so you can do normal phone calls over 3G, and turn the iPhone in to a data only device.

Until then, everyone should switch to Verizon! It's great, and you can talk to me all you want for free :).