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Verizon says iPhone will pause Web for calls: ‘a phone is only as good as the network’

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Verizon has confirmed to The Times that its Technology blog’s earlier Wi-Fi tethering report is correct -- the Verizon iPhone 4’s Personal Hotspot feature will pause Web data when a call is taken on the handset.

Ken Muche, a Verizon spokesman, said that the company has a policy of pausing any Web data on any phone with Wi-Fi hotspot capabilities when a call comes in and is answered, so as to maintain the call’s quality.

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‘If you do two things at once and you do both of them poorly, what’s the point?,’ Muche said. ‘That’s part of the reason we don’t have the same dropped call issues that other carriers do.

‘We really do believe that a phone is only as good as the network it’s on and this is the way we have always looked at it and that’s why we aren’t willing to sacrifice call quality.’

While using the Personal Hotspot on the Verizon iPhone, or anyother phone with the feature; if a call isn’t answered Web data will go on uninterrupted, he said. If a call is answered, the Web data is paused and the Wi-Fi signal returns when the call is done, Muche said.

AT&T’s iPhone can receive Web data while taking calls, but cannot as of yet broadcast a Wi-Fi hotspot signal to other devices using the phone’s 3G connection. AT&T, the second-largest mobile carrier behind Verizon, said it is looking into adding Wi-Fi hotspot capabilities to the iPhone.

Verizon will begin selling the Apple iPhone 4 on Feb. 10, starting at $200.

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-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles

twitter.com/nateog

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