The way I understand it, if I get an iPhone plan before the 7th I can still get the $30/month unlimited data plan on AT&T (and carry it over to a next-gen iPhone when they are available). I left AT&T a year ago for Verizon and have loved the rediscovered ability to actually make and sustain phone calls on my mobile device. So why am I even considering this? Because of the lure of unlimited data.

I don’t use that much data right now, but I hate to see the window closing on my ability to get it if I want it in the future (especially with tethering). We are going to be consuming more bandwidth, not less, as time goes on. I still regret giving up my old grandfathered Sprint contract that had sweet data rates.

I think the best option (assuming this is possible) would be to pay full price on the cheapest iPhone I could get now to get the plan locked in, then use the hardware upgrade discount when the new iPhones are available. Might take a little negotiating at the store…

I was pretty much planning to get a next-gen iPhone anyway and giving it a go as my primary device, making a month or two bet on that in advance doesn’t seem like such a bad play. Of course, I was hoping to get that next-gen iPhone on Verizon (the ability to sustain a phone call from my house to my office is so convenient)… but that doesn’t look like it will be an option for a while yet.

I’ve also been tempted to go back to the BlackBerry, mainly due to missing the keyboard, speed and battery life on my previous BlackBerry devices. The $30/month unlimited data plan is available for the BlackBerry at the moment too. I don’t know if I could get that and then transfer it to an iPhone account later – perhaps worth learning about.

I’ve tried out a NexusOne running FroYo for the last week. It’s a fine OS and device, but T-Mobile coverage at my house is lousy and it hasn’t been impressive enough to tempt me to go the Droid route on Verizon.

The constant choice between not-even-close-to-perfect options in the mobile space is very frustrating.