Okay, I've been nursing along an XV6600 on Verizon for a WHILE. I'm a personal user. I like having access to my personal email, easy sync of my contacts and calendar, access to the web (the older this phone gets, the worse the web access gets), and tethering. But the phone is long in the tooth, a bit unreliable as it ages, and I'm definitely missing out on some cool new features, I'm sure.

So, particulars:

Already stated, a Verizon user.
I have a Family Share Plan with three lines, 700 minutes
I have the PDA/Smartphone unlimited data plan, that's like $45/mo.
Verizon provides employees of my company a 20% discount on all services
AT&T does the same discount, pretty much

So, Storm, Touch Pro, iPhone or Fuze? Tethering is non-negotiable, and a deal breaker. If I can't tether, I don't want it. No discussion about whether it's against the rules tethering or not, it just must be an option in some manner. Not lots of data, but reasonable web access by tether.

Opinions are valued, and rather needed right now. I'm swamped by too many options. Basically, tell me, in your perfect world, which would you have?

Note that the Touch Pro and the Fuze are the same base platform. Verizon cripples features (like tethering and the GPS) on their version, but AT&T doesn't.

The question is - what do you want the phone to do? The iPhone has the slickest interface around, but may fall short if you want business apps/e-mail to work best. I also don't believe it tethers yet (although my info on that may be dated).

What are you looking for from the device?

I'm not a business user, so business apps are not what I need. Just a personal user, for my own entertainment and personal needs.

So Verizon has crippled tethering in the Touch Pro? Will pdanet do the trick?

The iPhone can tether, if you're willing to jailbreak, but I'm looking for the best overall solution, in terms of cost and effectiveness.

The Touch Pro is the most expensive one of all the phones I'm looking at, I think, so probably not the best solution.

PDANet has done the trick in the past, so I suspect it would do it now as well. It's similar to jailbreaking the iPhone.

The Fuze from AT&T will work with just Windows Mobile ICS for tethering. That's AT&T's version of the Touch Pro.

I would recommend the 6800/Mogul. Lots of fixes out there, and a great platform with lots of buttons. The Touch Pro is not a worthy upgrade to the 6800, too many things were taken away, and it has loads of unsolved problems, like the keyboard light times out after 6 seconds

Well, yesterday, I settled on the iPhone, and was glad for it. I really was enjoying playing with it, and was impressed and darn near every turn.

This morning, I realized I had forgotten to ask for insurance! So I call customer service, and found out what probably many of you already know...there IS no insurance for an iPhone!

Unacceptable. I'm not particularly wealthy, and I can't carry around an easily damaged device that can be lost, stolen, or damaged, and have to pay $600 for replacement.

Everything's going back to the AT&T store tomorrow...I had to work hard to get my numbers ported back, but now I'm back to square one, on my XV6600, on Verizon.

It's a shame...I REALLY liked that iPhone. But I'll never go back to AT&T so long as you can't insure their handsets.

Anybody have some new in box XV6600s? I want to stock two or three up for spares.