There’s been some recent iPhone-related news that gave the impression that we were getting closer to legitimately using using iPhones in Vermont. Unfortunately, I think we lost all progress today.

First, the good news: I now have three coworkers that have iPhones: Jimmy, Mark, and Don. So far their accounts are still active. I really suspect that their EDGE usage will be what tips the scales against them, but it’ll be interesting to find out for sure if/when their accounts get cancelled.

Also, iPhone hackers have produced a way to bypass activation or activate it using a different AT&T/Cingular SIM card. This means that one doesn’t need activate and then cancel their iPhone’s AT&T service to use it as a video & web iPod or use it with another AT&T SIM. They’re not working on fully unlocking the iPhone so that it can be used with any SIM card yet, but I’m sure they will be soon.

This is all well and good, however today’s bad news is that Verizon Wireless is buying RCC (i.e. Unicell), the only GSM¹ cell phone network actually in Vermont.

What does this actually mean? Well, nothing yet. Change moves slowly in the cell phone market. However, it does mean that Verizon will be transitioning RCC customers over to CDMA technology at some point in the future (and my guess is that it’ll happen within a year):

Rural Cellular utilizes both CDMA and GSM technology separately across its five regional markets. Verizon Wireless plans to deploy CDMA service in Rural Cellular’s existing GSM markets and convert the GSM customers to CDMA service. Verizon Wireless, however, anticipates maintaining Rural Cellular’s existing GSM networks to continue serving the roaming needs of other GSM carriers’ customers.

Fortunately, they do note that they’ll be maintaining the GSM network for those roaming with GSM phones (e.g. the iPhone). Also, the benefit of “reduced roaming and operations expenses” will be a nice bonus for RCC customers who already have to pay higher rates.

But, and there is a big but, this will mean that non-AT&T SIMs will be disappearing in the not-too-distant future, so when AT&T does kick Vermonters’ iPhones off their network, even if the iPhone is unlocked by then they won’t have anywhere else to get a valid SIM.

As I mentioned previously, AT&T recently purchased Dobson so other rural areas in the United States will be able to use iPhones on AT&T’s own network, but Vermont just lost all hope of that ever happening.

¹ GSM is the cell phone technology used by the iPhone.