Market Research firm ChangeWave has conducted a survey that looked at the possible impact of the Verizon iPhone on U.S. wireless service providers and their subscribers.

Published earlier this week, the survey provides some really interesting statistics. The sample size of the survey was about 4,050 consumers.

Based on the survey results, there seems to be a significant jump in the percentage of AT&T users (compared to the results of an earlier survey) who were planning switch their carriers in the next 90 days. While only 10% of AT&T users were planning to shift three months ago, the figure jumped to 15% over the course of the past few weeks after it became clear that the Verizon iPhone is indeed coming.

As for the other players, 10% of Sprint/Nextel users and 15% of T-Mobile users too plan to switch carriers (mostly to Verizon, of course) in the next 90 days. Meanwhile, only 4% of Verizon users said they plan to switch carriers in the next 90 days.

To make things worse for AT&T, people continue to remain unhappy about its poor reception with as much as 42 per cent claiming that they would switch providers to solve these problems. Dropped calls was another issue owing to which 27 per cent of the AT&T users surveyed were planning to switch carriers.

As per the survey, 16% of AT&T customers were planning to switch to Verizon if it began offering Apple’s iPhone. The report goes on to add that Apple iPhone users “are the most likely group of all to switch, with more than one-in-four (26%) saying they’ll leave AT&T for Verizon.”  It also says that two-in-five (41%) say they’ll do it within the first three months of the iPhone’s release – and another 31% within the first year.”

However, AT&T could take solace in the fact that it actually fared better in the call drop rates department compared to previous surveys. AT&T’s dropped call rate fell to 4.7 percent in December 2010 from 6 percent measured in September 2010. This still is way above Verizon’s 1.7 per cent. The better performance by AT&T over the past few months could be due to the fact that it has been working hard to improve its network infrastructure. However, we wonder if it turns out to be a case of doing too little, too late.

However, it is clear that the Verizon iPhone might just cause a significant shift in the way the US Wireless Industry would move forward – with results clearly favoring Verizon.

(Source: iPhone Hacks)