Verizon customers can pre-order iPhone starting at 3 a.m. tonight

Current iPhone owners still have a seven-day wait ahead of them to switch to Verizon (VZ), but if you’re already a Verizon customer and you can wait no longer for a chance at an iPhone, your pre-order opportunities start tonight at 3 a.m. EST.

That’s pre-order only, though, which is an important distinction from actually going into a store and purchasing a phone. You can reserve your iPhone if you’re a Verizon customer through verizonwireless.com/iphone at 3 a.m., but you might not be getting your phone until Feb. 10 just like the rest of us non-Verizon rubes.

The difference is that while non-Verizon customers are going to be waiting in lines and hoping that supply meets demand for the CDMA iPhone 4, pre-order customers will be guaranteed to get an iPhone shipped to them, and Verizon is aiming to have the phones arrive by Feb. 10 or possibly even before, according to a press release from the company. So it’s possible your pre-order will get you your phone early, but either way, you’ll be skipping the lines at Verizon or Apple (AAPL) stores.

Verizon has recommended previously that you should register an account at myaccount.verizonwireless.com ahead of trying to get your pre-order together. That means that anyone who intends to pre-order should register more or less right now.

The iPhone 4 on Verizon will go for $199.99 for the 16GB version, $299.99 for the 32GB edition. Verizon has a few choices as far as plan, which we ran down a few days ago, including a $29.99 unlimited data plan and a $20 option for the new HotSync mobile hotspot feature.

And if you happen to have an AT&T (T) iPhone, or you plan to switch over on Feb. 10, you’ll have options to trade in your old iPhone when you switch.

Latest from NewsReports