Study shows steady decline in AT&T brand perception - Page 2

I have an iPhone for 2 months and have been getting all the bars. Occasionally I get dropped calls, much better than Sprint though. Data rate is good. However, the iPhone experience is superb. I got phone, data, etc everything integrated. Very productive. This is not a regular cell phone... a whole new class of product that is 3 years old. Quite good performance. It is hard to tell how the VZN network would perform with the same data load.

People need to be so critical... if they do not like it, they can always go using Windows Mobile, somewhere else.

Well all I'm saying is despite the technological advancements, after all this time we are still dealing with radio waves and they are still unpredictable.

As far as entitlement I'm just amazed that people think that it is completely unaccepstable for a trivial chit chat conversation to be dropped while roaming around a city filled with skyscrappers, billions of eletromagnetic fields, radio waves in every spectum as well as 100k other people trying to access the same network. And it's 'hey I'm talking here' give me a break. That's kind of how it works - It's not a perfect world sorry.

AT&T doesn't have to care about brand perception... they're the Phone Company.

You are one person vs. ten of thousands people, who have had bad experience with AT&T network using iPhone. If you want to do some homework, check the facts on customer dissatisfaction with AT&T network coverage for iPhone.

I will listen to the majority of people and not just one person.

Really? The Declaration of Independance states that Americans have the right to "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness". Further, the Bill of Rights does not say anything about the right to gapless cell phone coverage, free housing, healthcare or subsidized vehicles. Get real.

Now to stay on topic, AT&T has neglected the iPhone market while allowing all of the other smart phones it carries to use all the features that AT&T claims will hinder it's network. Get Real AT&T.

What annoys me about AT&T is their customer service. My customer service experiences with AT&T in regards to the iPhone is that their support staff is totally clueless in regards to iPhone policy.

When I signed up for AT&T as a new customer just for the first gen unsubsidized iPhone, my account stated I had not used my subsidized credit and I could get a discounted phone, which I was happy with in case the iPhone broke. After I decided I would stay with AT&T and ported my number from T-Mobile, my account suddenly showed I didn't have upgrade eligibility anymore. When I inquired as to why this was, the rep blamed me for "screwing up my account" by porting my number from T-Mobile after signing up for AT&T instead of doing it from the start.

The next year I had no problem upgrading to the iPhone 3G, but when I tried to upgrade to the iPhone 3GS they wouldn't give me $299/399 prices and insisted I had to pay $499/599 despite their posted written upgrade FAQ and the video FAQ with the curly hair glasses dude saying I should be able to.

After watching the 3GS upgrade video again that curly hair glasses guy annoyed me more when he laughed to his coworkers at the end of the video like everything he was saying was a joke. His facial expression throughout all those AT&T PR videos is that of an insincere BS'er.

They used that guy again for their latest videos on why their network sucks, and it just makes me hate AT&T and that curly haired glasses BS'er guy even more. His latest video explaining why their network sucks basically just came down to the fact that AT&T doesn't have the network capacity and admitting they suck but are trying not to suck. I don't know why they even bothered with it. Did anyone really care to hear that lame excuse and does AT&T think they're special and the only cell carrier with that problem and should somehow be given a pass for not being able to handle the needs of their customers?

A few months ago I lost service and called AT&T to find out if there was a problem with my phone or the service. I called and they had me go through several rounds of "turn your phone off and on." I asked specifically if there was a problem with the network and they said no. They had me call Apple Care (wasting my 1 free support call), and Apple Care had me do the same turn your phone off/on, reset network settings, etc., then they transferred me back to AT&T. The new rep I talked to again insisted there was no problem with the network. Then after about an hour of calls during working hours he said, there were just "a few recent reports" of problems in Hawaii. Come to find out that AT&T service was out for thousands of customers for 10 hours, they had techs working on it since then, and these low-level support idiots were just wasting my time trying to troubleshoot my specific phone. Service was out for the rest of the day and it made news on every local station and newspapers for several days because of the impact it had on everyone. The first rep should have been able to tell me that within a few minutes rather than waste over an hour of my time on a landline phone and transferring me around during my working hours.

AT&T's tail doesn't know what it's head is doing.

I'm reading a lot of defensive posts for AT&T on here, but in my work and social circles I have yet to hear a single person NOT talk about how disappointed they are with AT&T's service.

Has anyone noticed how AT&T masks your actual signal strength? I can't count how many times I'll take out my iPhone and see my signal strength at full bars only to attempt to make a call and see "call failed" followed by my 3G signal disappearing and my bars dropping to nothing. It's as if the standby signal strength just sets to full to look pretty until you actually try to use the darn thing.

Dropped calls? All the time. Garbled sound? Yup. But what is this? My signal strength says I have 3 bars! Things should be OK right? ...wrong.

Most recently, I was in Union Square in Manhattan this past Thursday at around 5:00 and couldn't make an outgoing call. Couldn't receive a call. Couldn't access any data. My iPhone was nothing more than an iPod Touch. I waited over a half an hour, resetting the phone, flipping the airplane mode on and off - doing everything I could to try and get the voice and data to work. I even stood right outside of an AT&T retail store. Nothing helped. Eventually after 45 minutes of this I decided to just start walking - by the time I got to 6th ave and 18th st, low and behold, my phone started working again...I was supposed to meet a friend 45 minutes ago at that point, however..

I've been telling those that ask, if the Palm Pre comes out with a 16GB or larger capacity flavor, I just may drop my iPhone. Not because I necessarily feel the Pre is a superior product - I like my iPhone better. But I hate AT&T more.

OK, thanks for the feed back. I guess once some important politician's family member dies due to not being able to make a call on an Interstate we will get a knee jerk policy change in weeks named after that politician and it will be fixed.

Talk about staying on topic! Free housing is a leap from AT&T

I am not sure where I strayed into constitutional interpretation by saying Interstate coverage should be a requirement of a major carrier. (The point someone else made that it may not be in their power to do so is a valid one if true and that should be looked into). However, to take you up on your point (which I respect your right to have) a manufacturer of many products have standards to meet, tires for example. If they simply fell apart at 70 m.p.h. I'd argue they were not made to a standard set by we the people. You I guess would argue the manufacturers have a right to make crappy tires? Cell phone coverage on Interstates is so crucial to safety it should be pretty high up there on requirements for a license to be a major carrier IMHO kind of like safe tires. This isn't a 'nanny state' argument it is safety on a major level. I suspect if you or a family member of yours were in serious trouble one dark rainy night on a major Interstate and the iPhone said 'No Signal' you might have a change of opinion ... but that's just a guess on my part, perhaps you'd say as you bled out "Damn, I respect their right to not cover this stretch of I93."

My argument is based on the premiss that in this day and age the are indeed 'mission critical support services'. If I am wrong I defer to your opinion.

Perhaps a 911 service on Interstates that was common to all carriers (I have no idea how) could be implemented on all cell phones?

Brian not to defend AT&T because the ATT 3G network in Manhattan is obviously saturated. As far as 3G and signal strength, when the phone is in standby the signal estimate is inaccurate, because the phone is basically getting a housekeeping signal. This also causes the battery to rundown excessively fast in a poor 3G signal environment. When it negotiates a connection with the actual tower you get a more realistic signal. Bandwidth ow WCDMA (3G) is allocated very different from Edge/GSM (2G). So if 3G is saturated you might manually select 2G(Turn 3G off). On 3G your handset can negotiate a connection with a tower and then other users can steal your bandwidth which results in drop calls/ slow data rate etc. On 2G if you get a connection you have a dedicated slot so you shouldn't drop the call unless you move to another tower which is saturated. I have also noticed that the Iphone transition from 3G to 2G takes much longer to negotiate then it did when I first got my 2nd Gen Iphone so while in theory the handset should switch to 2G when in a 3G area with signal saturation, in reality you get stuck in a no man's land where the software will keep looking for other non saturated towers rather then switching to 2G.
As far as signal strength displays. Since bandwidth is dynamically allocated in 3G. If a bunch of users come on your tower your signal will degrade. That guy next to you downloading his sons birthday party video is killing your voice connection.

One more tip for the guy having problems on his cross country trip. Outside the major metro areas ATT still uses 2G so select 2G so your phone doesn't spend forever searching for signals that don't exist.

I would love to have an iPhone, but switching to AT&T is a deal breaker.

I have unlimited nationwide calling on T-Mobile for $50 a month and I never have dropped call issues.
Why would I pay twice as much for inferior service?

They should have been investing in their network, period. You can make the argument that all these iPhone users have been dragging down their network, and it'll happen on another carrier, too. But the fact is, they should have anticipated this and made necessary changes to accommodate. However, just as they did when they were Cingular, their network lags and there are plenty of areas without coverage.

It's an open market, and they should simply compete. Verizon takes pride in their network. AT&T should learn to compete by improving theirs.

And they and only they have the GSM iPhone. I've been lured to the dark side- thought I never would. I've really not had any problems with exception that a call or 2 won't get completed and their rates are high.
I lucked out by waiting 2 years to get an iPhone- never had to deal with all the frustration NYrkr's have had. I'm learning more and more that it pays to wait.

So you can use an iPhone? Hello?

How exactly would waiting 2 years help us New Yorkers? Service is as bad as it's ever been here..

I'm in New York, and was very pleased with my AT&T service until the launch of the 3GS. They seem to have drastically undersupplied the bandwidth for that. Now I have dropped calls right and left. If the iPhone goes Verizon next year, so will I.

Well, I figured this is the reason why people aren't switching to AT&T. I have an unlocked iPhone (1st gen) and pay only $30 for voice and then a $7 data plan add-on, for a grand total of $37 from T-Mobile. Let's see AT&T try to match that $7 data plan... or even that $30 voice plan for anyone other than seniors. They frankly deserve what they got for bad rep, b/c they're charging everyone more for at most the same service. I would easily buy an iPhone 3GS if it wasn't tethered to a single carrier.. just allow me to switch between carriers, Apple! Generally around my area, AT&T actually has WORSE coverage, even though it's the OC and suburban, so it's not full of people trying to access the network. So... those people (I've heard stories personally) are paying for.. let's recap, worse coverage, higher prices, terrible customer service, slower data transfers... is there anything else a phone company can screw up? The exclusive contract business should be ruled illegal, it simply hurts the people who are honest and don't unlock their phones. For everyone else, there's T-Mobile

I do not intend to buy another iPhone when my contract expires. Coverage in Scottsdale, Arizona is simply awful. It takes two or three attempts to place a call, and I can be sure of having the call dropped at least once. Oh, and inside a building? Forget it. Thank goodness for Google Voice -- I can now get mobile calls on my office phone.

Apple shares some of the blame for my view of the iPhone. Its refusal to carry the Google Voice app on iTunes is just one example of its increasing arrogance.

This is typical of GSM service in the US. When traveling to Western Pennsylvania, my Verizon phone always had a signal, although it often reported "extended area" - meaning it's connected to a CDMA tower belonging to a non-Verizon company that has an agreement with VZW (so roaming charges are not incurred.) During that same trip, friends with AT&T and T-Mobile phones (GSM network) frequently had no signal at all.

No. It just needs publicity. If people know that GSM coverage is lousy and they choose to subscribe anyway, that's their problem. If enough people leave the GSM carriers and move to the CDMA carriers where this problem is much smaller, and tell the GSM carriers why they are leaving, then the GSM carriers will eventually get the hint and install more towers.

Yes, but not everybody has the same deal-breaker. For some, it's coverage. For some, it's price. For some, it's the range of available services. For some it's the choice of phones.

Outside of the US, you're not on AT&T's network. You're roaming on someone else's GSM network.

Not now, but keep in mind that both AT&T and Verizon are switching to the same 4G technology (3GPP-LTE). So a 4G iPhone should be able to work with both carriers. So it will be purely a business decision whether or not a future 4G iPhone is made available to VZW customers.

Sprint, on the other hand, is promoting Wi-Max for their 4G tech, so an iPhone on that network will much less likely.

Not to thrilled that AT&T charges for text messg. When it uses nit active data packets, so we are just lining their pockets. That stinks. Let's see, I said back in June AT&T would startvto worry when the contracts started to expire and they are. For us, we can only hope the android, pre and some great phone with flash comes out, then we will see some heat.

I am an AT&T customer in the USA and I have free teethering too. :-) and gv mobile, mms, and a lot more. PdaNet is on of the prframs. Works great and is faster than my sites moms Dsl. Lol

I have the same issues in my office in Madison Tennessee (north side of Nashville), 1/2 mile off a major interstate. 3G works MAYBE 25% of the time. When it does, it has little speed advantage over Edge. That is, when Edge is available. (grr)

I get no dropped calls, but there is a heck of a lot of chop and breakup. No, it's not the handset; this is my third one. It is AT&T because a cow-orker has an iPhone and it is proving less than satisfactory in the office. Another has a plain Nokia folder, and the service is just as bad.

Office-mates with Verizon and Cricket do not have these issues. Sprint/Nextel also works just fine.

My opinion is that AT&T is just being AT&T. They think it is still 1955; the only game in town.

It most certainly does. I can understand some variances, especially when in the countryside. But when one is in places like Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, etc, and can't get a call out because the circuits are overloaded, something is wrong. It is doubly wrong when the folks around you with their Verizon phones and their T-mo phones are doing just fine. I had this experience at LAX two months back, and the same thing at LAX 18 months back.

When I am in rural areas, which I often am in my line of work, AT&T is dodgy at best. When I had T-Mobile the phone could, and did, latch on to other carriers when their own towers were not in range. I never had a roaming charge because that is how my contract worked.

If I can turn my iPhone into an iPod Touch (that is, have it work like a Touch when I cancel AT&T), I will drop AT&T when my contract expires next July. If not, I will see if I can sell it to someone, and call it a day. It's a great phone. It just needs a carrier that can support my requirements.

I've generally found the folks at the other end of the line on 611 to be helpful, polite, and knowledgeable. Professional from the word "go". They however cannot solve the problem of on-again / off-again 3G that is too slow, or the other issues I have had with the service.

I would love to be able to use an iPhone, but unfortunately there is no AT&T coverage in most of Montana. I know a lot of people buy their iPhones out of state and then receive letters eventually saying that AT&T will cancel their contract because they are roaming 100% of the time. Although I am not a big fan of Verizon's customer service, their coverage is very good and I've had no problems, even in remote areas of the country.

Guess folks in Montana and some other remote parts of the country will have to wait until AT&T expands their coverage or Apple decides to go with another carrier with more universal coverage.

Sure, I've found they can be polite. It's just too bad they're powerless to do get anything done, seldom give you the right answers, or know their own policy.