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.
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.
I have just returned from a 5000 mile drive from Florida to the North East and around many of the mountain ranges and back. We had three iPhones with us, an original, a 3G and a 3Gs. Sadly I have to report the number of places we were unable to get a signal of any kind was staggering on much of the journey.
It seems unbelievable to me that vast stretches of Interstates in the USA in 2009 have no cell phone coverage by AT&T (I can only speak for them I have no idea if other carriers did have signals where we did not). I can forgive the lack of coverage while hiking although it would be nice in this day and age to think one could phone for help but on an Interstate?
Personally I would like to see it mandatory for a major carrier to cover all Interstates in order to have a license to do business. There should be some requirement for them to complete coverage on Interstates by a certain date or be fined.
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.
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.
Alas, your idea makes sense, but the issue with putting cell sites in places like this is usually local governments and citizens. No one wants a cell tower in their backyard, but they want the coverage. Putting a cell site nearby an interstate requires the cooperation of the landowner, the local government and the carrier. It's not an easy dance, as I have been in the industry for about 5 years and we have a devil of a time putting these up where people want them. Cities, by and large, are NIMBY.
Your best place to complain is the local governments, once they relax their standards, cell sites go in.
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.
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.
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."
Why? Cell phones are not mission critical support services. They are a convenience. So you think every single cell company should be required to service every single inch of every single interstate? Who's going to pay for that? The subscribers? The shareholders? Or maybe the government should nationalize the cell industry and tax payers can pay for it.
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?
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.
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.
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.
AT&T doesn't have to care about brand perception... they're the Phone Company.
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.
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.
How exactly would waiting 2 years help us New Yorkers? Service is as bad as it's ever been here..
I know from our usage in the past few months, we have had probably double to triple the amount of dropped calls and other calling problems.
I realize cell connections will never reach the reliability of land lines, but I think there is tremendous room for improvement.
I believe that AT&T didn't properly project usage and ramp up tower construction. They're gonna have to make that $18 billion count if they want to remain exclusive.
If Apple goes open contract with multi-carriers, I'm likely to switch.
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.
I have just returned from a 5000 mile drive from Florida to the North East and around many of the mountain ranges and back. We had three iPhones with us, an original, a 3G and a 3Gs. Sadly I have to report the number of places we were unable to get a signal of any kind was staggering on much of the journey.
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.
Quote:
Originally Posted by digitalclips
Personally I would like to see it mandatory for a major carrier to cover all Interstates in order to have a license to do business.
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.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quadra 610
But don't all major carriers in the US suck in some deal-breaking way?
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.
Quote:
Originally Posted by souliisoul
AT&T are good internationally (used their service for traveling around Asia, Africa, South America and Australia), but too many people complaining about the local USA coverage to say that everyone has different experience with reception.
Outside of the US, you're not on AT&T's network. You're roaming on someone else's GSM network.
Quote:
Originally Posted by charlituna
given that Apple rejected supporting CDMA when the phone was first released, there is no guarantee that they would spend the time to change things. which means for the timing being there will be no iphone on Verizon or Sprint.
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
Quote:
Originally Posted by souliisoul
Customers should not voice their opinions and just accept the service provided. Sorry mate 1984 has long gone and the customers have a voice. I doubt it just at home, customers have issues, its the entire coverage when you outside your home.
I lived in US for 6 years and I had bad experiences with cell companies, now I am in India and use Vodafone/iPhone, I have no issues and I have internet tethering :P
Since launch of 3GS, upgrade to 3.0.1 and 3.1. , service is slow, my 3G signal blinks in and out like christmas lights even though have 3-5 bars. Can you say "rationing bandwidth" Keep getting Safari cannot open because not connected to data network and my battery now does not last more than 5 hours on stand by as it keeps searching for 3G. Much better 3 months ago. Coolest phone on a network that can't handle it. And they wonder why ratings dropping.
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.
Comments
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.
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.
I have just returned from a 5000 mile drive from Florida to the North East and around many of the mountain ranges and back. We had three iPhones with us, an original, a 3G and a 3Gs. Sadly I have to report the number of places we were unable to get a signal of any kind was staggering on much of the journey.
It seems unbelievable to me that vast stretches of Interstates in the USA in 2009 have no cell phone coverage by AT&T (I can only speak for them I have no idea if other carriers did have signals where we did not). I can forgive the lack of coverage while hiking although it would be nice in this day and age to think one could phone for help but on an Interstate?
Personally I would like to see it mandatory for a major carrier to cover all Interstates in order to have a license to do business. There should be some requirement for them to complete coverage on Interstates by a certain date or be fined.
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.
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.
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.
Alas, your idea makes sense, but the issue with putting cell sites in places like this is usually local governments and citizens. No one wants a cell tower in their backyard, but they want the coverage. Putting a cell site nearby an interstate requires the cooperation of the landowner, the local government and the carrier. It's not an easy dance, as I have been in the industry for about 5 years and we have a devil of a time putting these up where people want them. Cities, by and large, are NIMBY.
Your best place to complain is the local governments, once they relax their standards, cell sites go in.
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.
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.
Talk about staying on topic!
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."
Why? Cell phones are not mission critical support services. They are a convenience. So you think every single cell company should be required to service every single inch of every single interstate? Who's going to pay for that? The subscribers? The shareholders? Or maybe the government should nationalize the cell industry and tax payers can pay for it.
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?
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.
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 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?
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.
AT&T doesn't have to care about brand perception... they're the Phone Company.
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.
Why would I pay twice as much for inferior service?
So you can use an iPhone? Hello?
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.
How exactly would waiting 2 years help us New Yorkers? Service is as bad as it's ever been here..
I know from our usage in the past few months, we have had probably double to triple the amount of dropped calls and other calling problems.
I realize cell connections will never reach the reliability of land lines, but I think there is tremendous room for improvement.
I believe that AT&T didn't properly project usage and ramp up tower construction. They're gonna have to make that $18 billion count if they want to remain exclusive.
If Apple goes open contract with multi-carriers, I'm likely to switch.
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.
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.
I have just returned from a 5000 mile drive from Florida to the North East and around many of the mountain ranges and back. We had three iPhones with us, an original, a 3G and a 3Gs. Sadly I have to report the number of places we were unable to get a signal of any kind was staggering on much of the journey.
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.
Personally I would like to see it mandatory for a major carrier to cover all Interstates in order to have a license to do business.
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.
But don't all major carriers in the US suck in some deal-breaking way?
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.
AT&T are good internationally (used their service for traveling around Asia, Africa, South America and Australia), but too many people complaining about the local USA coverage to say that everyone has different experience with reception.
Outside of the US, you're not on AT&T's network. You're roaming on someone else's GSM network.
given that Apple rejected supporting CDMA when the phone was first released, there is no guarantee that they would spend the time to change things. which means for the timing being there will be no iphone on Verizon or Sprint.
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.
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
Customers should not voice their opinions and just accept the service provided. Sorry mate 1984 has long gone and the customers have a voice. I doubt it just at home, customers have issues, its the entire coverage when you outside your home.
I lived in US for 6 years and I had bad experiences with cell companies, now I am in India and use Vodafone/iPhone, I have no issues and I have internet tethering :P
Since launch of 3GS, upgrade to 3.0.1 and 3.1. , service is slow, my 3G signal blinks in and out like christmas lights even though have 3-5 bars. Can you say "rationing bandwidth" Keep getting Safari cannot open because not connected to data network and my battery now does not last more than 5 hours on stand by as it keeps searching for 3G. Much better 3 months ago. Coolest phone on a network that can't handle it. And they wonder why ratings dropping.
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.