Report: 73 percent of iPhone users "very satisfied" with AT&T
A recently released survey of US iPhone users by the Yankee Group has found that despite lots of complaints, the majority are pleased with AT&T, even more so than subscribers on other carriers.
According to report by CNNMoney, the Yankee Group's survey found that 73 percent of iPhone users said they were "very satisfied" with AT&T's service.
"That rating compares favorably to how non-iPhone smartphone users feel about AT&T, and even to how non-iPhone users feel about other wireless providers," the site wrote.
Outside of the iPhone, the satisfaction rate of AT&T is just 68 percent, and among smartphone users in general, only 69 percent are satisfied with their provider, according to the survey.
iPhone casts a happy halo for AT&T
AT&T has taken a public drubbing related to its coverage problems in certain areas and its glacial efforts to support iPhone features Apple has released, such as last summer's iPhone 3.0 MMS picture messaging and tethering feature intended to share a mobile signal with a notebook computer.
The company was assailed by Verizon during the last holiday season in a series of ads that suggested AT&T had little or no data converge for most of the US, was then raked over the coals for exposing email addresses of iPad 3G users, flubbed Apple's iPhone 4 launch when it couldn't keep up with preregistration demand in its account authorization servers, and suffered an equipment failure in its HSPA network that erased the dramatic increase in data upload speeds enabled by the new iPhone 4.
Despite all of AT&T's problems, most iPhone users are likely to report satisfaction with their carrier because they really like their phone. "Consumers transfer the high gloss of their Apple iPhone experience to AT&T," writes Carl Howe, the Yankee Group analyst who authored the study. "The iPhone creates a halo effect that rubs off."
"Some of us remember how bad it was on other carriers," said reader Doug Smith, commenting on the report's findings. "I looked forward to getting away from Verizon and moving to AT&T for the iPhone because of the capabilities I would gain."
AT&T defends its network
AT&T says the problems with its network are, like iPhone 4's "Antennagate," exaggerated out of proportion. AT&T spokesperson Mark Siegel told CNNMoney, "There's a gap between what people hear about us and what their experience is with us. We think that gap is beginning to close. It doesn't mean we're perfect; we still have work to do. But that's no surprise to us, because we have a great network."
Following an opinion survey by ChangeWave that indicated far more dropped calls for users on AT&T overall(regardless of the phone type), the carrier defensively presented third party statistics that indicated AT&T's dropped call rate was in a "dead heat" with Verizon on a national basis.
The problem for most iPhone users, however, is that they don't spend their time averaged across a variety of national markets. Many of AT&T's most vocal critics are located in cities like New York and San Francisco, which are hobbled both by challenging topography, regulation, and political obstructionism issues that make it difficult for the carrier to rapidly improve its network.
AT&T has also been racing to catch up with Verizon in rolling out its 3G network; Verizon enjoyed a couple years' head start. At this point however, Verizon is working to build out a new 3.9G or "transitional 4G" LTE service while AT&T is in the position of being able to upgrade its existing 3GPP network to add transitional HSPA+ technology that will deliver far faster speeds than Verizon's existing 3G network can.
That prospect is little consolation to users who can't make reliable calls in the weakest of AT&T's service areas, but the carrier has strong incentives to keep improving its network and keep its partnership with Apple intact.
AT&T working hard to keep iPhone exclusive
Howe's report says the iPhone brings AT&T $50 more per subscriber per year than other carriers get from their smartphone subscribers. It also calculates that Apple's iPhone will bring in $1.8 billion in sales to AT&T just this year, and an estimated $9 billion over the next five years.
The Yankee Group says a different flagship smartphone would be worth $750 million less every year to the carrier, a key reason why "AT&T has bent over backward to keep its exclusive distribution deal with Apple as long as possible," Howe said. "Verizon has been regretting turning away Apple for the last three years."
The report also notes that 77 percent of iPhone users say they'll buy another phone from Apple, compared to just 20 percent of Android owners who say they'd buy another Android phone.
According to report by CNNMoney, the Yankee Group's survey found that 73 percent of iPhone users said they were "very satisfied" with AT&T's service.
"That rating compares favorably to how non-iPhone smartphone users feel about AT&T, and even to how non-iPhone users feel about other wireless providers," the site wrote.
Outside of the iPhone, the satisfaction rate of AT&T is just 68 percent, and among smartphone users in general, only 69 percent are satisfied with their provider, according to the survey.
iPhone casts a happy halo for AT&T
AT&T has taken a public drubbing related to its coverage problems in certain areas and its glacial efforts to support iPhone features Apple has released, such as last summer's iPhone 3.0 MMS picture messaging and tethering feature intended to share a mobile signal with a notebook computer.
The company was assailed by Verizon during the last holiday season in a series of ads that suggested AT&T had little or no data converge for most of the US, was then raked over the coals for exposing email addresses of iPad 3G users, flubbed Apple's iPhone 4 launch when it couldn't keep up with preregistration demand in its account authorization servers, and suffered an equipment failure in its HSPA network that erased the dramatic increase in data upload speeds enabled by the new iPhone 4.
Despite all of AT&T's problems, most iPhone users are likely to report satisfaction with their carrier because they really like their phone. "Consumers transfer the high gloss of their Apple iPhone experience to AT&T," writes Carl Howe, the Yankee Group analyst who authored the study. "The iPhone creates a halo effect that rubs off."
"Some of us remember how bad it was on other carriers," said reader Doug Smith, commenting on the report's findings. "I looked forward to getting away from Verizon and moving to AT&T for the iPhone because of the capabilities I would gain."
AT&T defends its network
AT&T says the problems with its network are, like iPhone 4's "Antennagate," exaggerated out of proportion. AT&T spokesperson Mark Siegel told CNNMoney, "There's a gap between what people hear about us and what their experience is with us. We think that gap is beginning to close. It doesn't mean we're perfect; we still have work to do. But that's no surprise to us, because we have a great network."
Following an opinion survey by ChangeWave that indicated far more dropped calls for users on AT&T overall(regardless of the phone type), the carrier defensively presented third party statistics that indicated AT&T's dropped call rate was in a "dead heat" with Verizon on a national basis.
The problem for most iPhone users, however, is that they don't spend their time averaged across a variety of national markets. Many of AT&T's most vocal critics are located in cities like New York and San Francisco, which are hobbled both by challenging topography, regulation, and political obstructionism issues that make it difficult for the carrier to rapidly improve its network.
AT&T has also been racing to catch up with Verizon in rolling out its 3G network; Verizon enjoyed a couple years' head start. At this point however, Verizon is working to build out a new 3.9G or "transitional 4G" LTE service while AT&T is in the position of being able to upgrade its existing 3GPP network to add transitional HSPA+ technology that will deliver far faster speeds than Verizon's existing 3G network can.
That prospect is little consolation to users who can't make reliable calls in the weakest of AT&T's service areas, but the carrier has strong incentives to keep improving its network and keep its partnership with Apple intact.
AT&T working hard to keep iPhone exclusive
Howe's report says the iPhone brings AT&T $50 more per subscriber per year than other carriers get from their smartphone subscribers. It also calculates that Apple's iPhone will bring in $1.8 billion in sales to AT&T just this year, and an estimated $9 billion over the next five years.
The Yankee Group says a different flagship smartphone would be worth $750 million less every year to the carrier, a key reason why "AT&T has bent over backward to keep its exclusive distribution deal with Apple as long as possible," Howe said. "Verizon has been regretting turning away Apple for the last three years."
The report also notes that 77 percent of iPhone users say they'll buy another phone from Apple, compared to just 20 percent of Android owners who say they'd buy another Android phone.
Comments
Can I get a free micro-cell?
I've had a few other issues and they were always very pleasant to deal with and always were happy to change my account and waive any overage fees.
73 percent of very carefully selected and polled iPhone users are "very satisfied" with AT&T.
There's a World of Difference Between The Two
The report also notes that 77 percent of iPhone users say they'll buy another phone from Apple, compared to just 20 percent of Android owners who say they'd buy another Android phone.
now that is intersting.
But, I predict this thread will reach 300 posts in 24 hours.
Why all the ATT love all of a sudden?
THE ANSWER IS SIMPLE！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！
NO CARRIER IN THE U.S. ( OF COURSE, INCLUDING VERISON ) IS ADEQUATE ENOUGH TO SATISFY THE CUSTOMERS 100%！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！
SO WHETHER AT&T OR VERISON, YOU GEEKS NEVER STOP FINDING FAULTS OF CARRIER！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！
＞I'm glad they stuck with ATT.
Where I have lived and traveled over the past 3 years (length of iphone ownership) in the midwest, ATT has always been good.
I lived in minneapolis, ALWAYS 5 bars.
I live in Chicago, great coverage and much faster data than verizon.
Traveling to cleveland, orlando, lansing, milwaukee, coverage has always been good.
I can't speak for the coasts but I'm glad I have ATT. Verizon's 3g coverage in chicago is crap and their speeds are much lower. A very good friend who has an incredible routinely participates in speed test comparisons with me while we're out and about. ATT is the clear winner in Chicago, and its not even close.
Just the other night I hit 572 kilobytes/second down. Thats about 4.5 Megabit. And with a constant 1.5 MBit uplink, I'm uber-happy.
A fandroid with an EVO recently did a speed test comparison with me while we were at the same place, and he had "4G" coverage. He got 2.5 megabit and I got about 3.
"4G" is a ridiculous marketing technique. Its hardly in ANY major cities, but chicago happens to be one of them and it can't even keep up with ATT 3G.
Nuff said.
"Agreed. My wife's phone (not an iPhone...and we're on Verizon) drops bars and almost calls when she holds it on her shoulder. I'm not barking at LG about it. My LG doesn't get any signal inside the building where I work but I'm not writing LG about it. No...I'm talking to Verizon.
I don't think Apple caught this in pre-launch testing because there wasn't anything to catch. Wasn't there an article out a while back about new sim cards ATT supplied Apple with, a new style? I'm not looking to pass blame here, but I don't think the whole story is out yet. People in other countries are not having this problem and too many people in this country have a perfectly working phone to have it be a hardware issue. It's not the phone."
now that is intersting.
It is. It means expectations for Android were probably as high as the iPhone and expectations were not met.
It is. It means expectations for Android were probably as high as the iPhone and expectations were not met.
So who are these 73% ?? The service is awful everywhere I go. I have not completed two phone calls in 8 months and the data service is just as bad! For no reason my phone jumps from edge to 3g and back again and I can be sitting still in a chair!!
And this happens no matter where I am not any particular city, wether I'm inside or outside doesn't matter!!
apple blames it on AT&T and AT&T blames on Apple they both charge me to much money for the same crappy service!!
I personally don't know anyone who is satisfied with AT&T!
So who are these 73% ?? The service is awful everywhere I go. I have not completed two phone calls in 8 months and the data service is just as bad! For no reason my phone jumps from edge to 3g and back again and I can be sitting still in a chair!!
And this happens no matter where I am not any particular city, wether I'm inside or outside doesn't matter!!
apple blames it on AT&T and AT&T blames on Apple they both charge me to much money for the same crappy service!!
So if you were asked, you'd be part of the 23% who are not "very satisfied".
See how it works!
Hard to bekieve 73% of IPHONE users are satisfied with ATT. Actually it sounds impossible. Several months ago Consumer Reports had ATT listed at the bottom of most services in several areas. so what changed since then????????????????
Most likely all that's changed is an extremely careful screening of those taking the survey... and That's About It!
Mark D. Connecticut New York and New England
Correction:
73 percent of very carefully selected and polled iPhone users are "very satisfied" with AT&T.
There's a World of Difference Between The Two
The other 73% of not carefully selected and non-polled AT&T bashers were still too busy doing their thing on various Apple centric rumor and news sites on the web in order to take the time of giving their possible useful input!
at&t has gotten a lot of bad press lately, the recent article that steve jobs was ready to let them go numerous times, has them worried.
this message was brought to you by at&t.
at&t has gotten a lot of bad press lately, the recent article that steve jobs was ready to let them go numerous times, has them worried.
Extremely 'worried' it seems...
Hard to bekieve 73% of IPHONE users are satisfied with ATT. Actually it sounds impossible. Several months ago Consumer Reports had ATT listed at the bottom of most services in several areas. so what changed since then????????????????
I am one of the happy 73% I never had problems with my 3gs, and I lived for 3 months in NYC, and drive to SF at least once a month. Not a single droped call or data connection in either of those cities. Elsewhere yes.
What many people forget is Verizon nickles and dimes you to death. Had one before, and I am not going back, even with free phones. Bloody vampires...