Verizon iPhone 4 owners report fewer dropped calls than AT&T

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Owners of Apple's iPhone 4 on the AT&T network are more than twice as likely to report dropped calls than Verizon customers, a new survey has found.



ChangeWave on Tuesday released the results of its latest survey, comparing AT&T iPhone 4 owners and Verizon iPhone 4 owners. The 4,068 respondents showed that 4.8 percent of AT&T iPhone 4 owners experienced a dropped call on their handset over the past 90 days, compared with 1.8 percent of Verizon subscribers.



Those results are similar to an industry-wide, non-iPhone-specific poll conducted separately by ChangeWave. In that poll, 4.6 percent of AT&T subscribers reported dropped calls, compared with 1.4 percent of Verizon customers.



Also surveyed were prospective future iPhone 4 buyers, most of which indicated they are likely to buy the handset on Verizon's network While 46 percent of respondents said they are likely to choose Verizon, 27 percent said they would sign with AT&T. A significant number of those polled -- 27 percent -- said they are unsure or did not choose AT&T or Verizon.



"Verizon is still in the very early stages of its iPhone 4 offering to consumers," ChangeWave said, noting that the CDMA iPhone 4 just launched in February "It remains to be seen how well the Verizon network performs as the number of Verizon iPhone 4 owners ramps up and inevitably puts more pressure on their system."







Finally, the survey also asked customers about their satisfaction with the iPhone 4, and the results showed near-identical happiness on the part of both Verizon and AT&T customers. Verizon customers were slightly more satisfied, with 82 percent choosing "very satisfied," compared to 80 percent of AT&T iPhone 4 users.







And 16 percent of Verizon customers identified themselves as "somewhat satisfied," while 18 percent of AT&T customers were of the same opinion. That means that 98 percent of both AT&T and Verizon iPhone 4 users consider themselves "satisfied" at some level with their handset.







ChangeWave's polls have consistently found for years that iPhone customers are extremely satisfied with the device. Apple's numbers far exceed those of competitors including HTC, Motorola and Samsung.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 35
    wtbardwtbard Posts: 42member
    I'm a new customer to ATT. The past month I've had 3 or 4 dropped calls. I was in a strong signal area and was not moving so I'm thinking it's either high traffic on a cell tower or some software or protocol glitch with their equipment.



    I've also had a few cases where I called home and heard no ringing tone but the phone rang at home and my wife could hear me when she picked up. That sounds like either an iPhone problem or ATT.
  • Reply 2 of 35
    I have been a Verizon customer for about 4 years and i was just curious, what is a dropped call?
  • Reply 3 of 35
    sdw2001sdw2001 Posts: 18,015member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by wtbard View Post


    I'm a new customer to ATT. The past month I've had 3 or 4 dropped calls. I was in a strong signal area and was not moving so I'm thinking it's either high traffic on a cell tower or some software or protocol glitch with their equipment.



    I've also had a few cases where I called home and heard no ringing tone but the phone rang at home and my wife could hear me when she picked up. That sounds like either an iPhone problem or ATT.



    I get them all the time, but much less frequently than when I got my 3G is 2008. The network and iPhone 4 itself are much better now, but it still happens.



    No Verizon for me though because no simultaneous voice and data is a deal breaker.
  • Reply 4 of 35
    aross99aross99 Posts: 94member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SDW2001 View Post


    No Verizon for me though because no simultaneous voice and data is a deal breaker.



    I agree - this far outweighs the dropped call issue..
  • Reply 5 of 35
    longpathlongpath Posts: 393member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by aross99 View Post


    I agree - this far outweighs the dropped call issue..



    For me, the lack of good international roaming capability is also a complete deal breaker. Now if a future iPhone has a single model for all carriers, then I might consider it, when LTE is so ubiquitous that the simultaneous voice and data limitation isn't an issue.
  • Reply 6 of 35
    seankillseankill Posts: 566member
    Agreed, I do get them about 1 out of every 2-3 calls (college town), but what's the big deal, hit redail. True AT&T should be better for the amount you pay but I prefer GSM any day.
  • Reply 7 of 35
    applezillaapplezilla Posts: 941member
    But Verizon's data speed has been frustrating for switchers. 'Boy Genius' switched back to AT&T because of this.



    Data speed/simultaneous voice and data are a high priority for me.
  • Reply 8 of 35
    charlitunacharlituna Posts: 7,217member
    Curious, is 4k an accurate sample size for the number of iphones in the US. And how was it generated. Changewave seems to be very mum about this but it doesn't call into question their numbers. If they are sampled randomly out of the whole US fine. But if they are knocking on doors, standing outside stores in one area than the results could be skewed because there's a great big Verizon tower down the block but no ATT towers within sight
  • Reply 9 of 35
    hittrj01hittrj01 Posts: 753member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleZilla View Post


    But Verizon's data speed has been frustrating for switchers. 'Boy Genius' switched back to AT&T because of this.



    Data speed/simultaneous voice and data are a high priority for me.



    Data speed is nice when you're in an AT&T area that has it. Otherwise, Verizon's speed is very comparable, and their coverage is so ridiculously better, it's not even fair.
  • Reply 10 of 35
    shadashshadash Posts: 470member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jbernard703 View Post


    I have been a Verizon customer for about 4 years and i was just curious, what is a dropped call?



  • Reply 11 of 35
    moewmoew Posts: 41member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jbernard703 View Post


    I have been a Verizon customer for about 4 years and i was just curious, what is a dropped call?



    It's when you call a phone on ATT, and that end disappears while you still show a connection. You can verify this by redialing them, and their ATT phone isn't online as you get dropped-into-their-voicemail-immediately.



    Then they call you back 15-30mins later when they have network access again!
  • Reply 12 of 35
    jerseymacjerseymac Posts: 408member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jbernard703 View Post


    I have been a Verizon customer for about 4 years and i was just curious, what is a dropped call?



    It's one of those things that happen to other people. Kinda like those colds and flus that PC's get.



    I'm truly grateful Verizon finally got the iPhone. Had they not there would be no competition after AT&T gobbles up T-Mobile, and the successor to Ma Bell would once again become the monopoly. That would be terrific for shareholders but horrible for end users.



    As far as the voice and data deal breaker, I'm sure Verizon will fix this. I agree it's a bother sometimes, but so is missing an important call.
  • Reply 13 of 35
    hudson1hudson1 Posts: 800member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Seankill View Post


    Agreed, I do get them about 1 out of every 2-3 calls (college town), but what's the big deal, hit redail. True AT&T should be better for the amount you pay but I prefer GSM any day.



    May I ask why you prefer GSM?
  • Reply 14 of 35
    hudson1hudson1 Posts: 800member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by longpath View Post


    For me, the lack of good international roaming capability is also a complete deal breaker. Now if a future iPhone has a single model for all carriers, then I might consider it, when LTE is so ubiquitous that the simultaneous voice and data limitation isn't an issue.



    It's clear to me the CDMA iPhone 4 is an interim model put out there to plug a hole, hence the "CDMA-only" restriction. There are CDMA "world phones" made by others and hopefully Apple will join that party with the iPhone 5.
  • Reply 15 of 35
    I don't really buy into this assertion that AT&T's dropped call issue is solely a problem of iPhones "hogging" data on their network. Verizon has sold a ton of smartphones even without the iPhone on its network before February and they don't seem to experience the same problems. I'd like to see some real estimates of how much data both companies are moving because I think AT&T is using the iPhone as a crutch and they are spending a lot of their money on advertising and lawyers/lobbyists on their monopolistic T-Mobile pursuit, instead of reinvesting in their network.
  • Reply 16 of 35
    aross99aross99 Posts: 94member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hittrj01 View Post


    Data speed is nice when you're in an AT&T area that has it. Otherwise, Verizon's speed is very comparable, and their coverage is so ridiculously better, it's not even fair.



    I really think that the key is how good is the AT&T service in the areas you frequent most? In my case, I get good AT&T coverage pretty much everywhere I go, so the data speed is just one more advantage for AT&T. I had Verizon before the iPhone came out, and it worked ok for me also.



    From what I hear, if I was in San Francisco, or New York City, switching to Verizon would be a no brainer.



    Bottom line, know the differences between the two phones (data speed, simultaneous voice+data, international coverage, voice and data coverage, etc), and make the decision based on that.



    There is no right or wrong answer for everyone - it really depends on your circumstances.
  • Reply 17 of 35
    wtbardwtbard Posts: 42member
    I prefer ATT's faster data speed but the dropped calls are annoying. If nobody complains about it they'll never fix it.
  • Reply 18 of 35
    aaarrrggghaaarrrgggh Posts: 1,609member
    My biggest dropped call problems now seem to be the proximity sensor at about 65% and poor signal for the remainder with ATT. Sadly, even in the same room (6' away) from my MicroCell, I often only have one bar and can't place a call.
  • Reply 19 of 35
    ghostface147ghostface147 Posts: 1,629member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by aaarrrgggh View Post


    Sadly, even in the same room (6' away) from my MicroCell, I often only have one bar and can't place a call.





    Hence why your handle makes sense for this particular post....
  • Reply 20 of 35
    I switched to the Verizon network from ATT. I have 0 dropped calls now, I can even make calls in my basement where I could not with ATT. The slower data isnt that big of a deal to me, its not that bad. Verizon has a tether option which is fantastic. I also have an iPad which I use for surfing the net, which is way better than an iPhone.



    Come on guys wake up, a phone that drops calls all the time is not a phone at all. Its extremely irritating to the person on the other line. Especially when they too are using ATT and dropping calls on you.



    If ATT worked for me, I would fire them. In fact thats what i did.
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