Consumerist Says AT&T Site Won't Sell iPhone In NYC, Citing Network

cowp writes "A Consumerist tipster couldn't get AT&T's website to sell him an iPhone when he shopped using an NYC ZIP code, but could when he tried other cities' ZIPs. Consumerist asked an AT&T CSR and seems to have gotten confirmation that this is carrier policy: 'Yes, this is correct the phone is not offered to you because New York is not ready for the iPhone. You don't have enough towers to handle the phone.' Considering Apple's gadget is currently the most popular handset in the US, its exclusive carrier's inability/unwillingness to support the device in the country's largest market is pretty huge news. If this proves true, I'd expect curtains for AT&T's exclusivity deal when it comes up for renewal." If you're in NYC, can you confirm or deny this outlandish-sounding claim? Updated 20091227 1:03 GMT by timothy: Headline, now corrected, inaccurately named Apple rather than AT&T. Mea culpa.

Comments

This has been an issue for quite awhile.

[palegray.net]

There's been a lot of coverage indicating problems with iPhones in New York, including one Gizmodo piece saying a 30% dropped call rate is apparently normal.

Re:This has been an issue for quite awhile.

[dov_0]

This from the most technological advanced country on the planet.....

AT&T happy to take customers money, not willing to spend millions for a working network.

I didn't see any mention of Japan in TFA?

Re:This has been an issue for quite awhile.

[WankersRevenge]

Back in 2004, I quit my job and went on a roadtrip on steroids. I drove from Mexico to Alaska, down to Texas, up to the Dakotas, and finally back home to Massachusetts. I was an AT&T wireless customer and I was stunned at the lack of coverage. I could only talk near major cities if I were lucky. Even then, calls were being dropped every other call. Their coverage charts were such BS. I quit my service once I got home, and switched to another provider, experiencing only minor irritations on subsequent road trips.

Re:This has been an issue for quite awhile.

[jonoid]

The same South Korea that took over two years to get the iPhone. And the same SK that still blocks any non-Korean approved unlocked phone from being used on their networks without paying a $300 "inspection" fee? And the same SK where the majority of domestic websites require Internet Explorer 6 (yes, 6) to function correctly?

For those of you who don't know, South Korea is not a technological paradise. We have fast broadband but that's about it.

Re:This has been an issue for quite awhile.

[Anonymous Coward]

Many Americans seem to think their country is the best and most advanced in the world. They are brainwashed by the mass media's propaganda.

Re:This has been an issue for quite awhile.

[mister_playboy]

Back in 2004, I quit my job and went on a roadtrip on steroids.

... because you wanted to have the opportunity to road rage and 'roid rage simultaneously?

Re:This has been an issue for quite awhile.

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course, you should also show them your travel permit, and remember to be nice and polite as you pass through the checkpoints.

Re:This has been an issue for quite awhile.

[Khyber]

Bullshit.

I called Wells Fargo before my last cross-country trip - They immediately locked me from $2,000 daily limit to $200, I got stranded because I filled up for gas and then had not enough left for the rest of the day to cover my hotel expenses - I had to sleep in my car in the freezing cold in a fucking parking lot.

And when they said they raised it back up - they lied. They cut it down to $150.

Of course, as soon as I got back, I withdrew all of my money and made a very loud statement in the lobby to all of the customers present. I think two followed my suit.

You tell them you're going around the country, they'll lock your shit down so you don't make THEM off-balance. They're the ones playing dirty with your money. What, you ain't seen the bailout?

Re:This has been an issue for quite awhile.

[Anonymous Coward]

WTF? Seriously? Why do Canadians always bring up that arm as if it is the greatest piece of technology ever invented when it is sitting next to a $10 billion Orbiter and a $100 billion space station, which are some of the greatest marvels of technology ever invented?

People really are dipshits with this "my country is more advanced than yours" idiocy. Advances in technology can only be compared with time, not locations. The rate of development of technology in the US is extremely high--but this doesn't mean that the technology is deployed there. Is a country like Japan more advanced than the US because it builds more hardware and software or is the US more advanced because it designs more? Or should we compare per capita?

I think it is a foolish thing to even worry about. Only nationalists would really care. I care about the technology, not who is the most 'advanced'.

The blue diode, the microprocessor, scramjets, the LHC--those are important. I don't give a shit which country gets the nationalistic props for being the most technologically advanced.

Re:This has been an issue for quite awhile.

[644bd346996]

Yes, the South Korea that wanted strong (128-bit) encryption back when IE was the only browser worth mentioning, but 128-bit encryption couldn't be exported. They implemented their own encryption scheme as an ActiveX pugin, and open source browsers have been really slow about implementing a compatible form of that encryption system.

To me, that sounds like a country that was quite tech savvy, but got screwed by US politics.

Spin

[TheRaven64]

Can we stop saying things like 'the most popular handset?' When we're talking about a market where no single handset has more than about 1-2% market share, saying 'the most popular' is entirely meaningless.

Re:Spin

[palegray.net]

Okay, from TFA, here's a graph entitled Top 10 Mobile Phones in Use.

Re:Spin

[mlts]

People are wising up though. The Droid's marketing campaign just hasn't gotten people into VZW's doors, it has spurred interest in Android devices in general. I've talked with people who see the Droid, find it interesting, but prefer T-Mobile, and end up coming out with a Samsung Behold, a Motorola Cliq, or a MyTouch 3G. People on Sprint find that the Samsung Moment offers one of the fastest processors. The only carrier that has no current offering is AT&T, but supposedly they will be offering a Dell Android phone. AT&T also has the iPhone, so just business common sense says that Android devices will be second fiddle to AT&T's mainstay.

Re:Spin

[bonch]

It says "iPhone 3G," one specific model of the iPhone. The other phones and their models, however, are grouped together. See the parenthesis?

Re:Most popular handset is false.

[MBCook]

Nope. It's the most popular phone in the US based on units sold. 4% of the market.

That's almost 10% better than the best BB. 75% better than the entire RAZR V3 line.

Re:AT&T's service is crap

[ColdWetDog]

Interestingly, here in rural Alaska we get at least 20% dropped iPhone calls. After a particularly annoying one (I was within 200 yards of the tower, line of sight, over water) I complained to the local AT&T rep and the FCC.

About 2 weeks later, I got this nice call from an AT&T droid who says he was asked by the FCC to look into this. After a few pleasantries, he suggested 1) Making sure the battery was charged (OK), 2) Turning off 3G (already done, don't have 3G here in the boonies) and getting closer to the tower. I explained that if I got any closer to the tower on the last dropped call, I'd have to marry it.

His final suggestion was to take it up with Apple, maybe I needed a new handset.

I suppose it's something of a start but AT&T isn't going to solve very much of the problem this way.

This is exactly why I have an iPhone

[Man On Pink Corner]

Not because it's the best phone available, which it might or might not be depending on who you ask, but because there's a guy in Cupertino with a black turtleneck, a borrowed liver, and a really shitty attitude who owns the exact same phone I do, and who has the power to make it suck less.

Even if he has to stare down AT&T to do it.

What other phone manufacturer can go to bat for their customers like that?

Re:This is exactly why I have an iPhone

[Minwee]

Yup. I'm sure this guy is going to bat for me.

That's right.

Don't bash AT&T

[astrashe]

This is responsible -- they don't have enough towers, and they shouldn't be selling any more phones until they build more capacity.

It's not any different than not selling additional seats on an airplane that's already full. No one would blame an airline for not overbooking. I don't think we should blame AT&T for doing the right thing.

As a New Yorker with an iPhone, I hope Apple follows suit and stops selling iPhones to New Yorkers until the network is robust enough to provide decent service.

Failing that, I think they should waive early termination fees for NYC users.

Re:Don't bash AT&T

[astrashe]

The phone is surprisingly popular, and no one has a crystal ball.

For most products, there's some sort of limit on how much you can sell, that's connected to how many of them you make.

Southwest can only fly so many people to a certain destination, a bakery can only sell so many cupcakes, a barber can only take so many appointments, a restaurant only has so many tables, etc.

Sometimes popular products and services sell out -- it's a very common situation in business.

There is a limit on the number of iPhones the AT&T network can support. The exact number is fuzzy, but there's no doubt that they've gone beyond it here in NYC. They should just say that they're sold out until they grow the network.

Again, it's not any different than a restaurant declining to take a reservation because they're full. Respectable businesses do this all the time. It's perfectly reasonable.

Re:AT&T's service is crap

[Bananatree3]

"His final suggestion was to take it up with Apple, maybe I needed a new handset."

Go back to the FCC and resubmit your complaint. Obviously AT&T simply read you the script to meet the barest of "compliance" requirements...by sending you to some script reader in a call center. They won't do jack shit until the FCC requires them to. Or, you're able to find someone within the local ranks at ATT that are willing to listen to you, not just some corporate weenie.

Re:Fix the headline?

[zentechno]

http://www.att.com/ --> Wireless --> Shop/Cell Phones --> PDAs and Smartphones --> iPhone 3G. Opening the (last) iPhone link in another tab prompts me for my zip, followed by "not available in your area", *then* refreshing the list of phones in the previous tab *removes* iPhone from the listing.

Re:AT&T's service is crap

[rec9140]

"AT&T's service is crap"

correct.

BUT...

You could be standing under the tower and your phone not work.

Its called site geometry you actually could have a dead spot in certain areas that are very close to the tower and even in plain sight, including directly at the site.

Just because you see one tower, its not ONE cell site. Depending on the location and the needs for that are it could be upto 6 sites depending on the sectorization used at that location. Most are 3 at a minimum, 120 degree sectorization. As you move into the urban area, and to meet other coverage needs it can go down to about 60 degrees.

this applies to all RADIO systems, which cell phones are nothing more than radio systems.

A Few Good Men

[Toe, The]

Maybe that CSR just watched A Few Good Men.

AT&T: You want coverage?
Consumerist: I think I have the towers.
AT&T: You want coverage?
Consumerist: I want the iPhone!
AT&T: You can't handle the iPhone!!

Re:I'm a little confused here...

[digitalchinky]

It's like a ghost town compared to a few Asian cities. Light traffic, hardly any people, clear air, you could almost eat off the concrete. :-)

I live in Manila, we have 10,500 people per square kilometer across the metro on average, though some of the slum areas are as high as 40k - and yes, they all have cell phones - we send 140 billion text messages a year, the entire country is bathed in 3.5G, surprisingly you can actually get the juicy speed goodness anywhere at any time too, so the telco drones must be doing something right.

Re:iPhone vs everything else

[Mister Xiado]

I'd say a good 97% of all dropped call complaints on AT&T come from iPhone users. Not that I keep score, but every time I hear "customer is getting poor signal, dropped calls", I immediately think "another damn iPhone call". I'd assume unlocked iPhones work well, because odds are, they're not connected to UMTS towers much of the time. It's the phone. It's been trash since day zero, when Apple didn't supply AT&T with any documentation on the original iPhone until five minutes before launch, making for a lot of fun for everybody trying to activate the hockey pucks. Did you know that all the Visual Voicemail breakdown crap this past summer was from Apple pooping out repeated failed updates, jamming up iPhones that hadn't even been updated? Check Settings, General. If you have "Profile" listed there, surprise! Delete the corrupted AT&T profile and watch your messages roll in after two minutes. Also, anybody who knows how cell phones work knows better than to expect uninterrupted calls while driving. You're playing tarzan between towers. There isn't always a long vine in reach. Unless you're doing 120.