Survey Says Most iPhone Users Love AT&T

Hugh Pickens writes "In a report sure to raise eyebrows, CNN Money claims that despite a very vocal group of detractors, the vast majority of iPhone users love AT&T. A survey released this week by Yankee Group reports that 73% of iPhone owners scored their satisfaction with the carrier as an 8, 9, or 10 on a 10-point scale. The results seem surprising, given the pounding AT&T has taken in the media and on the blogosphere about its service-related issues with the iPhone and AT&T's recent iPad-related security glitch. For its part, AT&T says its network really isn't as bad as many people think. '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,' says Mark Siegel, an AT&T spokesman. '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.'" Buried in the penultimate paragraph is the somewhat alarming note that "77% of iPhone owners say they'll buy another iPhone, compared to 20% of Android customers who say they'll buy another Android phone."

Comments

Re:Ignorance

[ahankinson]

Another great example of this ignorance (and misinformation spread by Apple) is that Mac OSX is virus-free and will stay so, while in fact there have been several recent instances of malware on OSX. The funny thing is that because Apple spreads these lies and users blindly trust them, they also are ignorant and can't see it. It's the classic lalalalala.

Malware != virus, just so we're clear. Do you have any citations to back your claim up about OS X viruses? Didn't think so.

Apple hasn't claimed that OS X will stay virus free; they have just claimed that it's more virus free than Windows. But hey, don't let facts get in the way.

Re:Why is this alarming?

[insertwackynamehere]

Ah forced ignorance. I'm sure you think you are clever trying to prove a point, but anyone with two braincells can tell that the only fucking idiot here is you.

(Hint: Telephones != smart phones and smart phones, like most consumer technology, becomes obsolete pretty quick. But don't let that get in the way of you and the five people who think you're method of reasoning is somehow intelligent).

Re:Ignorance

[causality]

You did the switch wrong. If you aren't a Mac-fanboy you need to find the relative that is the one that gets fed up and tries a Mac and begins drinking the kool-aid. Then you need to let them evangelize Macs so your other relatives purchase them. Then when a computer eventually has a problem, HDD crashes, they delete something they didn't want to, who knows. When they come to you for help you just turn around and say, "I don't know/support Macs". At this point you are no longer the family tech support guy.

You really believe all of this plotting and planning is better than setting clear boundies concerning what is and is not a reasonable degree of assistance, making it understood that any help rendered is out of the kindness of your heart and not out of obligation, and that if anyone is dissatisfied with the quality or quantity of your free assistance then there are many for-pay options available? There's nothing rude about deciding not to allow people to walk all over you, so long as it's done matter-of-factly and not out of anger. If they hate you for that and withdraw their kindness or affection for this reason, then their kindness was always phony, a way to get you to do their bidding, you haven't really lost anything, and you are better off without such people.

It's called having a spine. Do that wrongly, with anger, and you'll just be an asshole. Do that correctly and it is genuinely respectable and others can see that anything you do for them is a free choice motivated by genuine kindness. By contrast, what you suggest is more like out-manipulating the manipulators who would try to make you take care of their problems not because service to others is a genuine joy, but because of false obligation where none really exists and to avoid the unspoken threat of some kind of retaliation from them. Why would you want to play their game and engage in these petty, catty politics when it isn't difficult to see what sort of person (knowingly or unwittingly) plays these games?

The funny thing is that when you see the truth of this, people generally won't try to manipulate you in the first place. It is as though understanding the dynamic places you above or outside of it. When you are afraid of losing the approval of anyone, to where you replace loving service with reluctant subservience, you actually tempt them to take advantage of that. That's how you end up being the guy who runs around putting out everyone else's fires, receiving little gratitude for doing so but hearing much complaint when not. This applies to many things, not just technical support.

Re:Ignorance

[causality]

I don't usually reply to my own posts, but this should be called out.

All references to moderation scores are current at the time of this writing but may change, and should change.

A post talking about how to avoid being a reluctant tech-support guy is modded Informative. Another post (mine, the parent post) talking about another way to avoid being a reluctant tech-support guy is modded Offtopic.

You cannot have this both ways. Either both are off-topic because they are not directly related to iPhone users' satisfaction with AT&T, or, both are on-topic because they were a natural evolution arising from a discussion about iPhone users' satisfaction with AT&T. Otherwise we have an unresolved contradiction.

What will override a moderator's ability to see that this is a contradiction is not difficult to discern. What I said about having a spine embarasses the many people who don't have one and prefer to use subterfuge because they get their self-image and their sense of well-being from the subservient approval of others. They don't like having this pointed out.

It's natural that they'd prefer to mod me as off-topic (a form of dismissal without examination) and ignore the contradiction this creates rather than engage me in disputation and explain why they believe I am misguided, which they cannot genuinely do because I told the truth. They can get upset and call me names but it's likely they are smart enough to realize that this would only help to prove my point. So they mod me down.

I have been at the karma cap for a long, long time now. Mod me down if you like. In this instance, I'll know why you did it, and now you will too. Enjoy :-)