Consumer Reports Gives AT&T Lowest US Carrier Rank

tekgoblin writes "Consumer Reports has just released results for consumer satisfaction across all US cell phone carriers. The survey covered around 58,000 Consumer Reports subscribers. Over half of the respondents who used AT&T used the iPhone when taking the survey. According to Consumer Reports, iPhone users were less satisfied with AT&T than other users with different phones. An AT&T spokesman responded by citing independent speed tests, as well as higher subscriber numbers and a dropped call rate within 0.1% of the industry leader." Update: 12/07 01:49 GMT by S : Corrected last sentence to indicate the 0.1% dropped call rate statistic is the difference between AT&T and another carrier, not 0.1% overall.

Comments

They'd complain about anything probably.

[suso]

iPhone users are also a fickle bunch. Maybe Verizon should be grateful that they didn't have to support them.

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, right, a "fickle bunch" consisting of tens of millions of users. What a ridiculous comment.

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[davidbrit2]

Even as somebody that owns an iPhone, this was actually my first thought too. I don't have any major problems with AT&T in my area, so whatever.

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[suso]

Tens of millions. Big deal. There are 4.6 billion cell phone subscriptions worldwide as of 2009 according to Wikipedia. Actually, that's pretty sad.

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[nobodylocalhost]

Being fickle is a part of the machinery that keeps capitalism viable. How else do you ensure there's competition between the telecom providers? And why else would someone try to make a better phone year after year?

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[Matheus]

Although there are a couple holes I deal with frequently (service around my cabin and in the city of Winona is pathetic) in general I have better service quality than any of my friends on competing networks everywhere I go (and that's no small amount of travelling both domestically and internationally)

I would have preferred to see a Consumer Reports article that actually did its own investigation than just a survey. As mentioned the iPhone users are a fickle bunch and I don't care how they interpret their service... I want to know how it actually is! Personally I also think other phones are better "phones" despite what the iPhone may or may not do better which could lead to the show of results.

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[BenihanaX]

Maybe if AT&T got it right, they wouldn't have anything to complain about. It boggles my mind that you can still use Consumer Report's metrics when choosing your car, because after 100 years of auto industry, some car companies still can't produce a car with full marks across the board. The same applies to cell phone carriers.

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[WrongSizeGlass]

In the NYC & North NJ area AT&T's coverage and service is abysmal. AT&T probably would have gotten a worse rating from many of us iPhone users but the survey calls never made it through.

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[Anonymous Coward]

Why cant tens of millions be fickle ?
  read history ! Of course they can
I think he;s right - the problem isnt AT&T - its the iPhone and the type of person that buys it. Odds on that demographic IS statistically significant in such a survey !

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[standbypowerguy]

I second that. I've traveled to the NYC metro area on business trips for many years, and my company has switched providers three times in the past decade. AT&T was the worst, followed by my current carrier, VZW, although they are a quantum leap ahead of AT&T. I had the best coverage, reception and fewest dropped calls with Sprint, but my experience was only a little better than VZW. Put another way, of the carriers I've used in the NYC area, I found Sprint to provide the best service, VZW a close second, and AT&T a dismally distant third.

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[a1337sh33p]

What? It's not easy or economically viable to make a perfect car at every price range? But they've been around for 100 years! Seriously, even if what you demand wasn't ridiculous, Consumer reports would still be needed because the conception of the perfect car is continuously changing, not to mention that the idea of a perfect car -- or one with "full marks across the board" -- is different to different geographical areas, age groups and genders, so Car reviews would be necessary to if nothing else compare the feature set of each perfect car, so as to inform consumers who should by what.

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[hedwards]

Customers that demand good service are too expensive and need to be driven out, didn't you get the memo on that?

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[nxtw]

Tens of millions. Big deal. There are 4.6 billion cell phone subscriptions worldwide as of 2009 according to Wikipedia. Actually, that's pretty sad.

Those tens of millions of iPhone subscribers:

• have a high credit rating or the extra cash to put down a deposit
• have enough money to afford a $200+ (subsidized) mobile phone
• have a stable enough income to pay at least $40/mo for voice service and $15/mo for data service, plus taxes

They are among perhaps the top 10% richest and most influential mobile subscribers worldwide. Not the kind of people who barely scrape together the money to top up a prepaid SIM in their Nokia.

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[hedwards]

Competition between the telecom providers? I've heard rumors of that combination of words applying, but I've never actually seen it. Ah, well, I guess I'll just keep on paying a couple dollars less for my DSL than Qwest pays for 40mbps service in other areas and pretend like I'm zooming down the tubes. And pretend that my over priced cellphone provider is actually providing my money's worth.

But, OTOH, free market capitalism and a deregulated telecom industry, is really going to do something for the subscriber...

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[Anonymous Coward]

Meanwhile Apple has to build a second campus to store all their money.

What kind of forklifts do you think they are going to buy, to move their pallets of cash around?

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[Suki I]

Even as somebody that owns an iPhone, this was actually my first thought too. I don't have any major problems with AT&T in my area, so whatever.

My ATT "problems" began when I switched from a Motorola phone to an iPhone. Rare phone specific issues, it has all been browser and apps that just shut off in the middle of use.

My experience anyway.

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[icebike]

Profitability has nothing to to with the story at hand.

How much of that profit was made on the back of AT&T?

How much of the network complaints against AT&T are REALLY the fault of the cheap infineon chipset in the iPhones? The mere fact that iPhone users were much less satisfied and rated AT&T much lower than other smartphone owners surely suggests that the iPhone is at least partly to blame.

My dropped call rate has gone to zero since I switched to Android from an iPhone.

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[icebike]

My ATT "problems" began when I switched from a Motorola phone to an iPhone. Rare phone specific issues, it has all been browser and apps that just shut off in the middle of use.

My experience anyway.

Hmmm, my ATT problems ENDED when I switched from iPhone to Android.

Yes, Sir, I think we see a pattern developing here.

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[GameboyRMH]

What kind of forklifts do you think they are going to buy, to move their pallets of cash around?

The shiny white mecanum-wheeled ones like you saw in the new Star Trek movie (yeah it's a real thing).

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[truthsearch]

I disagree. I avoid NJ like the plague, but NYC reception has been great for me in all 5 boroughs. Few problems on the street or in tall buildings. Only the subway is a problem.

Verizon's coverage is definitely better in NYC, though, and Sprint's is by far the worst. Just my own personal experience from using all 3 carriers in NYC.

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[mcgrew]

iPhone users are a tiny monority of AT&T customers. I used to be one of thir customers, and Cinsumer Report is spot-on. They were the absolute worst cell phone carrier I ever dealt with, and will NEVER use AT&T again.

I had been a happy Cingular customer until the merger, with bills never going over $40. As soon as the merger was completed they jumped by 150%; they started counting minutes as soon as you finished dialing rather than when the other person answered, rounded up the minutes, etc.

I'm on Boost Mobile now, when Im at my friend Mike's house in the boonies he, with AT&T, often has a hard time connecting when he's at home. I have no problem at all.

AT&T should die IMO. They are indeed the worst carrier, and that's saying a lot because most of them are abysmal.

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[Creepy]

My brother had no issues with either iPhone or android on AT&T or T Mobile. Everyone else I know bitches about both of those (actually, the 3 other people I know that use T Mobile will never use it again - mostly customer service horror stories).

I used to only hear horror stories about Sprint, so it is good to hear they've improved. I imagine Verizon and AT&T still have better signal support, however (since they have higher penetrating bands). I personally am on Verizon, but I don't own a smart phone and if I did I would switch because Verizon is the most expensive carrier (by $20+). I also don't know anything about US Cellular because they don't have service in my state.

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[TheRaven64]

Not necessarily. You don't need a high credit rating to put the iPhone on your credit card - my credit limit on the first credit card I ever had, aged 18, was big enough to do that. I might not have been able to pay it back at the end of the month, but the credit card company would have been very happy for me to have been in debt at a high interest rate.

Your second point is the same as your first - you need either the cash or the credit to buy the phone. Borrowing $200 is pretty easy though, even for people with little income. Borrowing $200 at a reasonable interest rate is much harder (for anyone - banks don't like lending that little).

The monthly payments sound like quite a lot, but a surprising percentage of Americans seem to manage to spend that much on cable TV per month. You have to be a bit above the poverty line, but not exactly wealthy by first-world standards.

Being in the top 10% worldwide is a red herring - pretty much anyone in the USA or EU is in the wealthiest 10% worldwide. And the top 10% of 4.6 billion is still 460 million - quite a lot more than the number of iPhone customers.

For the record, I just put a new (cheaper) prepay SIm in my (four-year-old) Nokia. I could afford an iPhone and a contract pretty easily, but I don't consider it to be good value for money. A large part of the reason that I could afford it is that I haven't wasted my money on things that are not good value...

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[Coren22]

In order to get a cell phone on a monthly plan, you need decent credit. When I went to dump my ex wife off my cell phone plan, they wanted $2k deposit because her credit rating was "bad", and this for an account that had been open and paid routinely for a couple years.

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[Coren22]

While driving up to Long Island a month or so ago, I was actually surprised when my VZW, BB Storm rang in the middle of the Lincoln Tunnel. I thought that was physically impossible.

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[hendersj]

My AT&T problems (many, many dropped calls) ended when I switched from Blackberry/AT&T to Android/Verizon.

AT&T's coverage in Utah is notoriously bad. My company uses AT&T as a carrier, and consistently, those who had company-provided phones had problems, and when they dropped the company plan and switched to Verizon, the problems vanished.

When I started looking at switching, I did an informal survey of folks in the office, and those who were on their own plan were on Verizon and reported very few - if any - problems with dropped calls.

I'm very happy that I switched.

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[icebike]

I've drive thru Utah, and you are certainly correct that their coverage is thin there and in Nevada, other than population centers.

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[hendersj]

I live in Salt Lake City and would check the signal riding between SLC and Provo, and even along I-15 (which is one of two major freeways in Utah), there was a strong propensity to drop calls multiple times along that 40 mile stretch of road, right where the bulk of the Utah population lives.

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[NateTech]

Not when they install micro-cells or repeaters inside the tunnel. Look up sometime when you're not driving.

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[Coren22]

I have looked at the ceiling, never saw any of them, but I had heard they were in some tunnels.

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[NateTech]

Yup... lots of tunnels have better cell-network engineering than the out-of-doors, a few feet outside of the tunnel. :-) Lots of places also have XM/Sirius base stations in tunnels and areas where Satellite coverage is piss-poor too, but only newer XM/Sirius receivers can use that signal effectively. My stock XM (pre-merger) receiver in my truck, doesn't.

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[newsblaze]

LOL. I only ever had bad service on my iphone when I was in some place like Yosemite and even then, I managed to get a few emails and tweets in and out.

Goats hafe suecks

[Anonymous Coward]

all th3 sam3 as human$$

Re:Goats hafe suecks

[monkyyy]

Score:+5 extermly poor trolling

Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[Anonymous Coward]

Look AT&T, if you're going to lie you should at least make it a plausible lie. Nobody who uses AT&T (or has to call people on AT&T) is going to believe your ridiculously low 0.1%.

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[Stregano]

I use AT&T and have only had a dropped call when I went into this weird underground bar. The bar was fun, but it was the only time I got low enough bars to where I could not make a call. As for dropped calls, I have never had a dropped call unless it was from the other person.

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[Anonymous Coward]

ridiculously low 0.1%.

...what's your basis of calling it ridiculously low? Do you know the dropped call rate of other companies?

Perhaps 0.1% is very high compared to other companies? Heck, assuming 10 million calls a day, that's 10,000 dropped calls daily!

Anyway, I'm just trying to say the number has no context. If I said my penis was 5,000 flagoogles long, it might *sound* impressive, but maybe a hundred flagoogles is only half of a nord?

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[MichaelSmith]

(shakes head)

You got negative bars on your signal strength meter?

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[MrEricSir]

"Dropped call rate" doesn't mean anything; a 60 minute call is more likely to drop than a 30 second call. And any call is more likely to drop if I'm driving through a tunnel while on the phone.

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[mrsteveman1]

If I said my penis was 5,000 flagoogles long, it might *sound* impressive, but maybe a hundred flagoogles is only half of a nord?

Isn't a flagoogle a unit of time and not distance?

If your penis was a car, would it be an 18 wheeler or a hatchback? Please phrase your answer in a way that would make Alex Trebek's ears flutter in glee.

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[Matheus]

Bad Summary / RTFA. They say "our dropped call rate is within 1/10 of a percent - the equivalent of just one call in a thousand - of the industry leader." NOT that they have fewer than 0.1% dropped calls.

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[alvinrod]

Where in Stregano's post is there anything about negative bars on the phone,s signal strength meter?

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[dgatwood]

...what's your basis of calling it ridiculously low? Do you know the dropped call rate of other companies?

There are periods when I have no dropped calls. There are also periods where I drop a call two or three times in a single hour. This is in an area that typically has 3-5 bars of signal. A number as low as 0.1% can't possibly be correct unless their methodology is flawed. Most likely, their methodology is the same as the methodology used for determining whether to credit the customer: if the customer calls the same number back within a minute, it's a dropped call. That only works, however, if you're able to get a call out within a minute. Most of the time, when I see dropped calls, it takes longer than that before I'm able to get a call out because the tower is too overloaded. I suspect that their dropped call rate is low by at least an order of magnitude as a result of their methodology, and possibly two orders in some parts of the country.

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe his penis is a time machine. You get it up to 88 strokes per minute and bam, you find yourself masturbating in a whole other era.

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[Anonymous Coward]

How do you know the dropped call was from the other person? I'm on Verizon, I've had lots of dropped calls over time and I have never been able to tell whether it was from my phone, my carrier, the other carrier, or the other phone. (I think one of my older phones on AT&T would report "signal faded" but my current phone - Droid 1 - doesn't really report that). I remember a test done not too long ago in SF by Gizmodo where they went around the city and had scheduled calls. They used one of the Android phones and an iPhone. I think the iPhone actually rang 11 times out of the 15 times it was called. The Android was marginally better (not enough better in this small test to say it was actually better) - something like 12 out of 15 times it actually rang. For both of these, they probably aren't counting "didn't ring" as a dropped call because they "never connected a call". Surprisingly, both phones "had bars" everywhere and seemed to be in range. (I did look for the original article but after 5 minutes of searching I gave up). Anyway, it is stuff like this that makes people laugh at the 0.1% dropped calls. People get dropped calls. People like me (yes, I am on Verizon but my wife and daughter are on AT&T) don't even make 1,000 calls a year - but we get more than 1 dropped call per year. Experience tells us those numbers are completely bogus - and as a user we consider a call where our phone never even rang a "dropped call" even if the carriers don't.

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[kharchenko]

no shit .. it's closer to 60% for me. Goddamn awful! Thank you Apple for giving these guys a leg to stand on.

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[phlegmofdiscontent]

From TFA,

"The GWS drive tests also revealed that 98.59 percent of voice calls connected over the AT&T network nationwide are completed without interruption. That's a difference of about one-tenth of one percentage point, or one call in 1,000, from the only higher score in the industry."

So no, they do not drop only 1 out of 1000 calls, they drop more like 15 out of 1000 calls.

Not that my anecdotal evidence has any weight, but I personally experience more like a 5 to 10% dropped call rate with AT&T (one time I was dropped 4 times in a half hour).

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[dgatwood]

Ah. Actually, that .1% was a delta, not a total dropped call percent. Makes more sense that way.

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[blargster]

Look AT&T, if you're going to lie you should at least make it a plausible lie. Nobody who uses AT&T (or has to call people on AT&T) is going to believe your ridiculously low 0.1%.

AT&T was misquoted. They never claimed that they had a dropped call rate of 0.1% - they said that "our dropped call rate is within 1/10 of a percent – the equivalent of just one call in a thousand – of the industry leader.”

The article that Slashdot linked to does not state what Slashdot says in their summary above - try to actually read your sources first Slashdot!

Sounds like excellent stats to me.

Personally, I've never had a single dropped call with AT&T.

Makes you wonder if most folks that take these surveys actually have had dropped calls with AT&T (or have even ever used AT&T!) or are merely repeating what they've heard from others.

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[Internal Modem]

underground bar

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[silverglade00]

underground bar = subterranean tavern

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[Anonymous Coward]

Look AT&T, if you're going to lie you should at least make it a plausible lie. Nobody who uses AT&T (or has to call people on AT&T) is going to believe your ridiculously low 0.1%.

My phone must be an anomaly... the longest call I can make is about 10-15 minutes. Usually they drop about 5-10 min in.

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[Anonymous Coward]

It does, in fact, make quite a bit more sense.

And thus nearly the entire set of replies in this thread is moot.

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[standbypowerguy]

...any call is more likely to drop if I'm driving through a tunnel while on the phone.

That's odd. One of the few places my current phone seems to work best is in tunnels. It wasn't always this way, but I believe a lot of the carriers have installed antennae in many of them.

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[Locke2005]

Whoosh!

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[Anonymous Coward]

That's because you're holding your iPhone wrong. Buy a cheap-o phone that can actually make phone calls (never mind that it can't do anything else) instead of a fashion gadget and your calls won't get dropped.

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[zippthorne]

Pfft the bars don't mean anything. If they want to present a meaningful comparison, they could show decibels of microvolts emf, microwatts received power, SNR.. Even the bar representation could have been meaningful, if they'd only declare a meaning for it.

More "bars" in more places?! what the hell is that even supposed to mean?

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[Facegarden]

Bad Summary / RTFA. They say "our dropped call rate is within 1/10 of a percent - the equivalent of just one call in a thousand - of the industry leader." NOT that they have fewer than 0.1% dropped calls.

Yeah, but even that way is mighty sketchy wording. AT&T knew what they were doing when they worded it that way.
-Taylor

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[Anonymous Coward]

You really need to get out of the city more often.

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[icebike]

Pfft the bars don't mean anything. If they want to present a meaningful comparison, they could show decibels of microvolts emf, microwatts received power, SNR.. Even the bar representation could have been meaningful, if they'd only declare a meaning for it.

More "bars" in more places?! what the hell is that even supposed to mean?

Best as I can tell, iPhone users fret about bars all the time.

Since switching to Android my dropped call rate on ATT has gone to zero, and I never pay any attention to bars at all, because I just never get calls dropped anymore.

FTR: My android reads out actual dBm. But who cares, since the calls don't drop.

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[funkyloki]

Yeah, but the call quality is shit. I don't care if it is 100% up time, if the people I talk to to sound like they are making guttural sounds through a straw.

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this any more!

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[ptbarnett]

Not that my anecdotal evidence has any weight, but I personally experience more like a 5 to 10% dropped call rate with AT&T (one time I was dropped 4 times in a half hour).

I don't have that kind of rate overall, but I have had the experience of being dropped multiple times in about 10 minutes. Each time, I used AT&T's "Mark the Spot" application to report a dropped call. On the last couple of reports, I added a comment to the effect of "Please get out here and fix this cell base station!" -- I was at home and never had any problems with dropped calls until then.

A couple of days later, I noticed that the signal strength on my phone was 0-1 bars, instead of the usual 4-5. I'm a couple of blocks from the nearest cell base station, so I realized they had shut down that cell for repair. A few hours later, my signal strength was at the usual level and I haven't had problems with dropped calls since then.

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[Coren22]

There are three factors that cause dropped calls, from your end; low signal strength, failed cell handover and high volume on the cell. So if you never have low strength, and live in a low volume area, you won't see dropped calls often. People living in NY and other high volume areas, and people in the boonies see dropped calls quite a bit though. Also, if you are driving, you can lose a call while being handed over from cell to cell.

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[NateTech]

Assuming you're in a covered area, say my typical 27 mile commute down I-25 through Denver one-way, each day... Which is all adequately covered by cell sites (I know where most of them are as an RF geek who looks for such things)... The only reason for dropping a call is that the network can't do a proper hand-off. Top of the hill at I-25 & Thornton Parkway, the cell on the north side of the hill and the one south of it, can't hand off to each other almost ever. Area of Invesco Field on I-25, same problem. Hill between 104th & 120th on I-25 also. Park and sit still on either side of those spots, talk until your battery is dead. Move from one cell to the next, you'll drop almost 80% of the time. Reported numerous times to AT&T customer service via both calls and their iPhone App. Nothing ever done about it. Likely reason why? GSM can't hand-off for shit when the back-end is built wrong or light on inter-site trunks.

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[NateTech]

You missed water in the hardline, wind damage to an antenna, failed pre-amplifier module making the site go deaf, power loss to the module or site, loss of disciplined clock source for the GSM or back-end tie trunks causing bit errors, damage to the landline or microwave gear at satellite cell stations off the cluster, mice chewing holes in wiring or hardline, power amplifier failure, local interference sources on frequency or part of a 3rd order or other harmonic mix, crash of the controller, .... Well, you get the idea. Sadly ALL of this stuff pales on AT&T's network to the one thing they could fix -- and is on your general list -- they can't hand off site-to-site to save their ass.

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[Coren22]

Wow. Most of those would fall under low signal strength showing on the handset. You must be an engineer. But yeah, I guess GSM handoff must be hard stuff (defined in paper back in the 80s or 90s?)

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[NateTech]

Heh... just workin' in telco systems tech support for a little over 15 years... and installed/maintained a whole lot of mountain-top RF gear in my hobby-time... I've seen stuff break that blew my mind...

My favorite this year was watching a forest fire via video from the TV News chopper, blow past one of the Amateur Radio repeater sites I help maintain (that also contains all the city bus dispatch radio gear for the city of Boulder, CO as well as a ton of the Sheriff's Department's gear, and a couple of low-power TV and FM broadcast stations.

Was fully-expecting everything to drop off-line, but the generator at the site did its job, and the grass was kept cut and the "defensible space" with trees cut down around the tower site was done correctly, so the crowning/roaring fire pretty much just roared on by... and the Sheriff's guys made sure the generator had gas for the next week or so until the power was back on.

Pretty wild to watch your stuff sitting in the middle of a forest fire. Murphy was kind to us that day.

iPhone users are whiners!

[kurt555gs]

Statistics are easily skewed when the demographics aren't considered. Verizon is equally as bad, but the whiny cry baby iPhone types just are not there to bitch. I'll bet that if you asked Starbucks and included cell phone type as a criteria, the iPhone users would be the ones ordering the "extra skinny, double foo foo, with non fat something" and will send back 2 or 3 making everyone else wait just because.

It's what iPhone users are like!

iPhone 4 users are even worse!

Re:iPhone users are whiners!

[Stregano]

Now there is no reason to give me horrible flashbacks of a woman on her iPhone in front of me in line at Subway and can't decide if she wants lettuce on her sandwich while she is yapping on her phone. I want my meatball sub woman. Move your ass!

Re:iPhone users are whiners!

[mrsteveman1]

What the fuck is this comment? I expected at least THREE separate blatant stereotypes, a racial slur and some kind of reference to Apple users being gay. Go back and try again.

-iPhone 4 owner

Re:iPhone users are whiners!

[mrsteveman1]

Know how to get those type out of your way? Mention that the place is out of meatball subs, but you've got a special one just for her.

Also a good way to get arrested, so weigh your options carefully.

Re:iPhone users are whiners!

[donscarletti]

iPhones in the US are sold locked to AT&T. It means that iPhone/AT&T users in the US have generally chosen the phone, not a network. Thus, you will have on that network, iPhone users who personally like AT&T and also iPhone users who do not, but are forced to use that network or change phones, which is always going to be worse than a customer base made up wholly of those who have chosen that service. The argument "if you don't like it then leave" is not as valid with an expensive handset in the picture, so a greater number of people will suffer and complain, leaving distorted figures.

Anyway, US iPhone users cannot complain too loudly, thanks to AT&T, it is roughly half the cost of the same model bought unlocked elsewhere, mine was bought in Hong Kong, cheapest outside North America and it cost me like US$620. Given you can just buy one of your cheap locked phones and hack it anyway, that's the best of both worlds really.

Re:iPhone users are whiners!

[kurt555gs]

There is no need for stereotypes, racial, or gay related slurs about Apple users, and iPhone consumers in particular on Slashdot. The type of people that are here already know.

Re:iPhone users are whiners!

[Anonymous Coward]

(Shrug) Either way, you get your meatball sub.

Re:iPhone users are whiners!

[hedwards]

Or just roll your eyes at whomever is behind the counter and start to leave. Chances are that they'll do something to move things along, or you'll know not to shop there again.

Re:iPhone users are whiners!

[NateTech]

And spit in your sandwich.

Now, I know that correlation != causation, but...

[rekenner]

"Over half of the respondents who used AT&T used the iPhone when taking the survey."

at&t isn't that bad

[p51d007]

And when the hoard of iPhone users flood another carrier (Verizon?) when at&t loses its exclusive contract with Apple, maybe two things will happen. 1. The speeds on at&t's network will increase 2. The call quality/service will increase. at&t will have to try harder, to keep customers because you won't have to go there if you want an iPhone. I have been with them for 8 years, never had a problem. It will just be nice to walk into an at&t store and not have to look to see if you accidentally didn't wonder into an Apple store LOL.

Re:at&t isn't that bad

[magus_melchior]

It really does depend on the region, and whether you use data frequently. I get dead zones with Verizon sometimes, but other than that the 3G can be a lot better than my crummy WiFi (as in, it actually works).

But I've never, ever had a dropped call or poor reception on my Verizon phones, and yet there are people in my region with iPhones who curse AT&T on a regular basis because they can't seem to get a stable connection. *shrug*

Re:at&t isn't that bad

[Facegarden]

And when the hoard of iPhone users flood another carrier (Verizon?) when at&t loses its exclusive contract with Apple,
maybe two things will happen.
1. The speeds on at&t's network will increase
2. The call quality/service will increase.
at&t will have to try harder, to keep customers because you won't have to go there if you want an iPhone.
I have been with them for 8 years, never had a problem. It will just be nice to walk into an at&t store and
not have to look to see if you accidentally didn't wonder into an Apple store LOL.

Yeah, lots of people say that: "I've had AT&T for years and never had a problem." But how can you know? You've *never* had a problem? Every cell network has problems. You don't have reception everywhere, none of the networks do. So how much reception is acceptable? Have you ever gone on vacation to somewhere remote and lost reception? Yes, we shouldn't focus on technology on vacation, but what if you just needed to make one call? I think every cell user in the world has experienced that.

So then, what is acceptable? If you're hiking up in the middle of colorado, maybe you don't get reception. Or maybe camping somewhere remote. At some point, we all accept that cell phones don't go everywhere. But if you've only had one network, how can you know what is normal compared to everyone else?

Well, I had Verizon for 8 years and then switched to AT&T about 3 years ago. I've noticed consistently less 3G coverage even now (but especially right when switching) and generally worse coverage in remote areas. In fact, when I had Verizon, one of my good friends had a similar phone on AT&T, and we're geeks so I'd always tease that I had 3G when he didn't, and we'd do speed tests and I'd always come out on top. We went camping in Big Sur and only those with Verizon had reception. I actually did go hiking in Colorado and sent him an e-mail from 12000 feet teasing him that I had reception, knowing that, from how often he didn't, it was unlikely he would have there.

Now I have AT&T because work pays for it, but it is noticeably worse.

I hear a lot of people saying "I've had AT&T for 8 years and it's always been fine", but for many of us, unless we're geeky enough to compare cell reception, there may be no true way of knowing what's "fine" and what's "excellent". We may not all need reception when camping, but hell, I lose reception just driving to my mom's house in the Santa Cruz mountains 30 minutes from Silicon Valley. I'd be happier if I didn't.

I mean, if you're happy you're happy. But it may just be a case of "ignorance is bliss".
-Taylor

Re:at&t isn't that bad

[bm_luethke]

Yea, because Verizon doesn't have any Smartphone competitors out there that are competing with AT&T and their data plans are even worse. Oh, wait a minute - Droid, unlimited data, and tethering for free? I guess only a fraction of the people out there use Android phones over iPhones. Oh, crap - that isn't true either?

I guess Apple has Magic Bits that cost more Bits than others and are thusly making AT&T's service blow for most people. Yea, it couldn't be that it blew before Apple got on there and, indeed, has improved since then. No it must be that Apple iPhones are so popular that no network on the planet could handle the data load and all others are as motes of dust compared to them.

Come one, this is *soo* early 2010's type of thinking - have you even bothered to look at sales data in the last 8 months?

AT&T had that excuse last year sometime but has lost it - they aren't the only ones with lots of streaming video and such anymore (and I would bet not even the highest as the multitude of Android Phones have come out on other carriers). Verizon has all sorts of warts - some of them just as big - but it doesn't have the crappy service AT&T delivers to most places in the US. When the iPhone was really the only Smartphone out there I could buy that - but now? Really? You want to run with you speeds suck because you have this tremedous usage other carriers do not have because your Phone does video and such? Even when we get down to Whose Phone is Better most Apple users haven't drunk *that* much of the kool-aid in a while.

If AT&T looses the majority of thier base to Verizon then you may be - at least - somewhat accurate. I can't say if their network could handle the bulk of the three most popular around (they already handle two of them - blackberry and Android) and a great deal of loss of AT&T's customers would certainly free up bandwidth. However I can't figure out how that is a win for AT&T either even if the Verizon network totally breaks down under the load (not is it any validation of your idea - that person B can lift more than Person A isn't invalidated when person B is crushed by person A dropping their weights on them at the same time they are lifting their own). It just seems a great deal of money that AT&T looses.

Re:at&t isn't that bad

[icebike]

Yeah, lots of people say that: "I've had AT&T for years and never had a problem." But how can you know? You've *never* had a problem? Every cell network has problems. You don't have reception everywhere, none of the networks do. So how much reception is acceptable? Have you ever gone on vacation to somewhere remote and lost reception?

Well, yes, there are some places in the west that are out of AT@T range. You first fall back to Edge, then to GPRS, then sometimes nothing.

But I knew that going in. And Verizon has some of those holes as well. (Far fewer than AT&T, which in turn has far fewer than T-Mobile, Sprint, etc.

But to your main point, You DO know when the network has problems. You pick up our cell and can't make a call. Or you finally drive over a pass and three voice mails come in.

Occasionally you might notice, even in strong 3G areas that calls go direct to voice mail. That's the biggest indicator of a network problem I typically see. Maybe two calls per month go direct to voice mail.

Its not that hard to tell what "Fine" is. If calls don't drop and you can always dial out and get a good clear channel, that defines "Fine" in my book.

And Yeah, FTR, I'm one of those for which AT&T is "fine". My dropped calls disappeared the day I switched to Android from the iPhone.

Re:at&t isn't that bad

[NateTech]

Even better is when the phone does finally get back on the network and the voice mail waiting indicator doesn't alert until the NEXT voice mail is received, days later. AT&T's back end is truly and royally fucked.

Not Just Iphone Users

[Greyfox]

My room mate just had to drop AT&T as her carrier because conversations were garbled and she could not understand about one word in four. She tried three different phones while trying to resolve the problem, and borrowed my HTC from Sprint a couple of times. She just switched over to Sprint, problem solved.

A lady I know over at my favorite coffee shop also complains of problems with AT&T data service and dropped calls both at home and at the coffee shop, and she doesn't use an iPhone either.

Re:Not Just Iphone Users

[Stregano]

I use an N-Gage QD, that's right, that old. I don't have any problems with AT&T. Now the kicker: I moved from Nebraska to Vegas and kept my Nebraska number and just use Google Voice. Yeah, my phone still works perfect. Granted, I was smart enough to get a plan that is nationwide so I am not hit for roaming charges, but this is first hand experience from somebody who uses a phone that is completely hated on. My phone is supposed to be really, really bad, but yet, it works just fine. No dropped calls. I have no clue what any of you are talking about. Find a way to send me a private message and I will personally call you. It will go from my Nebraska number in Vegas to Google Voice, then to you, or I can directly call you.

So people are either dropping their phones in the toilets and wondering why they don't work anymore, they are getting the cheapest possible phones on the planet, or they are bitching to bitch. I say this because my phone is so old and crappy to where Nokia themselves to not even support the N-Gage QD anymore. I have no problems with my phone or playing somebody online in a game on my phone or data or texts or anything.

Re:Not Just Iphone Users

[Greyfox]

I thought it might just be a phone quality issue too -- my HTC Evo is a good bit more expensive than the mid-range smart phones she was trying. Three phones, she tried with AT&T. First phone with sprint resolved the issue.

There are a lot of variables involved, and it's hardly a scientific study, but it only ever seems like AT&T users I hear complaining about the service, and the complaints are not uncommon.

Re:Not Just Iphone Users

[Anonymous Coward]

Gee. I happen to get adequate reception in two places I have lived. You guys must be complete idiots if you get poor reception in completely different geographical locations than I have ever visited using phones that I have never handled.

Re:Not Just Iphone Users

[dgatwood]

My room mate just had to drop AT&T as her carrier because conversations were garbled and she could not understand about one word in four. She tried three different phones while trying to resolve the problem, and borrowed my HTC from Sprint a couple of times. She just switched over to Sprint, problem solved.

I'd be curious if your roommate's cell tower is forcing all her calls into half rate encoding. Could be the case if the tower is highly congested or if the phone's battery is low. Moving to a different area would probably solve the problem, though it isn't a great solution. Calling the phone company and complaining about the sound quality might even help, particularly if you can tell the techs which tower is giving you trouble (by tower and cell ID). It might simply be that they haven't upgraded that specific tower to support newer codecs like AMR or EFR, and they might just need a swift kick in the pants to get them to upgrade the tower.

Re:Not Just Iphone Users

[Tumbleweed]

Same here. I use an htc EVO on Sprint, and I have absolutely no problems with AT&T. :)

Re:Not Just Iphone Users

[Greyfox]

I didn't have any problems with AT&T with the ol' 1G iPhone either, other than it being godawful slow due to being 1G. Of course, I never actually talk to anyone.

Studies mean nothing

[Mishotaki]

If your service sucks and your customers hate you, citing studies and statistics won't make them hate you less...

Re:Studies mean nothing

[tftp]

If your service sucks and your customers hate you, citing studies and statistics won't make them hate you less...

If your service sucks and it costs billions to make it better, citing studies and statistics is the only direction that is open to you.

There are only about three cell phone companies in the USA (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint; some say T-Mobile is also a cell company :-) The whole market is divided among them, and all these companies are bad. The customer only has an option to move from one bad company to another bad company. Networks lure customers by offering deals and hopes of better service, and repulse customers by poorly servicing them. In the end, it's one big circulation of customers. Marketing is a huge part of that. Nobody can just go out and upgrade a million towers on a whim, in the middle of an upgrade cycle. Even sending a tech to "look at the problem" is expensive, so as long as the tower is technically functioning nobody is going to mess with it.

Re:Studies mean nothing

[magus_melchior]

It's called "poisoning the well", and corporations like AT&T use it on a regular basis to fight bad PR.

Re:Studies mean nothing

[Anonymous Coward]

Seems to work just fine for Verizon

Re:Studies mean nothing

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you have the citation for this study?

Duno

[mrsteveman1]

Most of the iPhone users i've talked to say its been just fine on AT&T. I've got an iPhone 4 and it's working great, 3G speeds are plenty fast, and calls haven't dropped at all. Voice sounds bad, and AT&T might be worse in that respect than other carriers, but poor call quality seems to be part of a trend that followed the switch to digital phones, they just sound worse than the older analog ones and definitely worse than landlines.

Most of the AT&T hate seems to be coming from users in large cities like SF and NY. I expect that the signaling issues that TechCrunch and others have reported on that are specific to AT&Ts network are hitting hardest there.

Re:Duno

[Anonymous Coward]

In my experience, AT&T is fine... until you have a problem. My parents have AT&T home phone and DSL service. There was a problem with the line that prevented phone calls or internet use. It took two weeks to get a tech out to the home. A couple months later the connection went down again... took three weeks to get a tech out that time. Both times they were told a tech would be out in a day or two and that someone had to stay home to wait for the tech to show up. At the end of the day when no tech shows, being told that the call was rescheduled because of rescheduling and that they would have to be home the next day to wait for the tech... for two and then three weeks. The second time, my parents received at least 4 phone calls and had two people show up and knock on our door from AT&T trying to upsell them to U-Verse in the period they were waiting for the repairman.

And of course when they called about getting phone calls forwarded to a cell phone, that would have been a charge on the order of $20-30. Not that there was a problem with the individual techs. Once they got on site they diagnosed and repaired the problems quickly and efficiently both times. It's just that AT&T is laying off repairmen while simultaneously increasing their advertising arm, and I found out later that new customers ALWAYS receive priority over existing ones. So if you know that you will never have a problem with AT&T, you may be just fine. If something goes wrong, expect to be treated as worthless. As a company, AT&T really does not give one shit about you once they have you in a contract.

Re:Duno

[Overzeetop]

This is true of every carrier I've ever had. Everything is peachy until you have a problem. That's when you find out that EVERYONE has the worst customer service in the world.

Moral of the story: figure it out yourself or throw the company away and start fresh.

Re:Duno

[hedwards]

I suspect that's probably coincidental. There's also been a trend towards deregulation covering most of that period of time. Service even for voice seems to be getting significantly worse.

I just found out that Qwest charges only $6 a month more for their 40mbps fiber service than they do for my 5mbps DSL, only catch is that they don't provide any speeds faster than what I've got here, and they talked the city out of setting up municipal fiber on the premise that they don't want to have to put up with government regulation. Perhaps if they stopped sucking and started actually caring about the customer the urge to regulate might subside.

Cell service seems a bit like that, it's amazing how little they differ in terms of cost or what they provide.

Re:Duno

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm just guessing it could be tower overload. This is all anecdotal but I imagine the same problems occur with others. I live in a relatively small town that has a few major conventions during the summer with the number of people in town dramatically increasing. The cell phone service just goes to absolute hell when everyone is in town and I've not heard people with other carriers having as many problems as I have with AT&T.

Re:Duno

[rgviza]

my ATT coverage is generally fine. It's when I go way out in the sticks that I have issues. My GF lives in the middle of nowhere (70 miles from the nearest real city) and my coverage sucks there. Then again, so does everyone else's

Reminds me of Kitchen Nightmares

[Vrallis]

The response by AT&T reminds me of almost every episode of Kitchen Nightmares. Gordon goes in, finds out the food is shit, and the owners always respond "but the customers all tell us the food is great!" (to which Gordon usually responds "What customers?").

Re:Reminds me of Kitchen Nightmares

[garcia]

"but the customers all tell us the food is great!" (to which Gordon usually responds "What customers?").

Yeah because AT&T has no customers and none of them think the service is acceptable--nope, not one. Please. I have an iPhone and while I wish I had a phone with a physical keyboard and true multitasking, the iPhone is a killer device and certainly still the best available for the touchscreen only market.

I rarely have dropped calls, I have 3G most everywhere I happen to be, and the service is acceptable to me. While I certainly wouldn't hesitate to jump ship to another network which was faster, cheaper, and offered a better phone, that doesn't mean I don't hate all mobile phone network operators equally.

Re:Reminds me of Kitchen Nightmares

[hedwards]

Well, the example isn't the greatest because there are other restaurants out there that are presumably better. AT&T is worse than the competition, but not bad enough to make much of a difference in terms of switching.

3G coverage for them in Seattle is complete crap. Largely because they've got their antennae set up north of the city and south of the city with everybody in the middle with little to no consideration for topography. Before Sprint pissed me off with their customer service, I had much, much less trouble with reception.

I think it's telling that AT&T has had to stoop to the level of using the femtocells even in urban areas to deal with the problems. They shouldn't be needing to push those devices in any major city.

Re:Reminds me of Kitchen Nightmares

[garcia]

I was in Seattle back in April. I didn't have any reception problems anywhere while I was there.

Re:Reminds me of Kitchen Nightmares

[GameboyRMH]

I have an iPhone and while I wish I had a phone with a physical keyboard and true multitasking,

See if you can get in contact with this guy, he's fed up with his N900 (looks like just software issues):

http://slashdot.org/~neumayr

their internet / home phone is worse

[Anonymous Coward]

Try getting internet or phone services with them, it's not only a painful experience getting them, but it's a terrible experience just trying to pay them without direct withdrawl. I fought against them for months when I finally won and got the money that they owed me and left them permanently. I haven't ever met anyone who liked their services. Verizon, Sprint, US Cellular, T-Mobile, and MetroPCS have had pretty decent if not excellent (see verizon) customer service for me and my friends. Though you get what you pay for but interestingly enough the pay as you go service (MetroPCS) while insanely cheap, their customer service is pretty good.

Re:their internet / home phone is worse

[Z34107]

Their internet service especially is awful. Ideally, setting up DSL should go something like this:

1. Unpack box, throw away disc.
2. Plug modem into wall.
3. Plug other end of modem into router

How it works with AT&T:

1. Open the DSL modem's management page, expecting to find something useful. Instead, experience a "setup wizard."
2. The "setup wizard" requires Internet Explorer and flash, because the setup wizard has to talk to you. Good thing the instructions are also mostly on-screen, unless you're on a netbook, in which case you're just fucked because 600 vertical pixels just doesn't cut it for AT&T.
3. If you can click on the "next" button from step 2, the setup program will try to download some other setup program, for Lord knows what reason. Unless you're running 64-bit Windows, in which case the x64 installer will just crash. Or unless you're running Linux, in which case you never made it past step 2, neckbeard.
4. Pride wounded, you open the disc, which requires breaking a a seal labeled something along the lines of "open only under the instruction of AT&T support."
5. Rage at the disc, because the setup program on it is password protected.
6. Dig through the directory structure a bit and find an older version of the setup program that died in step 3. This will finally let you finish activating your account with AT&T, and your DSL modem will now finally have service.

If you're like me (easily frustrated and poorly shaven), there's a few optional steps:

1. Immediately call AT&T to cancel because you'd rather eat the business end of an iPhone (you know which end) than give money to anybody who thought any of the above was a good idea.
2. Send back your used modem for the largest deposit I've ever paid for a lump of plastic.
3. Get sent a bill for $150 over what you owe because they lost your modem.
4. Spend a week trying to call their support number. Contrary to what their website and any other department you call will tell you, it's only open until 5:00 in your timezone. (Bonus points for making them call that number themselves and listen to the "we're closed" tape.) (Although you can add services online, you cannot cancel online; imagine that.)
5. Finally get somebody to "find" the modem.
6. Get told to wait for a new, corrected bill.
7. Receive a collections notice in lieu of said new, corrected bill.
8. Call back AT&T during work hours. Play back the recording made of step 6.
9. Pay correct amount over the phone, and then cancel the card.
10. Thank the Almighty God, who makes the Sun orbit the Earth, that your service, bill, and credit check were all in the name of Ranka Lee. (Kira~! ^_>) Let me know if you see her name in a telephone book somewhere; I didn't pay extra to opt out of that.

Can anyone tell me if signing up for their wireless service still requires an acoustic coupler and landline?

Re:their internet / home phone is worse

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually it requires smoke signal binary. They send you this little wheel that tells you how fast to send your 1 and 0 depending on how far away you are from the branch office. I'm about 15 miles which makes my bit rate about 0.1bpm. Also you have to use a colored smoke that causes you to become sterile if inhaled.

Re:their internet / home phone is worse

[demonbug]

Hmm, the last couple of times I set up DSL w/ ATT it didn't go anything like your experience.
  I don't know if I just got lucky or special circumstances or what, but the last two times we moved it was super easy to set up DSL. Don't remember for sure two places ago, but when we moved into our current house there really wasn't any setup necessary (aside from having to re-wire the phone jack in the office so it would be connected to the correct phone line, but that was pretty simple). Just plugged in the new modem they sent us, ignored their instructions (didn't even look at them) and put our username/password into the modem, plugged the router in and told it to automatically receive IP (none of that annoying PPPoE stuff that we were forced to use way back when...) and everything worked great. No need to install any software on our computer, everything just worked the way it is supposed to.

Had a bit of a flaky connection at first, called AT&T, and the next day they had someone out working on the lines. While they initially thought it was just a bad connection at the local box, they ended up finding a whole mess of bad wiring (on their end, fortunately) and spent the next couple of days re-wiring half our street.

My only complaint over the years has been that we are still limited to very slow uploads - I'm pretty content with our ~5-6 mbps downstream speed, but 384k up is just getting ridiculous.

Re:their internet / home phone is worse

[NateTech]

My goodness your life is hard. Imagine if you had the time you used to type that up to work on following printed directions how much easier it would have gone!

Re:their internet / home phone is worse

[idfubar]

When I signed up for DSL service (during the summer of 1999) the setup process was exactly like your ideal scenario; when I helped get my sister set up (in 2004) the process was slightly more involved (due to PPPoE configuration) but certainly wasn't too encumbered... perhaps you encountered the service in one of its less successful iterations?

QWEST

[Anonymous Coward]

It's like Qwest. When you have assholes as your customer representatives you garner no new business(aka the people you talk to when you call Qwest). I will never use qwest again, EVER, I don't care if it's free or almost free... If anyone buys them... I won't use them either. Only shitheads buy shit. A new slogan for Qwest and ATT, shit shit shit shit shit shit shit.... It's like binary but only zeros.

Response

[proverbialcow]

Consumer Reports responded in kind that AT&T could shove it's speed tests, considering they were measuring customer satisfaction, and apparently customers could give a good goddamn about how AT&T performed on its own, unverifiable tests when their customer service is horrifying.

Re:Response

[phlegmofdiscontent]

I don't know where AT&T gets their numbers. I don't have any hard statistics, but as a regular iPhone user, I've experienced a 5-10% dropped call rate, times when even texts wouldn't be sent, and depending on where I am in this large metropolitan area I call home, download speeds of 0.03 Mbps (though right now I'm getting 2.12 Mbps down and 0.180 Mbps up). I'm certainly not impressed with AT&T's network. On the other hand, Verizon's customer service was what prompted me to switch in the first place.

Re:Response

[hedwards]

That's similar to how I ended up on AT&T. Sprint's terrible service prompted me to switch and AT&T ended up being cheaper for reasons related to a family plant.

But the reception is far worse than it was on Sprint and I'm regularly in parts of the city where I can't get 3G.

Not surprising at all

[dwhitaker]

My girlfriend and I have been in a long-distance relationship for a while now and communicated almost exclusively via phone at night. Some nights there would be 5-10 dropped calls in a 30 minute period. It didn't matter which side dropped the calls because we both used AT&T. Moreover, even when the dropped call rate was tolerable, the call-quality was very poor. We both finally decided to switch to T-Mobile when our contracts ran out and have never looked back.

Re:Not surprising at all

[zippthorne]

You're in a long distance relationship and you get a lot of dropped calls?

Have you considered the possibility that you are not, in fact, in a long distance relationship..?

Speaking as an iPhone Owner and New Yorker

[Azureflare]

I can tell you I am completely satisfied with ATT, but ONLY when I'm in Brooklyn. In fact, 3G service has better latency than my cable connection through Cablevision.

As soon as I go to Manhattan, ATT provides the most horrible experience I've ever had with a phone.

I'm not totally sure if this is ATTs fault though, for two reasons: 1.) Buildings interfere with cell signal, and 2.) Tons of people there have an iPhone/smartphone.

I find that the latency in Manhattan (especially lower down in Hell's Kitchen, the Village, or near the WTC) can sometimes be atrocious, especially when just coming out of the subway. When you're looking up directions or reviews, you don't want to have to wait a minute for results to come back... That minute can feel like much longer especially if it's freezing cold out.

Does android on verizon or sprint have similar issues, or is it just ATT? Anyone?

Re:Speaking as an iPhone Owner and New Yorker

[LearnToSpell]

I talk to a friend almost every day who lives in Brooklyn and works in Manhattan, and I'd (mostly) agree. Manhattan + iPhone/AT&T = awful. We'll have 10 dropped calls in a half-hour period, depending on where she's walking. It's pretty brutal. Brooklyn's a bit better, but I still notice way more problems (drops or corrupt sound) than other carriers.

I'm using Virgin, which piggybacks on Sprint's network (I believe), and haven't had any problems at all. Only issue is getting reception in certain buildings, but I'd blame that on the cheapo phone more than anything.

Another Data Point

[jIyajbe]

Seattle area, iPhone, AT&T, fully satisfied. No problems.

(Plus, the SB baristas all know my drink, so I don't take up time ordering it. :-) )

Re:Another Data Point

[Chakra5]

Seattle area, iPhone, AT&T, fully satisfied. No problems.

Same here...

and I don't even drink coffee .:shrug:. :-)

Re:Another Data Point

[hedwards]

Really? You must not spend much time traveling around actually in the city, because the service is pretty much shit. But, OTOH, if you're up north closer to shoreline or down south the service ought to be much better given the location of the antennae.

Dropped calls of 0.1%?

[bsquizzato]

Dropped calls of 0.1%? What is that statistic for, where AT&T service is available? The problem is how "gappy" AT&T's coverage is. Within the same town I often find myself going in and out of 3G, or in and out of roaming. That's where my calls of course drop ;)

They didn't ask me

[Evets]

I'm sure dissatisfaction has a lot to do with the iPhone antenna issue. I'll tell you - I switched from Sprint when I bought an iPhone and I've never been happier. U.S. based call centers. You don't have to wait 30 minutes to talk to a person. And the service just works. You couldn't pay me any amount of money to go back to Sprint.

With Sprint, they double-billed me, tried to blackmail me from leaving by stating that I agreed to a new contract when I did not, and they made me spend countless hours on the phone when I ever had a problem.

I have been happy with my Verizon broadband, but I'd be hard pressed to move away from AT&T based on the fact that I always get an american on the phone and it always happens quickly.

Re:They didn't ask me

[dgatwood]

I'm sure dissatisfaction has a lot to do with the iPhone antenna issue.

Doubtful. Customer satisfaction with AT&T was in bad shape long before iPhone 4 came out. It is, however, regional.

For a great way to check your coverage in many major cities, go to CNet's cell coverage map. As soon as you look at the San Francisco Bay area, you'll understand why the reviews are so negative. Verizon's data service map looks awful, but their voice service map looks good. AT&T is the reverse. Guess who is optimizing for what?

Re:They didn't ask me

[Evets]

Bay area being what it is (I don't go there much), I do travel extensively. The only area AT&T ever gave me problems was in a small area near the New Hampshire border in Massachusetts.

I'm not much of a bandwidth user - just email and google maps. Google maps isn't what I'd hope often enough, but meh - it's a phone.

Still - my coverage would have to take a major drop from what I currently experience to put myself through the horror of offshore call centers and subpar customer service.

I guess if I didn't have such a bad experience with Sprint for a decade I wouldn't be so impressed with the change AT&T provided me with.

Re:They didn't ask me

[quickgold192]

When did you switch from Sprint? I've been using them for about a year and a half now, and I must say that I have been impressed with the customer service:
They called me up a couple months into my plan saying "You know how we gave you free Sprint to Sprint calls? Now you have free mobile to mobile."
At about the one-year mark they told me that even though I signed a two-year contract, I could resign and get a reduced phone rate.
They've called me up to see how my weekend was going. (Really)
And I can get capless internet, more than enough voice (with free mobile/mobile and 7pm nights I use ~20 anytime minutes/month) and phone insurance for $72 after taxes.

I really feel like they're trying to hold on to me as a customer, but maybe it has to do with the fact I live in largish cities and *knew* I would need the insurance (Palm Pre Classic) and got it, avoiding a lot of the hassle that comes with interfacing with a phone company.

I also heard that they used to be just awful and changed their ways about 2 years ago.

Re:They didn't ask me

[Evets]

It's been years, and I'm still upset about the way they treated me as a long-term customer.

AT&T has done things for me above and beyond what sprint ever would have done.

1) You chose a plan below your activity. We'll go ahead and backdate a plan upgrade for you because that'll be cheaper. If your calling habits change, you can downgrade at any time.

2) My phone was stolen, they activated GPS tracking on it immediately and gave me the location for law enforcement.

3) Provided me with a discount on a new phone prior to my contract expiring.

4) Never lied to me.

5) Never made me wait for hours on end on customer service calls to resolve a billing problem.

6) Never actually had a billing problem.

7) Always answered the phone with a US based service representative who actually had the power and desire to resolve my problems.

Price, frankly, doesn't mean much to me. Customer service does. I'm glad you're having a good experience with Sprint - more power to you. They've done enough damage that I will never consider them as a carrier again.

Re:They didn't ask me

[hedwards]

I wouldn't bet on that. I've never owned an iPhone and if anything my opinion of AT&T is far lower than the people I know who have iPhones. Even before I moved up to a Backflip then Nexus One, the reception was terrible.

Re:They didn't ask me

[Cimexus]

I'm sure dissatisfaction has a lot to do with the iPhone antenna issue.

I don't think so. I use an iPhone 4 without any form of bumper or case and have never had a single dropped call or data slowdown etc. But I don't live in America and don't use AT&T.

The iPhone is a GSM/HSDPA phone like any other. Problems such as dropped calls lie with your carrier, not the hardware.

I suspect 90% of the antennagate 'issue' in the US was in fact a problem with AT&T and people living in areas with terrible reception, rather than a major issue with the phone itself. Yes if you bridge the two external antennas you do increase signal attenuation (i.e. lose a bar or two). And yes in retrospect this is probably a design flaw that they should have thought about. But the fact that the antenna is external in the first place makes its base level of sensitivity greater than an internal one, so on balance, it's got no worse reception overall than its competitors (and if you don't 'bridge the gap', has demonstrably better reception than most).

Re:They didn't ask me

[NateTech]

It's amazing what nearly losing the company will do for attitude. After purchasing NexTel, pissing off all the employees who gave a damn, and having to rebuild the network after deploying insanely low-quality garbage everywhere to make a buck. It'll even get the CEO to lower prices and go on TV begging people to come back. It might even get you to try something completely untested in the real world like WiMax and let your newfound customer friends be the next wave of beta-testers.

Speaking as a consumer

[kaoshin]

AT&T is a great carrier... TO PEE ON!

Article contradicts "dropped call rate of 0.1%".

[TimFreeman]

The article said AT&T's "dropped call rate is within 1/10 of a percent – the equivalent of just one call in a thousand – of the industry leader". So if the industry leader drops 5% of the calls, AT&T drops 5.1%.

Interpretation: Wireless data plans suck

[dirkdodgers]

If Verizon had the iPhone too, albeit the results would be similar. 2GB is a ridiculous monthly cap. $10 for every additional GB? What is this, 1995? OK, throttle bandwidth as needed to deliver QoS, but don't put an artificial per-month cap on my usage.

The main advantage of having the iPhone on Verizon will be that it will drive down data plan prices and drive up caps.

And $20/month extra for tethering? Really AT&T? Go shove it up your ass.

Re:Interpretation: Wireless data plans suck

[Anonymous Coward]

> And $20/month extra for tethering? Really AT&T? Go shove it up your ass.
In Sweden you can get a month of unlimited data transfer (capped to 256 kbit/sec after 2GB) for $10/month (no plan needed; this rate is for pre-paid cards). Tethering allowed.
The free market has failed you; you need some government control.

Re:Interpretation: Wireless data plans suck

[DMUTPeregrine]

AT&T and Verizon have the same pricing structure. T-Mobile & Sprint are both cheaper. This seems a bit suspicious to me, especially since neither AT&T nor Verizon's prices have dropped recently.

Re:Interpretation: Wireless data plans suck

[rgviza]

Or Verizon will adopt a "Let's fuck iPhone users too, what are they going to do, go to AT&T?" stance, like they did with the blackberry.

Demand, not cost, will drive the prices. Verizon won't rock the boat as far as pricing. Why should they?

0.1%?

[kharchenko]

What? They must be counting all the minutes you're NOT using your phone as them NOT dropping your call.

AT&T might suck?

[WSOGMM]

I don't need 58,000 consumer report subscribers to tell you that.

Their Network is Too Fast

[NicknamesAreStupid]

It is so fast, the bits just fly by before anyone realizes it. Calls are not dropped, they merely end before the subscriber does. The problem is 2G subscribers on a 3G network. Subscribers need to upgrade themselves to 3G. Truth is, no one is nearly fast enough for AT&T. Send them all your money, and they will forgive you.

No, I am not a shill; I just play one on the Internet.

Re:Their Network is Too Fast

[jd2112]

next year: the problem is you are using a 3G phone on a 4G network year after that: you're using a 4G phone on a 'still not really 4G but closer than we were before' network, you need to upgrade... and so on.

Monopolistic advantage.

[RackinFrackin]

Different carriers are better in different areas of the country. Anecdotally, in my experience AT&T is great in the southeast and Sprint sucks. In Northern VA it's the opposite.

Since the iPhone is only available with AT&T, some people who would go with a superior carrier in their area will opt to go with less-desirable AT&T because they want the iPhone. Those who want a different phone or don't care about their phone's brand are going to tend to go with the better carrier, and the data will reflect all of this.

Re:Monopolistic advantage.

[Cimexus]

Another reason why the whole 'phone tied to carrier' situation in the US needs to end. In the most of the world (US and Japan are two notable exceptions) you can buy any phone you want and take it to any carrier.

Of course part of the reason for this is that the US still uses two completely different technologies (CDMA/TDMA on Sprint, Verizon and GSM/HSDPA on ATT and T-Mobile). But still you should be able to take your phone to a different carrier on the same technology*...

* T-Mobile does actually offer some bring-your-own-phone plans and I believe is the only major carrier to do so. However this is a moot point if some of the most desirable phones (e.g. iPhone) are locked to another carrier to begin with.

My Experience with ATT and Sprint in NYC Area

[grokgov]

ATT in Manhattan (iPhone 3g):
~40% dropped calls in first 5 minutes. That's right -- 40%
Acceptable data rates: Pandora on high-bw with no buffering stutters.
Customer service: lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies.

Conclusion: ATT is UNUSABLE in NYC Metro Area, and I hate, hate, hate them for wasting my time.

Sprint in Manhattan (HTC Hero and HTC Evo)
0% dropped calls. Some loss of signal resulting in dropped calls in some backwoods areas of rural/suburban areas.
Acceptable data rates on 3g: Pandora on high-bw with no buffering stutters.
4g: Available in Brooklyn in the Park Slope area. Insane up and down rates, but 4g connection often flakes, requiring restart of networking services (switch on-off airplane mode).
Customer service: Downright classy. At least right now, intelligent people who don't seem burned out.

Comment on HW: HTC Hero is frustratingly slow.

Conclusion: Sprint on the Evo is the best Phone/Carrier Combination I've ever had. I finally have a device I am truly happy about!

Re:My Experience with ATT and Sprint in NYC Area

[geek]

I've had similar experience with Sprint in Boise Idaho, I get 4g in most places but its spotty and not altogether reliable. 3g works most everywhere (this is because Sprint and Verizon share all the same towers).

My experience with Sprint customer service however is atrocious. They have lied to me for 4 months straight when processing my rebate. I have yet to get it. I have faxed it 4 times, mailed it 3 times spoken to 7 different supervisors I don't know how many agents....... God awful customer service on every single level.

I did however switch fromt he Evo to the Epic 4g. The Evo felt too big in my hands and the epic slider keyboard is superb.

I did some work for Verizon customer service and they were terrible. I'm so jaded by phone companies right now I'm on the verge of going back 80 years and giving up phones altogether. Want to talk to me? Email me. Or if I feel like dealing with it I may fire up skype, but don't count on it.

Apple got all the infrastructure upgrade money.

[Trip6]

They paid Jobs massive $$$ for exclusive iPhone rights, got a lot of customers, and now their network is overloaded. There's no money left for infrastructure upgrades because Apple has it all!

Re:Apple got all the infrastructure upgrade money.

[NateTech]

Correction: They paid Jobs and Apple shareholders. Apple stock has been a great way to fund an iPhone habit at AT&T's expense.

All these companies suck!

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess sucking less is a service differentiator.
The top ranked carrier doesn't offer plans in my metro area (9th largest in the country) for some reason. Guess I'm stuck with the majority-suck carriers.

My cable company sucks too - but only due to the price and fact that my VCR is worthless now thanks to the QAM digital change (not the mandated FCC OTA digital change. As an ISP, they offer a great service for a reasonable price. TV service sucks and they charge 100% too much.

I've been on a pay-as-you-go cell plan for personal use for 5 years. If I take all the money for that plan and the phone, then average it out monthly - it is just $2.88/month for the last 5 yrs. I doubt they are making that much off me.

T-mobile

[russotto]

I have T-mobile prepaid. Fewer dropped calls because more often you can't place the call because there's no service at all. On the good side, it's cheap.

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What I like and dislike about AT&T

[kimvette]

What I like about AT&T:

* They use SIM cards
* They offer the iPhone

What I dislike about AT&T:

* Everything else

I've been with them since they were Cellular One and I had a big old bulky NEC phone - They were great back then. Now, not so much. I'd love to be able to use the iPhone on T Mobile (I know, I can unlock it blah blah blah)

Re:Now, I know that correlation != causation, but.

[dumbnose]

I had two different iPhones over two years. I experienced dropped calls all the time. It was awful. I hated AT&T. During this time, I even moved from the East Coast to the West Coast and still had the same poor experience. I was ready to leave AT&T. I had friends on AT&T that didn't have iPhones and they said they had a good experience with AT&T. So, I decided to get a new phone. I got a Samsung Focus running Windows Phone 7. Now, my experience is really good. The network seems fast and reliable. No more dropped call issues. I can't speak for everybody. But, this is my experience. I wish I had changed phones sooner. It would've saved me tons of aggravation.

AT&T admits to being sub par anyway.

[Anonymous Coward]

I got hired with Convergys, a company that handles AT&T customer service. During the course of the training, we were told that, yes, AT&T is the most expensive carrier. We learned how AT&T grades their customers, on a scale of 1 to 0 to 5, with 0 being the type of customer they want to lose, the one who always calls with complaints and requesting adjustments. Meanwhile the 5's they will bend over backwards to keep.

The most astounding thing I learned, however, was during a discussion about international roaming charges. The question was posed to the class, "If I take my iPhone to Mexico, and hook up to my brother's wi-fi, will I be charged international roaming?" Of course, I answered no, seeing as how being connected to a private access point means that AT&T is not providing any network service at all, but it turns out I was wrong. We were told that the customer can avoid the charges by not having their SIM card inserted. But if the card is in there, apparently AT&T can charge you for a service they are not providing.

Re:AT&T admits to being sub par anyway.

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, voice doesn't go through WiFi, does it? If you place a voice call while the phone is on WiFi, you're going through the cell tower, and you'll incur roaming charges. Only VoIP and other Internet data services will be free.

Re:AT&T admits to being sub par anyway.

[Cimexus]

They must be referring to voice traffic. Nothing else makes sense. AT&T doesn't even KNOW you are using some dude's Wifi in Mexico if you are just using it for pure data...

Re:Article contradicts "dropped call rate of 0.1%"

[damn_registrars]

So if the industry leader drops 5% of the calls, AT&T drops 5.1%.

And then T-Mobile in reality drops 51%. But really, what's an order of magnitude between friends?

Three iPhones in 1 room, only one has signal

[ShannaraFan]

My phone, wife's phone, son's phone, in the same room in our house, literally within 10 feet of each others. My phone shows four bars, the other two nothing. Happens all the time, just in a different combination. First contract expires in April, at which point we're "phasing out" AT&T.

Re:Three iPhones in 1 room, only one has signal

[Cimexus]

That symptom suggests (or in fact, screams) 'cell overload'.

The cell/tower only allows x simultaneous connections to it. Your phone has one. However there are no slots left for the other phones, so they have to seek to the next available tower, which will obviously be further away and have worse reception (or in fact, no reception at all).

So yes you are right to point the finger at AT&T. Sounds like they are not provisioning their network adequately in your area.

Minor Nit

[Anonymous Coward]

"Antennas." Antennae are what insects have.

Re:Now, I know that correlation != causation, but.

[hedwards]

To be fair, AT&T service here is sufficiently bad, that were we the only people with iPhones the problem would never have been discovered.

There's something about Seattle which leads us to get crappy service from telecoms. AT&T, Qwest and Comcast all in the same market. And I'm not sure that the others are any better. Receptionwise, Sprint was actually pretty good in my experience, but that was just for voice, no idea how they are for data.

survey transmitted via AT&T

[Anonymous Coward]

"Over half of the respondents who used AT&T used the iPhone when taking the survey"

  Hmm, and just think about how many of those surveys were never received due to AT&T packet loss.

I've actually been satisfied with ATT

[mykos]

They've got good coverage in my area and the plan I use is comparable to Verizon's in price and availability. Other customers haven't been so lucky, I suppose, but I haven't had any problems with them.
I did, however, have a horrible time with Sprint in this area.
Haven't had Verizon yet, but AT&T just hasn't given me a reason to leave yet.

That it what I'm thinking

[SuperKendall]

I'm really hoping Verizon gets the iPhone because I think a LOT of people will flock to that network. After a year or so, I'll see how the reports look for both sides and make an informed choice...

Verizon better be ready, because AT&T sure had issues with the load they got.

Although in my region too, these days AT&T is actually pretty decent.

Re:That it what I'm thinking

[icebike]

The iphone experience on CDMA will send lots of those right back to AT&T. It just can't do all the same things that iPhone users have gotten use to being able to do.

You are correct in stating AT&T had issues with the load of iPhone users they got. The cheap infineon chip sets in the first three iPhone releases had them tweaking the network in stupid ways trying to keep the iPhone running.

Meanwhile, Blackberry users in the same time period had nowhere near the problems.

Re:That it what I'm thinking

[NateTech]

And who certified that the Infineon chipset was okay to use on their network? Oh yeah. The carrier.

This is complete BS...

[Smooth and Shiny]

I am posting this reply from my iPhone 4 on AT&T and I have never had a dr

Re:Now, I know that correlation != causation, but.

[straponego]

So the ones who couldn't get through aren't accounted for. It would have been 90% of the respondents...

Funny thing is...

[warGod3]

On my AT&T Blackberry, I can't even load a site like Speakeasy.net to test the speed...

Or.. people will see the IPhone for what it is....

[cloudance]

A GREAT handheld computer, and a LOUSY cell phone. I've been on ATT since pre-cingular days... haven't had dropped calls or speed issues through my LG, Samsung, or other phone(s) and definitly not with my current Galaxy.

I'd stand side-by-side with IPhones since day one and have no issues when they have all had trouble finding a simple connection.

IPhone on Verizon will be interesting... I expect it'll show one of two things... either the IPhone is as I think it is ad it'll do the same as it rolls out across Verizon... or that ATT has been shuffling the IPhone off to bad data lines after it's hit the cell tower.

Re:Now, I know that correlation != causation, but.

[icebike]

My experience is different. The only place in Seattle I have problems is Safco/Quest during a game. Drop back to Edge, problem solved.

I used to have dropped calls by the airport in SeaTac, but not since I switched to Android from iPhone. Even in the I5 underpass I don't drop calls.

AT&T in NYC and San Francisco may have serious problems, but in Puget sound area, AT&T is solid. If you are still stuck with an iPhone you may still think AT&T sucks, but not more so in Seattle than anywhere else.

Re:Now, I know that correlation != causation, but.

[timeOday]

You bought two iPhones plus the Focus in the space of two years? An iPhone is $400 if you haven't served out your two-year sentence, isn't it? Then about $100/mo for service. I'm just curious how much all that cost?

No, at&t really does suck...

[appleguru]

I just came back from a semester abroad in Sydney, Australia. I bought an iPhone 4 there unlocked, and used it every day, chewing through a lot of minutes and using a lot of data. I was on Telstra in Australia, and their 3g network is hands down the best I've ever seem anywhere. During my entire time there (6 months), I didn't drop a single call. I had wonderful service and fast data almost everywhere, and even with low signals (-110dbm and lower) I was able to make and hold good voice conversations.

In New Zealand it was a similar story. I was on the South Island, and used Telecom. Their 3G network was also very good, and fast, though coverage was far more spotty than Telstra in AUS, especially on the west coast. But when I had a signal, I had fast data speeds and didn't drop a call.

Then I flew into LAX. Popped in my AT&T sim, and was very, very dissapointed. 1-2 bars at the airport, dismal data speeds, high latency... and I've been dropping about a call a day :/ I was on a major road near my house outside of Boston yesterday, and dropped a call driving home. GAH!

Re:No, at&t really does suck...

[MillionthMonkey]

I used to have a razr with AT&T a few years ago when I lived two miles east of Apple's Cupertino CA headquarters and worked two miles west of it, and I couldn't make phone calls home with it.

Re:No, at&t really does suck...

[NateTech]

Terrible, those near-monopoly telcos like Telstra with technical standards books a mile high, and real engineers. Wouldn't want to have to actually regulate them properly like other Utilities, ya know. Judge Greene says so.

Re:Now, I know that correlation != causation, but.

[IICV]

Somewhat less than what he's making astroturfing for Microsoft, I would imagine.

i announce that apple sucks!

[herfy]

I would like to ride the wave with the latest headline catcher. So I will make up some news, and love (than hate because they don't give a free bumper with new iphones) Apple to make headlines. So, in order to save some time here are some headlines of some other "headline" companies" for you: Comcast re-routs all traffic through China's dns. Bank of America forecloses on free-loaders who just had a child. Also, I have a message to all of the complainers: GET OFF OF YOU DAMN PHONE AND ENJOY YOUR SURROUNDINGS! Life is short, walking into a wall because you are on your phone shows that you are wasting your life.

Re:Now, I know that correlation != causation, but.

[Anonymous Coward]

People report it and other smartphones lost to get a new one at a much reduced price through insurance plans. That used to be free back 10 years ago but distributors have noticed the fraud.

Surveys show that the month prior to the yearly iPhone refresh, people report phone problems in a surge. After the phone is out, others trade up their version by selling the old one that was fraudulently reported lost (buyers are usually in a different country friendly to unlocking ). That way, they make up cash and get the new version without even extending their contract.

Re:Now, I know that correlation != causation, but.

[woan]

Youch, I live in Seattle and anytime there is a large gathering of people, i.e. Bumbershoot, sports, there is very little chance of ATT data, 3G or Edge. Usually you can still get voice, but occasionally that fails as well. Also downtown in any of the big buildings has sporadic problems. Now ATT seems to have this fixed in Austin TX... Of course public venues there seem to have higher probability of free WiFi which may take some of the burden.

AT&T ranks lowest in the world

[qmaqdk]

I recently completed a round the world trip that included the US, Australia, India, sub-Saharan Africa, and the cell phone experience in the US (which was mainly AT&T) was by far the worst. Dropped calls, no coverage in many places for no reason (certain block in NYC, on the freeway).

3G wasn't deployed in Africa when I was there, but for talking I would pick an African carrier over AT&T (or T-Mobile for that matter) any day.

That should not surprise anyone

[kbdd]

The average Apple fanboi, when faced with less than stellar user experience (for whatever reason, network or hardware), could not possibly blame the iPhone, which is perfect because Steve Jobs said so, so it has to be the carrier.

I am not in love with AT&T, which really sucks, but wait until the iPhone is on Verizon, and I would be surprised if iPhone users were not going to bash that network too in greater proportion, compared to other smart phones.

Re:Now, I know that correlation != causation, but.

[bkaul01]

As an AT&T customer who doesn't use iPhones, I'm convinced that the vast majority of the complaints are due to the iPhone's crap antenna. On both my old HP iPaq 614 and my new Samsung Focus, I've repeatedly looked down and seen 2 "bars" of service when iPhone users next to me are dropping calls. It's purely anecdotal experience, but the sheer volume of it is pretty convincing, from my perspective.

I do hope Verizon eventually gets the iPhone, for two reasons: First, it'll get a lot of the whiners off my network and give me even better data speeds, and second, it'll be endlessly amusing to see their reaction to Verizon Math.

Could there be a Geographic Bias?

[ElmoGonzo]

Where I am located -- a relatively rural area -- AT&T has the best service available. That's my subjective analysis which gives a higher weight to coverage and a low weight to speed because I don't use the phone for anything but making calls and sending messages. If I were a smartphone user, I'd probably care more about speed than I do. If smartphone users are distributed equally through the population, more of them will be in urban areas and signal availability may not be as important.

CRO report is meaningless

[wcrowe]

Though well-intentioned, the CRO report is meaningless. I've used four different carriers in the last 12 years. Saying that one is better than another is like saying one of Satan's minions doesn't stick you with the pitchfork as much as another of Satan's minions.

Re:Now, I know that correlation != causation, but.

[Asten]

I've had perhaps 6 different phones i've run on AT&T's network, including a work iphone. 5 of them worked great. the iphone was consistently worse. Apple is a software & marketing company. Their RF design is awful in comparison to the Motorolas, HTCs, and Samsungs out there.

Quran

[Quran]

You are just too good at explaining things! I have found this extremely useful. Please keep us posted.