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A San Diego iphone owner in New York City

elgrecomac

elgrecomac

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 15, 2008
1,163
162
San Diego
Let me preface this thread by stating that I have never been satisfied with ATT coverage in my home town of San Diego. I have lived in the north end of the city and now in the downtown area and the cell coverage is poor compared with that of Verizon.

For the past 8 days I was on vacation in New York City. I have heard about the issues with ATT coverage in the Big Apple but it was difficult to imagine it. I was staying and hanging out in Manhattan...So here goes:

1. Cell coverage was better than I expected though I had many dropped calls. Not better nor worse than San Diego...which is still pretty weak.

2. Web browsing was generally much slower than in San Diego. My wife and I experienced this in several sections of Manhattan.

3. Text-ing was the big surprise: Very SLOW receipt of texts. Sometimes several minutes. In San Diego I get texts quite quickly for the most part but in NYC it could be in 5 seconds or 10 minutes. I sent my wife a text when I was 5 blocks away from our hotel and when I met her back in the room she had not received it yet. Then about 2 minutes later the text was delivered to her iphone. We checked the 'bars' on her phone and it was fully loaded. What is THAT about? :eek:

4. Spoke with several iphone owners and 100% of the the 3GS owners said the are waiting for the Verizon version before they get a new iphone. Most of the IP4 owners felt locked into ATT due to the $375 plan buy-out charge.

For all of the ATT apologists, ATT has promised that things will get better and i know now what their strategy is: wait until people pile on to Verizon's network so as as to have fewer customers who can complain and, as a consequence, have more available bandwidth...now if they could only fix that 'coverage' problem...
 
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Mark Booth

macrumors 68000
Jan 16, 2008
1,654
494
I live in San Diego. I was a Verizon customer for years. I've been an AT&T customer since the day the very first iPhone was released. I had more dropped calls with Verizon. I can't remember the last dropped call I had with AT&T. And the iPhone 4 is the best of all of the iPhones I've owned. It stays connected when I travel on Highway 52 up and over the pass between I-15 and Santee.

I'm not saying that AT&T doesn't suck for some people. I'm just saying it's been golden for me.

Mark
 
Mliii

Mliii

macrumors 65816
Jan 28, 2006
1,126
5
Southern California
elgrecomac said:
For all of the ATT apologists, ATT has promised that things will get better and i know now what their strategy is: wait until people pile on to Verizon's network so as as to have fewer customers who can complain and, as a consequence, have more available bandwidth...now if they could only fix that 'coverage' problem...
Click to expand...

First, I can tell you that I am not an AT&T apologist. I think ALL cell providers in the US suck, including AT&T AND the latest favorite, Verizon.

As I've said elsewhere, my girlfriend has Verizon. There have been plenty of times when we have been sitting side-by-side and my phone will ring and it's someone for her saying that they tried to call her and it went directly to voicemail- I have a signal and she doesn't.

And I don't doubt for a second the stories from those who have had horrible dropped calls on AT&T. I've certainly had a few due to, from what I can tell at least, holes in their signal coverage area. Most of them are ones I know about in the places I usually drive and have been predictable. Some just happen.

Overall, I've been ok with AT&T. But I certainly understand the point of view of those who want to switch. And if Apple offers the iPhone on Verizon and their coverage is better in your area, go for it.

But that's the point; I don't care which phone you have, shop COVERAGE first. The best phone in the world doesn't do you a lot of good if the coverage in your area is garbage.
 
M

mouthster

macrumors 6502
Apr 22, 2005
298
267
I live in downtown San Diego. East Village to be specific. Haven't had any reception problems and coverage seems to be good for both voice and data. I work in Mira Mesa where coverage, again, seems to be good.

However I can tell you two spots where on my drive home a call will be dropped without fail. Coming from Kearny Villa and merging on to the 163 South, and again on the 163 South around Friars.
 
scaredpoet

scaredpoet

macrumors 604
Apr 6, 2007
6,627
342
elgrecomac said:
For all of the ATT apologists, ATT has promised that things will get better and i know now what their strategy is: wait until people pile on to Verizon's network so as as to have fewer customers who can complain and, as a consequence, have more available bandwidth...
Click to expand...

As illogical as that move sounds (since they would be getting less revenue), it would nicely solve the problem. Sounds like the solution for you is clear: when the Verizon iPhone drops, go to Verizon. Or, don't wait and get a Droid.

Then, you'll be happy, and so will the rest of us on AT&T who aren't having issues. No one will have to be an "apologist" for anything, and it's a win-win.
 
T

tigress666

macrumors 68040
Apr 14, 2010
3,288
17
Washington State
Fuzzy.Dunlop said:
I keep reading topics like this are American cell companies really as bad as they seem?
Click to expand...

Dunno. I haven't had an issue with my AT&T (I'm in Seattle though and that's not as famous for bad AT&T coverage though I do see some people claim it sux there which totally has not been my experience).

But... I did notice it was worse in New York (visiting my mom on Long Island and we did go to NYC) but it wasn't as horrible as people make out.

And my roommate does a lot of business trips to the San Diego area and I'd say they are fully justified for hating AT&T there, it seems our calls always end up dropping when he calls me from there (but long after anything important is said so usually that just ends the call).

Oh, and apparently my stepmom (in Atlanta) gets much better reception from AT&T from her iphone 4 with its famous "defective" antenna over her old dumbphone where she had to exit the house to be able to hear anyone well or not have the call dropped often. Now she can actually talk on her phone inside her house.
 
S

swy05

macrumors 6502
Aug 9, 2008
411
0
I used to work in Downtown NYC. I work in Midtown now.

Let me just tell you one thing. There's been way too many times that I wanted to smash my iphone against the wall.

The countless times I've tried using the 3G and the internet would not work even though I see 3G signal on my phone. The countless times I've tried calling people and the calls would not go through and just hang there. The countless times the GPS would show me in a completely different place. The infinite patchy spots on the train line between NY and NJ.

Blame it on AT&T. Blame it on Apple. I don't care. What's the point of having a "hi-tech" phone when you can't even use it.


On a funny note, I was out in Pennsylvania (in the middle of nowhere) on a snowboarding trip for a couple of days and my iphone/3g service was flawless. All calls went through without a hitch and the 3G internet was very quick.

Well, I guess you can blame the horribly congested/overwhelmed NY/NJ area.
 
S

SDNikki

macrumors member
Apr 23, 2010
69
0
I also live in downtown SD (gaslamp) and have zero problems with signal/dropped calls/etc. In La Jolla, however, where I work, it SUCKS. However, every carrier seems to be equally bad :(
 
noah82

noah82

macrumors 6502a
Oct 16, 2008
784
170
San Diego, CA
I live near Mission Valley and work in the UTC area. ATT sucks in both places. I can't wait for Verizon to get the iPhone!
 
L

LIVEFRMNYC

macrumors G3
Oct 27, 2009
8,780
10,844
I live in NYC(Queens) and never had any problems with dropped calls or spotty 3G data through out the boros. Sure there are some very specific small areas I've noticed where service sucks and/or data speed is slowed to a crawl , but that's with all the carriers.

I use a Verizon phone for work and compared to the AT&T signal I get, I truly don't see much of a differ either way.
 
M

Mark Booth

macrumors 68000
Jan 16, 2008
1,654
494
SDNikki said:
I also live in downtown SD (gaslamp) and have zero problems with signal/dropped calls/etc. In La Jolla, however, where I work, it SUCKS. However, every carrier seems to be equally bad :(
Click to expand...

Blame the community where you work, not AT&T. Places like La Jolla and other upscale communities have two things working against you:

1) A lot more cell phones on the network, particularly bandwidtch-hungry smart phones.
2) Nobody wants a cell antenna near their front yard, so coverage is thin.

I worked in Coronado for 10 years and it was the same situation. All of the residents and all of their children have cell phones, but none of them wanted cell antennas built near them. So, you have too many people on too few sites.

Mark
 
M

Mark Booth

macrumors 68000
Jan 16, 2008
1,654
494
noah82 said:
I live near Mission Valley and work in the UTC area. ATT sucks in both places. I can't wait for Verizon to get the iPhone!
Click to expand...

Again, both are more upscale and high-density areas.

When Verizon gets the iPhone, things will get better for AT&T customers if they simply do nothing.

Mark
 
I

iBryton

macrumors regular
Jan 13, 2010
232
0
I live in the Scripps Ranch/Mira Mesa area and I use my phone daily. I've never gotten a dropped call and my internet speed is great, not like the 25mbp download, but a great amount of time than other people think. I've always had problems with Verizon and never switched carriers when I got the first iPhone!
 
F123D

F123D

macrumors 68040
Sep 16, 2008
3,776
16
Del Mar, CA
I work in Carmel Valley, lived in UTC and now Fashion Valley. Drive all over from Escondido to Chula Vista. Never had a problem with ATT. Only dead spot I come across is on Friars and Ulric near the Container Store at the Fashion Valley mall.
 
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