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Iphone At&T service horrible?

T

theabombjazz

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 21, 2004
16
0
San Diego
I am a HUGE apple geek, here is the deal
No front camera, 3G, can I send a pic and/or video to another phone, will it do my tax's?, is the data service price related to my pan tsize?

regardless of allllllll this. the burning question i have in my iphone envy is

Does AT&T suck?

I have researched it over and over and over, and from CNET to almost every google search i have done for months, says that AT&T service is total garbage.
As in, dropped calls everytime, bursts of noise, unintelligible conversations...dont get my voice mail till next day, no bars, terrible customer service, and it just barely works

I am not SAYING this, I have just read it over and over

I would be happy as a clam if this wasnt what i read, I am a verizon guy and have ZERO problems....I am not talking about money, I am not talking about tech support, I am talking about it "working as a phone"

Never any garbled sound, dropped calls maybe once a month on the freeway in the odd spot

but when the 3 people I know with AT&T service call me?..
I cant understand them, bursts of noise, dropped calls...

I ask EVERYONE I talk to when their a problem with me understanding them or reaching them or any problems, I say "hey are you on AT&T?" and they go "yeah , how did you know"?

Can ANYONE tell me different?
 
I think it probably just depends on the coverage where you live and work.

Where I live, it's more than fine. I have had the iPhone since day one. Before that, I have had both Verizon and T-Mobile and neither one were better in my personal experience.
 
I'll say from my experience, that AT&T is the worst company you could want to do business with.

Customer service sucks. Lines in the store are long, they can't seem to handle things very easily over the phone, and many of the smaller stores can't help you with anything at all (they just give you a phone number to call for help).

If you need something changed, need a new phone, need to do anything (even pay your bill) then expect to be in the store for two or three hours.

But, the cell phone reception is great. I've never gotten reception with other carriers that was as clear and have not had any issues with dropped calls. Even places with no reception with other carriers tends to work pretty good with AT&T. There are a couple of places that have issues, but that's because they are remote, and no one has a tower in that area.

Good reception, terrible customer service. That's my experience.

If you want to pay your bill, do it online or mail it. Do anything you can to avoid going in the store. Don't deal with them in person unless you have no other plans for your day.
 
San Diego

I live in San Diego and moved to AT&T from Verizon on iPhone launch day last year. The service is comparable. No dropped calls, no garbled calls. Used my iPhone in the Los Angeles area, Phoenix, and Florida also all with no issues.
 
theabombjazz said:
Can ANYONE tell me different?
Click to expand...

Probably not, since AT&T is not for everyone. I'm right next to the water and in a dip in the terrain, so I've experienced those same situations you've described. I have full bars and EDGE at the top of my street, (which is the highest point in my neighborhood.) but once I pull into my driveway, I got to 2-3 bars on average and sometimes no service. I've remedied the situation inside my house and currently place my iPhone in the same spot 24/7 while I'm home. This seems to be the only spot that I've experienced these problems, but I've made the adjustment. I had the same problems with Sprint for (10) years and just dealt with it, because I wanted a cell phone. All the other carriers, VZ, T-Mobile, Allnet, Virgin, MetroPCS are all in the same boat at my house. I'm not sure what the remedy would be for your friends, but hopefully this will shed some light on how a few of us deal with those issues. :(
 
theabombjazz said:
Can ANYONE tell me different?
Click to expand...

You should check the coverage map of your area, that will give you the best indicator of reception.

I live closer to Los Angeles and reception is fine. I do occasionally get very staticky/difficult to hear calls but it's not often and it tends to be in places like underground garages.

Overall, I have no problem with AT&T's phone service, but their customer service isn't very good.
 
In Albuquerque where I work cell reception is terrible around campus. I've never had dropped calls but then again I don't call a lot, I've had a lot of No Service messages on text messages though. Customer service has been great to me though.
 
My niece attends UF in Gainesville, and AT&T is pretty much the best provider for that area, she says.

In Fort Lauderdale, the service is okay as well. I have to say that I have had better reception with Verizon and perhaps T-Mobile, though.

Jude
 
I have heard a lot of people are not happy with AT&T, but I've always been treated well. I've been with them for 6 years now and have lived in Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Florida and South Carolina during that time and have had pretty good service. Every now and then if I'm somewhere with a lot of walls (like a hospital), my service goes, but generally I've been pretty happy. I've had to call them about four times and the person I speak with has always been helpful, cheerful, heck, even funny. I was so glad when apple decided to go with AT&T for the iPhone, so I wouldn't have to switch service. Thumbs up here, apparently I'm in the minority. :D
 
I hope the service is good. I switched form verizon to at&t and will get the service on july 11 along with my new iPhone. I've looked at the coverage map and for my city it all looks pretty good, I'm just hoping it actually is....
 
Love AT&T; only service I've had that didn't have crappy service, boot me for using too much data on their unlimited plan, or try to steal my money.
 
flyinmac said:
I'll say from my experience, that AT&T is the worst company you could want to do business with.

Customer service sucks. Lines in the store are long, they can't seem to handle things very easily over the phone, and many of the smaller stores can't help you with anything at all (they just give you a phone number to call for help).

If you need something changed, need a new phone, need to do anything (even pay your bill) then expect to be in the store for two or three hours.

But, the cell phone reception is great. I've never gotten reception with other carriers that was as clear and have not had any issues with dropped calls. Even places with no reception with other carriers tends to work pretty good with AT&T. There are a couple of places that have issues, but that's because they are remote, and no one has a tower in that area.

Good reception, terrible customer service. That's my experience.

If you want to pay your bill, do it online or mail it. Do anything you can to avoid going in the store. Don't deal with them in person unless you have no other plans for your day.
Click to expand...
Customer service been great for me. The AT&T stores doesn't have any lines and I was able to get all of my issues resolved rather quickly in the AT&T stores.
 
NYC and Western Long Island are packed with 3G data coverage and voice coverage, couldn't be happier with AT&T. Love the service.
 
hmm well I will check out their map, I live in San Diego and will be relocating to San Francisco

that whole "only 200" txt messages thing?...wow, I bet that will go away eventually, some new promotion

lets hope on july 11th, they will tell us we can send a picture FROM the iphone TO any other cellphone
or a "video"

which I have been doing first with sprint and then now with verizon for about 7 years

Thing is, now that people are allowed to write application for the thing

All the stuff we are worried about (other than PHONE reception) can be written

video chat all that stuff, its all basically working on jailbroken phones already...well at least video broadcasting.

The iphone is basically now a "computer" with an antenna, alot is possible
 
I have been very pleased with the service I have been getting on my iPhone. I have not had any problems at all. I get very good reception about 99.99% of the time.
 
pintnight said:
Customer service been great for me. The AT&T stores doesn't have any lines and I was able to get all of my issues resolved rather quickly in the AT&T stores.
Click to expand...

We have one store that doesn't get a 2 or 3 hour line. But, then they don't sell the popular phones, and they don't answer questions or solve problems either. All they do is give you a phone number to call, and sell some of the cheaper cases and car chargers.

Otherwise, every store in the state with an AT&T logo on it has a huge line.

They even goes so far as to have a lined notebook that you put your name on when you walk in. They then go down the list until they get to you. Unfortunately, when you walk in, they usually have 3 or 4 pages of names before you. And, the number of chairs only covers the first quarter page.

And, the coffee pot is empty, and there's no hot water, and no public bathroom, and not even any useful brochures or display models to browse. You just sit there (or stand there) looking stupid until they call your name 3 hours later.
 
As far as signal/usage issues, it ALL depends on where you live. It's totally fine here in Atlanta, and I think their network is pretty broad around here. But San Diego is a different story, so you should find out from other people in the area.

Customer service has been pretty good. I haven't had to use it much, I haven't had any nightmare stories. Beware online that you're mostly going to find the bitching and not a lot of "oh, it's fine" responses. Angry people are more motivated.

You should also be aware that just about nobody really likes cell phone companies. To get almost anything affordable, you have to sign a 2-year contract, which means you're stuck with 'em. They also don't really have good prices considering the technology has been around for awhile.
 
theabombjazz said:
I am a HUGE apple geek, here is the deal
No front camera, 3G, can I send a pic and/or video to another phone, will it do my tax's?, is the data service price related to my pan tsize? . . .
Click to expand...

it may not do your TAXES. . but it will help you get a date. ;)
just playing. . but at&t service is teh sux. i don't have an iphone, but i do have at&t. i travel two hours north of my house to visit my brothers at school, and the road i travel on doesn't have service in a lot of areas (30 mile stretch doesn't have service) . . and when i do get service, it's not 5 bars. . it's more like 2, and that's if i'm lucky.

honestly, i think having a two year contract with at&t would have any apple geek thinking twice about an iphone with at&t service.
 
ATT was a nightmare for me. I'm in NYC. I switched from Verizon to ATT for the iPhone last year. verizon gives me absolutely perfect service, never a dropped call, everything goes through, service in buildings, elevators, subway, etc.

ATT? i had to walk around my apartment, on the 16th floor of a building (plenty of windows, not buried in the middle) to get service. and when i did get service, it sucked. elevators? lose the call. at my work place? no service. subways? forget it. up in connecticut, where i get perfect service w/ verizon? no bars on ATT.

as for customer service, ATT is the worst. after canceling my contract, they didnt send my bill to the correct place, then 3 months later when they were hounding me, they tried to charge me to send me a bill, kept telling me i paid it off yet kept sending me bills with further balances. it took me 4 months to finally get it settled.

ATT was a terrible, terrible experience for me and i swore them off forever, but with the iphone 3g hype i'm thinking of taking the dive again... IF i hear that voice quality has gotten better on the iphone (which may be the case from what i've read online so far...) here's hoping. or hopefully ill get over the desire to have an iphone like i did last time because ATT is hell.
 
manhattanmania said:
ATT was a nightmare for me. I'm in NYC. I switched from Verizon to ATT for the iPhone last year. verizon gives me absolutely perfect service, never a dropped call, everything goes through, service in buildings, elevators, subway, etc.

ATT? i had to walk around my apartment, on the 16th floor of a building (plenty of windows, not buried in the middle) to get service. and when i did get service, it sucked. elevators? lose the call. at my work place? no service. subways? forget it. up in connecticut, where i get perfect service w/ verizon? no bars on ATT.

as for customer service, ATT is the worst. after canceling my contract, they didnt send my bill to the correct place, then 3 months later when they were hounding me, they tried to charge me to send me a bill, kept telling me i paid it off yet kept sending me bills with further balances. it took me 4 months to finally get it settled.

ATT was a terrible, terrible experience for me and i swore them off forever, but with the iphone 3g hype i'm thinking of taking the dive again... IF i hear that voice quality has gotten better on the iphone (which may be the case from what i've read online so far...) here's hoping. or hopefully ill get over the desire to have an iphone like i did last time because ATT is hell.
Click to expand...

+1

ATT is not even close in terms of reception to VZW. I love my iphone, but cringe when I think about ATT.

My work phone is VZW, and I maybe drop a call once a year. With ATT, it is a daily event.
 
I live in far north Dallas and the service has been nothing but superb. Every now and then I will get a voicemail without the phone ringing but other then that, I got nothing against the 'evil death star'.

I go to Michigan several times a year and the service has been the same. I just haven't had the problems aforementioned in this thread. Hopefully you guys have a better experience on the allmighty 3G network.

death-star-att.jpg


I love me some AT&T! :D
 
It all depends on where you live. I love love love AT&T, I've had them since 1997 when they were Cellular One, then Cingular, then AT&T. I have never had major signal issues (knock wood) and I have never had a problem with customer service, on my parent's plan (first few years) or now on my own plan (for the last several years).

However, your mileage may vary. If you don't get the right customer service rep, or your neighborhood is in a dead spot, you aren't going to like them. For me, if the iPhone were offered on any other carrier exclusively, I don't think I would have left AT&T for it. I like the service a great deal, and I've found that if you know HOW to ask for things, you'll never be disappointed. It's just a matter of phrasing your questions and requests the right way.

(Another part of my opinion is my extreme bias towards GSM, since I like to change phones on a whim...so that pretty much leaves me AT&T and T-Mobile, and I had T-Mobile for ~6 hours one day. After the abysmal signal experience, I ran back to AT&T and never looked back. But that was just my experience, and you need to find out for yourself.)
 
I had an iphone when they first came out with AT&T (before they were able to unlocke em) and it was awful. I only had it a week and couldn't stand the idea of being locked into something for 2 years that barely works. I'm not really in a rural area either... In Orlando right by the University of Central Florida.
 
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