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about to pull the trigger. . . . .

L

lowonthe456

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 27, 2007
438
0
hey gang, been lurking for a bit and have almost completely made up my mind to get the 16gb iPhone. I'm not pleased that my 44 a month service will be 104 but oh well....

i guess my questions is.....anyone switch carriers to get the iPhone and regret it? Either due to the phone itself or the service?

just want to get the thoughts of members here...

TIA

Mike
 
Re: about to pull the trigger. . . . .

Just remember, it could be a fatal mistake to be looking down the barrel when you do.
 
I regretted the switch initially. The phone was really buggy, relatively speaking, there weren't any useful apps, AT&T's 3G was dog slow and I had to get three phones and three lines from AT&T. Pretty pricey for a phone I couldn't really use. Three things have changed my mind. 1) Minor league baseball season ended so I'm home a lot more and don't need the Slingplayer. 2) The 2.1 release fixed some of the more maddening bugs such as the keyboard lag and the contacts app taking forever to start. 3) Beejive.

Now it's back to my full time phone again and while I'm not ready to sell the Tilt quite yet, it's on the shelf where the iPhone had been since July. But make no mistake, it's an expensive switch. Not just initially, it continues to be expensive. Every month I'm amazed at the size of the balls AT&T must have to charge what they do for the quality of service I get.
 
thanks Mark, thats the kind of info i was looking for. I have considered waiting to see if a 32gb version would replace the 16gb, but prolly not it seems
 
Eh...you might wait forever for that. Personally, I have a 16gb. I got an 8gb initially figuring I'm not a big multimedia guy but it grew on me. I also don't have an iPod like my wife and son. So at the moment, I have 233 songs, 151 music videos, 14 Adult Swim cartoons (about 11 minutes each), 6 full length TV shows (40 minutes each, more or less) and Repo Man, the movie, at 90 minutes. That's taking up about 9gb so while I could probably fill a 32gb phone, I'm sure it would be quite a price difference for very little practical gain in functionality.
 
i love my iphone so much.
and i switched carriers, from bell to rogers..
and i am so happy, rogers has amazing customer service, but my first couple bills has a few mistakes, but they worked it out. and a far as service, with bell i didn't get service anywhere in my house, school, or even when i was in the car in the middle of the street sometimes..

so happy with the iphone :)
 
was not really looking forward to switching to AT&T and would rather still be on Verizon but so far it has been OK. Only difference I noticed is that you have to wait WAY longer to talk to a service rep from AT&T on the phone.
 
I started my contracted cell phone career with the iPhone. I was so happy and loved the service, care and support. Wasn't worried though because of Apple... I would certainly hope you would not have any problems, but it's always possible. Personally I hear the best out of AT&T customers as in I hear the most complaints with Sprint with billing and overall service, and Verizon with the most reception issues in doors, but AT&T overall seems to be the most approved. I loved my experience and hope you find the same. Cock it and pull it...
 
right on....its not necessarily the iPhone I am concerned about...although the cracking and screen problems do concern me. mostly its the service. I'm with cricket becuase verizon shafted me for 500 bucks. makes me not want to have a contract, but the iphone is more and more a better fit for me.

thanks to all that replied and i'd still like to hear more
 
I recently purchased an iPhone on AT&T. I only moved one of my phones over initially, but after a few days I moved the other. The reception has been decent. I only experienced a data issue while in heavy woodland areas. It either goes to edge or I lose connection to data all together. That is to be expected though. In buildings, reception is decent as well. I haven't been to a dense office building yet though.

I haven't gotten my first bill, so I can't comment on that, but the total experience with the iphone itself has been superb. Honestly, I can't see what the big deal is with people doing all of that jailbreaking stuff to t-mobile. Hopefully I never find out.
 
Oh...the service! Well, the bottom line is that AT&T's 3G is vastly inferior to Sprint and Verizon's data networks in speed, availability and price. I see, on average, 1/3 the speed I saw with Sprint's EVDO from where I'm sitting right now. That's when it doesn't dump me to EDGE for no apparent reason. Additionally, I paid Sprint $15/mo for faster data in more places without a data cap (although I hear there is one in place now that isn't really enforced) and no problem with tethering. Now I'm paying $30/mo for far slower data in far fewer places. From what I hear, Apple is thinking of making an iPhone for Verizon and if that actually happens, I'm SO gone from AT&T. Data aside, I've also experienced three outages here, two of which lasted more than one day plus that east coast data outage a few weeks ago. I never experienced a total (voice and data) outage on either Sprint or T-Mobile and only two data outages of 4 hours or less on T-Mobile during the years I used them.

So overall, I'd have to say if you're using any other carrier now, be prepared to pay a lot more and get a lot less with AT&T.
 
reception

Hi all,
I am about to purchase as well, using my upgrade. We've been longtime ATT customers. If I am fine with my current reception/coverage etc, I should be ok with the reception on an iphone right? or is the reception different on the iphone than it is on a regular phone?
 
markgamber said:
Oh...the service! Well, the bottom line is that AT&T's 3G is vastly inferior to Sprint and Verizon's data networks in speed, availability and price. I see, on average, 1/3 the speed I saw with Sprint's EVDO from where I'm sitting right now. That's when it doesn't dump me to EDGE for no apparent reason. Additionally, I paid Sprint $15/mo for faster data in more places without a data cap (although I hear there is one in place now that isn't really enforced) and no problem with tethering. Now I'm paying $30/mo for far slower data in far fewer places. From what I hear, Apple is thinking of making an iPhone for Verizon and if that actually happens, I'm SO gone from AT&T. Data aside, I've also experienced three outages here, two of which lasted more than one day plus that east coast data outage a few weeks ago. I never experienced a total (voice and data) outage on either Sprint or T-Mobile and only two data outages of 4 hours or less on T-Mobile during the years I used them.

So overall, I'd have to say if you're using any other carrier now, be prepared to pay a lot more and get a lot less with AT&T.
Click to expand...


I just left Sprint service a few days ago. It was a great service, and on paper their pricing plans looked great, but I was still paying a lot more per month than I thought I should. It pretty much evens out between AT&T and sprint when it comes to cost.

I can't agree with your comment about the speed. I had an Instinct with live TV and it was decent at best. I was never uncomfortable, but it surely wasn't any faster than AT&T's. A lot of that has to do with the phone though. I browse faster on my iPhone than I did on the Instinct, but the iPhone has been out a long time and the Instinct has only been out a few months.

With all of that being said, if the iPhone was on every carrier, I would get it on Sprint (as of now) because Sprint had great customer service, and I never had any signal issues, even while I was in the woods in brunswick, Maine. I am not unhappy to be on AT&T though.
 
josta said:
Hi all,
I am about to purchase as well, using my upgrade. We've been longtime ATT customers. If I am fine with my current reception/coverage etc, I should be ok with the reception on an iphone right? or is the reception different on the iphone than it is on a regular phone?
Click to expand...

My iPhone has slightly better reception than my Tilt. Just slightly. So yeah, you should be fine.
 
josta said:
Hi all,
I am about to purchase as well, using my upgrade. We've been longtime ATT customers. If I am fine with my current reception/coverage etc, I should be ok with the reception on an iphone right? or is the reception different on the iphone than it is on a regular phone?
Click to expand...

In theory ecery phone has the same reception on a particular network. Only differences you notice with be software based
 
I'm in the DC area, and I made an expensive switch over to AT&T from T-mo (two lines for a pda and a sidekick). I was so amped over this new iphone! I got a cheap Nokia to start, since I made the switch about a week before the 3G came out. I had theeeeeee best reception with t-mo, and the reception/service was just as good with that little free nokia phone. But my iphone drops calls like it ain't nobody's business. i'm driving down i95 in the city, I look around and everyone has their cell phones to their ears, but mine is the only one that displays "Call failed". Yes, i've done every update via itunes, no it isn't jailbroken.

Do I love the phone? Absolutely.
Do I hate the fact that my phone drops more calls than philly has sacks against the Steelers?!?!? YES!

My advice, use your 30day return policy wisely.
 
lowonthe456 said:
hmmmmm, anyone in phoenix, arizona comment on 3g and reception in general?
Click to expand...

It ain't like Verizon! Scottsdale is the worst, especially the north part. Then again Scottsdale is bad for most carriers anyway.

To be honest though, I really haven't been to other parts of the valley since July. :eek:

Like someone else posted above, you've got 30 days to figure out if the coverage will work for you.
 
i'm in North Phoenix, just a shot down the 101 from scottsdale. i get spotty reception around here becuase of the "mountains" and such. I have a dead spot on Union Hills by North Canyon High School...kills my call every time i go thru there :mad:
 
I switched from an original SERO plan on Sprint to AT&T strictly for the iphone and I have to admit that my coverage with AT&T is not as good as it was with Sprint (in NJ). I knew that going in though so I was willing to deal with the shortcomings of the network in order to have an iphone. The iphone is certainly not perfect but it's by far the best phone I've ever had and I've had a lot of them. The best suggestion anyone can give you is to tell you to take advantage of the 30-day trial period. Real-life testing is the only way you can be sure that you'll get coverage everywhere you need it (maps are unreliable). You can port your number over from your previous carrier whenever you want so there's no need to rush that.

On a related note, if any of you guys do switch to AT&T (or have switched to AT&T within the last 30 days), feel free to shoot me a PM with your first and last name and email address. I'll send you a referral and we'll each get $25! You'll then have the ability to refer up to 5 people a year yourself for a total of $125/year. Every little bit helps when you're dealing with a price increase by switching over to AT&T.
 
ok, i went thru the online start up. it asked for my ss# and said all i had to do was go to a store and buy the iPhone and activate....my credit isn't good, since it never said anything about a deposit, would that come into play when i buy the iPhone and activate it? or is it safe to say if it didn't mention it I'm good to go?
 
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