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AT&T Addressing Network Performance in Manhattan and San Francisco, High-Bandwidth Users

This is why Apple should drop AT&T in 2010!!

Verizon wasn't lying or advertising false 3G coverage. This statement made by ATT CEO proves Verizon was right from the beginning.

If Apple get Verizon in 2010. I'm signing up all my friends and relatives. I'll even buy them iPhone myself. :D
 
mattster16 said:
All of you are having fun complaining about AT&T, but you really should just be complaining about cell technology in general.

If you actually understand how cell phones work you would be a little more sympathetic to AT&T's position. Unfortunately there are only so many frequencies in the radio bandwidth. There is a limit as to how many devices can be functioning in any given area without interfering with each other. The concern here is that someone streaming data constantly is using an entire frequency spectrum and it can never be shared.

The entire cell phone concept was developed on a shared frequency model. With more and more people requesting data more frequently the whole model falls apart. Sure they can make cell sites smaller and smaller so as to cover less of an area (and therefore less people), but that has limits too. You can end up with weak signals and more dead spots. In high population areas this is a big problem. As time goes on and more and more people are constantly trying to receive/transmit simultaneously we will eventually run into limits.

Sure there are new technologies coming all the time to help, but they can't be implemented fast enough.

AT&T is quickly realizing this new direction the wireless industry is taking. They are struggling to keep up. No cell phone network has had as much data demand as theirs, ever, thanks to the iPhone. They can't just 'add' more capacity like some of you want them to. There are FCC limits, only a narrow frequency range they can use, cell site boundaries have to be redefined to limit interference.

This is all highly simplified, but it's the basics.

If the iPhone comes to Verizon and there is a mass exodus from at&t to them, trust me, you will have the same exact issues. Verizon's current supposed superiority will no longer exist.
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I completely agree.

And furthermore, for all you powerusers that like to hog bandwidth just because it's "unlimited", the cell phone companies all have 5GB reasonable limits in the fineprint. AT&T doesn't really enforce it unless you're on a tethering plan. Verizon enforces it and they're very diligent about it.
 
It's annoying to see a repetition of this urban legend. Once a Genius tested the iPhone of a New Yorker complaining about a dropped call rate of 30%. The technician found no deviation from operating standards, and simply noted on the service ticket that the user's future incidence of dropped calls would accordingly be consistent with the service level of the carrier. He never said what that rate would be, nor did he venture any opinion about what dropped call rate was considered "normal" in New York or elsewhere.

This isn't to say that AT&T users in New York don't have dropped calls (this thread alone provides ample evidence of that), but it's at least fatuous, if not intentionally misleading, to cite this repair ticket as an Apple acknowledgement that a dropped call rate of 30% is normal in New York City.
 
MacNut said:
ATT or any other cell carrier can't just throw a tower where ever they please. They have to get approval from states and towns and a lot of people fight placement. So it is not that easy as just dropping a tower. I'm sure ATT would love to blanket the country with towers but they can't.
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Same problem here mate so its a bad excuse for poor planing.

My operator fixes the problem with network upgrades and adding more carriers to each cell-tower until they can build a new cell-tower some where else in the city. AT&T fixes the problem by blaming its customers - "Oh we didn't know that they where actually going to use their unlimited dataplan"

To blame the goverment is a really bad excuse.
 
mdntcallr said:
it's like the suits of ATT Wireless are drilled in a mantra of ... spend as little on infrastructure as possible... Earn as much as they can.
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It is called Corporate America. You pay lobbyists for this. Outside of the US, we have government organizations who care about this stuff. (Forget Canada - the CRTC is a hopeless and hapless organization. Look to Europe)
 
smartaleck said:
Not to point a totally redundant comment, but... AT&T iphone service in NYC is HORRIBLE.
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Can't speak for NYC. The closest I got to it was Newark, in 2000. Most of my time was in the Philadelphia area for training. Great service there, though.

I had Sprint for 5 years here and maybe had 5 dropped calls in that time. I kid you not. Sprint's customer serviced was one step above the Khmer Rouge, but their phones f*cking worked when you needed them.
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I had Sprint for 3 years; 2000 - 2003. Kinda had no choice, as they pretty much had the market for everything where I lived at the time (Las Vegas). They owned all the lines for both the CLEC and ILEC, and ran fiber to the curb for everyone, then left it up to the 'provider' to hook it up to the residence. Cell phone service was okay, but there really weren't that many smartphones around at that time, except for the old Nextel walkie-talkie type phones.

And yes, their service worked. It even worked great when I visited my friends in Sacramento, who were getting dropped calls with their Verizon phones while standing in the same place. One second it would work; they'd sneeze, and the call would be dropped. Me? full bars.

satcomer said:
I was with Cingular before it became AT&T. Then one the iPhone 3G came out I dumped my non-smart phone to the iPhone 3g. When ity was still cingular I never had a dropped call with that 3G. Then came the AT&T buyout and AT&T name change the drop-outs starting coming almost everyday. I will bet the farm saying the cost cutting that went on from the old Cingular really hampered the wireless network during the "consolation" process. To me they just want the profits without spending any more money.

I say even if Apple offers T-Mobile (US) the phone you will see a whole sale defection from AT&T. So all you investors sell your AT&T stocks before the end of the exclusive Apple iPhone agreement ends!
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I went to ATT in 2003 (well before they bought Cingular), and had great service all the way through. Same thing happened in Sacramento to my VZW friends; they dumped their phones after their last call dropped, and went back to ATT. no problems since.

All but one of us have iPhones now on ATT. Not a single dropped call for us. That one friend has a BB (not sure of the model, and don't really care). None of us have had dropped calls in this region.

None. Zero.

Since I've had the iPhone, I've only gone as far east as Louisville, Ky. Not a single dropped call there, either. Once again, the list of cities where I have had no problems at with my iPhone:

Sacramento.
San Francisco.
San Diego.
Las Vegas.
Kingman.
Albuquerque.
Omaha.
Denver.
Kansas City.
St. Louis.
Louisville.
Oklahoma City.
Reno.
Carson City/Lake Tahoe.
Phoenix.

I'm heading to Fresno this weekend. I'll report my findings on that, but I seriously doubt I'll have any trouble down the CA-99 corridor.

BL.
 
elbodude said:
Even Cupertino, in the Apple HQ parking lot, the signal is horrible. Apple should be on ATT about this as this is embarrassing.
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I beg to differ.

I've been to that part of the South Bay, and had no trouble with signal strength. Mountain View, Palo Alto, Sunnyvale.. all have been plenty fine for me.

How about this; Please back up your claim. Post a pic of your iPhone from 1 Infinite Loop showing your signal strength. Do that, including proof that you are standing in their lot, and I'll recant, plus apologise.

BL.
 
bradl said:
I beg to differ.

I've been to that part of the South Bay, and had no trouble with signal strength. Mountain View, Palo Alto, Sunnyvale.. all have been plenty fine for me.

How about this; Please back up your claim. Post a pic of your iPhone from 1 Infinite Loop showing your signal strength. Do that, including proof that you are standing in their lot, and I'll recant, plus apologise.

BL.
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Take you phone into the BJ's Bar/Grill on the Apple parking lot. I have one reception bar and no 3G. I will take a pic next time I am in that location.
 
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