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AT&T Customers Remaining Loyal as Verizon and Sprint Gain iPhone
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Predictable....
The dropped call problem with AT&T, while is obviously a problem for some, it is NOT as big as these forums have blown it up to be over the years. Complainers complain and people that are happy, usually stay quiet. So most people stay with the much better, faster, and more advanced network with AT&T. A few move for potentially valid reasons.
Everyone predicted a massive move to Verizon and it NEVER happened. And, its not a matter of being locked into your contract. The termination fees start at $175 and are prorated down per month. This far out from the original Verizon release of the iPhone, everyone has or had the opportunity to bail on AT&T.
If you take a real look at Verizon price, network features, and speed, It makes NO SENSE to switch.
AT&T is rolling out 4G which will blow away the 2 LTE towers Verizon has erected so they can run their commercials.
The dropped call problem with AT&T, while is obviously a problem for some, it is NOT as big as these forums have blown it up to be over the years. Complainers complain and people that are happy, usually stay quiet. So most people stay with the much better, faster, and more advanced network with AT&T. A few move for potentially valid reasons.
Everyone predicted a massive move to Verizon and it NEVER happened. And, its not a matter of being locked into your contract. The termination fees start at $175 and are prorated down per month. This far out from the original Verizon release of the iPhone, everyone has or had the opportunity to bail on AT&T.
If you take a real look at Verizon price, network features, and speed, It makes NO SENSE to switch.
AT&T is rolling out 4G which will blow away the 2 LTE towers Verizon has erected so they can run their commercials.
Unless you go to Sprint which actually does offer Unlimited data.
I switched from AT&T to Sprint and never looked back - not only is it cheaper but the service is way better too.
wrong, ETF is now $375 for smartphones, pro-rated to go down at $10 a month. So even if I kept att for 20 months (out of my 24 month contract), I would still owe $175 to leave.
This is the situation I am in, and don't know if it's worth paying the ETF because by the time my contract is up (next year) I might as well wait for the iPhone (6), but I also don't want to miss out on sprints unlimited data if they stop offering it.
Also not sure who the best service would be through, at times att can be fine, other times it's absolutely horrible. decisions, decisions.
^^ rollover minutes are a joke. Sure you have thousands, so does probably every other att customer. The real question is have you ever used one of those minutes???
I moved to Verizon when I got the 4s. It's unbelievable how much faster web pages come up, the data speed is incredible. Also voice quality is much better than ATT. Furthermore, I take the northwestern pacific metra line, and I had 4 dead spots with ATT. I have none now, so I can still listen in on the conference calls and leave work early. Verizon is so much better, especially in Chicago.
One more thing. I paid 140 a month to ATT. For same minutes, data and text I am at 90 with Verizon. Nice savings there too.
One more thing. I paid 140 a month to ATT. For same minutes, data and text I am at 90 with Verizon. Nice savings there too.
Been with AT&T since the first iPhone and I see no reason at all to ever leave AT&T. Great customer service, good reliable network where I am and zero dropped calls. Everyone at work comes to me when they want to look up something on the net because my iPhone is faster then their Androids on whatever networks they are on.
AT&T's network issues are over stated and blown out of proportion.
The two cities you most hear gripes about are San Fran and NYC.... and wait, what's this? THAT IS WHERE ALL THE TECH NEW SITES ARE BASED!
Who is crying about the issues? OH, the tech news sites in NYC and San Fran. (Predominately CNET who has offices in both places). They also blast Sprint for coverage in these areas as well. More quietly, they blast Verizon not for calls, but data coverage in the same cities.
When you cram more people in one city than the majority of our states have in total population, a city full of tower metal and concrete, there's bound to be issues. Sure, AT&T should probably invest in better coverage in such a large city.
San Fran is less forgivable than NYC.
The majority of these things about AT&T didn't come about until the iPhone came along, and other devices had less issues. I think the earlier models of the iPhone all got a few dings on call quality as a whole, and I think Apple owns part of it.
Now mind you... I loathe AT&T as a company. I just hate fact distortion.
Also, with people using phones for data more than talking these days, AT&T has the most reliable data network and trumps the other 3 major carriers in speeds. That's probably more important to most people than a dropped call here and there. It's why I stick with them. ANytime I'm with friends and we decide to search for a video or something we want to share with someone, I always have the video playing before my Verizon and Sprint friends even have finished searching for it.
The two cities you most hear gripes about are San Fran and NYC.... and wait, what's this? THAT IS WHERE ALL THE TECH NEW SITES ARE BASED!
Who is crying about the issues? OH, the tech news sites in NYC and San Fran. (Predominately CNET who has offices in both places). They also blast Sprint for coverage in these areas as well. More quietly, they blast Verizon not for calls, but data coverage in the same cities.
When you cram more people in one city than the majority of our states have in total population, a city full of tower metal and concrete, there's bound to be issues. Sure, AT&T should probably invest in better coverage in such a large city.
San Fran is less forgivable than NYC.
The majority of these things about AT&T didn't come about until the iPhone came along, and other devices had less issues. I think the earlier models of the iPhone all got a few dings on call quality as a whole, and I think Apple owns part of it.
Now mind you... I loathe AT&T as a company. I just hate fact distortion.
Also, with people using phones for data more than talking these days, AT&T has the most reliable data network and trumps the other 3 major carriers in speeds. That's probably more important to most people than a dropped call here and there. It's why I stick with them. ANytime I'm with friends and we decide to search for a video or something we want to share with someone, I always have the video playing before my Verizon and Sprint friends even have finished searching for it.
While we never had issues with AT&T, Verizon's network where I live is just generally better. My husband and I moved over to big red with the 4S release.
My work cell phone is on Verizon and it gets better signal than my AT&T iPhone at home, I'm sticking with AT&T because of the grandfathered unlimited data plan, talk and data at the same time and rollover minutes. Not to mention that switching to Verizon would cost me more a month on a family plan.
Maybe for anyone who doesn't have to talk on the phone for work. And there's a lovely dead spot right between my condo and the pool. A hundred yards or so of guaranteed call failure.
Sounds really great but when are we (AT&T) going to see this speed increase because so far I don't see crap. Just false promises.
-Mike
It's just a fact that AT&T is a very good organization. Prior to the iPhone exclusive AT&T had a good reputation.
Then in came the entitled iPhone owners who like their then current leader (Or GOD as some referred to Jobs) were wont to finger point whenever any problem arose. Pointing that finger at AT&T, after all Apple is never accountable when they can blame it on someone else.
Funny how it is. I bought the first iPhone upon release, as well as using my new company issued AT&T BlackBerry concurrently. Whenever the iPhone would drop a call which was frequently, I simply got out my BlackBerry and placed a crystal clear call. Not a single problem... for years.
Because of Steve's massive power, influence and group of cult like followers, all the "noise" of whining and blaming AT&T worked perfectly. Apple negatively impacted AT&T's reputation and that was that.
After all why would Apple want to spend the time and money to optimize the iPhone for AT&T... when they could simply say that AT&T had a terrible network and the public bought it.
The massive number of iPhones on the network gave the majority voice to iPhone owners who are the biggest complainers of all.
Not one of us carrying an AT&T BlackBerry or Samsung Blackjack Smartphone had any call problems. Funny how that is.
So yes, it's no surprise to me that there were no mass defections when Verizon picked up the iPhone.
Fast forward to today. Finally Apple included not only a good antenna, but a baseband chip that _is_ optimized for AT&T's network and surprise, surprise, the iPhone 4S, has a fantastic phone! It's far and away the best telephone of any iPhone to date.
And why? Antennagate... as simple as that
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It would serve you well to learn how cell phone networks function.
^^ cant really claim that as fact. The service of all the carriers really depends on your location. vzw may be bad in one are, great in another, just like every other cell provider.
Stop making excuses people not everyone on AT&T is staying because they are forced to
It's amusing reading all the posts where folks feel they need to justify why OTHER people are staying w/ AT&T. It's simple, most people are staying with AT&T because they choose to. Not necessarily because they are locked in a contract, or because of simultaneous voice and data, etc. When the iPhone first went to Verizon, the analysts swore there would be a mass exodus. When that did not happen, the same analysts claimed it was because folks were under contract. Mind you folks who got the iPhone 3gs when it first came out have had their contracts expire already and the majority did not jump ship, they renewed those contracts. The next prediction of a mass exodus was supposed to be when the next version of the iPhone comes out and all the carriers are on equal footing selling the device from day 1. Ok... so the iPhone 4S came out.... now with two other carriers to choose from... still no mass exodus. I imagine that analysts are going to punt their prediction down the line now to "when the LTE iPhone comes out, folks are going to leave AT&T.. who knows? If AT&T works for you great. If another carrier works out beet great. However, there are folks that have GREAT service w/ AT&T's iPhone / network.
It's amusing reading all the posts where folks feel they need to justify why OTHER people are staying w/ AT&T. It's simple, most people are staying with AT&T because they choose to. Not necessarily because they are locked in a contract, or because of simultaneous voice and data, etc. When the iPhone first went to Verizon, the analysts swore there would be a mass exodus. When that did not happen, the same analysts claimed it was because folks were under contract. Mind you folks who got the iPhone 3gs when it first came out have had their contracts expire already and the majority did not jump ship, they renewed those contracts. The next prediction of a mass exodus was supposed to be when the next version of the iPhone comes out and all the carriers are on equal footing selling the device from day 1. Ok... so the iPhone 4S came out.... now with two other carriers to choose from... still no mass exodus. I imagine that analysts are going to punt their prediction down the line now to "when the LTE iPhone comes out, folks are going to leave AT&T.. who knows? If AT&T works for you great. If another carrier works out beet great. However, there are folks that have GREAT service w/ AT&T's iPhone / network.
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Switched to Sprint
and to be honest, yes I miss the data/voice at the same time but reason I did switch wasn't much to do with AT&T coverage but was due to wife ending up with a terrible piece of crap Samsung Galaxy phone. And AT&T would do absolutely nothing to try to help her out. So more for bad customer service was the switch made to Sprint more than any other reason.
Sprint seems fine up here in Seattle-Tacoma (Western Washington in general) area and calls don't drop in certain places where AT&T did.
So overall happy with the switch.
and to be honest, yes I miss the data/voice at the same time but reason I did switch wasn't much to do with AT&T coverage but was due to wife ending up with a terrible piece of crap Samsung Galaxy phone. And AT&T would do absolutely nothing to try to help her out. So more for bad customer service was the switch made to Sprint more than any other reason.
Sprint seems fine up here in Seattle-Tacoma (Western Washington in general) area and calls don't drop in certain places where AT&T did.
So overall happy with the switch.
not true. iPhone 4 was released in June, so even those that bought it on launch day (like me) are still under contract with AT&T. Our 24 month contracts end in June. What you are likely referring to are people who AT&T is letting upgrade early and extending their contracts. This does not allow those people to jump ship to another carrier without paying ETF fees because our contracts are still not up until June.
I would actually say that this tactic, and Grandfathered unlimited data, are perhaps what is keeping people with AT&T. I have been able to purchase every iPhone from AT&T since their respective launches if I just agree to extend my contract. If I want to jump ship from att right now, I'm still going to have to pay an ETF, however if I stick with att, I could have bought the iPhone 4S on launch day.
Hmm, a dickish comment with no explanation. Do please explain how knowing how cell networks function affects the necessity of voice consistency when talking on the phone for work, or how how knowing how cell networks function would prevent my phone from dropping signal on the way to the pool.
xxBURT0Nxx, That's an type-o on my part. I meant to reference the iPhone 3gs. Folks that owned that the 3gs were coming off contract and could have switched to the iPhone 4 on VZ.
I was in Chicago last month; and I'm glad to hear I was not the only one.
Seems AT&T has terrible coverage in that area; its shocking. In Minneapolis/SaintPaul+metro AT&T coverage is great! Even with 3GS I was getting almost 4MB/sec speeds.
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I swear, people are getting more stupid.
You idiots complaining no coverage at home, why didn't you return your phones and went back to your old network that is so awesome? You have few weeks to try and cancel if you are not satisfied. Instead, you want to stay in that crappy service and complain for two years. You had a choice...
For those idiots who chose iPhone over a good network in your area, banging on your keyboard complaining about it in MacRumors won't increase it's signal magically. Switch carriers...
I swear, people are getting more stupid.
You idiots complaining no coverage at home, why didn't you return your phones and went back to your old network that is so awesome? You have few weeks to try and cancel if you are not satisfied. Instead, you want to stay in that crappy service and complain for two years. You had a choice...
For those idiots who chose iPhone over a good network in your area, banging on your keyboard complaining about it in MacRumors won't increase it's signal magically. Switch carriers...
I'm in the same boat. There's a spot of bad service in my small town, but I've learned to deal with it.
I figure each company has their own set of problems. I'll just stay with with I have.
Arent there a lot of iPhone 3GS AT&T customer who ended their 2-year contracts this year?
Which carrier did they switch to?
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No kidding! I about 2000+ roll-over minutes! This is coming from 450Minutes/month plan. I had so many rollover they expired.
That is the one thing I dont like about it; the commercial said they never expired, and I had a few hundred expired on me... either that or I reach the maximum allowed.
It's almost as good as having unlimited minutes when you need it once you bank enough minutes you don't always use.
$375 is the new ETF starting 2011/2010 about. Those who were on 3GS should be on the older fee.
Then what AT&T explained to me about their ETF:
$375 the first month; then -$10 each month for a year. After the first year its -$20 each month until the contract expires, so that means $55 ETF if you have your contract for 20 months.
I don't know if VZW and Sprint have similar policies regarding their ETF.
I'm only 15 months into my contract, so I would pay $180 less for my ETF; which mine might be $275 and not $375. (I have to doublecheck)...