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AT&T Dropped Call Rate of 30% Considered Normal in New York City
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That's awesome would you like a cookie? If you like VZW so much, you're more than welcome to go back to them so you can have another 5 wonderful years of no dropped calls.
No he is right. They all struggle with sky scrapers. Verizon happens to use a stronger signal than AT&T so it cuts threw building a little better but on top of that Verizon does not have to deal with towers being over loaded by iPhone users.
Most of the drop calls happen during tower hand offs and if the tower you need to be handed off to is max out well your call gets dropped.
Now if you want example of Verizon problems I was getting dropped calls all the time for months a few years ago with verizon and dump them for sprint.
As for example of building problems on another carrier sprint I could give you a this strip on campus about 50'x50' that as soon as you walked into it your call would drop. Same area multiple sprint phones multiple calls. Just a random dead zone on campus for sprint. AT&T had at least one spot on campus that was almost the exact same way. Skyscrappers make it insane for all carriers to deal with and on top of that you have tons of tower hand offs.
That's exactly what I did
Having grown tired of the terrible AT&T service in NYC (and realizing that everything I love about the iPhone has nothing to do with it's phone capabilities) I terminated my contract with AT&T (paid $100), sold my iPhone, went back to Verizon and got a Blackberry Tour and bough a new iPod Touch. It's so nice having reliable phone service again and the BB Tour is a fantastic phone. These things are so light that carrying two items instead of one isn't even an issue (maybe many years ago when cellphones weighed a ton and MP3 players looked like VCRs it would have been).
Best of both worlds.
This is exactly why I turn 3G off on my iPhone. The reception in Edinburgh is appalling - I walk around the city and my phone is constantly skipping between GPRS and 3G. And sometimes it'll just say "No Service" until I turn 3G off and it forces GPRS connection.
I think the iPhone has really outlined the flaws and poor reception that carriers have in some major areas.
I think the iPhone has really outlined the flaws and poor reception that carriers have in some major areas.
I get about the same drop rate or worse in the DC Metro area. I also have friends on AT&T that have their text messages go to the wrong person. Thinking seriously of getting a Verizon BB and an iPod Touch to replace my iPhone.
That's so weird. I live in DC and for my job I drive all around the greater metro area. And I can't even remember ever dropping a single call.
Don't you just love AT&T?
(BTW, there's a few good reasons I use Verizon.)
One of those reasons is that there is no AT&T signal at my house.
same here - literally maybe one bar in the house - texts usually come through when not in basement but definitely no calls. And i'm still loving the iphone every day - practically indispensable at work with epocrates.
thus while 30% sounds bad esp for a large metropolitan area, that would be great for me in my home.
waiting for that femtocell type product release - hurry up AT&T...
I had to sell my beloved iPhone and kick AT&T to the curb because I get zero service here in my home just outside of Phoenix. I was so fed up with the dropped calls and AT&T had nothing but excuses for me, they also told me to wait til the next quarter so I could purchase a cell booster for home. What a joke.
A few things...
I've also had Verizon now for 4 years, and I've maybe during that time had 2 dropped calls. Not bad for 4 years of service.
As a consumer, when is 30% failure rate, acceptable?
And then these femtocells. If they (the provider) can't give you access you're paying for, is it really fair that they charge you on top of what you're already paying, to sell you a device that is supposed to boost the service you're already paying for?
I've also had Verizon now for 4 years, and I've maybe during that time had 2 dropped calls. Not bad for 4 years of service.
As a consumer, when is 30% failure rate, acceptable?
And then these femtocells. If they (the provider) can't give you access you're paying for, is it really fair that they charge you on top of what you're already paying, to sell you a device that is supposed to boost the service you're already paying for?
And then these femtocells. If they (the provider) can't give you access you're paying for, is it really fair that they charge you on top of what you're already paying, to sell you a device that is supposed to boost the service you're already paying for?
no, it's not fair - esp if other providers have good coverage in that same area. it's like you are triple paying - femtocell, wireless phone, and internet - just to get wireless phone which you were already paying for.
however for me, no cell provider has decent coverage in our home based on terrain/location so i will absolutely pay extra to get better cell coverage in our house - although it really hasn't been too hard to use the vonage line instead of the cell when we are home...but I would love to be able to get cell service for texting especially while in my basement theater/pub area.
and, yes i have already installed a cell booster in the attic without significant success.
Fyi
Not that anyone is reading this thread still, but just in case some of you are:
If you are missing incoming texts, calls, and/or voicemails, when you're in a covered area, this MAY NOT BE A NETWORK PROBLEM.
I had a Blackberry that had all these problems two years ago, and I eventually mentioned it to a savvy AT&T rep. He got me a replacement SIM card and all the problems went away as if by magic.
Also, just another anecdotal experience: I live in San Francisco and spend most of my time here, and I haven't had a dropped call since I got my iPhone a few months ago. However, I have run into numerous situations where the data connection stopped working. In fact, to give an idea of the magnitude of the problem: I walk to work. I like to listen to a streaming internet radio station, one which tacks a ten second ad to the beginning every time you start the stream but otherwise does not have any ads. The last time I tried to listen to it while walking home from work, I literally heard the ad for more total time than I heard the station. Which is to say, the stream very rarely worked for more than twenty seconds at a time.
-fred
Not that anyone is reading this thread still, but just in case some of you are:
If you are missing incoming texts, calls, and/or voicemails, when you're in a covered area, this MAY NOT BE A NETWORK PROBLEM.
I had a Blackberry that had all these problems two years ago, and I eventually mentioned it to a savvy AT&T rep. He got me a replacement SIM card and all the problems went away as if by magic.
Also, just another anecdotal experience: I live in San Francisco and spend most of my time here, and I haven't had a dropped call since I got my iPhone a few months ago. However, I have run into numerous situations where the data connection stopped working. In fact, to give an idea of the magnitude of the problem: I walk to work. I like to listen to a streaming internet radio station, one which tacks a ten second ad to the beginning every time you start the stream but otherwise does not have any ads. The last time I tried to listen to it while walking home from work, I literally heard the ad for more total time than I heard the station. Which is to say, the stream very rarely worked for more than twenty seconds at a time.
-fred
i bet AT&T considers voice more critical than data and gives it higher priority on their circuits that connect the towers to their network
You are assuming that the amount of spectrum available will never change. There's a reason they just shut off analog TV. Yes, spectrum is a finite resource, but they're shifting more to mobile voice/data very soon.
You are also assuming that all the frequencies available to each tower are already in use on that tower - that the towers are saturated. I think that's an unlikely assumption, outside very dense areas like Manhattan and DC. (And in Manhattan, you probably don't have the whole "can't get towers approved because of community opposition" problem because the towers are just installed on or in existing buildings, albeit at some expense; and you probably need a denser tower population anyway because of all the ground clutter; so a denser tower population probably already exists).
I imagine that the transceivers used on the towers have channel limits - that each transceiver can only handle a certain number of handsets k, within the limits of the number of available frequency sets n (the phone doesn't just use one frequency; I'm pretty sure they are spread-spectrum devices, so you are better off thinking of frequency sets rather than frequencies), and that k <<< n . That would explain AT&T's claims that their ongoing upgrades will mitigate the problem - they may be upgrading the transceivers on the towers so that each tower can use more of the frequencies theoretically available than has been true so far.
The other cell companies also have to segregate their frequencies from one another. If T-Mobile (the other GSM/3G carrier) isn't having this problem, it means either a. their network utilization is a lot lower, or b. they're doing something right and AT&T is doing something wrong. That's also true with the CDMA carriers, of course, but I think they use different parts of the spectrum - and Verizon is a pretty big network.
You are also assuming that all the frequencies available to each tower are already in use on that tower - that the towers are saturated. I think that's an unlikely assumption, outside very dense areas like Manhattan and DC. (And in Manhattan, you probably don't have the whole "can't get towers approved because of community opposition" problem because the towers are just installed on or in existing buildings, albeit at some expense; and you probably need a denser tower population anyway because of all the ground clutter; so a denser tower population probably already exists).
I imagine that the transceivers used on the towers have channel limits - that each transceiver can only handle a certain number of handsets k, within the limits of the number of available frequency sets n (the phone doesn't just use one frequency; I'm pretty sure they are spread-spectrum devices, so you are better off thinking of frequency sets rather than frequencies), and that k <<< n . That would explain AT&T's claims that their ongoing upgrades will mitigate the problem - they may be upgrading the transceivers on the towers so that each tower can use more of the frequencies theoretically available than has been true so far.
The other cell companies also have to segregate their frequencies from one another. If T-Mobile (the other GSM/3G carrier) isn't having this problem, it means either a. their network utilization is a lot lower, or b. they're doing something right and AT&T is doing something wrong. That's also true with the CDMA carriers, of course, but I think they use different parts of the spectrum - and Verizon is a pretty big network.
iPhone Drop Call - Consumer Advocacy Campaign
Less Bars is a group of consumers who rave about one of the greatest inventions of this century: the iPhone. We are also an *educated* group of consumers who recognize that AT&T is currently conducting billing abuses against the majority of iPhone 3G customers.
We created this petition to tell the AT&T Fat Cat Executives We will not stand for your billing abuses. It is our constitutional right to use any and all social media and public relations avenues available to help spread the word about your billing abuse practices. We will not give up until you announce you will credit our accounts for each and every dropped call.
Find us on the web: http://www.lessbarsinmoreplaces.com
Leave a comment on our hotline. Well replay it for all of twitterverse 800-574-7032
Follow all of our research: http://www.twitter.com/atthaslessbars
Less Bars is a group of consumers who rave about one of the greatest inventions of this century: the iPhone. We are also an *educated* group of consumers who recognize that AT&T is currently conducting billing abuses against the majority of iPhone 3G customers.
We created this petition to tell the AT&T Fat Cat Executives We will not stand for your billing abuses. It is our constitutional right to use any and all social media and public relations avenues available to help spread the word about your billing abuse practices. We will not give up until you announce you will credit our accounts for each and every dropped call.
Find us on the web: http://www.lessbarsinmoreplaces.com
Leave a comment on our hotline. Well replay it for all of twitterverse 800-574-7032
Follow all of our research: http://www.twitter.com/atthaslessbars
THIS IS DISGRACEFUL !!!!!!!!!
With AT&T being the cell phone carrier that charges the most, they should be EXPECTED to provide the best quality service in the industry. If AT&T thinks 30% of all calls being dropped is "normal," this is absolutely unacceptable! So this means that of every ten phone calls to 911, 3 being dropped is "normal" and acceptable????? And major corporations with thousands of employees are supposed to sign up for cell service with AT&T, knowing that 30% of all calls (with customers) being dropped is, in AT&T's eyes, acceptable????????
Wow, you really need to take a chill pill. 911 services dont work exactly like every other phone call. And the 30% is for the NYC metro area, which is has about 20 million other people within a few blocks making calls on their cells too, which creates quite a bit of confusion, signal wise. And lets not forget the buildings, and their makeup of steel/iron frames. And then all the WiFi signal that is being broadcasted around.
SO yeah there is quite a bit of a hurdle there, but what is even more interesting is what is Verizon, T-Mobile, etc acceptable rate of dropped calls for NYC area? Do you think any lower? Maybe next time you should think before you overreact, and then just not saying anything if it's anything like this?
Yeah but ....
True, but you also had no options when it comes in the handset... except BB, they are all old school garbage....
True, but you also had no options when it comes in the handset... except BB, they are all old school garbage....