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AT&T Fares Poorly in 'Consumer Reports' Ratings

cvaldes said:
Correct. Just wondering if anyone was paying attention. Changes of less than four points were statistically insignificant.

Sprint improved marginally. AT&T worsened marginally.

The whole industry is mired in mediocrity. None of the four nationwide mobile operators can be proud of their accomplishments. Year in, year out, these surveys show dissatisfaction by American consumers in the service quality of cellular companies and yet they don't seem to be making any headway in improving customer satisfaction.

Perhaps phone companies don't really care that much. Looking at these surveys, they apparently care more about customer retention than customer satisfaction.
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I Agree. That why we should use Skype when connected to WIFI whenever possible and hopefully we can drop them completely one day soon.
 
As an AT&T data user (iPad 3G), I find the AT&T service to be "spotty". There are days when I use the GPS feature of Apple's Map App, and sometimes map tiles download quickly (as quick as 3G can that is), other times it won't stay connected to the service. AT&T also does not allow me to download anything from the App store over 3G that is over 20mb's. I'm paying for the data usage, shouldn't how much I use be my choice? I spoke with a Verizon representative, and he said there aren't any restrictions like that, and to top it off- you can get an adapter (router?) that allows up to 5 people to connect to the 4G service through your iPad, something AT&T does not allow.

AT&T's "spotty" service happens randomly in the same exact locations, sometimes smooth, other times I can't stay connected, other times it's so slow I may as well be on dial-up. Maybe it's network traffic? sun spots? I don't know, but over the years, my experience with various services have been:

SPRINT: The worst I've ever had, my PDA phone couldn't even place calls inside my house, I had to go outside.

T-MOBILE: The least amount of trouble, but also had strange occurrences of my phone just shutting off. May not be related to the service itself.

AT&T: Spotty, no matter where I am at. It can be good, alright, and mediocre all in the time frame of 1 hour.

This really bothers me because I've been at meetings where I needed access to my dropbox, and it downloaded so slow that using my dropbox just wasn't an option. Now I just make sure to copy my files locally to the iPad, making the AT&T data service less useful. I've been averaging about 300mb of data usage per month, and I'm paying for 2gb's, this isn't because I only need 300mb, but the service is so spotty, that I'm not able to use more than 300mb in a month when I needed the service, but it wasn't performing well enough to download .PDF's.

This is pretty bad if you ask me. Verizon's data plans are more expensive, but I'd rather pay more for data I will actually be able to use, than data I'm not only restricted on using, but never will be able to use due to the spotty service.
 
Will do good said:
I Agree. That why we should use Skype when connected to WIFI whenever possible and hopefully we can drop them completely one day soon.
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Skype's good.

Personally, I'm using Google Voice+Gizmo when I'm on wifi. I pay nothing for calls to U.S. folks. I have a pay-as-you-go dumbphone for random calls when I'm out and about, however I don't pay for calls when I'm at home or work.

The GV+Gizmo combo is brilliant overseas when calling back to the U.S. It's a free call.
 
Kestrel452 said:
I wonder what Steve Jobs thinks of this.
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There is very little change between last year's CR reader survey results and this year's results. Sprint slightly improved, AT&T worsened, yet the whole industry remained mired in mediocrity (and actually dropped a statistically insignificant half-point).

It is doubtful that today's announcement would raise Steve's eyebrows.

If anything, it probably reinforces Steve's belief that U.S. mobile operators suck eggs.
 
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Do other smartphone owners have the same issues we do with ATT?
Maybe we are the problem.
 
AT&T are just fine with me

Sorry AT&T haters, but I have NEVER had issues with their service or call quality. For the record, I have tried Verizon with two different Droid phones and ATT with both iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4. No difference noticed between the carriers, but the smartphone differences are major: the iPhones: leave all others in the dust. And I'm guessing when Verizon get's iPhone, AT&T's service will become even better and Verizon's will decline under heavy usage. Have fun "Big Red" fanboys. :apple:
 
I still don't get why AT&T is the only carrier for the iPhone in the US. Almost every other country has multiple carriers and it's working great. The iPhone being American, it should have the most flexibility in its home country. I think there's some very stupid contract behind this.
 
Lancetx said:
My feelings exactly!
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All of the bandwidth in the world won't do anything about their poor and fumbling customer service, and their total disrespect for their customers. They're the only company in the world that's done a nearly perfect job of combining incompetence and evil in such an even mix. VZ is not a whole lot better. Better signal saturation, albeit slower data speeds, but every bit as customer unfriendly as AT&T. Fact is, I recently ran a MyTouch 4g on TMO's HSPA+ network for two weeks, and my speeds were blazing fast compared to either AT&T or VZ.

I have 2 Macs and an iPad. I really like my iPhone that's unlocked to run on TMO, but I've grown weary of having to put up with a 2G network and play cat and mouse games to run it. If TMO doesn't get an official iPhone soon I will likely be buying a Nexus S and gone to Android permanently. Apple will have nobody to blame but themselves for losing my smartphone business. I'm a patient guy, but I will not do business with AT&T to carry an iPhone.
 
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I guess I'm not critical in my cell phone use. I've had AT&T since the first iPhone and I've never had any problems with calls or data. I'm happy with it and these sorts of reports aren't going to dictate which provider I go with. If what I have works, I stick with it. Cost isn't a concern since Verizon and AT&T seem to have the same pricing model.
 
I wonder how much of it is actually AT&T and how much of it is iPhone problems people think is AT&T... seriously how can people still laud a product that is their 5th / 6th try, if i had a product like that i'd never buy it again.
 
Xian Zhu Xuande said:
So we know AT&T sucks, that's nothing new, but they're ranking Verizon #2? And not just because of the quality of their actual product? What nonsense. Verizon's quality of product (aside from the messing they do with their phones, services, and penny-pinching on most of their products) is the only awesome thing they've got going for them.

Well, they've got great phones too, if you're not looking for an iPhone.

How can anyone who has used both rank Verizon considerably ahead of AT&T in terms of things like customer service and price? They're an absolutely horrible company to deal with when something goes wrong and they're probably the priciest regular provider in the US (with competition coming only from good ol' AT&T). I've had a lot of respect for ConsumerReports over the years but sometimes it looks like they pull things out of their asses.
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I agree this, I had Verizon prior to AT&T ,I switched when the first iPhone came out and now have 4 iPhone 4's & 1 iPad with 3G. All of them work great and AT&T has worked just as good as Verizon did for me. When I was with Verizon their C.S was horrible and hold times way to long! I have had very good C.S with AT&T and don't spend a lot of time on hold. I'm not pro AT&T as I'll switch to Verizon if their family plan is cheaper, my decision will be based strictly on cost, because from my own experience both are good. I do hope Verizon gets the iPhone and prices go down, maybe a little price war. But for me Verizon getting iPhone will be good for my Apple Stock!
 
Popeye206 said:
:eek: Wow... such harsh words. I never ever thought of Steve Jobs as a crook!

For what it's worth and from what I've read, Apple did go to Verizon first and they refused. Oh heck... let's face it... if Apple went Verizon first, there'd be people complaining about Verizon now too and SJ would still be a crook. UGH! :rolleyes:
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Absolutely, well put!;):apple::apple::apple:
 
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Ovenall said:
I live and work in downtown Chicago, ... My office has several people with iPhones with the same issues. ...

It's inexcusable that AT&T would have such lousy service in the downtown Metro area of one of the largest cities in the country.
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Hi
You do realize that you pointed out the reason of your complaint all by yourself, right?

- Plenty of iPhone users ( Tons of network traffic )
- Likely dense population ( higher load per cell tower )
- Large city ( Not a ton of places for new cell towers and other conflicting factors to deal with: radio interference, etc

Basically, not an easy, cheap or quick fix for any company to do.
 
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rdlink said:
So you're the one? How's it feel living under that cell tower?
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I've never had an issue either. I guess he and I did our homework prior to running to the AT&T Store and buying a phone that may not work in our area.

Never had a dropped call, get 5 bars at my home/work, and have had great Customer Service when needed...
 
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Thunderhawks said:
It's not about dropped calls it's having 3G.

Took them almost 3 years to get it to my area. Finally.

Somebody I know and drove with seems to have 3G wherever we drove.

ATT nada!

Stop working on 4G until you have 3G figured out.

Verizon I'll be there with my iphone 5G w. combo chip:)

Att has the most unfriendliest website and bill set up for businesses.
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Hi
If you're speaking of VZ 3G, you do realize they're using half-@$$ED 3G, right? The CDMA implementation they are using doesn't allow simultaneous voice ans data use. Not the biggest deal for moat people but still a valid point.
 
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I've never had a problem with AT&T. They have provided nothing but good service for me. Verizon and T-Mobile are the worst carriers that I had to deal with.
 
You are 100% correct... I agree wholeheartedly.

groupeone said:
Why does MacRumors give any credence to Consumer Reports? While the facts in the survey could be correct, always consider the source. For over two decades, Consumer Reports has been on a mission to destroy Apple. In report after report, Consumer Reports has always either slammed or ignored Apple completely when ranking various computers and products.

In the "Antennagate" (God, I hate that term), Consumer Reports tried to paint Apple as the only company whose products had a possible attenuation problem. They flat out lied about many aspects, and when proven wrong and caught in their lies, Consumer Reports never retracted their assertions, knowing full-well that the damage had already been done.

It would not surprise me if these purveyors of a beige, dull, unfriendly world that is Consumer Reports is on the take from Apple competitors. I sense that they hate Apple for all that it stands for, hate beautiful design, hate creativity and fun. The East Coast bureaucrats that run Consumer Reports envision a world where we all drive Chrysler K-Cars painted beige, where we live in a beige house that looks exactly the same as our neighbors, eat the same dull, generic foods and we all use beige PCs running DOS.

If you get the impression that I have long loathed Consumer Reports, you guessed right. So please, MacRumors, don't give these cork-soaking bastiches any links or clicks. You only empower them.
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groupeone said:
Why does MacRumors give any credence to Consumer Reports? While the facts in the survey could be correct, always consider the source. For over two decades, Consumer Reports has been on a mission to destroy Apple. In report after report, Consumer Reports has always either slammed or ignored Apple completely when ranking various computers and products.

In the "Antennagate" (God, I hate that term), Consumer Reports tried to paint Apple as the only company whose products had a possible attenuation problem. They flat out lied about many aspects, and when proven wrong and caught in their lies, Consumer Reports never retracted their assertions, knowing full-well that the damage had already been done.

It would not surprise me if these purveyors of a beige, dull, unfriendly world that is Consumer Reports is on the take from Apple competitors. I sense that they hate Apple for all that it stands for, hate beautiful design, hate creativity and fun. The East Coast bureaucrats that run Consumer Reports envision a world where we all drive Chrysler K-Cars painted beige, where we live in a beige house that looks exactly the same as our neighbors, eat the same dull, generic foods and we all use beige PCs running DOS.

If you get the impression that I have long loathed Consumer Reports, you guessed right. So please, MacRumors, don't give these cork-soaking bastiches any links or clicks. You only empower them.
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Wow, you must feel really strongly about this, considering you've been here since 2001 are still newbie (meaning you rarely post anything)
 
Anybody see what happened on CNBC yesterday afternoon? Randall Stephenson (AT&T's CEO) was suppose to be on a segment to talk about the poor ratings AT&T received. He was calling into the show. They get to him, show his picture, show his name, show his title and show the AT&T icon. And you know what happened... his call dropped. No ********** joke. I'm being completely 100% serious. I saw this happen live. It was amazing. I couldn't believe it. They go to him and... nothing. They quickly played it off, ad libed the rest of the segment and acted like nothing happened. I don't think they ever got him back on the phone. Absolutely hilarious.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1685917481&play=1

Jump to 2:40.
 
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