AT&T Releases 'Mark The Spot' Application to Track Network Issues

[MacSKY]

Maybe one could call me a little naive about what I'm about to say, but, don't think for a moment the reality of AT&T losing their exclusivity with the iPhone isn't on the minds of the AT&T suits. In theory, if you're happy with the network, you'll have no reason to leave when it's up. This APP can only be a good thing, and they have to start some where.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I'm in a fantastic service area for AT&T and have no complaints. I understand there are those that don't, but at the moment, the only thing that would make me jump ship would be price. This from a former VZ customer. I say thank you AT&T for being concerned even if it is all show.

 

[2992]

Well provided AT&T actually acts on the information generated by the app, it's a win-win. Customers get to report exact gaps in performance and AT&T has an inexpensive and widespread source of feedback to act on.

yep, a win-win situation, where all of you guys are doing the drive-test for free. I think ATT is pretty happy now.
Waiting for some troubleshooting apps, so you can do even more volunteering work for ATT. Indeed, a win-win.

Anyways, for ATT, this is a perfect little app to save lots of money for them. Smart idea.

 

[ntrigue]

Same here—I’ll have to set my location manually. (But I think the GPS issue is not due to my location, but due to an Apple bug. Lots of people on Apple’s boards have had it, starting with OS 3.0.)

I’m hoping this app proves to be of some use (not that we’ll ever know) OUTSIDE of big urban centers. AT&T does keep expanding their coverage in small cities and rural areas, and therefore they must be making decisions on where to spend. Having reports come in from a given location may effect those spending priorities.

So my friends who live in a dead zone will be the subject of AT&T outage reports from me. Likewise some rural relatives. Who knows—the nearest tower may get an upgrade (or whatever) sooner as a result of reports like mine. All of the above do have a trace of signal within a block, but it peters to nothing at their actual house. So close and yet so far.

(EDIT: I’d say AT&T’s online zoomable maps are very accurate in reflecting these little local dead zones, too. Must be geography. So get taller towers please )

You can drag the map to the manually accurate location.

 

[Sense Field]

Awesome. So we can overload their network with reports of issues? And yes, it will be overloaded!

I just downloaded and reported 3 issues I had today...I have a feeling I'll submit 3-4 of these a day

I'll give to them though...they have taken on more data/traffic then any other carrier. iPhone users...use their phone more, use data way more, download music, apps, gps etc etc...I don't blame them for having network issues under the strain.

I assume that any carrier would/will.

I've had AT&T for 12 years (back when it was Cellular One) and I never had the problems I'm having now...until the iPhone came out. Alas...I do love my iPhone though...and I forgive it for dropping calls and all the other unwanted stuff it does!

 

[geenosr]

ATT is trying

I just downloaded and reported 3 issues I had today...I have a feeling I'll submit 3-4 of these a day

I'll give to them though...they have taken on more data/traffic then any other carrier. iPhone users...use their phone more, use data way more, download music, apps, gps etc etc...I don't blame them for having network issues under the strain.

I assume that any carrier would/will.

I've had AT&T for 12 years (back when it was Cellular One) and I never had the problems I'm having now...until the iPhone came out. Alas...I do love my iPhone though...and I forgive it for dropping calls and all the other unwanted stuff it does!

I agree with what you said, and as far as my personal situation---I have great coverage in my area (Atlanta suburb). I also know that two of the largest cities in the US, San Fran and New York have problems which are probably tied to over taxing the ATT cell infrastructure, and I sympathize with your headaches and frustrating service. As far as the ATT app, I applaud this initiative to bridge the perceived gap between customer service and the ATT users. Yes, they may be slammed with information about problem areas, but it appears that they are trying to help correct the problems that are out there. Only time will tell if they are serious about addressing the areas of need, and I have to think that this would be suicide if it was just an attempt to placate customers instead of really solving the problems that exist.

I have been a longtime customer in the line of acquisitions, Bellsouth, Cingular and now ATT, and I really have nothing but great things to say about my service, and of course the iPhone is my greatest and most favorite thing I have ever owned. I don't think the suits at ATT are dumb, and they have to know that for them to stay in the cell service game, they have to improve their customer service satisfaction ratings. I have confidence they will fix the problems as best as they can, and will rise again to be the wireless company that will rival number 1 VZ, if not surpass them. I really get tired of reading all the hate mail, and yes, the vocal majority who complain about things are probably a smaller percentage of customers than customers who are happy about their cell plans. If you're unhappy you are much more likely to complain about things than satisfied customers who don't feel the burning need to say that they are happy and content. That's just human nature, and we had a saying in management when I worked in retail that went like this....a dissatisfied and unhappy customer will tell 7-10 friends and acquaintances how mad they are, and customers who are happy with their product or service might tell 1-2 people. Obviously to stay in business, mgt needs to handle complaints with great concern, because those customers can hurt your business faster than the happy ones can help you grow. My last thoughts are this. If I was having trouble with my iPhone service, I would follow this story closely and see if ATT shows real action based on the information that comes in via the app. I think they will, because the repercussions of this not being fruitful with solutions can really inflame the base of iPhone users to shout louder and legitimize their beef with ATT. I also have to think that Apple is watching this situation closely and will go a long way with either keeping the exclusive agreement alive or hastening it's end. One way or another, something will happen, and because ATT has committed to partner this contract with Apple and it has made a lot of money for them, I think good things will come out of this and I hope they close the gap between them and VZ. Competition is always the best solution for all customers, and we will all moan if ATT diminishes and VZ becomes the only real player here.

For all the VZ lovers out there that are sick of ATT, read some recent articles about the business tactics that VZ has done to their customers and from what I've seen, they look a lot like the MS philosophies that we have all come to hate. I'm referring to bullying their users with draconian penalties and huge early termination fees. Not everything is rosy in VZ land, and I think that a lot of the forum posts are falling for "the grass is greener on the other side of the fence". Be careful what you ask for.......I'm pulling for competition between both companies.

(and no, I don't work for ATT......really!)

 

[chomomo]

Oh how nice, instead of AT&T doing the work themselves they are having us do it for free.

**** you AT&T

+10

 

[iphones4evry1]

Excellent idea, AT&T !

I'm assuming this is statistics based, and that AT&T has a preset minimum number of reports before it does something. For example, if the minimum number is 1000, then when a given location gets to 1000 reports, AT&T will install a new antenna at that location.

AT&T needs to do something, because the Verizon commercials are slaughtering AT&T !

 

[kdarling]

Verizon does, in a way. I've met one of there guys.

They have 50 cell phones in a car connected to a computer that continually makes calls, checks quality, hangs up and does it again. They also have phones of competing carriers hooked up to make comparisions with the competition.

They have lots of these cars and drive all over the place collecting data to ensure that there coverage is indeed better than the competition. Like I said, I met one of these guys and saw the car first hand.

They have about a hundred of these test cars and trucks across the country, if I recall the business articles about them correctly.

And because their tests include competing networks, Verizon probably has one of the most accurate coverage maps for everyone.

As far as the iPhone app goes, I think it's a great idea for carriers without test vehicles and/or to see where the most desire for extra coverage is.

Edit: Here's a 2005 article about a test car setup, with pictures of the car and test rigs at the bottom.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

"Can you NOT hear me now?"

Isn't this just a backwards variant of Verizons very successful "can you hear me now?" campaign? AT&T is basically saying tell us where you can NOT hear <me> now. Can you imagine the effect of making such (user reported) information public?

Picture the new Verizon campaign, with "can you hear me now" guy walking around leading the big Verizon network crowd under the Verizon 3G map, while AT&T's revised map shows where their subscribers report network problems. Yes, that would probably result in a map with many more places "filled in," but too bad those colors would represent where coverage has failed a PAYING subscriber. Verizon would have another killer campaign to follow the current killer maps campaign.

It would be great if this moves AT&T to invest in delivering a better network, but while profit drivers and paramount "obligation to the shareholders" dominate the decision making, it makes sense to spend on infrastructure only when they absolutely have to do so, minimizing cost while maximizing profits. Quality of service only matters to the degree that they can reasonably compete (so as to keep the flow of subscribers coming in... and staying).

We look at it like customer service (in this case maximize the reach and bandwidth of the network) should be the #1 concern for companies like AT&T. But it's not. They want to spend the least they possibly can which isn't accomplished by putting a tower in every "thin" reach area. A system that allows there to be only 2 dominant competitors- with any little upstarts being eaten up (acquired) by those Goliaths- is unlikely to ever get the level of (quality of network) service subscribers seek.

With the recent bandwidth auction for the old analog TV channel spectrum freed up in the Digital TV transition, there was a great opportunity for others (even Apple & Google were interested) to gain very usable spectrum and thus be able to become national competitors to Verizon and AT&T. But guess who bought up almost all of that spectrum?

 

[schwell]

They have about a hundred of these test cars and trucks across the country, if I recall the business articles about them correctly.

And because their tests include competing networks, Verizon probably has one of the most accurate coverage maps for everyone.

As far as the iPhone app goes, I think it's a great idea for carriers without test vehicles and/or to see where the most desire for extra coverage is.

Edit: Here's a 2005 article about a test car setup, with pictures of the car and test rigs at the bottom.

All the carriers have these mobile test vehicles with their equipment and competitors.

 

[SubaruNation555]

yep, a win-win situation, where all of you guys are doing the drive-test for free. I think ATT is pretty happy now.
Waiting for some troubleshooting apps, so you can do even more volunteering work for ATT. Indeed, a win-win.

Anyways, for ATT, this is a perfect little app to save lots of money for them. Smart idea.

People don't HAVE to use it but I am sure it would be somewhat satisfying to be able to report problems areas that might otherwise go undiagnosed. This isn't going to take the place of AT&T network testers and yes it does save AT&T money...

 

[oldMac]

Come to my house and see if your phone works consistently here

Hmm. I Live an hour south of NYC too, and my service couldn't be better. It has only gotten progressively better over the last two years.

So what's wrong with you? Or your iPhone?

Curious... Maybe my phone is defective?
I'm located in the Plainsboro/Princeton NJ area. Are you close to here?

 

[segfaultdotorg]

First of all, I can only see a small section of map when in an area with no coverage. Second of all, the automatically detected location on my iPhone 2G is wildly inaccurate to the tune of a couple of miles. It seems to merely select the nearest AT&T tower. Third of all, when trying to submit an issue today, I got the error "Application temporarily unavailable," and it dumped me back to the home screen. And as noted before, you can't save a report in an area with no coverage to submit it later when you're somewhere with coverage.

This is a poorly designed application from AT&T, and is an example of "customer service theatre." They put the application out there in order to create the inaccurate and misleading perception that they are doing things to improve the customer experience, when in fact, due to the pathetic design of the application and AT&T's general ineptitude, it will probably do nothing to improve their service.

 

[nsayer]

So I can report the problem but AT&T will get some random spot in the city and not the actual position.

Just move the map to where the problem actually occurred.

Problem solved.

 

[pdxa4]

This app is a good thing IMO.

The majority of the time I really don't want to call customer service.
The app makes reporting a lot easier, let's just hope that they look at the data and try to fix the black spots...

 

[paperstar]

ATT plans to charge for amount of data usage in the form of tiers

Just heard the news that ATT is planning to drop the unlimited data plan and offer tiers of data plans. Because some phones(hmmm) are using to much of they're 3g bandwidth. So you'll have to pay more to use more and not pay less for using less So much for ATT trying to redeem itself or cash in before the iphone goes to Verizon

 

[-aggie-]

Just heard the news that ATT is planning to drop the unlimited data plan and offer tiers of data plans. Because some phones(hmmm) are using to much of they're 3g bandwidth. So you'll have to pay more to use more and not pay less for using less So much for ATT trying to redeem itself or cash in before the iphone goes to Verizon

How about a link?

 

[arkmannj]

Just heard the news that ATT is planning to drop the unlimited data plan and offer tiers of data plans. Because some phones(hmmm) are using to much of they're 3g bandwidth. So you'll have to pay more to use more and not pay less for using less So much for ATT trying to redeem itself or cash in before the iphone goes to Verizon

If true, I would imagine it would only affect new accounts and renewals, those of us with AT&T already signed up with unlimited as part of the plan, they change that and it could make a world of legal trouble.

 

[kdarling]

If true, I would imagine it would only affect new accounts and renewals, those of us with AT&T already signed up with unlimited as part of the plan, they change that and it could make a world of legal trouble.

Like other carriers, AT&T's data plan terms already have this clause:

AT&T reserves the right to
(i) deny, disconnect, modify and/or terminate Service, without notice, to anyone it believes is using the Service in any manner prohibited or whose usage adversely impacts its wireless network or service levels or hinders access to its wireless network, including without limitation, after a significant period of inactivity or after sessions of excessive usage and
(ii) otherwise protect its wireless network from harm, compromised capacity or degradation in performance, which may impact legitimate data flows.

 

[arkmannj]

Like other carriers, AT&T's data plan terms already have this clause:

Hmmm. bummer.
Well I guess I'm off to the AT&T site, and Apple's site to send in feedback about what I think about the idea of them making that switch. not sure what else I could do at this point besides drop my service completely.

 

[iMaconApple]

got a lousy network? theres a app for that

 

[jppaynesr]

I will use this app to alert them of no coverage at my home using a wifi connection to my Verizon MiFi (grin). Hope that doesn't create a cellular black hole or something.

 

[MR Reader]

I wonder, in this process, how many FTE are going to be dedicated to receiving and aggregating this dayda. Or if the app development itself signaled the end like has been mentioned. I'd be nice to receive something as a followup; maybe a post card from ATT.

 

[ericinboston]

I just came across this app the other day...I really really hope AT&T promotes/advertises this app...at least to make the APPEARANCE that AT&T cares about it's network's weakness(es).

As of last night, only about 1150 people reviewed it...pretty lame considering the millions of iPhone users and it's been available for almost a month. Every iPhone owner should have this app.

-Eric

 

[ericinboston]

I wonder, in this process, how many FTE are going to be dedicated to receiving and aggregating this dayda. Or if the app development itself signaled the end like has been mentioned. I'd be nice to receive something as a followup; maybe a post card from ATT.

Agreed...ATT should be able to send me a simple email (not text) stating something like "the area you reported has been reported 981 other times and we plan to have coverage there within 4 months."

Something more personable than "we got your feedback" which is all the app fires back at you.

Heck, do they even have a webpage that shows areas that are "coming soon" with newer/better service? Obviously internally they know what they plan on doing/fixing in 2010...would be nice to promote a bit of that. Even something more general like "we plan to put 19 more towers in CT, 21 in MA, 12 in NY" or counties within the States.

I care about the massive dead zones in New England...specifically CT.

If ATT truly utilizes this app, the app is priceless...it's fantastic and instant feedback. I would never call 611 and wait for a human and explain my story (and wonder if they are even listening).

-Eric