Carrier AT&T True 5G is confusing...

[gigapocket1]

So, I am definitely getting the 12. Just as I’ve gotten every iPhone since the original on release day. Even back before att when it was called Cingular.. My question, is that I’ve began to see a huge drop in cellular performance with AT&T over the last few months. I’ve dropped more calls than I ever had before. It’s honestly, pretty bad. Now 5G is in its infancy, but is a main feature of the new phone. AT&T coverage maps seems very fake and confusing with their “5GE” as well. Any of my Android people that get on macrumors have a 5g phone with AT&T. What’s your experience? Should I just switch to Verizon?

 

[Stolz25]

I am on AT&T now and am switching to T-mobile. For a long time the trade off between those two was AT&T costs more but the coverage is better. Now, at least in my area, T-mobile has better coverage and is still quite a bit cheaper.
Verizon has good coverage, but is also the most expensive of the three.
T-mobile has a little box they will send you with free data for a month to check out how the service actually performs in your area. I did that a couple months ago anticipating I might want to change when the new iPhones came out. You might check that out.

Free Trial: 3 Month Network Pass - Try Our 5G Network Today

Try T-Mobile's 5G network free for 3 months. With the free trial, you get unlimited 5G, keep your same number, compare network performance, and more.

www.t-mobile.com

 

[DeftwillP]

ATT stopped doing anything more than NEEDED maintenance on 4g bands in my areas a long time ago. They're throwing the kitchen sink at 5g and still have nothing to show for it. Just my experiences.

 

[Freakonomics101]

ATT stopped doing anything more than NEEDED maintenance on 4g bands in my areas a long time ago. They're throwing the kitchen sink at 5g and still have nothing to show for it. Just my experiences.

Same here!

 

[SisterBlue22]

So, I am definitely getting the 12. Just as I’ve gotten every iPhone since the original on release day. Even back before att when it was called Cingular.

That's quite a fancy trick, since the Cingular name went away in 2006, and the first iPhone came out in 2007, when AT&T was called....AT&T.

 

[Supermallet]

It is amazing that for a while AT&T was neck and neck with Verizon, and now they’re a distant third after Verizon and T-Mobile. Guess Sprint was doing a lot of heavy lifting making AT&T look good by virtue of how bad Sprint’s network was.

 

[DeftwillP]

That's quite a fancy trick, since the Cingular name went away in 2006, and the first iPhone came out in 2007, when AT&T was called....AT&T.

Completely unrelated but I got my first cell and only number I've ever had in August 2000. I could have sworn that it was at&t then for a short bit before switching to cingular and then back to the current at&t. Is that true? Or was I with cingular from the beginning?

 

[MacStreamer]

It is amazing that for a while AT&T was neck and neck with Verizon, and now they’re a distant third after Verizon and T-Mobile. Guess Sprint was doing a lot of heavy lifting making AT&T look good by virtue of how bad Sprint’s network was.

In terms of what? speed? coverage? AT&T is on the same level as Verizon. T-Mobile is nowhere near close to those 2 in terms of coverage, speed and reliability. If you're talking about only 5G, that may be a different discussion.

 

[zinacef]

So, I am definitely getting the 12. Just as I’ve gotten every iPhone since the original on release day. Even back before att when it was called Cingular.. My question, is that I’ve began to see a huge drop in cellular performance with AT&T over the last few months. I’ve dropped more calls than I ever had before. It’s honestly, pretty bad. Now 5G is in its infancy, but is a main feature of the new phone. AT&T coverage maps seems very fake and confusing with their “5GE” as well. Any of my Android people that get on macrumors have a 5g phone with AT&T. What’s your experience? Should I just switch to Verizon?

We're switching to Verizon after having been with AT&T for over decade. We're not necessarily switching because of 5G, but more so due to the poor customer service, and cellular performance as you put it. Also, I'm getting a better FAN discount through my employer with Verizon. Had a FAN discount with AT&T and after trying another one of their upgraded plans and not liking it, I found out that they discontinued my discount when I tried to return to the original plan.

 

[SisterBlue22]

Completely unrelated but I got my first cell and only number I've ever had in August 2000. I could have sworn that it was at&t then for a short bit before switching to cingular and then back to the current at&t. Is that true? Or was I with cingular from the beginning?

Could be, because AT&T and Cingular were two different companies that merged, then did business under both names for a while, then in 2006 consolidated the names to just AT&T and dropped Cingular. My point was that nobody got an iPhone in 2007 on Cingular...AT&T was the one and only option that year (and for at least a couple of years after that, if I recall).

 

[bbeagle]

Apple Chooses Cingular as Exclusive US Carrier for Its Revolutionary iPhone

www.apple.com

Cingular kicking rear and taking names for iPhone

The bad news: in case you haven't heard, the iPhone's still a few months off yet (boo!). The good news: Cingular is more than happy to take down your 411 right now and you'll be "among the first" -- along with virtually every Internet-enabled citizen in the world -- to hear when it hits (yay!)...

www.engadget.com

Cingular was the original carrier that the iPhone was introduced with. Sometime before the release, it was changed to AT&T. I was still getting bills with Cingular written on them when I purchased my first iPhone. I remember it was a few statements until the name was switched to AT&T on the bills.

This article says that branding was still Cingular for a while when the iPhone came out, until it was completely transitioned over:

AT&T replaces Cingular brand, braces for iPhones - TechGadgets

www.techgadgets.in

 

[Runs For Fun]

Completely unrelated but I got my first cell and only number I've ever had in August 2000. I could have sworn that it was at&t then for a short bit before switching to cingular and then back to the current at&t. Is that true? Or was I with cingular from the beginning?

It was AT&T before Cingular. They were broken up by an anti-trust lawsuit. Then somehow ended up going back to AT&T.

 

[Wags]

I am on AT&T now and am switching to T-mobile. For a long time the trade off between those two was AT&T costs more but the coverage is better. Now, at least in my area, T-mobile has better coverage and is still quite a bit cheaper.
Verizon has good coverage, but is also the most expensive of the three.
T-mobile has a little box they will send you with free data for a month to check out how the service actually performs in your area. I did that a couple months ago anticipating I might want to change when the new iPhones came out. You might check that out.

Free Trial: 3 Month Network Pass - Try Our 5G Network Today

Try T-Mobile's 5G network free for 3 months. With the free trial, you get unlimited 5G, keep your same number, compare network performance, and more.

www.t-mobile.com

Does coverage equal better speed. Seems T-MOBILE had good 5G coverage but is it any faster than good LTE.

 

[Ramrod82]

T-Mobile is trash compared to Verizon and Att that is a course compared to where you live. T-mobile focuses on getting people to upgrade yearly but you have to always for the iphone usually have to pay a few bucks down compared to other providers. In my metro area it's ok. They are pricey imo for one line compared to say att. I get better service with them but again it depends where you live. I believe their 5G is good but also with the providers it's nothing exciting yet.

 

[Stolz25]

Does coverage equal better speed. Seems T-MOBILE had good 5G coverage but is it any faster than good LTE.

I wasn’t even terribly concerned about the 5G, though I’m certainly happy to get it as a bonus with T-Mobile. Where I live and work the Tmobile 4G service was better. That’s going to be different for everyone though, which is why I suggested their service test box thing.

 

[ozziegn]

I have VZW and they're pretty much no different than AT&T. I stopped at a COR store today to have them activate a 5G SIM card to have it ready for my new iPhone 12 Pro that's coming tomorrow. They couldn't do it because they said their system won't allow them to ring up a 5G SIM card without it being activated on a 5G IMEI device.

That being that, the VZW rep told me not to worry about it for a good while. He said VZW's true 5G service is still pretty far from becoming a reality even though their 5G coverage map shows my area good for 5G service. He told me my iPhone 12 Pro will show a 5G signal on the screen but he also said the speeds won't be hardly any faster than our current 4G LTE speeds.

 

[rysmtihaz]

That's quite a fancy trick, since the Cingular name went away in 2006, and the first iPhone came out in 2007, when AT&T was called....AT&T.

If you lived in certain states (like out west) you had Cingular on your bills etc.

I have a dual sim Att for the main line, Verizon for the secondary. In Phoenix. 90% of the time they have the same exact cell service. The other 10% one is strong with the other being weak. For a while I also had T-Mobile on there and it was basically the same thing when compared to AT&T. In every metro area there will be weak spots and strong spots.

 

[Wags]

I have VZW and they're pretty much no different than AT&T. I stopped at a COR store today to have them activate a 5G SIM card to have it ready for my new iPhone 12 Pro that's coming tomorrow. They couldn't do it because they said their system won't allow them to ring up a 5G SIM card without it being activated on a 5G IMEI device.

That being that, the VZW rep told me not to worry about it for a good while. He said VZW's true 5G service is still pretty far from becoming a reality even though their 5G coverage map shows my area good for 5G service. He told me my iPhone 12 Pro will show a 5G signal on the screen but he also said the speeds won't be hardly any faster than our current 4G LTE speeds.

Verizon’s calling it ‘Nationwide 5G including LTE’. So the coverage map is pretty full but really mostly LTE.

 

[SisterBlue22]

If you lived in certain states (like out west) you had Cingular on your bills etc.

I have a dual sim Att for the main line, Verizon for the secondary. In Phoenix. 90% of the time they have the same exact cell service. The other 10% one is strong with the other being weak. For a while I also had T-Mobile on there and it was basically the same thing when compared to AT&T. In every metro area there will be weak spots and strong spots.

Was trying to remember, and found this info, which is what I was quoting.

https://www.att.com/Common/merger/files/pdf/Cingular_timeline7.pdf

 

[kevink2]

Completely unrelated but I got my first cell and only number I've ever had in August 2000. I could have sworn that it was at&t then for a short bit before switching to cingular and then back to the current at&t. Is that true? Or was I with cingular from the beginning?

att broke up in early 80s. Name remained with long distance and other businesses. Att long distance built up a national cell business partially by buying regional companies like Mcgraw? Which owned the cellular one brand in Oklahoma where I got my first cell phone.
bell south and southwestern bell formed their own cell company. At some point named Cingular.

cingular bought att wireless then renamed themself att. For years there were orange sims and blue sims depending on which side your account was. the other history sounds right. You had to change to orange at first to get the iPhone. I think I switched to Cingular plans for smartphone plan before the iPhone.

now I’m on a different company that uses att.