Need advise: Current AT&T East Coast users?

[manhattanmania]

if that was the case no one would have att in those locations at all so i guess u have to ask ur self y one person wouldnt have any problems and someone else would? faulty equip/sim or somthing? who knows, people always have a bad experience and hate the company for life lol.

its not just me. there are other ppl in this very thread saying the same kinds of things, u can search the forums and you'll find the same kinds of comments, for heaven's sake just google. come on, i think we both know its not only me that has problems.

why would people stay with ATT if what i'm saying is true? hmm..

1) if they have an iphone... they could be addicted to iphone, or care more about the data experience it provides vs the voice
2) they dont wanna pay a cancellation fee
3) they are ignorant to the fact that they could have better service bc theyve never tried other carriers so don't realize what having really good service is (i for one was opposite- i was ignorant to what really bad service was bc i always had verizon and would always wonder why friends would complain about their cell phones when i never had problems with mine. then i went to ATT, and i understood)
4) they have a good plan they dont want to get off of
5) they are passive users who don't care enough to research and switch

i'm sure we can pile up more reasons as well.

and this was my experience not just w/ iphone, but with an ATT phone the year before that.

i had verizon all my life, then went to ATT because they had better phones. then went back to verizon, then iphone happened, and i went back to ATT. and a few months after i had the iphone, i went back to verizon, because throughout that entire time period ATT gave me hell and verizon was awesome.

 

[cWeems]

o well i guess we cant please everyone...

 

[Penguinwrangler]

I live and work i Northern Jersey and my girlfriend lives in Manhattan so i frequent that entire area. I would say that AT&Ts service is decent to excellent throughout. It definitely does suffer from LOS/Interference issues from time to time, but I really can't imagine that that's something unique to AT&T. Put it another way, everyone in my office, everyone in my girlfriend's office, and pretty much everyone I know who lives here is on AT&T because there aren't any gaps in the service.

Just my opinion, no need to flame.

 

[80s Fan]

Hi Pigpen77:

I live in Central PA. I have been a AT&T/Cingular customer for 3 to 4 years. I've been pretty happy with them from the start.

I was a Verizon customer before that. I had no trouble with them either. When I switched to Cingular (switched because I wanted a Windows Mobile phone that was exclusive to Cingular) , married friends of mine thought I was nuts for doing it. The trouble was, they're both Mac fiends so when the iPhone came out, one of them switched because she had to have the iPhone (like me). A few months later, her husband switched over too so he could get an iPhone. They've both been happy with AT&T as well.

 

[scaredpoet]

Before commenting, I will say that I was with AT&T 4 months before I had the iPhone. In fact my original plan was NOT to get an iPhone (originally, I was a hater). In both the 4 months before and since I've gotten the iPhone, my coverage has been good in New Jersey (North, Central, South), DC, Baltimore, NYC, Philly, Rochester, Pittsburgh, and Boston, and all major roadways to each of those points.

I've also had excellent coverage in Miami, New Orleans, Austin, Houston, and El Paso. Though I didn't drive to those places.

why would people stay with ATT if what i'm saying is true? hmm..

1) if they have an iphone... they could be addicted to iphone, or care more about the data experience it provides vs the voice

This statement makes no sense, for two reasons:
1. You can jailbreak/unlock an iPhone and go to T-Mobile, and
2. If you're not getting good voice coverage, you will definitely not get good data performance. It will be intermittent at best, with frequent timeouts. I'd say that would be even more frustrating than have bad voice coverage.

2) they dont wanna pay a cancellation fee

In 2005 I paid a cancellation fee to Sprint to move to Verizon.
In 2007 I paid a cancellation fee to Verizon to move to AT&T.

If AT&T did me wrong, I'd have no problems paying the ETF and moving somewhere else again. The iPhone costs more than the ETF. And it's not that hard to eBay an iPhone to help defray the costs of porting out while in contract.

3) they are ignorant to the fact that they could have better service bc theyve never tried other carriers so don't realize what having really good service is

Well, I've been with all of the big three, so I don't fit that mold. But I would think most people realize that dropped calls and no bars of service is a bad thing. And people you talk to on the phone WILL complain if you sound bad (I learned this on Sprint and Verizon).

Kinda hard to be uninformed about that.

4) they have a good plan they dont want to get off of

Most people universally point to Sprint as the loss leader for pricing. AT&T's price plans are nothing to shout "WOW! WHAT BARGAIN!" over.

Then again, most people who flock to Sprint over price soon realize you get what you pay for. Sprint is the cheapest for voice and 3G data, yet they've been steadily losing customers over the past year. Yet AT&T doesn't even compete on price points with Sprint and has been gaining more subs than either Sprint or Verizon. And no, not all of it is because of the iPhone, particularly the past quarter when iPhone sales dropped off yet subscriber gains were still on track.

Wonder why that is?

5) they are passive users who don't care enough to research and switch

An Apple product user - on THESE forums - who is passive? Do i even NEED to point out the obvious fallacy here?

i had verizon all my life, then went to ATT because they had better phones. then went back to verizon, then iphone happened, and i went back to ATT. and a few months after i had the iphone, i went back to verizon, because throughout that entire time period ATT gave me hell and verizon was awesome.

Sounds like you're accusing other people of doing what you did: pick a phone over the service. And now you've got a serious case of sour grapes over it.

I'm not going to say that my experience is indicative of EVERYONE'S experience. But I will also say that your experience certainly isn't either. Cellular service on every carrier will be hit or miss for everyone.

It's also not true that just because someone says they're getting good service on AT&T, they MUST be an AT&T fanboy, or in denial because they love the iPhone so much. As someone who obviously has a loyalty to Verizon, anyone could play easy pickins' and accuse you of shilling for Verizon, just as you accuse others of shilling for Apple/AT&T.


I prefer to think though, that you just had a bad experience based on your unique usage scenario, and have had a better time on Verizon. These things happen, and no carrier is perfect for everyone. If there was a perfect carrier, then the US wouldn't need four of them nationwide, plus a smattering of regionals and MVNOs.

Sorry you had a bad go of it on AT&T and couldn't enjoy your iPhone. But please don't accuse those of us who enjoy both just fine of anything untoward.

And, please don't be so bitter. At the end of the day, it's just a phone: a hunk of plastic, metal and glass. It's a bummer, but not the end of the world because you don't have THAT particular hunk of plastic, metal and glass.

 

[yoda13]

I just got back not too long ago from a trip to Virginia through Tennessee and North Carolina and I can say from my experiences if you are in a decent sized town or near the freeway, then it works great, but coverage in rural areas is marginal at best....from my recent experiences...

 

[manhattanmania]

Before commenting, I will say that I was with AT&T 4 months before I had the iPhone. In fact my original plan was NOT to get an iPhone (originally, I was a hater). In both the 4 months before and since I've gotten the iPhone, my coverage has been good in New Jersey (North, Central, South), DC, Baltimore, NYC, Philly, Rochester, Pittsburgh, and Boston, and all major roadways to each of those points.

I've also had excellent coverage in Miami, New Orleans, Austin, Houston, and El Paso. Though I didn't drive to those places.



This statement makes no sense, for two reasons:
1. You can jailbreak/unlock an iPhone and go to T-Mobile, and
2. If you're not getting good voice coverage, you will definitely not get good data performance. It will be intermittent at best, with frequent timeouts. I'd say that would be even more frustrating than have bad voice coverage.



In 2005 I paid a cancellation fee to Sprint to move to Verizon.
In 2007 I paid a cancellation fee to Verizon to move to AT&T.

If AT&T did me wrong, I'd have no problems paying the ETF and moving somewhere else again. The iPhone costs more than the ETF. And it's not that hard to eBay an iPhone to help defray the costs of porting out while in contract.



Well, I've been with all of the big three, so I don't fit that mold. But I would think most people realize that dropped calls and no bars of service is a bad thing. And people you talk to on the phone WILL complain if you sound bad (I learned this on Sprint and Verizon).

Kinda hard to be uninformed about that.



Most people universally point to Sprint as the loss leader for pricing. AT&T's price plans are nothing to shout "WOW! WHAT BARGAIN!" over.

Then again, most people who flock to Sprint over price soon realize you get what you pay for. Sprint is the cheapest for voice and 3G data, yet they've been steadily losing customers over the past year. Yet AT&T doesn't even compete on price points with Sprint and has been gaining more subs than either Sprint or Verizon. And no, not all of it is because of the iPhone, particularly the past quarter when iPhone sales dropped off yet subscriber gains were still on track.

Wonder why that is?



An Apple product user - on THESE forums - who is passive? Do i even NEED to point out the obvious fallacy here?



Sounds like you're accusing other people of doing what you did: pick a phone over the service. And now you've got a serious case of sour grapes over it.

I'm not going to say that my experience is indicative of EVERYONE'S experience. But I will also say that your experience certainly isn't either. Cellular service on every carrier will be hit or miss for everyone.

It's also not true that just because someone says they're getting good service on AT&T, they MUST be an AT&T fanboy, or in denial because they love the iPhone so much. As someone who obviously has a loyalty to Verizon, anyone could play easy pickins' and accuse you of shilling for Verizon, just as you accuse others of shilling for Apple/AT&T.


I prefer to think though, that you just had a bad experience based on your unique usage scenario, and have had a better time on Verizon. These things happen, and no carrier is perfect for everyone. If there was a perfect carrier, then the US wouldn't need four of them nationwide, plus a smattering of regionals and MVNOs.

Sorry you had a bad go of it on AT&T and couldn't enjoy your iPhone. But please don't accuse those of us who enjoy both just fine of anything untoward.

And, please don't be so bitter. At the end of the day, it's just a phone: a hunk of plastic, metal and glass. It's not the end of the world because you don't have THAT particular hunk of plastic, metal and glass.

you're right, i did pick a phone over the service, and i have stated this numerous times while posting on these forums. and while i'm glad to know you're intelligent enough to take action based on my 5 reasons ppl would be on ATT even though it sucks, not everyone is. my reasons were for the general public, not the people on this forum.

#1: most everyone does NOT know how to jailbreak and unlock an iphone and move to another carrier. the people on these forums and who frequent tech sites like this are not the bulk of iphone users, they are hardcore iphone users only.
#2: im glad you paid your cancellation fee. so have i, many times. guess what? many many people will NOT pay a cancellation fee. you just happen to be someone who will.
#3: as for realizing the service is terrible, once again, glad you're intelligent/aware enough. not everyone is, and that's really not that hard to comprehend.
#4: i was talking about older plans that have an amazing cost structure that people don't want to lose out on. a friend on ATT doesn't pay anything for incoming text messages still, and her voice plan is mad cheap. not everyone wants to lose these kinds of legacy plans for better service. she's one of those people.
#5: again, i was speaking of general population, not users on this forum. so, your point is moot.

i never once said i was referring to the ppl on these forums. obviously this is a different clientele. but for the general population, there are plenty of reasons people would be on ATT even though service is under par. and yes, i'm aware it's just a phone. i'm just relaying MY experiences and the experiences of plenty of people i ask every day as i'm tempted to get the new iphone. not one has vouched for ATT, everyone tells me to stay away. would you like their phone numbers for confirmation?

enjoy your amazing ATT. it's really annoying that any time there's a strong dissent on these forums toward apple and/or ATT the person with the unpopular opinion gets crapped on.

 

[scaredpoet]

i'm just relaying MY experiences

You're doing more than that. You're insisting that AT&T will be universally bad for everyone BASED on your singular experience, and at the same time insisting that people with good experiences just aren't credible.

enjoy your amazing ATT.

I do!

it's really annoying that any time there's a strong dissent on these forums toward apple and/or ATT the person with the unpopular opinion gets crapped on.

I'm not "crapping" on your opinion. I'm just relaying MY experiences...

Seriously though: I think you should accept that people have good experiences and have every right to tell them, just as you do your bad experience. And, people won't "crap" on your opinion if you don't "crap" on theirs first.

Lastly, the Op should probably just give AT&T a try for the 30 day period. If there's any sign of trouble, take the iPhone back, post-haste, and get a refund. Ultimately, the OP is the only accurate gauge for how good or bad AT&T will be for them.

 

[scaredpoet]

And to get to your points:

#1,2,3,: This forum's audience ARE the power users, and not the general audience. If you're preaching to power users, what good is that message going to be to the general public you are ostensibly advocating for?

#4: i was talking about older plans that have an amazing cost structure that people don't want to lose out on.

If they want an iPhone, they WILL lose out on those plans, as you must sign on to a current data plan and have a voice plan of $39.99 or higher.

(This IS the iPhone forum, is it not?)

#5: again, i was speaking of general population, not users on this forum. so, your point is moot.

On the contrary, your message isn't making it to the people you claim you want to reach. So, YOUR point is moot, by default.

 

[manhattanmania]

You're doing more than that. You're insisting that AT&T will be universally bad for everyone BASED on your singular experience, and at the same time insisting that people with good experiences just aren't credible.



I do!




I'm not "crapping" on your opinion. I'm just relaying MY experiences...

Seriously though: I think you should accept that people have good experiences and have every right to tell them, just as you do your bad experience. And, people won't "crap" on your opinion if you don't "crap" on theirs first.

Lastly, the Op should probably just give AT&T a try for the 30 day period. If there's any sign of trouble, take the iPhone back, post-haste, and get a refund. Ultimately, the OP is the only accurate gauge for how good or bad AT&T will be for them.

ok im getting bored of going back and forth, but one more time: yay for everyone who loves ATT, i wasnt crapping on ppl's good experiences, just sharing mine, and ppl have picked apart my bad experiences in this post and previously, so then these little wars happen. my posts talk about me and what i've experienced and what other ppl i know experience.

lastly! i too said that the OP should give ATT a try for the 30 days, u can't have missed it. there was a whole disclaimer section of my first response.
even *I* will be doing the same. yes me, the psycho anti-ATT verizon-loving freak.

 

[manhattanmania]

And to get to your points:

#1,2,3,: This forum's audience ARE the power users, and not the general audience. If you're preaching to power users, what good is that message going to be to the general public you are ostensibly advocating for?



If they want an iPhone, they WILL lose out on those plans, as you must sign on to a current data plan and have a voice plan of $39.99 or higher.

(This IS the iPhone forum, is it not?)



On the contrary, your message isn't making it to the people you claim you want to reach. So, YOUR point is moot, by default.

yes, this is the iphone forum, but the topic is ATT service, not the iphone.
and i never said ppl with those plans want an iphone. you are putting my words in my mouth to make your points. and, when i gave 5 reasons regarding why ppl would be on ATT, the question wasnt "why would POWER USERS stay on ATT?" it was why would ppl stay on ATT. you're arguing based on the knowledge of a power user, and my arguments are not about the power user, nor do they have to be in the context of this conversation.

 

[drchipinski]

I look at it two ways...

If ATT sucked bad, why would anyone stay with them?

Are you buying the Iphone and okay with okay service?

 

[dissdnt]

I look at it two ways...

If ATT sucked bad, why would anyone stay with them?

Are you buying the Iphone and okay with okay service?

My friend has an iPhone horrible service and is still with them hehe and he's a Sprint dealer. There's just no other phone that has a browser like the iPhone out yet and he uses it heavily for work.

 

[manhattanmania]

My friend has an iPhone horrible service and is still with them hehe and he's a Sprint dealer. There's just no other phone that has a browser like the iPhone out yet and he uses it heavily for work.

shhh someone is gonna call you crazy for saying that people stay with the iphone even tho the service sucks!