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[News] AT&T rated worst cell phone carrier for second year in a row

I am dubious of all of those ratings, I read in that past, they they only get a response rate of somewhere between 6-12% return on the surveys they send out and is drawn only from Consumer Reports subscribers. I don't know that it is really representative of the general public.

I have used Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile at one time or another. The only one I would definitely never use again is Sprint. Between the rest of them, I think a lot of the customer service differences is splitting hairs. I have been an AT&T customer the past 4 years, and have had nothing but positive experiences with them, both in the stores and over the phone. I will have no problem re-upping my contract with them when I am ready for a new phone.
 
Lol, funny how this thread brought all the AT&T fanboys.

I've had AT&T since the iPhone 4 released. Prior to that I was on Verizon.

These rankings seem about right.
 
RyanG said:
Lol, funny how this thread brought all the AT&T fanboys.

I've had AT&T since the iPhone 4 released. Prior to that I was on Verizon.

These rankings seem about right.
Click to expand...

I'm not a fanboy, I have it because I'm on the family plan, however my experiences with them have been very good.
 
Not a fanboy either, facts are facts, and the fact is I have no problem with AT&T. Funny how anyone who disagrees is quick to pull out the "fanboy" card on those they disagree with? Not having a problem and being skeptical of Consumer Reports ratings and being a "fanboy" are two entirely different things.
 
It all comes down to reception at your place of residence.

A few years ago I had sprint and could barely talk to people in my own home. Switched to AT&T and I have full reception.

If you're happy with your carrier than don't worry about the network wars.
 
Someone here recently posted a link to last years CR report about AT&T being the worst carrier. So when I got my 4S, I signed up with Sprint. Now my average dl speeds are 0.10 - 0.20mbps and the only time I get above 0.50mbps is at 2am. When I call Sprint to complain, I'm always on hold for at least 30 minutes and the people I speak with are unhelpful and combative.

Next week I'm canceling my contract with Sprint and signing up with AT&T. AT&T may have its faults but there's NO WAY they could be worse than Sprint.
 
Consumer Reports will dog AT&T no matter what the reason. Biased written all over them.
 
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I wonder if Consumer Reports stated that "AT&T was the best carrier," if people would come running out praising Consumer Reports instead of slamming them like they are now?
 
Yeah, its true. Consumer Reports has no clue what they're doing when it comes to electronics, and they haven't for a long time. They miss important models, use metrics that make no sense, and give recommendations or not that also make no sense.
 
El3ctronics said:
Consumer Reports is a joke and these ratings are worthless.
Click to expand...

It would seem so! I thought I liked Consumer Reports, they perhaps rate somethings good, but the the important things like Data Rate, I think is the most important, and perhaps they don't count that for much?

I have had AT&T for my iPhones and mistakenly got a Verizon iPad. I tether the iPad 2 to my old iPhone 3GS, and I consistently tested (53 data points) across the state of Florida, and got about 3 times the speed than Verizon with the iPad's own CDMA Radio. I know everyone has different numbers where they are at.

But this test confirmed my calculations about a month later with over 8000 data points:

https://www.macrumors.com/2011/11/1...iphone-data-speeds-sprint-most-dropped-calls/

Now I have an iPhone 4S and got 6.99 Mbps down, and 1.46 Mbps up on AT&T. The Verizon iPad still won't break 2 Mbps down (even though I'm closer to a Verizon Tower!). Though it was about the same going UP with the iPhone 3GS because the 3GS was limited to a mere 0.384 Mbps (384 Kbps) upload because it only had HSDPA, no HSUPA (no High Speed Uplink Packet Access). The iPhone 4S can do 14.4 down and 5.8 up. The iPhone 4 can do 7.2 down (and I think 5.8 up), so I'm getting close to the theoretical limit of the iPhone 4 on my AT&T network. I say that's impressive, since most overheads are about 40% of the theoretical limits. Like FireWire 800 is good for 600 Mbps at best, and USB 2.0 recently finally broke the 33 MB/s (264 Mbps or 55% of the max 480 Mbps). Now I've seen 802.11g finally hit 37 Mbps when it's rated at 54 Mbps. (I hope 802.11ac this year will really do over 1000 Mbps! But probably more like 600 Mbps)

I suppose I may have had a dropped call, but I really don't notice or remember it being noticeable. I remember the '90s and dropped calls then were bad and I was with Sprint (though that hardly matters now).
 
You know, even though Verizon shows slower speeds, if you put them next to each other, Verizon still comes up as quick if not quicker sometimes than AT&T with webpages.

gatortpk said:
It would seem so! I thought I liked Consumer Reports, they perhaps rate somethings good, but the the important things like Data Rate, I think is the most important, and perhaps they don't count that for much?

I have had AT&T for my iPhones and mistakenly got a Verizon iPad. I tether the iPad 2 to my old iPhone 3GS, and I consistently tested (53 data points) across the state of Florida, and got about 3 times the speed than Verizon with the iPad's own CDMA Radio. I know everyone has different numbers where they are at.

But this test confirmed my calculations about a month later with over 8000 data points:

https://www.macrumors.com/2011/11/1...iphone-data-speeds-sprint-most-dropped-calls/

Now I have an iPhone 4S and got 6.99 Mbps down, and 1.46 Mbps up on AT&T. The Verizon iPad still won't break 2 Mbps down (even though I'm closer to a Verizon Tower!). Though it was about the same going UP with the iPhone 3GS because the 3GS was limited to a mere 0.384 Mbps (384 Kbps) upload because it only had HSDPA, no HSUPA (no High Speed Uplink Packet Access). The iPhone 4S can do 14.4 down and 5.8 up. The iPhone 4 can do 7.2 down (and I think 5.8 up), so I'm getting close to the theoretical limit of the iPhone 4 on my AT&T network. I say that's impressive, since most overheads are about 40% of the theoretical limits. Like FireWire 800 is good for 600 Mbps at best, and USB 2.0 recently finally broke the 33 MB/s (264 Mbps or 55% of the max 480 Mbps). Now I've seen 802.11g finally hit 37 Mbps when it's rated at 54 Mbps. (I hope 802.11ac this year will really do over 1000 Mbps! But probably more like 600 Mbps)

I suppose I may have had a dropped call, but I really don't notice or remember it being noticeable. I remember the '90s and dropped calls then were bad and I was with Sprint (though that hardly matters now).
Click to expand...
 
I had been a T-Mobile customer up until the iPhone 3G came out. I was dubious to switch to AT&T based on their reputation back then. However, I can say that I have had nothing but good service from them.

I honestly think that some of the issues are actually the customer. I have friends whom I've heard call customer service and sounded rude from the second they start talking to the rep. One of them actually has me call for them because "I give good phone". It's a simple matter of being polite and recognizing the customer rep is NOT the CEO. If I feel I'm not getting anything out of them, I politely ask for the next level up. There's a sense of entitlement that happens with a lot of customers. I've seen it everywhere and it annoys the heck out of me.

Be polite courteous and respectful. Nine times out of ten that works.
 
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AT&T was terrible.. my home is so close to one of their tower.. still had a bad signal.. however, it has improved in last two years.

I believe good or bad all depends your location.
 
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