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NY Times article (blog): The iPhone Excuse"
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In the office where I work cell reception is atrocious across all carriers. Not being able to get a signal whatsoever I ended up using very few minutes. Then AT&T put some antennas in our building, and people who had AT&T were the only ones that could get service (this did not include me). Once I switched to AT&T and got my iphone I could suddenly use my phone again (but no 3G in the building). So it really just depends on your individual situation. I get great reception at home too, with full 3G.
I've found that AT&T has a lot of trouble getting their signal to penetrate into buildings. Outside, 98% of the time, my signal is strong. When I go inside, I'm taking my chances.
Examples:
I got crappy reception in the office building that I worked in last year that is in the heart of Beverly Hills right on Wilshire Blvd. It would get absolutely no service when I went into the back office area. Verizon, T Mobile, and Sprint phones had no problem in that office. Even on the elevator.
I get no reception at our friends' house in Beverly Hills unless I'm outside.
I get really crappy reception in my apartment in Westwood- and I'm only a few blocks south of a very busy area of Wilshire Blvd. I get no signal when I go from the bedroom to the livingroom area. I usually have to stand by the window or on the balcony to talk to someone. When I'm on the sidewalk outside, the reception is fine. I called AT&T, and they told me that there is a tower just north of me at Wilshire, and oh well, sorry about that.
When my 2 year contract is up, I may just rethink my mobile carrier.....
Examples:
I got crappy reception in the office building that I worked in last year that is in the heart of Beverly Hills right on Wilshire Blvd. It would get absolutely no service when I went into the back office area. Verizon, T Mobile, and Sprint phones had no problem in that office. Even on the elevator.
I get no reception at our friends' house in Beverly Hills unless I'm outside.
I get really crappy reception in my apartment in Westwood- and I'm only a few blocks south of a very busy area of Wilshire Blvd. I get no signal when I go from the bedroom to the livingroom area. I usually have to stand by the window or on the balcony to talk to someone. When I'm on the sidewalk outside, the reception is fine. I called AT&T, and they told me that there is a tower just north of me at Wilshire, and oh well, sorry about that.
When my 2 year contract is up, I may just rethink my mobile carrier.....
In my situation I had Sprint prior to the iphone 3G launch and had zero reception in my office, which is also off Wilshire in the mid-town area. So it's not just AT&T, at least in my office.
I get great reception around town, but I'm not in Beverly Hills or over on the west side very often.
I get great reception around town, but I'm not in Beverly Hills or over on the west side very often.
I think the solution is for Apple to give a contract to an additional carrier in the US. Customers seemed loyal to Apple and their products but in this case everyone is hampered by ATT. Some areas it's good, some areas it's not -- if there was a choice on providers all this carping would go away.
When the 3G was released in the UK last July, there were people here not happy about reception, I remember reading the posts, indeed I was one of them that wasn't overly happy with the 3G signal, especially in parts of Kent, London in general seems very good though.
What I've read about AT&T I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole, the O2 experience is far better, but remember we are a small island and America is a very big place, seems to me the AT&T experience varies greatly from state to state.
I live in Syracuse, which is far from NYC but still in the state and I RARELY if ever have less than five bars on my iPhone. I have never missed/dropped a call here or anywhere else. I was just in Chicago this past weekend and had amazing service there as well, however on my way home through central Ohio I was on the edge network the whole time, but good reception in that as well. Verizon is nothing to cheer about. They have people here deadlocked as well too. I would never want CDMA for the sheer reason that if anything ever happened to my phone and I was in a pinch financially I could just go on ebay and buy an unlocked phone, or even buy a gophone for 20 dollars at wal mart and pop my sim in and have instant service. With Verizon/ Sprint you have to buy one of THEIR extremely overpriced phones and have them activated at twenty-thirty dollars a pop. Not to mention all verizon phones, with the exception of smart phones come with the crap staple verizon firmware. Just my two cents 
Location Location Location
In my area, the iPhone 3G works great. In the last 6 months that I have owned the phone, there have been just 3-4 dropped calls which I can attribute to the 3.0b that I am testing. Rest of the time it's all bars all the time.
Recently my travels took me through NYC. Waiting in the airport, my iPhone just went crazy switching between 3G and Edge. At first I thought it's definitely AT&T's network problems. But later when I gave it more thought, it almost seemed like Apple should have accommodated for network fluctuations in the phone. It's simply about giving the customer a better experience with the device. If a car's transmission can learn from the driver's driving habits then I am certainly not out of line to expect a certain level of sophistication from a phone.
I personally don't think this a problem that will take AT&T and the iPhone to it's grave but both equally share the responsibility for this problem.
In my area, the iPhone 3G works great. In the last 6 months that I have owned the phone, there have been just 3-4 dropped calls which I can attribute to the 3.0b that I am testing. Rest of the time it's all bars all the time.
Recently my travels took me through NYC. Waiting in the airport, my iPhone just went crazy switching between 3G and Edge. At first I thought it's definitely AT&T's network problems. But later when I gave it more thought, it almost seemed like Apple should have accommodated for network fluctuations in the phone. It's simply about giving the customer a better experience with the device. If a car's transmission can learn from the driver's driving habits then I am certainly not out of line to expect a certain level of sophistication from a phone.
I personally don't think this a problem that will take AT&T and the iPhone to it's grave but both equally share the responsibility for this problem.
Oh sorry, didn't realize you were being FORCED to buy a new phone and switch to AT&T. It's the great thing about a competitive market people,m there's always choices.
I live in Florida and At&t is pretty strong here where I'm at and a few other places I have been in Florida. I have never dropped a call and my signal never is below 5 bars. All you verizon lovers need to get over it. Apple went to verizon first but their heads are so far up their asses that when the proposal was on the table verizon did nothing but enjoy the smell of their own farts. I had to switch services to get my iPhone (from alltel. Wanna talk about crap reception?) I love my iPhone and don't see myself replacing it any time at all in the near future but I gotta say, if verizon would have been the exclusive carrier I would have never even looked twice. Verizon crams their phones so full of usless ********. It's like surfing the net without a pop-up blocker. Service on your iPhone sucks? Deal with it. Or get another phone. No one is making you stay.
I think the blog spot nailed it on the head........ Sorry AT&T is not as good when it comes to coverage as Verizon. But hey I have my iPhone.
What a bunch of crock. I travel all over the united states and I live in Puerto Rico and I very rarely have problems with service. I was a Cingular customer for many years before AT&T took over and never had any problems. Sure some basements here and there would loose service or deep places inside a large building but rarely.
I have used my 3G in almost every major city in the U.S. and not had any problems. The only thing I can complain about is a little disappointed in 3G speeds in most major U.S. cities. 3G is actually about 50% faster in PR then most every city I work in.
You also should consider that you may have problems in NYC but I am currently in Dallas, was in Vegas a week ago, previously in Miami, before that Houston, before that Seattle and on and on and no problems.
I have used my 3G in almost every major city in the U.S. and not had any problems. The only thing I can complain about is a little disappointed in 3G speeds in most major U.S. cities. 3G is actually about 50% faster in PR then most every city I work in.
You also should consider that you may have problems in NYC but I am currently in Dallas, was in Vegas a week ago, previously in Miami, before that Houston, before that Seattle and on and on and no problems.
This sounds like you are referring to 3G only. What about call service? I was just in Vegas and it wasn't that great, not bad, but not wonderful either.
I think #67 was talking more about 3G. I recently spent time in the Miami area and the cell service is spotty. I live in Manhattan and like the NY Times article stated, cell service is sub-par. Here in Manhattan where it's pretty easy to find a wifi environment, I find myself making calls on Truphone via wifi because I just can't get a cell signal. The fact that I want to check out the new Skype app for local and not international is pretty sick.
Ill chime in and say that in the 631 of NY, long island, I have had maybe 2-3 dropped calls on my iphone in the last year and half. Rarely have I seen service drop on the data part either. Service for me has been the best out of all the carriers and I hear plenty of complaints from those with Verizon here.
But of course, you never talk on your phone while driving in NY, after all it is illegal and highly dangerous.
I never use mine either because it is wrong.
Thing is, my dad, mum and two of my sisters are on O2, and they get near enough to full bars in our home, whereas my iPhone is lucky to get one, usually its just No Service. What is more annoying is how this happens in the city centre, it just seems to hit dead spots, where as my friend's O2 ancient Nokia phone (black and white) still gets range.
Have you forgotten? The exclusive contract doesn't end until 2010. If Apple broke it, you can bet they'd be forced to pay hundreds of millions, if not more. You know they wouldn't break it, simply because their fanboys couldn't resist one of their products.
Yeah right.
Since I live in Dallas, I rarely drop calls. My calls will drop occasionally when I drive under a bridge. Also, since I work in the basement, I can't get a signal. Unfortunately, service is crappier once you leave the bigger cities. I hate small towns.
I live 2 blocks from the lake just north of downtown and work in the loop....full bars at home and at work.