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Returning my iPhone 3GS after one week!!!

R

radpanic

macrumors member
Original poster
I posted this to Apple's discussion forums but it got deleted by the admin. WTH?? Anyway,

I LOVE this phone but I HATE AT&T's data service(or lack there of)!! Placing calls is fine and my reception is good(great in some places) but I have NO DATA CONNECTION. I'm not in a 3G area and that's fine. EDGE would be plenty for me. I would be very happy with normal EDGE speeds but 95% of the time I have NO DATA. 4% of the time I get anywhere from 2-11kbps. 1% of the time I get anywhere from 30-100kbps. I have called AT&T every day since I activated but they tell me that they don't have any problems with the towers and make me go through pointless troublshooting. I know it's not just my phone because my co-workers that have iPhones are having the same issue. Like I said, I absolutely love the phone but it might as well be an iPod Touch. I can only use apps and Safari when I'm on WiFi. AT&T's customer service has been very nice but my problem hasn't been resolved. I wish I could keep the phone but it looks like I'm going back to my Blackberry and 700kbps on Verizon 3G...
 
radpanic said:
I posted this to Apple's discussion forums but it got deleted by the admin. WTH?? Anyway,

I LOVE this phone but I HATE AT&T's data service(or lack there of)!! Placing calls is fine and my reception is good(great in some places) but I have NO DATA CONNECTION. I'm not in a 3G area and that's fine. EDGE would be plenty for me. I would be very happy with normal EDGE speeds but 95% of the time I have NO DATA. 4% of the time I get anywhere from 2-11kbps. 1% of the time I get anywhere from 30-100kbps. I have called AT&T every day since I activated but they tell me that they don't have any problems with the towers and make me go through pointless troublshooting. I know it's not just my phone because my co-workers that have iPhones are having the same issue. Like I said, I absolutely love the phone but it might as well be an iPod Touch. I can only use apps and Safari when I'm on WiFi. AT&T's customer service has been very nice but my problem hasn't been resolved. I wish I could keep the phone but it looks like I'm going back to my Blackberry and 700kbps on Verizon 3G...
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Could you tell us where you are located? I don't live in a big city, and my connections been fine (edge, 3G, and wi-fi).
 
He's in Rainbow City, Alabama.

In looking at AT&T's map for that area he's in a region that that no service, low service, moderate service and "partner" service. I'd say he may be dealing with "partner service" and something is going wrong with the data side.

Edited to add: His domain registration was Rainbow City and I went with that which is certainly a worse area west of Gadsden. If he is actually in Gadsden even that location is rich with vast "partner service" and low quality areas. Judging from the coverage map, regardless as to whether you're anecdotally seeing "3-5 bars," you could easily be hopping between worse and better towers. You're certainly in a region ripe for it. My residence location does this. I hop between a tower I can see and one at greater distance. If I switch to the one at greater distance I quite likely will lose the call unless I move to the west end of the house to assure I'm in the better tower.
 
Sounds like you should be posting on AT&T's forums, rather than on MacRumors. It's the service, not the device.
 
avaloncourt said:
He's in Rainbow City, Alabama.

In looking at AT&T's map for that area he's in a region that that no service, low service, moderate service and "partner" service. I'd say he may be dealing with "partner service" and something is going wrong with the data side.
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Stalk much? 😉 Yeah, I live in Southside. Work in Gadsden. Rainbow City is in between. I'm not on "partner service" aka roaming. It's all AT&T all the time.
 
eawmp1 said:
Sounds like you should be posting on AT&T's forums, rather than on MacRumors. It's the service, not the device.
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maybe, but I wanted to comment on why I am returning the device and the fact that i love the phone. Jeez, are you the forum police? 🙂
 
radpanic said:
Stalk much? 😉 Yeah, I live in Southside. Work in Gadsden. Rainbow City is in between. I'm not on "partner service" aka roaming. It's all AT&T all the time.
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I was just trying to get you an answer quickly 🙂 The problem is, from my quick Google search, an AT&T "partner service" is technically part of the network and never displays on an iPhone as roaming. You'd never know if you were in a roaming area and there's a LOT of "partner" around you. You could easily be bouncing in and out of another carrier constantly.

Edited to add: I just found more posts about AT&T roaming related to the iPhone. The iPhone will never display domestic AT&T network roaming in its normal configuration. According to one post I found you can call support and request that they turn on the "Off Network Alpha Tag" which will give you an indication.
 
radpanic said:
Stalk much? 😉 Yeah, I live in Southside. Work in Gadsden. Rainbow City is in between. I'm not on "partner service" aka roaming. It's all AT&T all the time.
Click to expand...

Partner service doesn't exactly mean roaming. It used to mean roaming and your phone used to show that it was roaming but, as with most at&t calling plans, it doesn't matter anymore because they're nationwide plans. What partner service means is that at&t is leasing access to their towers for their customers. This can easily mean that you're switching between a bunch of bad towers. Your issue is with at&t and it's partner service in that area.
 
avaloncourt said:
I was just trying to get you an answer quickly 🙂 The problem is, from my quick Google search, an AT&T "partner service" is technically part of the network and never displays on an iPhone as roaming. You'd never know if you were in a roaming area and there's a LOT of "partner" around you. You could easily be bouncing in and out of another carrier constantly.
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Ahh, I got ya. Thanks for your input!
 
Nah - I'm not the police. Just tired of the recent uptick in trolling since the 3GS came out (not that I'm accusing you).

Your love of the device (one sentence) kinda got lost in the service diatribe. In this era of widely available WiFi, if the phone aspect of the iPhone works, why not view it as a Touch plus. I have WiFi at work, a network at home, and traveling around any commercial areas I can pick up a WiFi signal. That having been said, I can understand your frustration with AT&T in YOUR area, but there are areas of the country where AT&T coverage blows Verizon out of the water. You have to decide if the hassles of the service outweigh your love of the device (b/c I'll bet you'll miss the iPhone, even if you get better service from Verizon).
 
So when you try to go on the Internet it says cellular data not availible? Same thing happened to me when I got mine. I could call and text but no Internet. Call ATT and they will fix it over the phone. Took 5 minutes and I was good to go worked as soon as I hung up.
 
Your 95%, 4%, and 1% number sound completely made up. Do you have hard numbers that we can see or are those just numbers that you made up?
 
Just curious. Have you gone in your phone settings and turned on Data Roaming..? It's turned off by default. I think they do this so if someone traveled abroad they don't use international data. Sorry if this is too simple of a solution.

Thanks,
 
eawmp1 said:
In this era of widely available WiFi, if the phone aspect of the iPhone works, why not view it as a Touch plus..........You have to decide if the hassles of the service outweigh your love of the device (b/c I'll bet you'll miss the iPhone, even if you get better service from Verizon).
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What the bloody hell kind of sense does that statement make? That sounds like fanboi-ish rubbish. Its supposed to be a phone first and foremost. If it doesnt work as a phone when you need it then why bother? Yes there are actually sensible people that are willing to give up the iPhone to be able to go with a carrier that works where they live. I should know, I bought my 2G the day it came out and its the best phone Ive ever used. I HAD to get rid of it and go back to Verizon because I literally couldnt use my phone in my house at all. It did me no good when home. It was with sadness I had to stop using it as a phone but I went back to Verizon and use it as an iPod touch of sorts. Yea it sucks but I have a phone that now works and I still get to use all the other cool aspects of my iPhone.
 
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