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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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CNNMoney.com reports on a recent survey from market research firm Yankee Group showing 73% of surveyed U.S. iPhone customers being "very satisfied" with AT&T as their carrier provider. The high figure appears rather surprising given AT&T's much-maligned performance as it has struggled to keep up with surging demand on its network since the iPhone debuted three years ago.
Despite a very vocal group of detractors, the vast majority of iPhone users love AT&T.

That's the key finding in a survey released this week by Yankee Group, which reports that 73% of iPhone users are very satisfied with AT&T's service. That rating compares favorably to how non-iPhone smartphone users feel about AT&T, and even to how non-iPhone users feel about other wireless providers.

The satisfaction rate of AT&T subscribers as a whole is 68%, and only 69% of smartphone users say they are satisfied with their mobile provider, Yankee Group found.
Yankee Group attributes the surprisingly high rankings to something of a "halo effect" that sees users' high satisfaction ratings for the iPhone rubbing off on the carrier despite its troubles. Or, as the report puts it, AT&T seems to have become part of the famous "reality distortion field" said to encompass Steve Jobs and Apple.

Article Link: Survey Finds U.S. iPhone Users Generally Pleased With AT&T
 

hedrick

macrumors newbie
May 22, 2006
4
0
This analysis seems to be based on the assumption that people can't really be satisfied with ATT; it has to be some kind of illusion. The other possibility is that while people in some areas have serious problems, most users actually are satisfied with ATT. I am.
 

cvaldes

macrumors 68040
Dec 14, 2006
3,237
0
somewhere else
Curious. This study contradicts the Consumer Reports survey published earlier this year indicating that all four major US mobile operators were mediocre at best.

Verizon score just a couple of points higher than the rest of the pack, but that margin is barely above the threshold of what CR considers to be statistically significant.

To put it another way, Verizon Wireless is a 37" giant in a land of three-foot midgets.
 

spazzcat

macrumors 68040
Jun 29, 2007
3,620
4,591
That is because you shouldn't believe everything you read on the internet. I have no issues with ATT or my ip4. I think most of complaints are from non-ATT users.
 

VenusianSky

macrumors 65816
Aug 28, 2008
1,290
47
Service is fine for me. No complaints. AT&T coverage is excellent in my area (Pittsburgh, PA).
 

powtail

macrumors newbie
Sep 5, 2007
5
0
agree

There is definitively a lot of room for improvement in AT&T's performance but I'm one of those that is satisfied.

Unsatisfied users are very vocal about it, while pleased customers might not care to actively share their experience. After all, AT&T does not have an outstanding/excellent performance but is good enough. Is definitively not as bad as many say it is.
 

djellison

macrumors 68020
Feb 2, 2007
2,229
4
Pasadena CA
I don't know anyone who's happy with AT&T - I know multiple people who are dumping the iOS platform and switching to Droid - just to get acceptable carrier performance.

Those same people have said - the moment they go somewhere other than LA - it's fine. But in LA - it's just unacceptable.

I know from first hand experience via my iPad 3G - that there is NO - ZERO 3G signal in or around my house in NE Pasadena. So an iPhone 4 isn't even an option for me.
 

PerfSeeker

macrumors 6502a
Jul 10, 2010
545
0
I guess most people are generally pleased with lackluster service. Heck McDonalds sells the most hamburgers and nobody will call that "quality food". Fact is most people are lazy and go with the flow even if they should demand better.
 

ineedamac

macrumors 6502
Jul 10, 2008
478
157
I'm a consultant and I use my iPhone for business. The AT&T network has served me well. You can count me in the bucket of satisfied AT&T customers.
 

wikoogle

macrumors 6502a
Jun 12, 2009
929
0
I am guessing that their offer to let people upgrade to the iPhone 4 a year earlier had a lot to do with this.


That and the fact that though AT&T reception/network is atrociously bad in high population density areas like NY and LA, it's network and reception is fantastic in most of the rest of the country.

I get 100% reception and barely any dropped calls in Montana, but when visiting my family in NY, I dropped 4 out of every 5 calls I tried to make!!! :eek:

So based on where I live now, I would say very satisfied. If I ever moved to NY however, you can add me to the list of vocal complainers.
 

mpaquette

macrumors regular
Jul 15, 2010
131
55
Columbia, SC
I'm happy with AT&T. Ended up on AT&T because I was unhappy with Verizon and poor coverage/data performance around the areas I frequent.
 

PerfSeeker

macrumors 6502a
Jul 10, 2010
545
0
I am guessing that their offer to let people upgrade to the iPhone 4 a year earlier had a lot to do with this.


That and the fact that though AT&T reception/network is atrociously bad in high population density areas like NY and LA, it's network and reception is fantastic in most of the rest of the country.

I get 100% reception and barely any dropped calls in Montana, but when visiting my family in NY, I dropped 4 out of every 5 call I tried to make!!! :eek:

T-Mobile is an excellent voice network. In 5 years on it, hardly any dropped calls.
 

Max(IT)

Suspended
Dec 8, 2009
8,551
1,662
Italy
Strange enough.
Reading this forum I was under the impression that AT&T network is a joke.
But every time I used it (I go in the Usa 3-4 times per year, mostly Miami, new York, west palm beach, Atlanta, Seattle and Washington ), I had nothing to complain about.

Now this report.
What is the truth ?
 

DrDomVonDoom

macrumors 6502
May 30, 2010
314
0
Fairbanks, Ak
:apple:It just goes to show how the people who hate AT&T though perhaps a minority, is definatly the loudest. All I hear online is how much AT&T sucks, well maybe in your area, but where I live it works just fine. You would think that everyone who uses AT&T just hate the **** out of the company, but I would rather believe most everyday people are indifferent to AT&T and don't care. Its generally tech snobs who believe every evolving technology should somehow radiate perfection 100% of the time, and Its always iPhone users who bitch about AT&T, never the rest of the dumbphone users, just those who intensely use their phones.

I actually had a good experiance with AT&T, I found out that my iPhone 3gs wasn't getting any 3g, so we went through all the steps and eventually found out that I jailbroke my phone, and updated it, then backed it up. I kept using the back-up and thats why it wouldn't work.

Funny enough I thought it was hardware because I was able to put my sim in another phone and 3g worked, so I sent it to AppleCare and they replaced my phone with, (im guessing) a refurbished one. I doubt they even took the time to look at it at this point with everything revolving around iPhone 4, so they just threw in a new 3gs and sent it back. lol. I didn't realize till I got the new one back and it did the same thing that I screwed apple. :) sowwy.
 

bevo

macrumors regular
Jul 19, 2002
237
12
Not a happy ATT user here.

live in NYC. Spotty service. Unfortunately, I like the apple platform too much to give it up to switch to an android on Verizon or sprint.

The minute another carrier gets the iPhone though, I'd probably switch.
 

liamoblomy

macrumors member
Feb 2, 2010
56
0
Leeds, UK
The unsatisfied people are always the loudest. Hence the completely overblown iphone antenna issue from which the majority of complaints came from people who dont own an iphone 4.
 
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