You haven't seen much of modern fashion magazines then. It is almost a full blown Photoshop retouch exhibition.
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Survey Finds U.S. iPhone Users Generally Pleased With AT&T
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You haven't seen much of modern fashion magazines then. It is almost a full blown Photoshop retouch exhibition.
AT&T's service in Washington, DC seems to have materially improved in the last year or so. I used to experience a lot of failed data connections on my 3GS (though I never really had much of a dropped-call problem). Now, I rarely fail to get a data connection in the vicinity of downtown DC.
Last year, I would have drooled at the opportunity to switch to Verizon. Now, I'm not itching to go
Last year, I would have drooled at the opportunity to switch to Verizon. Now, I'm not itching to go
My experience is that my coverage is fine whenever I am in Las Vegas, L.A. Utah, and San Diego, but on a recent trip to New York I noticed my data speeds were considerably slower (even after the AT&T upgrades). That is to say AT&T is faster out in the Southwest then in New York even if New York has recently improved with upgrades.
I'm pretty sure that it is due to iPhone usage and I'm pretty sure that once iPhone goes to other carriers or once Android phones take off with those carriers in a bigger way that those networks will fall flat on their face as well. Nobody is setup for millions of folks downloading youtube and netflix at the same time.
So for me it is all about customer service. I won't ever go to Sprint until I hear some folks raving about how they have changed their ways -- too many horror stories (Sprint has even heard them given their new try-us-again campaign).
AT&T customer service has been hit or miss in that it depends so much on who is helping me over the phone or in-person at their stores. Some are great, some not-so-great, but AT&T could stand for better training to provide consistent intelligent responses to questions. Generally with AT&T if I don't get the answer I want, I call back and talk to somebody else and that fixes the problem (kinda like rebooting Windows before I switched to OSX).
I've never dealt with Verizon, but family members have told me that they have good customer service. My only problem there is they can't do simultaneous voice & data which is a non-starter for me.
As for T-Mobile I have heard nothing and have not dealt with them -- so I cannot say one way or the other. My guess is that their network backbone would be as small as their customer base and I would be nervous about going that route.
So overall I feel AT&T is adequate and I don't believe the grass is greener elsewhere, but I think they could simplify their rules and plans for their customers and employees to better understand. I am also glad that Apple has pretty much broken their stranglehold on the customer (i.e.: no longer is AT&T calling all the shots about what your phone can and cannot do -- they are becoming a toll collector on the wireless highway -- which is what they should be).
I'm pretty sure that it is due to iPhone usage and I'm pretty sure that once iPhone goes to other carriers or once Android phones take off with those carriers in a bigger way that those networks will fall flat on their face as well. Nobody is setup for millions of folks downloading youtube and netflix at the same time.
So for me it is all about customer service. I won't ever go to Sprint until I hear some folks raving about how they have changed their ways -- too many horror stories (Sprint has even heard them given their new try-us-again campaign).
AT&T customer service has been hit or miss in that it depends so much on who is helping me over the phone or in-person at their stores. Some are great, some not-so-great, but AT&T could stand for better training to provide consistent intelligent responses to questions. Generally with AT&T if I don't get the answer I want, I call back and talk to somebody else and that fixes the problem (kinda like rebooting Windows before I switched to OSX).
I've never dealt with Verizon, but family members have told me that they have good customer service. My only problem there is they can't do simultaneous voice & data which is a non-starter for me.
As for T-Mobile I have heard nothing and have not dealt with them -- so I cannot say one way or the other. My guess is that their network backbone would be as small as their customer base and I would be nervous about going that route.
So overall I feel AT&T is adequate and I don't believe the grass is greener elsewhere, but I think they could simplify their rules and plans for their customers and employees to better understand. I am also glad that Apple has pretty much broken their stranglehold on the customer (i.e.: no longer is AT&T calling all the shots about what your phone can and cannot do -- they are becoming a toll collector on the wireless highway -- which is what they should be).
Not true at all.
I bought a 1st gen iPhone, still have the phone. I switched from Verizon to ATnT the first day the iPphone came out. I live in the Phily area. In all the years of being with Verizon I could not remember a single dropped call.
The first week with ATnT I would drop at least 1 call a day driving through that tiny little metro area called Philadelphia.
A friend also got one first day. She had NO cell service where she worked. Apple techs were very helpful in determining that there just wasen't any ATnT cell towers in her area.
I could not deal with dropped calls when talking to customers. I tried, I really did. I loved the phone so much that I kept it and just cancelled the plan. I use the phone every day as an iPod / WiFi browser / PDA or sorts.
I had legitimate problems in an area of the country where I should have expected minimal problems. Not all people are complaining just for the drama of it all. I will get another iPhone soon. I like the phone too much not to.
Direct mass survey customer questionnaires give skewed data. Survey companies and Nelson and Arbitron have their own internal method to give much more accurate customer feedback.
The problem with direct survey is that there is a huge distortion of people that who are satisfied that respond vs. those those who are dissatisfied and respond. In general, those that are dissatisfied respond a most more frequently that those that are satisfied. The collection of posts on this domain proves that.
Thus, do to a customer survey properly you can't question blindly. You need to take the background of those who respond, including criminal record, income and education level into consideration.
If you are flat broke, can't afford an iPhone but love the product, is your opinion of value?
If you have a criminal background for computer crimes and even a conviction history, is your opinion of value?
If you are a Silicon Valley millionaire that was elevated in the Palm boom of the 90s, married with teen age children, a company staff of two dozen and influence dozens of cell phone accounts, is your opinion more valuable?
If you live in a rural or semi-rural area, live with your parents and your income is most spend on video games, fast food, porn and your iPhone bill, how valuable is that opinion?
God may have made all men equal, but our individual actions afterward varies each one's value to society.
I was previously with Verizon and loved it, but switched to AT&T when the iPhone 3G came out. I was very disappointed with the coverage over the last 2 years in the Houston area. Service and pricing were good but I would drop a lot of calls and was very vocal about it. In the last few months I have noticed a huge change in service and very few dropped calls. The iPhone 4 sealed the deal, and since launch I have not dropped a single call. Both AT&T and Apple have stepped up to the plate and I now have nothing to complain about whatsoever.
Satisfied? Yes. Switching? Oh my yes.
I'm pretty happy with AT&T's service. The vast majority of the time, it works fine for me. And I live in San Francisco, which is supposed to be pretty close to the worst place in the country as far as AT&T is concerned.
That said, I loathe AT&T, and I hate the way it has essentially legally regained its monopoly power. I hate the way it uses that power to destroy regulatory framework. I hate the way it is trying to bounce other DSL carriers out of the market, when it is legally required to sell lines to them. (DSL takes a couple days for AT&T to set up, but ten to fifteen days, sometimes more, for my third-party carrier to set it up, even though their part of the whole process is to call AT&T and ask them to set it up, and then throw a switch.) In short, I hate AT&T and everything that it stands for, and if I could find a carrier that had anywhere up to TWICE the amount of trouble that I have with AT&T, but which allowed me to continue using and developing on my iPhone, I would (and will) switch to it in a New York minute.
-fred
I'm pretty happy with AT&T's service. The vast majority of the time, it works fine for me. And I live in San Francisco, which is supposed to be pretty close to the worst place in the country as far as AT&T is concerned.
That said, I loathe AT&T, and I hate the way it has essentially legally regained its monopoly power. I hate the way it uses that power to destroy regulatory framework. I hate the way it is trying to bounce other DSL carriers out of the market, when it is legally required to sell lines to them. (DSL takes a couple days for AT&T to set up, but ten to fifteen days, sometimes more, for my third-party carrier to set it up, even though their part of the whole process is to call AT&T and ask them to set it up, and then throw a switch.) In short, I hate AT&T and everything that it stands for, and if I could find a carrier that had anywhere up to TWICE the amount of trouble that I have with AT&T, but which allowed me to continue using and developing on my iPhone, I would (and will) switch to it in a New York minute.
-fred
My understanding is they ranked it highest, but did not give it their little "Recommended" stamp. This is quite the opposite of giving it a "no buy", which they have only done for like 3 cars and a handful of toys with toxic paint or other such issues.
Perhaps people would understand such things if they were an actual user. (in this case I mean user of the magazine)
Oh, and none of the phones are "Recommended".Consumer Reports said:
If an AT&T survey would've been ordered from Verizon, I'm pretty sure the results would be quite different. There is a phrase in Finland that would translate to something like: "There is a lie, a giant lie, and then statistics."
That is a parable I've wanted to use for a while now! It is so true. And sad.
US people seem happy if they only drop a few calls. A single dropped call is very strange in Finland. One can be happy with AT&McDonalds if one doesn't know better.
And answer to question what is the truth? Different truth for every person. Some even have two.
That is a parable I've wanted to use for a while now! It is so true. And sad.
US people seem happy if they only drop a few calls. A single dropped call is very strange in Finland. One can be happy with AT&McDonalds if one doesn't know better.
And answer to question what is the truth? Different truth for every person. Some even have two.
I get pretty decent service through ATT. Could it be better yes, but nothing is perfect. My home has spotty coverage but always has with ATT/Cingular, great service at home with Sprint. Most every I've traveled I've gotten good service. Was in SoCal last month and never had any problems. Most of my time was spent in the LA area and no issues whatsoever.
I actually took this survey. I gave them high marks. My service has always been good, even pre iPhone.
Finland Total Area : 130, 596 sq mi
United States total area : 3,794,101 sq mi
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
"Despite a very vocal group of detractors, the vast majority of iPhone users love AT&T." .... and smoke 25% of all pot grown in the US. 
ATT has been the only carrier that has served my location well. I've tried TMobile and Sprint, and ATT has been the only carrier that consistently doesn't drop my calls. Might be different if I moved elsewhere, obviously, but I'm pleased with ATT for now.
I know the customer in that picture. He's just the kind of guy that would pose for these sorts of photo ops.