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What good is the coolest phone is you don't have the coolest network???

iPhoneNYC

iPhoneNYC

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 25, 2007
549
0
Copy of an email sent to Apple:

Hi. I live and work in Manhattan. I switched from Verizon to buy
an iPhone. I want you to know that the ATT network is significantly
less than the Verizon network. For instance, cell phone reception is
poor at 72 and Broadway, a major Manhattan intersection. When I
travel, Verizon phones have better reception. I was just on a job
where the ATT phones were in a location in Boston and had no
reception while all the Verizon phones had reception. You must improve
your network. At this rate I will simply switch back to Verizon at the
end of the contract. I was on the cell phone with another iPhone
customer who said "Let me get near my window because I have ATT." On
a business level, what good is getting a million plus new customers if
you can't keep them??? In other words, what good is it to have the coolest phone if you don't have the coolest network???
 
All the networks have their bad spots. I was a Verizon customer in NYC from 1993-2005. Phones always spotty on the Cross Island Parkway with a lot of dropped calls, never worked in my bedroom but worked in the rest of my house and good luck getting a signal in my office unless near a window.

ATT works fine on Cross Island Parkway, works in my bedroom and in my office. Doesn't work in my girlfriends house at all.

/shrug
 
Meanwhile I get reception in the basement of my office on my iPhone while no one else on other networks does. I agree with others that every network can be hit or miss, and that you're probably better off complaining to AT&T directly. If enough people complain about a specific area, they might actually add coverage to fix it.
 
I can't speak for the US, but in the UK O2 is the best network to be on IMO. Best reception, in fact just about the only network which actually gets any reception where I live.
 
For the past couple of weeks, whenever a group of friends or co-workers sit down with cells phones I do a quick survey of who has reception and who does not. I've done this random survey often in Manhattan, in Boston and in Miami. The results are that Verizon has the superior system and in general ATT is lacking. In the short-term I agree that this is a problem to take up with ATT but in the long-run, "what good is the coolest phone if you don't have the coolest network?"
 
Verizon is going to have the best reception, it's just more logical, they have the more advanced software.

However, Verizon locks their phones-that stupid OS is annoying and won't sync with iSync leaving you (if you want compatibility with your computer and phone) to purchase either a phone running a Palm OS or Windows Mobile. Neither one of these are great-especially for people who just want to be able to send pictures between phone and computer w/ ease and these phones are generally more expensive.
 
I get better coverage with ATT then I did with tmobile.

ATT just bought more spectrum so it even going to get better.

If it really bothers you switch back to verizon.
 
In the U.S. this is mostly a function of CDMA (Verizon) versus GSM (AT&T).

It's one of those funny situations where the older technology gives better service than the newer one simply because it's been around longer so it has more infrastructure built for it.
 
I have fantastic reception with AT&T out here in Northern CA, up and down the coast.

However, my main question is why in the world would you switch carriers unless you knew you were getting good reception where you use your phone? People need to stop choosing carriers based on their phones. I didn't switch over to AT&T until I knew I'd get good reception. As much as I wanted an iPhone, if the coverage was terrible, no way I would have switched.
 
I would not call Verizon the coolest network but will say I have a Sprint Blackberry for work. I can talk for hours in my house. On my AT&T phones I could not, but I will tell you this much....on the iPhone I have reception in the house, not the best but I can take and make calls unlike before with the Sony T616, Moto Razr, and Moto Slvr. So yeah, technically my service is bad and I'm only 2 miles from a Cingular store; where you'd think they'd make sure you get service, but it's better on the iPhone.

Up and down the coast on AT&T I get service in and out. Driving from Orange County to Oregon on PCH (Highway 1) I dropped service for a total of an hour all the way. Not bad considering the drive is long. Every place will have it's weak spots you just have to deal with it or get out of your contract with AT&T because their service coverage doesn't meet your needs.
 
Killyp said:
I can't speak for the US, but in the UK O2 is the best network to be on IMO. Best reception, in fact just about the only network which actually gets any reception where I live.
Click to expand...

Funnily enough I think O2 has the lowest 3G coverage and their EDGE ain't much better (if at all). I know about how poor the EDGE coverage is, I've just signed up to the iPhone tariff. A lot of the cells that should ahve been EDGE'd by now haven't been.

I wish O2 would pull their finger out.
 
I switched from Verizon to AT&T for the iphone, and have found the coverage only very slightly worse. For the most part it doesn't matter.
 
ATT reception is quite poor. Both my room mates have Verizon and always have service. I always have less than 2 bars and constantly get dropped calls. Though I find ATT's customer service much more helpful and friendly.
 
I always have four or five bars where I live. The coverage is great and the EDGE is pretty fast
 
Switching networks

Luckily, my family has a family plan with AT&T, so I had a preview of their phone coverage (though not EDGE) and it's good here in SoCal. However, I didn't know anyone in NYC on AT&T, so I had no frame of reference there. I want to switch to the iPhone because I have had multiple frustrating experiences with devices not syncing with my macs and I that is the main feature I care about in a phone -- having my calendar and contacts up to date across my devices. I do this with my iPod, but of course I can't enter on the fly or place calls from it.

My main sticking points are the small hard drive on the iPhone and having to switch to AT&T to have a phone that works with my computers. I am no huge lover of my current carrier (Sprint), but it's the devil I know.
 
So you think Apple should switch to Verizon so you can get reception on 72 and Broadway? Just because you have had a bad experience does not mean that other people have. I almost always have full signal or only one bar missing over here in CA. I have traveled around the state and had no problems with signal. My best friend had Verizon and would lose signal all the time around my area, he bought an iPhone and now gets great signal everywhere. Does that mean Verizon is a horrible network? No. My point, you are one person with a negative experience... don't judge an entire network based off of it. Pick the network that works best in the areas you are traveling to or live in, not the network with the phone you think is cool.
 
I have excellent reception with T Mobile on my iPhone. I have all the coolness and benefits of an iPhone and never switched carriers :cool:

BTW Verizon may have the "best" service but by far has the worst cell phones on the market.
 
thegoldenmackid said:
Verizon is going to have the best reception, it's just more logical, they have the more advanced software.
Click to expand...
What? :confused:

However, Verizon locks their phones-that stupid OS is annoying and won't sync with iSync leaving you (if you want compatibility with your computer and phone) to purchase either a phone running a Palm OS or Windows Mobile. Neither one of these are great-especially for people who just want to be able to send pictures between phone and computer w/ ease and these phones are generally more expensive.
Click to expand...
My Verizon RAZR syncs perfectly fine with iSync. ...You just can't sync files.
 
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