AT&T takes the phone out of iPhone

Three weeks ago, I got a call on a friend's iPhone while in the middle of a desert; cell phone coverage had come to Burning Man. By contrast, several calls I made last night to my parents from my San Francisco apartment were dropped and a subsequent connection became garbled.

That happens daily when I try to converse on my first-generation iPhone in my apartment and in certain other neighborhoods. I've come to anticipate that if I can even make a call it's likely to be short-lived or poor quality.

Frustrated by the numerous interrupted calls, I decided to try to find out why my iPhone service is so poor that it's easier to have a Web video conference over AIM with my boyfriend because neither of us can use our iPhones (his is 3G) reliably inside either of our homes.

This is not a new problem. AT&T was criticized when traffic from attendees at the South By Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, overwhelmed the network earlier this year. And there were widespread complaints about dropped calls and spotty service after the launch of the iPhone 3G a year ago.

I wondered why, a year later, the service still seemed unreliable. I called AT&T (on my reliable landline at work) to find out. AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel blamed the problem on the increasing amount of data traffic iPhone users are creating, which CNET News and others wrote about earlier this month.

"We lead the industry in smart phones," he said. "As a result, we are having to stay ahead of what is incredible and increasing demand for wireless data services."

I wanted to know specifically why my problems haven't been resolved nearly one-and-a-half years after getting my iPhone and why my voice reception would be impacted by data traffic on a different network. "Well, it wouldn't," Siegel conceded.

Initially, he had suggested that my problems were related to the fact that the first-generation iPhone uses the EDGE data network, which is slower than the 3G network. However, not only am I on a different data network than the 3G data bandwidth hogs, but there should be no connection between general data usage and my voice reception.

Other factors are at play, though, such as proximity to a cell tower, the thickness of walls in the building and amount of demand on the network at the time, according to Siegel.

Asked what AT&T is doing to address the reception problems, Siegel said the company is rolling out 850 MHz frequency, which penetrates walls better than the higher frequency 1900MHz band; adding 2,000 cell towers to increase coverage; beefing up its back-haul capacity that connects the cell towers to the Internet; spending as much as $18 billion this year to upgrade its wireless and broadband networks; and moving to the LTE, or 4G, network standard next year.

"We recognize unique challenges have been posed by all of these smart devices being increasingly used by more and more people and I think we are on the forefront of architecting our network to continue to stay ahead of the demands that those devices place on our network," he said.

Despite listing the improvements AT&T plans to make, Siegel kept insisting that there was no story here; that my concerns and the many comments on the Apple iPhone forums about reception problems and dropped calls was not newsworthy.

While I do have friends who report no problems with their iPhone reception, many of my friends have complaints. I did an informal survey of friends on Facebook and learned that people suffer from dropped calls, as well as inaccessible voice mail and delayed voice messages. Also, I am not alone in being forced to cut back on talking on the phone as a result of the reception problems. Here are some examples of the responses I got:

• "As soon as I move and do not have an ATT bundle, I am throwing the iphone, and ATT in the trash," wrote a San Francisco friend using a first-generation iPhone.

• "When i first got my iPhone (July 2007), i had fine coverage. In the past nine months or so, something changed. Now i have *horrible* reception in my neighborhood, especially in my apartment, and most especially in my bedroom. My phone virtually never rings there, and i almost never get voicemails or text messages until somewhere between 2 minutes and 2 hours after the communication went through," wrote another first-generation Bay Area iPhone user on Facebook.

• "Terrible in SF. Probably 1 out of 3 calls gets dropped," wrote a 3G iPhone user.

• "I've come to use it as a portable computer and a phone only in emergencies. I hardly talk on the phone anymore," another Bay Area friend who has a 3G iPhone told me.

• "My (3G iPhone) won't work inside my house. I'm thinking about selling my house and finding a new one. Until then, I just use the forwarding feature, but it's a pain. And yeah, it means I tend to talk on the iPhone less. It's definitely a problem with my line o' work, although I'm trying to use Google Voice to solve the problem, too," wrote a friend in Arizona.

Siegel was not amused.

"So you are actively asking folks to submit their experiences? Sorry, but you and I have a basic disagreement about why you are doing this story. What is the news here beyond what others have covered?" he wrote in an e-mail.

Maybe I should pose that question to all the iPhone users who can't make a basic phone call with their phones much of the time.

Siegel said he would look into my particular situation. I hope he does and if so, I'll let you know what I find out.

While I can't speak for other parts of the country, there do seem to be problems in San Francisco at least. This is significant given the high percentage of iPhone users in the area.

What's your experience?

After receiving hundreds of reader e-mails and comments to this article I decided to do a follow up story. You can read it here.

[ggore]

I live in the middle of the country, where there are only a couple of little tiny dots of 3G coverage. I have the iPhone 3GS, and despite there being huge stretches where there is no coverage driving between cities, when I am in Kansas City, Oklahoma City, or Wichita, the 3G service has been perfect, no dropped calls and crystal-clear sound. I'm sure your AT&T rep is correct that the problem is the sheer number of iPhone users and their demands on an underbuilt network.

[daddydoodaa]

I can second the AT&T coverage in the Kansas City area - great. in our family, we've had the all three iPhones with zero issues.

[dwreid]

I have a smart phone, the ATT Fuse. I live in Chicago. My coverage sucks in a big way. I'm thrilled when I actually get one bar. Most of the time I get no bars. When I get data service it's usually EDGE rarely 3G. Phone calls, when completed get dropped right away. I miss calls. I miss voicemail notifications. I don't get my email messages. ATT could only give worse service if they just turned off the towers and let the system go dark. Using ATT is the best way I've found to take an expensive smartphone and turn it into a door stop. I switched from T-Mobile which had no problems at all and once my contract is up, I'll be switching to Sprint or back to T-Mobile. Apparently if you want ATT coverage you need to live in the middle of nowhere or drive over to Kansas City to make a call. Calling ATT support is itself an exercise in frustration since I've yet to speak to anyone in ATT tech support that wasn't a certified idiot.

[dencimm35]

CNET needs to stop bashing AT&T. You employees are in one market (and how Liberally destructive is that market, but that's another story!). In Orlando, Florida and the sourding areas, couldn't be better!!!

[budbay]

Seconded again - in Topeka I have no problems at all on 3G

[jaguar717]

Good thing we're about to give the politicians something else to control with net "neutrality".

Then they won't be able to prioritize voice data over myspace videos and calls are sure to...um...wait...

[Been_there_Saw_it_before]

Wow! 200 comments in only nine hours. This is indeed a sore subject. BUT!! Why do we need to have this subject again? Cellphones are 20 years old. Vacuum tubes and AM radio were a mature technology in 1930, and that was only 20 years using ancient tools and technology. The original wired telephone was a mature technology in 1890 after only 20 years. The telegraph in 1850...

About 1995 I took a picture of my wife's and my own cellphones side by side showing full signal strength. There were four cell sites within sight. Unable to make a call from either phone, so I jumped ship then.

Another question for ATT: Why did the analog phones work so well and the later and better digital work worse?

Try spending some money on hardware and technology instead of advertising and promotion. Get back to service.

[Deodato253]

There ya go! That is exactly it. Less smartphones in your area leaving you to reap the rewards AT&T has to offer. Leaving larger cities where there is more technology sucking up the bandwidthe. At first I was bashing AT&T but fear not my friends, good time are ahead of us.

[joshinburlingame]

In 2003 I upgraded to AT&T's "new and improved" GSM protocol and all of a sudden my service became unsuable in areas where it had previously worked. I called to ask that I move back the old service and they told me I'd have to cancel my account and sign up as a new customer to get the old (better) service. I did just that, but I signed up for Verizon and I'll never look back. Verizon has excellent cell site coverage and the customer service is excellent too. I'd love to get an iPhone, but the most important part of a phone for me is making phone calls. I hope Verizon gets the iPhone sometime soon, but if not I'll still stick with Verizon and their boring phones, because making high quality phones call is what a telephone is supposed to do.
josh in Burlingame, CA

[CRCorrao]

This article has ZERO journalism to it. I live in the East Bay and often go to San Francisco and have heard plenty from my friends about how AT&T coverage is horrible is when the first two generation of Iphones came out. At the time I had a Nokia 6820 on the AT&T network.

At the very same place they were having "reception problems", my Nokia 6820 was getting full bars, no dropped calls, and came in crystal clear.

When I upgraded to the Fuze, in the same area that where Iphone dead zones, I was still getting 3G, full bars, no dropped calls, and the calls came in fine.

You would think with all the techgeeks at CNET, someone there would actually THINK about say doing a comparision on the same network but with a different phone to see if the problem is with either the phone or the network.

But I guess people are so hooked to the Iphone that NO ONE would actually dare ASK and TEST to see if the Jesus Phone might actually have some reception problems. You would think a website dedicated to REVIEWS and TESTS of tech equipment might actually think of that...

[darcal2000]

I live in northern NJ and have yet to have a dropped call on my iPhone 3GS. I wonder why the CNET editors are constantly bashing at&t because of their own personal experiences? Seems like this is their way of "getting back" at at&t. While I admit at&t isn't the perfect carrier, I've had far worse experiences using Verizon and Sprint in the past.

[MrsCRW]

MyiPhone works great in Northeast Pa, and NJ, but on an August visit to SF is was, as I had been warned by Molly Wood, very flaky indeed.

[dctech08]

its a beast here in Columbus Ohio and surrounding areas. to heck with san francisco. looser's!!!!

[rcardona2k]

I visited San Francisco for a trade show and reception is horrible in the city, dropped calls, substandard data connections. My iPhone 3GS works well in Austin and other Texas cities. I visited Orlando two weeks ago and reception was not to great there either.

[ikramerica--2008]

San Francisco is notoriously bad for ATT, NYC isn't much better.

I live in LA, where reception is good except for Hollywood, where it's horrible. Edge most of the time, etc.

But this weekend, there was a problem. "Call failed" over and over, with full bars. Connecting to a friend's voicemail without her phone ringing (even though it "rang" 6 times each time).

[lco]

They are really not providing the service. Is there a way to get out of the contract without paying the early termination fee?

[FoolishPepsi]

Ico I believe if you contact the FTC about it being SERVICE the provider is not able to charge you a termination fee, if they are unable to fix the issue. At least this is what I read in a different thread about iPhone's and their outrageous data plan prices for the iPhone.

[theknave]

I live in Houston and, while I don't have an iPhone, I do have AT&T cell service. In the outer suburbs service is decent (not great, but certainly usable), but in any urban area like midtown or downtown it gets VERY sketchy.

So this is clearly an AT&T problem, not just an iPhone problem. Given the massive growth their customer base has seen, it's not surprising but it certainly doesn't say much for that company if they couldn't foresee and prepare for that kind of rapid growth thus far.

[JosephPurell]

HA you'd think AT&T would focus on San Francisco as i would guess it has the most technophobes and heaviest iphone user population.

All the articles farting on att comes from journalists who live in NYC, San Fran and other highly populated and techno populated areas. Duh AT&T you want to stop the bashing fix your network where it counts; overall giving me Fing Google Voice and I'll sign up for AT&T and iPhone. Right now I just use an ipod touch.

Hate all US carriers for protecting their business models and for stifling innovation!

[shagg49er]

I don't know where you went in Austin, I get terrible service throughout the entire county

[Richard1864]

This is pretty much normal for AT&T. I work in IT, and I routinely hear from friends and co-workers with every generation of the IPhone having these same issues. However, this is also occurring with Blackberries and other Smartphones on AT&T's network. When recently talking to Research in Motion Sales Dept regarding which phone to get for myself, I was SPECIFICALLY told NOT to go on AT&T's network due to numerous issues that RIM is having either getting their phones to work properly on that network or with problems helping customers to get their phones to STAY on the AT&T network and not roam. Don't forget, AT&T's network is still mostly Cingular's network, which was a mess to begin with and has never been truly fixed or updated by AT&T.

Also, Apple and RIM also told me that they have heard complaints from customers about the quality of the voice side of AT&T's network.

'Course it doesn't help that AT&T never seems to realize that smartphones need bandwidth, bandwidth, and more bandwidth or work.

BTW, Apple and RIM BOTH state that there is NO RELATIONSHIP between general data usage and voice reception. They even recommended that you think about complaining to the FCC, since it sounds like your service does NOT work reliably enough for you to even make an emergency call to 911, as required by Federal regulations and laws.

[Knightro2]

Well..that part about it being Cingular's network is part right...don't forget...the original AT&T Wireless (I worked for them in their Advanced Network Services Department for 2 years) merged with Cingular. Then AT&T got Cingular so it is a mix of a Cingular network and AT&T Wirless Original network. Which this just makes it more of a mess.

[Seaspray0]

All I have is a basic cell phone on the att network and it isn't great. Perhaps the two broken cell towers by my house that haven't been fixed for months are part of the problem.

[blusky08]

IMO, rather than whine about how iPhone customers use up all their resources, they should use some of those profits to fix the situation--not complain about their customers' data usage (which customers pay a good deal of money for).
BTW: It doesn't seem to just be iPhones. I've had three phones on the AT&T network, and suffered dropped calls continuously. Interestingly, with the iPhone it often doesn't even matter how many bars are displayed. It can display full bars but have zero signal!

[Bmacjr]

Ok. Three of the complaints posted in the above article were from San Francisco. One from Arizona. Three of the comments above me, two from San Francisco. Do the math. I have an iPhone 3gs. NEVER had a problem. I had an original iPhone. Once again no problems. If your going to write an article, be fair. Don't tell people Att has dropped the phone from iPhone when that's not the case. Your making a judgement call from one obviously problem area.

[pjhenry1216]

i get dropped calls all the time. i live in central jersey.

[Perry_Clease]

"i get dropped calls all the time. i live in central jersey."

I rarely get dropped calls, I live in San Diego California.

[gp2792]

Chicago area is terrible not only for iphone, but any att phone I have ever owned. Poor connections, dropped calls, terrible data bandwidth. ATT wireless is substandard in chicago

[NYTechie]

Chicago is bad, New York City is bad IMO and experience.

That being said, I don't think CNET posters are necessarily the best cross section for commenting as they're often biased toward Apple, AT&T or work for said companies as this is a technology website. I take every comment with a grain of salt.

[dhaberer]

I travel all the time for work and probably 75% of the places I've been to have horrible ATT service. As soon as my contract is over, I'm headed to Sprint. The fact they're losing subscribers is a plus in my book. That's extra bandwidth they have that I can soak up.

[sflocal]

I live in San Francisco AND I have the 1st-gen iPhone. I rarely get dropped calls. I also travel constantly all over california and Nevada (Reno outskirts) and phone works fine over there too.

Elinor - your article is very one-sided. While I'm sure there are issues, you simply cannot imply it's a problem with all users. There are several factors that can affect call quality. A few are AT&T problems, others are not. All my friends that own iPhone (different generations) all love their phones and have little or no problems. Most live in the San Francisco / Bay area.

[alqaqish]

I get dropped calls everyday... Do you hear what I'm saying every single day I experience dropped calls. I live in Southeastern part of Virginia where AT&T's map shows strong coverage.

[Suspect987]

I live in Chicago and have had no problems with my Samsung Eternity and my old 1st Gen Razor. I had horrible reception issues with my HTC 8525, but that was all over. I had trouble when I lived in New Orleans, Chicago, traveled to Arkansas, Pennsylvania, with the 8525, so that would be a phone issue. I have yet to have a problem with the reception with my Eternity, except when in interior rooms of large buildings. That isn't shocking, overall I've been with Cingular/AT&T for 8 years or so and haven't had any major problems other than the POS HTC8525 that I bought for way to much.

[PeteyBrian]

I love my iPhone, but get continual dropped calls in the SF Bay Area. I expect dropped calls on AT&T. I even have a Verizon phone as my backup and I have never experienced a drop call... My iPhone is jailbroken and unlocked (bought the iPhone outright) so I'll be trying TMobile on their edge (2g) network soon which might be a solution for me in my area.

[Tech Diva XXX]

gp2792 I'm with you about Chicago and iPhone (I can't speak enough about other phones). I lost reception Downtown, which is one area you need it most due to business. The 3G reception Downtown is also bad when you DO manage to pick up some kind of signal, I usually get EDGE. I get 3G reception up North but there's static in certain areas. And sometimes pages load so slowly I just use wifi.

[docster87]

I got a first generation iPhone and have not had many (if any) problems with voice in the Clearwater-Tampa Bay area. I've found a few spots where voice/data don't work, but outside those spots it works great for myself.

[johnpftd2]

I live in Oswego county, NY in the town of Palermo. I used to be able to make calls and listen to AOL Radio over my iPhone for the 20 mile ride to and from work with only about a 1/4 mile of no signal (very rural roads). In the last few months I have noticed a huge increase in dropped calls and an inability to use the data features (like AOL Radio). My no signal area has increased on this drive to a total of about 10 of the 20 miles I drive (from Palermo to Oswego, NY). iPhone users can install the Skype app and get around some of the trouble the AT&T network poses. I often use Skype on my iPhone to make calls when I am in my house (I have a wirless network). Skype saves me cell phone minutes and is reliable.

[imachias]

I live in Oneida County, New York between Utica and Rome and have seen signal strength and reliability gone down a LOT in the past six months. I used to have solid bars in my house and office (about 10 miles apart), now I'm lucky to get two bars. I would say that one out of six calls drop now and usually within the first three minutes of the call.

[ThatScienceGuy]

Siegel is a fool, and his protestations about your article are very telling indeed!

I don't have an iPhone, but I do have an AT&T Fuse which is a 3G smartphone on the same networks as the iPhone. I also live in the Bay Area (Peninsula) I can't get reception inside my house, except when I'm very near a window (House is older, wood, no insulation.) and even then, the calls drop. If I step right outside, the phone will show two or three bars, and I can talk for about 5 or 10 minutes before the call just drops. At work, My signal is generally poor or non-existent. Both places are in a well populated area.

Usually I know someone called me because the voice mail alert beeps at me, usually an hour or more after I originally got the call. Occasionally my phone DOES ring when someone calls, and then about 50% of the time, I answer the call, and it drops immediately after I say hello. (No, my ringer is not off)

I keep my phone locked on EDGE network often now, because it seems to perform slightly better there. (seems like the phone rings, and then drops the call most frequently, but at least I know when someone's trying to get ahold of me.)

Even when I'm showing full signal strength, it seems that the phone is prone to drop calls, or have generally noisy signal (those momentary pops and drop outs that you get...)

By the way, I don't think this is an issue with the phone, I had a different smart phone 8 - 10 months ago, and it had the same problems.

Quite a few people (2-3 thousand) work at my site, and the management just recently sent out a site survey asking everyone who has AT&T to fill out a form that shows where exactly they work on site, how many "bars they show" whether their phone rings when they get calls or not, and what percentage of their calls are dropped. The purpose of the survey was stated as a tool that would help AT&T improve poor coverage at our site. I'm guessing that it actually has more to do with network infrastructure than signal though, It seems to me like a scalability issue more than anything.

Clearly there IS a newsworthy issue with regard to AT&T's performance, and even corporate customers are starting to raise issue with AT&T, and that has guys like Siegel running scared.

[omnichad]

Full bars when you're not in a call, and then a dropped call sounds like a terrible Signal to Noise ratio. Cell phone bars only tell you signal strength. To calculate noise would require that they use up capacity at the tower AND more battery. Sounds like there is a serious source of noise near you.

[Nicholas Buenk]

Also signal strenth does not tell you how congested the network is. If the signal is strong and it still fails, it's likely congestion.

[williambertram]

Maybe if they allowed more than one carrier, there would be less load on the AT&T Wireless network? Oh wait, we're talking about greed here, not customer satisfaction. My bad.

[iFrank603]

Oooooooooooh, got em where it hurts! Nice!

[renGek]

lol, nice.

You know I'm surprised that they haven't tried limiting usage as a solution like comcast capping monthly transfers.
Its a simple do nothing solution on the part of the provider. They'll force you to reduce your usage and at the same time make more money for themselves.

[ckurowic]

Greed? If it really was about greed Apple would have it available with ALL carriers to sell more units.

[ausernamenoonehaschosen]

I move around from DC to Williamsburg, VA to Boston and Roanoke, VA very frequently, and only had reception problems when driving in the mountains outside of Roanoke. My father in law will actually get reception in those mountain regions (he is on Verizon), but then he won't get reception in some very small, random regions that I do. I have heard that SF has horrible AT&T coverage, but it is not like that everywhere. I'm still using a first gen.

[sheepishcow]

That's surprising - I have the 3G iphone and live in Richmond, VA and my boyfriend lives in Williamsburg, VA. There are countless spots in Richmond that have very weak service and my boyfriend - who does not have a smart phone but is on the AT&T network - has all of the problems mentioned in the above article. While driving on 64 in any direction and on any part of the road (from my experience), I get extremely poor service. Perhaps it's just bad luck in where I like to use my phone, but my old Sprint service performed a LOT better. Maybe THAT'S why their smartphone service plan was so much more expensive!

Both my iPhone 3G and now 3GS works well in the Columbus OH area as well as the more rural areas of eastern and central KY where my parents and in-laws live. From the posts above, it does seem like there is an issue in the San Fran area and other areas of large populations. Anyone from NYC or Chicago, even LA want to chime in?

[Amyaz]

I have fewer dropped calls with my iphone than I had with either of my two previous phones (one on AT&T, the other on T-mobile). I live in Cincinnati. I did notice more data speed issues than usual on a recent trip to DC, where iphones seemed to be everywhere.

[Doug1313]

I have an original iPhone on the Edge network. I live in East Texas. I have had continuous problems with dropped calls and my voice mails very rarely come to me within 15 minutes. I have had some take as much as 4 hours. My fiance lives in South Texas. When she tries to call me on another AT&T phone, it often (about once a week) goes directly to voice mail as though my phone was turned off. When I call AT&T about it they always want me to get on another phone so they can troubleshoot my iPhone. They have never found a problem with my phone but won't acknowledge that it may be their system.

When my contract is satisfied, goodbye AT&T.

[ATOBDavis]

hmm..."satisfied" - What an interesting choice of words to use.

I've been waiting to be "satisfied" myself here in middle Georgia for 16 months. We have no 3G yet and EDGE has only beed reliable for slow data transfers. Voice is OK here, but i still have similar issues with getting voicemail notification 2 hours after I get a "call" that never rings.

Wish ATT was waiting for me to be satisfied instead of me waiting for my contract to be satisfied.

The thing is AT&T has to keep the EDGE network around for older phones to function. As people switch over to UMTS (3G) phones, they are able to reallocate spectrum to that service. Until people switch phones and LEAVE them on 3G mode, AT&T can't as quickly improve service on it.

And remember, 3G is third generation data AND voice, not just 3rd generation data. When on 3G, your voice and data go over the same data channel over the air, that is why both are affected.

[Mikesels]

Yours is a very reasoned and rational analysis. I have a basic Motorola Tracfone, which uses the AT&T network.
Never a problem here in the southern Adirondacks of upstate New York. I never have a dropped call, or any
issues at all, even when I make my yearly road trip to southern California. The voice network works fine, clarity, access to the network, etc. I have no axe to grind either way, regarding AT&T. It just seems that you guys are
paying more & getting less. I simply use my phone as a phone. A friend of mine has a nice Blackberry, using the
Sprint network, and when he calls it truly sounds horrible. I think there's a lot to be said about living simply...........

[dbye88]

That would be a valid solution if AT&T stuck behind it. I have had issues and AT&T advised me to only turn on 3G where it is available and the having it enabled elsewhere ( EDGE not 3G ) will cause issues like dropped calls and delayed voice mails, etc.

So which excuse are they going with now? Just take the money to fix the damn network away from the shareholer's profit and upper management's bonuses ( We all know they are not EARNING it ! ). Otherwise the consumers will speak with their money and they will lose even more. Look at what happened to Sprint when they acquired Nextel. They had issues supporting 2 networks and had horrendous call quality which equaled in lost customers.

If it was not for the iPhone AT&T would not have the growth numbers it is reporting.

[blogbrowser]

Live in Chicago and ATT's coverage is abysmal. Sounds just like what is going on in San Francisco. Now ATT is selling a Microcell device to improve the cell coverage in your home for an extra cost. Paying more for something you've already bought and should have. Insane.I do hope Apple opens up the platform to more carriers. I'd switch in a minute. Love the iPhone otherwise. Works great in the burbs and in other cities we have been to. Terrible in downtown Chicago.

[Tech Diva XXX]

I agree!! Terrible Downtown Chicago AT&T reception!

[bbeydo]

at&t's service in nyc is horrendous. i too called to complain, only the reps insisted it was an issue with my device rather than their service. ironically, i had 2 dropped calls WHILE on the phone with customer service. they insisted i talk with tech support who ultimately agreed with me that it was the service and granted me a credit on my bill.

at&t's argument was that because there are so many cell towers in nyc it couldn't possibly be an issue on their end. i've come to see making calls with my iphone as a complete gamble and find myself repeatedly saying "hello?" mid-sentence to see if i am still connected with the other party. there are at least 6 other people i have spoken with here in nyc that are experiencing similar issues. unfortunately, i think the problem will only get worse as the roll out mms and tethering. if at&t wants to keep exclusivity for this device, they need to deliver as a carrier. i'm fairly certain i will break my contract early with at&t when i run up the credit i received from tech support; it just doesn't make sense to pay so much a month for an glorified ipod touch.

also, lately my phone/number/service has reported that i am not accepting any calls when others try to reach me, in addition to the long lag times between text messages and voice messages (if i can access them). there is one other person i've spoken with here in ny that's had a similar "not accepting calls" experience. the comment about calling the fcc is a good option. i do not feel comfortable at allll that i could make even an emergency call if i needed to.

i guess in the end the iphone was revolutionary enough that it actually took down at&t.

[nosidam]

I'm in NYC too, and I broke my contract with AT&T to move to Verizon. I don't get AT&T signal in my apartment, barely in my office, and out on the street I would get dropped calls half the time (the other half of the time I would be as brief as possible anticipating the call to drop).

It was worth the $175 ETF to not have to pay $85/month for something that I couldn't use 90% of the time.

[iFrank603]

I have an 8GB 3G and personally, I can not STAND AT&T with the whole MMS thing and just poor coverage all around, it's just bad. I can't WAIT for Verizon to switch to LTE, right around the time when my contract with ATT expires, I will most definitely unlock my iPhone and make the switch. I'm really tired of being in a major city, Hartford, for example and talking to my wife and have the call dropped numerous times.

It's gotten to the point that we've had emergency situations where we have to get in contact with each other and we won't be able to (she has a 3G also). I work for a major cell phone company and, when I first got my 3g, I couldn't WAIT to sell it to everyone else because the phone is genuinely fantastic. But after getting to know and just experiencing these issues myself, I rarely try to "sell" an iPhone with AT&T when it can't sell itself. I miss Verizon and can't wait to go back.

[claystorm]

Hate to tell you this, but current iPhones (including the 3G & 3GS) will not work on LTE, and hence will not work on Verizon's network (even after they make the plunge in to LTE).

[ihatemyiphone]

It should be backwards compatible. Verizon is going all GSM.

[flyboy-34]

Here in north central Florida area (Lake City area), I have had AT&T; Verizon; US Cellular; Sprint and TMobile and NONE of them are worth the power to take down their towers. BUT AT&T HAS gone from Edge to 3G in this area and my signal bars are now averaging around 3 to 5. Occasionally, I find my iPhone with a "searching" message and there are times that the signal bar is down to 1 or 2. However, Verizon was terrible! I had 3 different phones with them and I constantly got "feed-over" (other voices on top on the other persons conversations). Verizon, after the 3rd exchange, wanted me to start keeping a log of date and time these problems happened. I informed them that if I was to do their technical tasks, then I needed to be compensated for my work - never happened, so I left them. BTW Verizon uses CDMA for their phones and AT&T uses GSM for their radio signals and to switch to Verizon or Sprint requires an internal chip replacement. Now, T-Mobile would not. I left T-Mobile because, once I left the Interstate Hwy, in my travels around Florida, I could NOT get their signals.
It appears that ALL cellular phone companies need to put some money where their mouths are; quite paying these CEO's HUGH sums to sit around with the "good ole boys, drinking their cocktails and smoking their cigars AND to STOP their bragging about how big and grate THEIR company is and get to work fixing the communication problems of our nation! BTW, AT&T also has big problems in their landline portion of the company. NO DSL here - they tell me I can either use dial-up; or satellite, which cost $79.99/mo versa $24.95 for DSL. REAL NICE AREN'T THEY. Oh yes, I did notify THEIR satellite option, BUT they will not give a written explanation. WONDER WHY?????

[Tyler-PDX]

I live up on a big hill, right smack in the middle of Portland, OR.

My reception is horrible with my 3GS. Half the time I have all bars, and half the time I have no bars. I have WiFi, and I use Skype to make calls when I have no bars. But, receiving calls is a problem unless I go through the hassle of forwarding incoming calls to my Skype number, then back again when the AT&T signal returns.

I switched to the iPhone from a Blackberry on the Verizon network, and I always had good reception. Still, I am extremely fond of my iPhone. I do hope that they switch to Verizon. Their network and particularly their customer service...just outstanding, really, really good.

Apple, please switch to Verizon.

[jengates]

Service on my iPhone 3Gs is terrible in San Francisco and New York. Almost unusable at times in those cities. In my home city of San Antonio, TX it's quite good as it is in most of the rest of the places I travel around the US.

[Dust_Puppy]

Yes, it's over-simplifying, but wouldn't allowing users to drop the unlimited usage plan almost instantly de-congest the network?

Dropped calls and need-to-reboot is about the same for me on a iPhone 3G as it was on a Motorola k1m from Verizon . . . seems to be population-density related . . .

Guess AT&T isn't going to be spending any money in dead zones any time soon.

No problems with coverage in Ohio. I haven't missed a call yet (knock on wood). Coverage in my house (which has brick walls) has not been a problem even though it shows only 1 bar. No offense meant to Elinor, but I'm starting to get a little tired of listening to all the folks at cnet whining about AT&T's network in San Fran. Yes, it sucks. I get it.

[bigmc6000]

no kidding - you'd think the whole world revolved around San Fran - guess what CNet - it doesn't. Personally (and I think this speaks for most people), I couldn't give two craps about the coverage in San Fran as I've never been there and have no plans to. You can keep your city - I'll keep my cell phone coverage :)