Comments on: AT&T: Blame the economy, not the iPhone

Telecommunications giant is hit by the slumping economy, but sees growth in wireless and its new U-verse service for broadband and TV.

[bonesbautista]

If ATTWS doesn't get their network working more reliably pretty quick, they're going to lose my business and that of my company for good. I'm already picking up VZW for my new employees and porting out the ATTWS lines that expire, but the ETF for the remaining lines is starting to appeal to me.

[jjcompliant]

att is not getting it customers are leaving to better companies due to bad customer services they have become arogant and forget who made then number after 30 years of residental and internet services i felt att to terminate my service i was transfered to 6 people and then i was on hold just to terminate a service it took me and hour on the phone this is not the way to keep customers and eventually they will have to stop holding customers hostage with contract and do it the old att way with great customer services and great programs and product

[tekwiz4u]

Maybe if they had better coverage and lower their pricing, the results may be different. They're right saying its not the iPhone, but doesn't take a rocket scientist to explain why earnings are so bleak.

[TimGray--2008]

I also agree AT&T wireless problem lies in it's world renown really bad customer service and their horrible coverage. I personally will not be renewing my contract for the 5 phones I have with them.

Problem is that all the other competitors are horrible as well. Why is it that Cellphone companies in America pride themselves in Bad service and Bad policies? I'd pay a premium to go with a company that does not treat it's customers as a "annoyance".

[larry3rv]

I couldn't have said it better myself. My attempts to shop around for a better than ATT deal turned up the same pricing deal, more or less, from all the carriers. Cell phone service is too expensive.

[fp1955]

I don't know where you people live, but I have never had a problem with coverage with AT&T. Their pricing is in line with their major competitors, but not the cutthroat resellers such as Metro PCS and TRACFONE. The customer service has never been a problem for me, but then I use their online customer service option. If you want to talk about sorry customer service and coverage try switching to Sprint and you will realize just how good AT&T is in comparison. Also, to tekwiz4u, the earnings were not bleak for the wireless division, only for landline business. Pay attention when you read news stories, especially before you make a commet.

[sting7k]

I guess I'm alone in saying that I have had great service with my iPhone 3G and the 2 times I had to deal with AT&T were both fine as well. Maybe if some customers went in with a better attitude instead of just being angry that their phone is giving them problems the reps would be more friendly. I was glad to be free of Tmobile and get on AT&T. I would like their texting plans to be cheaper.

[mikestatic1]

I won't buy an iPhone because I refuse to deal with AT&T - I had them for about 5 years and the service was terrible.

You have to be careful who you sign these exclusive deals with, if you sign them at all. It is severely limiting your potential sales.

[sharmajunior]

I have personally never had a problem with AT&T, on the other hand, I had VZW and I had to break their contract because I never had a signal in the other half of my house. They didn't work with me, instead blaming it on my house. I mean c'mon, you know you have bad coverage there so let me get out. "They threatened me by posting the cancellation fee to my credit rating." What I did was I contacted my district attorney and filed a complaint against them. Then they came running back with their lies.

The fact is NO COMPANY IS GOOD AND COMPLETE. Everyone's preference depends on the area they live in. If you want coverage, go get Sprint, then you'll know what coverage is....being cut off every 2 mins into a call. Don't even talk about Nextel chirp. A chirp now takes more than 10 seconds to reach its destination. Nextel was better when it was independent.

[TKE49]

"A chirp now takes more than 10 seconds to reach its destination"...

WRONG. Where'd you get that information? The chirp is almost instantaneous. If it were behind 10 seconds, you'd have trouble talking to the other person - which is not the case.

But you are correct about Sprint coverage. If you want coverage - and a blazing fast data network - Sprint would be your best bet.

[sharmajunior]

Exactly my point. I know that the chirp is instantaneous or should be. But i have experienced times when I have timed it to be around 10 secs well actually 9 secs. But still it is a long time.

[Eballs]

AT&T is terrible... if the Pre is what its supposed to be, good bye death star

[lightwave300k]

Shouldn't the headline be: AT&T dragged down by traditional phone service
Because from what i can see iPhone has increased AT&T's profits by adding new customers and increasing wireless data revenue.

[k9jdk]

I'm a relatively new (1/09) AT&T U-verse customer with phone included. Had traditional AT&T land line service for years, as well as cell phone for the family.

No problems with either their services or support. Family likes U-verse. I'm happy.

[aeshraghi]

I am a frequent traveler, live in Northern Virginia and have been a Verizon customer for years. I used AT&T mobile service in 2000 and was never happy with it because of the coverage and lack of service/bandwidth during the peak hours. I hesitated for a while to switch to AT&T but finally I did and I am glad I did. The coverage and service has worked great for me. Needless to say that iPhone experience is way better than BB. In fact every week I use more and more of iPhone apps to interacts with internet and less laptop and web sites/apps.

[TomMariner]

The story here is innovation - You don't see it listed on the Apple balance sheet, but inventive products and ways of running a company have made more of a difference to both Apple and AT&T than any number on their accounting records.

A product that didn't exist 18 months ago changing the fortunes of a regional Bell is big news.

[apmarlow]

There are so many compaints about the iPhone compaired to the amount of time on the market. Checkout http://www.theappleiphonezone.blogspot.com

The length of complaints are astounding!!!

[Poshie232]

I have been stuck in a cell phone contract that just self renewed without informing me or getting my approval so instead of the two years I thought I was in for I ended up having to pay for four years. But now I have canceled the contract and good riddance to it, I will never sign a contract for a cell phone again. I decided to get a prepaid Tracfone instead and I have been very pleasantly surprised to find how much cheaper they are. Long distance and some international calls are the same price as local calls which are starting to make my land line look obsolete. Prepaid is definitely better than contract and I can recommend Tracfone as one of the cheapest.