Comments on: iPhone on AT&T: What's your experience?

Molly Wood claims the iPhone "sucks" on AT&T. Have you had the same experience?

[Ignignokt01]

My iPhone sucks ass, I hate it, I live in Montclair, CA... In my house I receive 1-2 bar signal, c'mon, for real? I NEED the iPhone to go to another service provider, cause this is retarded. Ive replaced my iPhone 4 times already and still crappy ass service, not to mention a little over priced for the type of p.o.s. service I get.... Other than that, I love the phone itself but... not the service, flip AT&T!

[lanisan]

after perusing around cnet and catching the video I had to read some of the comments and put in my comments. I live in north central wisconsin. Home of the packers for the sports fans. Most other people will probably have no idea where it is. The metro population here isnt NYC, L.A., Chicago or other gigantic city. It does have a metro population of over 250k people tho with multiple colleges. There are plenty of students and adults who are willing to pay for whatever service. People in this area tend to stay away from at&t for the majority. Alltell, Verizons new baby has the clearest signal here. CDMA tends to always have a clearer signal than GSM, in fact GSM, which at&t uses on all its bands including edge, 3g hdspa, umts .. the list goes on.. is significantly older and lower quality of a signal. The reason it is used is because it is the most used technology *worldwide*. This leads me to my frustration. I dont give a *BLEEEP* about coverage in france, germany, japan or any other foreign country. Provide me the largest coverage area WHERE I LIVE. There is no 3G here yet I pay a premium for a coverage I dont get. I pay for at&t to fatten their wallets while Apple builds another iphone. At&t improves its network coverage in *targeted* cities nationwide, seattle, chicago and a few others. Verizon has a significantly larger 3rd generation network than AT&T. AT&T has gently mislead people into thinking it has the fastest and largest 3G network (maybe world wide sure where 2g networks arent even avail of course its fast!). Yes network congestion slows the cell towers down.. yet they are working on lte umts hsdpa technologies up to 7.2 mbps transfer rates. Yet it doesnt even blanket more than 1/3 of its CURRENT network with the touted 3G. This is JUST the complaint about the 3G. The iphone lacks many other features that other phones have including higher res cameras, video chat, MMS!!! MMS!! I know it sounds foolish I have an iPhone yet I voice complaints. I have found work arounds for most of these issues & the reasons I enjoy the iPhone is for its IN HOME remote feature. Not because the call quality is good or because I have 3G. Those would be high on my list of complaints. Because they do suck. Yes.. I may not *drop* a call but that doesnt mean the call wont get crappy. Yes I have Edge (2g) coverage all over but.. why have gps if by the time you're lost your gps FINALLY updates with the directions you needed several minutes ago & couldnt pull over for? How about if you want to check your balance on your account but you cant because you could drive home, to a hotspot or the actual bank before you get your information? Oh.. and I have been in 3g areas.. usually.. its as cnet and other people have stated... its spotty and unreliable. I intentionally have done 3G speedtests in the milwaukee & chicago metro and each time get different speeds. Anywhere from 90kbps up to 2.8mbps. thats just talking DL.. At&t has promised that 3G will be expanded to this area by end of year.. (yah right). thru its newsite and thru intel I obtained while working at at&t thru network technicians. Its so sad that at&t can provide fantastic coverage to people while they're in france, but doesnt even bother to take care of the customers who actually PAY for the service locally (not saying you wont pay to use the phones over seas.. yah there'll be a MASSIVE Premium for that too) but still.. Im paying for a 3g plan and not only cant get the service but even friends in the seattle or chicago areas complain about how slow it is. So yay for all of you saying how great it is.. Guess what.. congrats cuz your money is WELL spent.. however not everyone has that wonderful bubbly love at&t experience. The coverage may be there but that doesnt mean its everywhere nor does it mean its good.

[mrs_deepblue]

Happy Birthday Molly.

My iPhone 3g works great in both Austin and Houston. I commute back and forth and seldom have dropped calls. I almost always have 4 bars. I'm very happy and surprised that you have trouble... maybe you have a special iPhone that runs on SPRINT!! This is my 2nd iPhone, had the first gen too, and I'll buy the third gen. These are the best cell phones I've had. I hope AT&T gets better coverage in the Bay Area for you soon!

[parksilk]

I was with Sprint for over 10 years before switching to at&t for the iPhone 3G, and in Austin (N. University area) the service at my house has consistently been pretty bad. It was so bad that I switched back to Sprint after about 5 months, but this summer when the 3GS came out, I decided to give at&t another try, but it hasn't gotten any better.

I get very poor reception at my house. Without even moving, my phone will go from EDGE, to 3G, then back to EDGE. Many times I have picked it up and seen "Searching..." or "No Service." I work downtown, about two miles from where I live, and even though I get full 3G service there, I still get dropped calls. Every time I hit that little green call button, I say a little prayer and hope that I don't get "Call Failed."

I do love the apps and just about everything else about the iPhone, but since I use it for work a lot (I'm a lawyer and use the phone a lot when I'm not in my office), I'm considering going back to Sprint for a second cell phone for my mobile voice line.

[Fhares]

My iPhone 3G will randomly go from full 3G to searching for 2 minutes, and then will connect to 2 bars Edge, and then finally back to full 3G. It will also decide to disconnect from the network right when I (try to) make a call, and then will connect right back once I have to end the call due to no connection. All of this happens no matter where I am, outside or indoors. I have restored my iPhone 4 times, and have reset my network connections as well. The device is stellar overall, but AT&T's network is just destroying the phone's selling ability.

[Alpha515]

i love the Iphone, but it sucks as an actual phone. The and apps great and i love the texting. It drops call wheni walk around my house on the phone BAM I end up talking to air cause I have another dropped call. If Verizon gets an Iphone or something as good i am dropping AT&T for good.

[Ed257]

Hi Molly,

I live on the East Coast (Charleston, SC), where I do not have problems with my iPhone connectivity besides an occasional dropped call. I am in San Francisco for a conference and I am experiencing all the problems you have described. I move 2 ft, my connection goes from 3G to Edge. Move another 5 ft, I go from full bars to searching for signal. And this is outside on the edge of the San Francisco Bay at a hotel near the airport. Very frustrating. So in summary: East Coast good, West Coast horrible. If lived here, I'd be thinking of checking out the Pre.

Best wishes,
Ed

PS Love the mailbag. Keep up the great work.

[jimp711]

I have the original iPhone and now plan to update to the new phone. My problem is with AT&T. Not with the tech side but the rate plans. First off if you have an iPhone and are getting a newer model they are charging an $18.00 activation fee! Besides that you can't get the same rate you already have! My plan gives me unlimited internet and 200 text messages for $20.00. The new phone requires a $30.00 unlimited internet plus another $5.00 for the 200 text messages ! Look at the fact that if 1 million iPhone people upgrade thats $18 MILLION! Plus the extra $15.00 a month for internet and texting, X 1 MILLION X 12 months, which equals $189 MILLION! If it was not for the iPhone I would leave AT&T in a minute! I have not seen the new rates that will come along with the new 3G S phone, but I am sure they will find a way to rob us of more $$$$. I have been a LONG TIME customer of AT&T and believe this is a rip-off in the first degree! We should all express our opinions to them and let them know we are not as dumb as they think we are!

[jolaca--2008]

AT&T sucks. I LOVE the IPHONE, but the service on AT& T has so many drop outs it's not funny. When i see that commercial about having more bars I laugh. I live in LA and I have the 3G and most of the time my phone is on E for the Edge network, the lowest. My friends who never upgrade to 3G who have the original iphone often have a faster speed than I do. I find that i turn off the 3G and it works better. I was so hoping that Apple would announce Verizon as one of the new carriers. I really don't know why they always upgrade the phones before the carriers are set up to make them work well. Why are they upgrading to 3GS when the current 3G sucks. And have you ever tried dealing with AT&T on the phone. talks about bad customer service. wow. How did a class operation like APPLE end up in this mess. My advice is let the 2010 deadline run out and get the hell out of AT&T land. Also it's what usually happens with a bad company (cingular) gets taken over by another bad company (AT&T), you get double suck.

[romanom]

Here in the NYC/NJ area I get great reception for both voice and data, even in the basement of my house!

However, I travel quite a bit and in many areas, especially west of the Mississippi, that is not the case. Like much with AT&T and many other large corporations, it's not very consistent in service and quality.

In full disclosure Verizon is even better around here, their reception is near flawless, but AT&T is pretty close behind. T-Mobile and Sprint really stink around here.

If Verizon sold the iPhone, I would have went with Verizon, but all-in-all I am happy with AT&T and very happy with the iPhone.

[dillhk]

Dude, my iPhone doesn't work IN MY HOUSE. Garr! It's not the iPhone's fault, though. Other AT&T users and Verizon users can't get signal either. My mom's T-Mobile works near the windows, though.

It works pretty well everywhere else. Except for 1 classroom at my school (which appears to be a dead zone to everyone else too).

[ogilicious]

I don't even have AT&T in my apartment (in the middle of Queens -- you know, New York, et al.). It's a heavily populated area, where (you'd think) it would be wise to at least have voice (we can leave data to a more advanced carrier). Shame on you, AT&T and your deceptions. I don't like Verizon either because of its stale looks and decrepit customer service, but at least the service is there. I am also biased toward a (functioning) GSM carrier due to roaming abroad. All that taken into a account, it will by my pleasure to leave AT&T for any other server (even T-Mobile) in the New York City area.

[cdtphilpot]

I live in Oklahoma but I'm in the military and travel all over. I have excellent service on my iPhone, I even get a signal out at the rifle ranges which are out in the middle of nowhere. Heck when I was in D.C. I had a signal on the Metro platform underground. My service has been so good I often have people borrowing my phone to call their families.

[Fender7083]

Ahhh!!!! What is with everyone saying "I have great reception in New York!" Duhhh!!! You live in the biggest city in the U.S.!!! I live in Traverse City, Michigan and have really crappy reception! The closest 3g connection is around 2 hour away in Grand Rapids! ATT have been saying for a few year that they were bringing 3g to my area! Also when they start allow "tethering" of the iphone, it going to cost an additional 30 dollars! On top of the over 100 dollars a month for just one phone. When I had a smartphone on alltel I was able to do this for free.

But now on to a completely different subject.... The iphone itself is an amazing device! The U.I. is great and easy to use. It has a great browser, and the most successful app store available. But the main downside is the lack of many feature. They are just now adding mms and copy and paste, and on the new device they just added video. And right now I have a iphone 3g and am unelligable for an upgrade and would have to pay over 300 dollars to get the 3gs and would add to additional years to my contract.

[HurricaneTrunkz]

I got the 3GS when it came out. My experience so far has been generally positive. I live in North Carolina and have had great 3G signal in Fayetteville and parts of Chapel Hill. No dropped calls except in dead zones common to Sprint and Verizon as well (previous carriers).

However, there are trouble spots in Chapel Hill (where my apartment is, for example). With Sprint, I usually had one or two bars in the apartment (except for the bathroom). With the iPhone, I lose signal if I stray to far from a window.

Also, I visit family is more rural parts of N.C. (like Wade) and never top three bars. Calls and texts are fine, but any Edge data usage just doesn't happen.

With my limited experience with AT&T, I'd give it an 8 of 10 right now (it would go up if I had MMS and legit and free tethering).