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?

[naparkertx]

I got the iPhone 3G last summer when it came out and have lived in Austin and the Dallas, TX area and have never had an issue with my phone or the service. I tell people daily how much l like it and have even convinced friends through my demo of fav apps to get iPhones.

The few issues I've had, Apple has taken care of. I doubt I'll upgrade to the new phone since I have the 8gb version and it works just fine for me and since 3.0 will work just fine with the 8gb iPhone, I'll be good to go for a while. I would like the battery to last longer since I do use a bluetooth a lot.

[hotrodcal]

You're joking right? Your assessment was right on. Those who oppose your opinion are obviously part of the Mac cult that leached on to the iPhone as their next hot Mac gadget that they had to go burn cash on. My company gave me one and I can't wait to switch it out when our new phones come in. I live in the DC area and with the 3G network I got no reception and horrible battery life. I brought it in to Apple because "this just can't be right" and Apple told me that I was only dropping 19% of my calls. 19% of my calls!!!!!!!! 1 out of every 5 is acceptable. I will be happy once I get back over to Verizon.

[cdxskier6]

Yeah, I don't know what everyone's whining about. I have AT&T over Verizon because of its coverage. Dropped calls are far fewer with AT&T

[fresmoe]

Was an AT&T subscriber before I went to Verizon and then back to AT&T for the iphone. In turn I already expected the not so great service from AT&T here in Fresno, CA yet I still went out and bought the iphone 3G on released day. About two months ago I worked with some body from the Phoenix, AZ area that was amazed to the amount of 3G coverage he received in the Fresno city area. Am now having doubts if it was worth the service change.

[gmikesell]

My wife and I have had the iphone 2G when it first came out. Got the 3G iphone when IT first came out. Will likely wait to upgrade again when we're eligible for the upgrade discount. There are a few things that are starting to bug...such as the virtual keyboard, lack of multi-tasking, and short battery life. What with all the new devices coming out this summer, I can't wait to see if anything else is up to the challenge of doing things like the iphone AT LEAST as well as the iphone with a physical keyboard, significantly improved battery life, and multitasking. Until then, if I don't find anything that fits that bill, then I'll just upgrade to the 3rd gen iphone. I still love it more than any of the other phones out there that have their own issues.

[caseyahenry]

I've been very satisfied with my AT&T service around Pensacola, FL, on both my iPhone 3G and Blackberry Pearl. As a matter of fact, I find that I have fewer reception and call quality issues on the iPhone than on the Blackberry.

[alchmyman]

the 3g connection is horrible where I live. I can walk down my driveway and get full for no reason. When I'm not at home, it is awesome! just wish ATT would release those in home cell routers like Tmobile did.

[IBEJohnson]

They are on the way. No official dates yet though.

Have two locations and our household has two iPhones, one 3-G, other is v1.
New Mexico mountain museum/house is a dead zone for all ATT customers, even though Sprint, Verizon (which we use in NM for obvious reasons), T-Mob all work for visitors at our museum. Even more vexing is that ATT leases access on T-Mob cell site just down the road, and still we don't have coverage. grrr.

House in PHX is in-town. Three cell sites within two miles according to ATT. My partner can't make a call in the house with her 3G. My experience is 50-50. Half my calls don't ring through; show up later with vmail. Dropped calls are the norm in the house.

So we're between the devil and the deep blue sea...summer in New Mexico = no ATT. Summer in PHX means standing out in 110C heat to get signal.

My latest call to ATT Tech Support (which have become regular events) connected me to a really doozy of a rep: he suggested that he "has never owned Apple equipment, and never will".

So much for a tight partnership.

[Aquia33]

From the comments here it seems like your premise is what sucks.

iPhone 3G 8gb. I have had iPhone for almost a year, went through a few warranty replacements for different issues. Issues were: signal, lint under screen, and just glitchy performance.
In general, I've had the same issue with all of them where the phone seems to have a hard time switching between 3G and EDGE. I've had a Motorola Q9h where it handled switches really easily. The iPhones I had tend to take it's time doing so, and sometimes stops me in the middle of trying to do something just for it to switch modes.
Not to kick a beaten phone while it's on the ground, but I've recently used my old OLD Nokia 6590i and it seems to hold a better signal in terms of being on calls. The iPhone I currently have loves to drop calls, which actually causes me to call the person back and let them know that my phone is great at everything BUT calls.
I'm looking forward to the firmware update next month or so. If that doesn't improve my experience, I guess it'll be time for me to jump ship and possibly pick up an alternative. I'm currently eyeballing the Bold, and the E71x.

[JP2stepR]

I get generally good reception at work and while commuting. However, I live less than a mile from AT&T Mobility's national headquarters (Atlanta/Sandy Springs, GA) and I can't have a decent conversation at home. My house is even at one of the highest elevations in the metro area. Go figure.

[terun1978]

I can't speak for everyone but I never have problems with my iPhone 3G running on AT&T. I live in Georgia and the reception is acceptable. When I am in Atlanta visiting my family, I take advantage of the 3G network and never run into problems with that either. So I am assuming it depends on where you live and your personal expectations for a cellular network.

[FieL12]

I left Sprint after 9 years of service in order to take advantage of the full media capabilities provided by the iPhone. Over the years, I have watched countless AT&T commercials repeatedly flaunt it's claim of having the "fewest dropped calls." After 10 months of service, I must say that I am thoroughly disappointed in the coverage for Los Angeles County. I have experienced more dropped calls using AT&T in 10 months of use than 9 years of Sprint. It's not limited to the iPhone either. My wife goes through the same problems with her LG Shine.

If there was a smart phone out there in Verizon or Sprint that renders web pages as beautiful as the iPhone could, then AT&T will have one less disgruntled person in their network.

[eschase]

I live in the Panhandle of Texas. This area is very rural and open. I find on my 3G iPhone and my wife's original iPhone we both get great reception. We now have 3G in the Amarillo area with no dropped calls. Last summer we took a trip to California. We went to San Francisco and then drove down the coast to L.A. Reception for both of us was without problem even in San Francisco. So, from my experience this is just another Molly rant.

[bonesbautista]

The issue with 3G connectivity isn't Apple's problem, and my history with ATTWS can prove it. To preface my comments to follow, some of my family members live in ATTWS-only areas and the non-M2M talking would have bankrupted a couple of them on fixed incomes.

I had call drops, call failures, data drops, and calls going straight into voicemail - with my Motorola Z9 and Option Ultra Express data card. I got an iPhone 3G for a birthday present last September, and nothing really changed, and I griped to ATTWS several times and opened claim tickets. I got the "it must be the iPhone" mantra several times, even though I was having connectivity problems with the Option card as well. I was also offered several credits totaling several hundred dollars over time.

After a threat to terminate my contract, a new trouble ticket was opened up and a new round of troubleshooting began (in March of this year). It turned out that a tower serving my area needed a hardware update and a firmware update. I've been aware that the city I live in - Portland OR - had a 850 overlay to augment the existing 1900 network starting at the time the call and data issues started.

Since April 1, after ATTWS called me to tell me that the SW and FW were "fixed" - not one dropped call, and much better throughput on my data card (which isn't cheap). No modem resets on my iPhone. Call quality is better. Same iPhone FW - 2.2.1. ATTWS poor quality control and failure to load balance their WCDMA network is the source of their problems and customer complaints. Austin, LA, NYC, Portland - ATTWS's "problems" began in earnest when the 850 overlays started; my hundreds of calls in 850-only areas have led to only one call failure, and that was in July of last summer.

Anybody claiming it's the iPhone - read Howardforums.com. Read about the thousands of posts about Bold's, V9x's, Blackjacks, iPhone's, Vu's, etc., etc., etc. and their call drops, call failures, calls going straight into VM. THEN, you can go after me and this post. I do own an iPhone, but my small business is through Verizon - three call drops in six years.

[bonesbautista]

Oh, and Molly - you and that rant of yours. Hawt.

[Jboggie619]

I have an iPhone here in Albuquerque, NM. I switched from VZW which has EV-DO pretty much statewide and in most rural places that i often travel to. The 3G service from AT&T is pretty fast for the most part, I HATE how it drains my battery like crazy! Outside of Albuquerque the only other 3G enabled city is Las Cruces and that is 250+ miles away. For most of my travels i have pretty decent EDGE coverage however clocked the speed last time i went to my parents and it was crap like i know EDGE is slow but c'mon!! 109 Kbits/s download and 17 Kbits/s upload EDGE ***!! However on 3G here in ABQ its Avg between 700-800Kbits/s DL and 200-220 Kbits/s upload. Highest i have ever clocked w/3G is 1307 Kbits/s DL and 228 Kbits/s. WIFI rocks all of them as i'm sure you can assume 4050 Kbits/s DL and 316 Kbits/s upload. All in all I knew when i got my iPhone that the 3G and overall coverage would suck in comparison to VZW, but I was sick of my LG Voyager and the way that VZW has the WORST, CRAPPIEST, WORST QUALITY, UGLY EFFIN phones of any carrier. (Sprint sanyo models suck a lot too, but at least they are shiny) Like VZW should win an Ugly Duck Phone award for having the most unattractive, useless phone lineup 2002-Currrent. I'd rathey have EDGE on an iPhone and use it for all the awesome stuff it can do html browsing, apps, music, and email than have EV-DO and be handicapped to their 2004 UI. AT&T customer service is decent i'm a pretty low maintenance customer i am well informed.

[FlapiPhone]

I live in the Atlanta, GA area and I have been experiencing the worst AT&T/iPhone signal/coverage from any carrier in my life. I came from Sprint which had pretty good coverage here in GA but not the iPhone and things seemed to be ok initially with firmware 2.1. When I updated to firmware 2.2 this is when the signal/coverage issues began. My phone drops a call about every other conversation for no apparent reason, also 3G signal is so flaky that 7 out of 10 times when I check my iPhone it is in EDGE mode. Funny thing is I might start a data session in 3G but the iPhone will quickly switch to EDGE in the middle of the session. The signal bars appear to be strong but sometimes calls are dropped while they are connecting to the AT&T network. This is my 2nd iPhone and the signal/coverage issue has been consistent. I also have friends here in Atlanta and in South Florida with iPhones and they are experiencing similar issues.
I absolutely love my iPhone for all the wonderful convergence things it does so well, but truly hate the phone portion as it pertains to AT&T.

[sean89503-2009]

In Reno, NV i always get full bars but 3G has random drop spots.

In Las Vegas everywhere is great!

[canberra_photographer]

I'm an Australian user and have had no issues at all while using it on Telstra nextG for the past 6 months. I originally had it on Optus 3G and had no end of reception issues, drop out and the like. The nextG network uses both 2100mhz and 850mhz WCDMA while the Optus 3G offers only 2100mhz for the iPhone (and 900mhz for other phones). Even Optus admitted their network was not up to the huge increase in mobile data that came with iPhone and similar handsets.