Frequent travelers have lovingly embraced the iPhone perhaps more than anyone else in the country. (Ooooh! Ahhhhh! Kewl! Hey, check out this new app! Lemme take your pic!)
But that love is getting put to the test as iPhone users, who pay significantly more for their phones and their service plans than most other cellular users, experience dropped calls and slow data retrieval with no end in sight. (This is especially true in two big destinations for TICKET readers: New York and San Francisco. It’s not as big an issue when you are at home in Atlanta, which has decent coverage, for the most part.)
Paying a premium should mean that you get premium quality in return. But based on anecdotal evidence, and a recent rash of negativity in the blogosphere, it’s clear that many iPhone users have had it.
Interestingly, most of the vitriol is directed at AT&T, and not Apple, the maker of the iPhone. (AT&T holds an exclusive contract as the sole provider of the iPhone…for now.)
For most of the last two years, AT&T has acted in true Ma Bell fashion remaining mostly silent on the issue, or offering up vague statements about billion dollar network upgrades. None of that made folks who have to walk outside their home or office to get a signal feel any better.
But now that the complaining has reached fever pitch, AT&T is launching a social media campaign to fight back.
So, iPhone users, meet “Seth the Blogger Guy” in this AT&T-produced video and let us know what you think. Do you believe what he’s saying? How is your AT&T service in Atlanta or elsewhere? PLEASE leave your comments below!
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You are so correct on this one! For years I had a T-Mobil Blackberry and it worked all over the world but not in my office 1/2mile from the beach in Florida. So….I purchased an IPhone with AT&T. I get great coverage here and elsewhere….but the bills I get monthly from AT&T are a nightmare! Not only are they 3 or 4 pages long and tremendously convoluted…..the charges for roaming data service is astronomical! My bills are now $280 ++ . Never in the 10 years that I had T-Mobile did a bill go over $170. The basic service costs are basically the same….but the roaming charges (I travel a lot internationally) with AT&T are a rip off! If only someone else would offer the IPhone …I would defect immediately!
You may be working to expand our data and speeds…however you need to do something about your billing department. As a former T-Mobil/Blackberry user for 10 years….I have to tell you that AT&T invoicing and billing is the most convoluted thing I have ever seen in my life. You get a cheaper rate by combining all the phones and data in your office….but you need a genius to figure out the invoices that are sent out monthly. My accountant has a fit every time one comes in. We would do it electronically…but it is so awful that we have to print it out anyway….all 12 pages of it. What a mess. If your data upgrade is anything like your billing service…God help us!
Dear AT&T: It’s called “forecasting”, guys — if you are the exclusive provider of a phone that does all this cool stuff with data, build-out the data network BEFORE you sell the phone! Don’t blame your woes on the customer because he/she is actually using the product … you should have seen this coming.
All I hear from Seth are excuses and empty promises.
Your question was whether we believe this and to share our own experience. I ‘kinda’ believe what he said, but didn’t find Seth as believable. Curiously, there was no mention of 4g, no conversation about slowing down advertising to give existing customers a better experience, As to call quality, I used to think a continuous conversation was a god-given right. Not anymore. Seems like nobody can get that right.
I have very little complaint with the iphone and its reception. I get few dropped calls. I travel between Baton Rouge, Atlanta and the Seattle area. No major problems in any of those locations. My biggest beef is that the 3G eats up the battery. For most of my use, I switch it off and between wifi and Edge I am fine.
Nice talk. Let’s see the walk.
Frankly, AT&T hasn’t paid attention to their customers in years. It’s the reason that I haven’t purchased an iPhone, nor will I until other Apple ends the exclusive network arrangement with AT&T.
Yes, I’d love to have all the apps and fun of an iPhone, but not at the expense of decent connectivity for my calls and data transfers.
I do live in the ATL area and have been very satisfied with my iPhone/ATT service. I live pretty far outside of the Perimeter and my signal/reception improved when I switched from a Samsung Blackjack to the iPhone in 2008. I use the iPhone for all phone calls from my home office. I also travel to the New York metro area frequently but am not typically in NYC but rather Westchester County. Service has also been very good.
Hopefully, my good luck streak will continue.
I switched to AT&T from VZW, horrible call coverage, the apps on the phone are great, but the call quality among other things is subpar.
Data is horrible in the Atlanta airport on the iphone.3G in the airport is no “G” Your lucky to download your email or just get to the Delta web site on your iphone. Delta also needs to do their own app for the iphone. Not sure why they don’t