Predictions are better left to sad people who live in trailer parks and channel Satan through a silly deck of cards that can't even be used to play poker, but sometimes I just can't help myself.
So here it goes.
Tomorrow, nothing that Steve Jobs will announce or unveil or demonstrate, not even with Winston Marsalis and Bono pounding out a power ballad in the background, will make AT&T suck any less.
Tomorrow, the iPhone will still be crippled—like My Left Foot crippled—because AT&T is the worst—and I mean rock bottom in a way that can only be measured in fathoms—phone company in the United States; not even Apple, in all of their gadget glory can turn that around.
Maybe if Jesus were to come back and help out, that might work, but something tells me he's got better things to do with his time back on Earth.
Join the fray by reading through and commenting at the end.
"because AT&T is the worst"
That's an absurd thing to say. There's no such thing as *the* worst phone company. They are all equally craptastic. ;o)
"Maybe if Jesus were to come back and help out"
The reason Jesus doesn't stop by anymore is that lousy signal AT&T Universal has here on earth. To be fair, Saturn keeps blocking it.
This is the only real reason I do not yet own an iPhone, and likely won't until it is released from its contract with Satan.
I tried playing poker with my tarot deck and i kept losing $666 per hand. I'll need to cash in my sins for house credit. Meanwhile, my left arm went to AT&T again this month.
As I'm sure you're aware, the whole dropped calls issue is making me twitch. It's a blatant white lie that is nearly black in soot.
Let's hope 1.1.4 opens things up for competition again some time this year. My right arm isn't hanging on much longer. I've already lost 2 legs and …well, nevermind.
We need the Trustbuster® back!
/defiant-fist-shake
I did warn everyone about AT&T/Cingular. There's no way any gadget would be worth it when stuck with them as the carrier. I love Cheerios, but if you pee in them I'm not going to eat them.
Yes, I love analogies.
I'm just curious about why AT&T is the worst?
I have no reason to doubt your assessment, especially since I've noticed other people saying the same thing ... but I've also noticed the same thing being said about other phone companies.
I have an iPhone (I switched to AT&T from Verizon) and my experience has been mostly straightforward; I usually have a good signal (I do live next door to a cell tower, which may have something to do with it), no dropped calls for the last 4 months or so, all the features work as expected, etc.
I feel like I should be hating AT&T but I don't know exactly what I should be hating them for. ;)
Yep, that's why they need to drop the AT&T exclusivity and open it for all carriers. Can you imagine how much money they would make? It's gotta be more than however much AT&T is paying them to keep it exclusive with them.
> I'm just curious about why AT&T is the worst?
They loose every customer survey on the planet. They also happen to have the weakest signals and most dropped calls. Oh, and I love how I get text messages and voice mail delivered 24-48 hours late.
I've heard this as well from others but I have yet to have a single problem with them. I too switched from Verizon and everything has been just fine.
* Signal is just as great as it was with Verizon, although I do live in Seattle so I'm not sure about areas further out from a major city.
* Dropped calls have been about the same frequency, almost never. Maybe 1 or 2 since the iPhone first came out.
* I've only needed to talk to their customer support 2 times since I've owned the iPhone. 1 time they were closed for the weekend (lame) and the other time it was all straight forward. Them not being opened 24/7 is a little stupid but at the same time, since I never need to talk to them its never bothered me beyond that day.
* Voice mails are never instant, which I assume has something to do with the visual voice mail feature but they never take longer than 1 to 2 minutes to show up in my own experience.
In the last 2 years I've been with 3 different cell companies: T-Mobile, Verizon and now AT&T. While all 3 of them aren't spectacular at service, I'm not really sure how they could be any better. I've only ever needed to really talk to them when a) I set my service up and b) when I cancel it to go to another one. The hold times are always long I suppose and they always try to offer me great deals to stay (which they should of offered me when I signed up) but other than that its been painless with all of them. On the plus side, AT&T is by far the cheapest AND is unlimited data so I have to say they've been the best for me.
But also for consideration is that modern cell companies seem to be a mish-mash of many old networks all mixed together from buy-outs and mergers so I can definitely see how some areas of one network could be horrible while others perform just fine.
Best Macworld prediction yet!
That's Wynton Marsalis.
...oh, i almost forgot: "SMS" is the first icon on the dashboard, and it's the most failed feature of the iPhone. Let's hope it's better with the new update. The SMS part is great, like iChat. But MMS? forget it.
I'm not going to memorize the MMS message ID and password and then click out, click into Safari, and enter the url you gave me, plus the message ID and password just to see a tiny image someone cared to send me. How annoying.
At&t really is the worst. I've never had poorer customer service, and their coverage sucks.
See, Beth knows.
AT&T does indeed sucketh, although they seem to have gotten less shitty in the last year or so. I had Verizon before that, and they also sucked. I think it is the nature of the industry to suck.
Josh Bryant: The reason you haven't had a problem with AT&T and therefore don't hate them is because you live in Seattle (like me). Seattle was where AT&T Wireless was based before they got bought up by Cingular, so their Seattle network is pretty rock-solid. Now you know!
For what it's worth, I think AT&T's pretty decent (although again, that's probably because I live in Seattle). I've had like 1 dropped call since I got my iPhone, and I get better signal than my friends with T-mobile (by far) and Sprint. And it isn't even that much weaker than Verizon. The only thing I really hate about AT&T is their crappy text plans (200msgs to 3000 messages with nothing in between.... yeahhhhh.)
I have heard about how crappy AT&T is in Southern California, though. For example, they're rolling out this new "video share calling" thing, and in every other market it's available wherever there's 3G. But in LA it's only available on specific towers for some stupid reason.
Hopefully we'll all have 700mhz phones we can use on any carrier in a couple years!
I'm amazed when people bash AT&T. I switched to AT&T/iPhone from Sprint/Treo 650 and I've only had better service and more up to date SMS. On Sprint I'd often get SMSs and voicemails hours later than they came in and sometimes even days later.
I do live in SF so there's pretty wide coverage though my Sprint would drop in certain places where my AT&T does not. I've been able to use my iPhone in Yosemite where I couldn't use my Treo. And I've had less issues in the Boston area where I did have issues with Sprint. So far so good. I'd say maybe the iPhone antenna is better but this happened with my other phones & Sprint before I had the Treo.
Haven't had to use their customer service yet which may very well suck and, if so, likely skews survey results.
Re: "They loose every customer survey on the planet"
As a web developer who's been in it for as long as you have I'm sure you know that surveys are highly skewed to the negative and are not an accurate measure of actual performance.
AT&T graciously offered to exchange my $50 phone with a dead display for $295, because I was 2 months past warranty.
After overhearing the help guy try to "look the other way" on the warranty issue (he made it sound as though they do it all the time) with his boss, she shot him down and told me as condescendingly as possible that I had to pay the $295.
What's funny is, I was almost hoping my phone was totally borked so I could use it as an excuse to get an iPhone. But after the way I was treated I'm just waiting for my contract to run out so I can switch carriers, and grab an iPhone when they're not locked in to AT&T.
As an added bonus, I found out later it would have only cost me about $170 to break my contract, less than it would to exchange my phone (which started working properly on its own about a week later, and I'm still using with no problems). Brilliant!
I find it interesting how brand perception skews depending on personal experience compared to popular opinion. Given that there are (i'm guessing) a large number of people that have a negative opinion of AT&T, I find myself adopting the same negative opinion. Indeed, if the customer service, signal strength, and so on is viewed as being poor by the majority then my view of the company is the same. My personal experience, though, has been positive or, at least, nuetral.
I think, for the most part, that most cellular providers have a large number of people with negative opinions based on customers personal experiences with the company. This seems more like an industry wide problem rather than a specific company. Every provider has contracts that a person wants out of but can't for some reason. Every provider is not going to have good coverage in some areas. Every provider has customer service employees that aren't qualified and so on.
It can be said that their are plenty of companies that have great customer service in event that something goes wrong, but for me with AT&T, nothings gone wrong so far so I haven't had the opportunity to be disappointed yet. If I'm to guess though, I would assume that the customer service won't be all that great, but I think that, not because I would be calling AT&T but because I would be calling a cellular provider. I think the same if I'm planning on going into the DMV.
I believe that all cell phone service and every cellular company will suck until we get to the point where contracts, locked phones, limited cell tower coverage, and per minute plans are a thing of the past.
in Madison, WI.
Had Cingular/ATT for 6 or 7 years.
Never had any problems with the network that others in town don't have on other networks.
Never dropped an iPhone call.
Apple won't drop/expand beyond AT&T until 2012, because that's the term of their exclusivity contract (see the recent Wired article). Unless there's some terrible breach of contract, or the L337 iPhone users can hack them apart, AT&T & the iPhone are like dog poop and your shoe.
Gentlemen, at least you can purchase an iPhone in your country.
Amen, brother. Amen.
Yet Australia is still waiting for the gen 1 iPhone...
I have been with AT&T since 2001, with the addition of an unlimited data for $25/mo in 2004. Also in 2004, during a customer service call to get my data settings right to the mMode network the agent kindly gave me 200 extra minutes for free (still have 'em).
I had very few problems with AT&T until the point they were bought by Cingular. And then the problems began. I was hoping with the swtich back to AT&T last year that there would be better management of customers and the network would also return. No, we still seem to be stuck with Cingular shitland here in SoCal.
I still have my old AT&T sim chip as well as all my settings are to the old network, not Cingular. I have very few dropped calls and only happens when I am talking to my Mom who is on Verizon and it is usually Verizon's fault.
When I lived in Ireland, I had Vodafone. Vodafone's supremely bad service and network makes me thankful even for Cingular (aka the new AT&T).
Now it could be worse, Apple could have chosen Sprint. Worse yet you could be in Canada where under every carrier, data is too expensive and we don't have the iPhone.
Great points!
It really does come down to at least 5 things:
1. Customer Service™
2. Carrier, their bandwidth, how long they've been in your area
3. Carrier signal in your area, range, # of towers, etc.
4. Plan and/or Data Plan + rates
5. Availability of iPhone
My own mileage varies. Oh, and the old digital AT&T pre-cingular network was teh bawm (meaning good)!
No Iphone here, but I definitely agree about AT&T SUCKING!
My prediction is that tomorrow won't bring any excitment to my life whatsoever.
For some reason i will still be online reading and watching live feeds like always.
All I care about at Macworld this year is remastered Beatles on iTunes. Give me that and ATT until 2012 is forgiven.
Drop Calls in USA ?
is that possible . I never have a dropped call with my mobile ever in my life. (in France)
--
iphone works fine with France Telecom/Orange.
in the cold white north we will have Rogers/Fido to deal with, if and when iPhone released north of the 49th., and they also equally bad. I will never own an iPhone until it is unlocked. i ain't signing no freaking long-term contract nor will i spend hundreds on data chargers... hopefully steve/google can provide an alternative mobile experience.
Prediction: Apple Bandwith.
France is about twice the size of Colorado, so it's no surprise that telcoms can cover it thoroughly compared to the US.
I wish I could get a signal in my house to have a opportunity to complain about dropped calls! I hate AT&T! I have never wanted to throw a Apple product across the room as much as this cell phone.
I love that I live in the upper part of the lower 48 and we have no AT&T here, so I'm stuck without an iPhone at all. Worse, I'm a t-mobile customer and we don't have actual t-mobile service here, I'm roaming on Chinook. But, the good news is that t-mobile doesn't care, Chinook doesn't notice, and, amazingly, I get better reception than people on Alltel and Verizon - who have their own towers here, too.
I can't imagine going to AT&T, had to deal with them when I worked at GE and they were beyond horrible. Billing was a nightmare, and heaven forbid an exec got transferred without 45 days notice to AT&T, because that would destroy the billing left and right.
But again, no AT&T in Montana, Wyoming or either Dakota, so no iPhone, either. Bastards.
Graham, if you are being offered 200 or 3000 sms plans, you are on an att wireless plan.
The company hasn't existed for 7+ years and those offerings do not exist unless you are on att wireless (distinction being is is now "att mobility")
Current plans are 200, 400, 1500 and unlimited...
just fyi.
I'm sorry you're having trouble with your iphone/att.
It is hard on the other end too.
Customer care is kept 100% in the dark on most things.
also, there are a lot of policy restrictions that prevent actual customer "care."
Well, I am in the camp that cell providers in this country ALL suck and we are trying to find the one that sucks the least. The issue is there are WAY too many variables to make a a blanket statement about one provider. The phones themselves effect coverage and quality and location effects coverage. About the only universal constants are the price.
I will NEVER be a Verizon customer for the rest of my life. I actually was a part of a class action lawsuit against Verizon for charging erroneous roaming charges. That is not to say that others may love them. It's a crap shoot. For instance, Verizon has not spent much money in the Detroit area and their footprint in the state is weak. I loved T-Mobile in Philly, but when I moved to Detroit it was horrible, so I switched to AT&T and love their phone coverage. EDGE blows and is slow in Detroit. On vacation in NYC, EDGE was much faster.
I live in Canada, a 'fairly large' country. I've never even heard of dropped calls here. I see ads from the US about dropped calls, but I honestly don't know what you folks are talking about. You mean you're on your cell and it just goes dead or cuts off the person you're talking to? I've never had that happen, and I've never heard of that happening to anyone I know. Is there something different about how cell networks are set up here in Canuckville?
Greg - In vancouver/burnaby environs there are 'pockets" of no cell coverage ... when you hit one of these pockets you are "dropped" i.e you are disconnected from your conversation. These dead-zones usually happen near sparsely populated sections ie going around a mountain. over a hill and through woods. etc. happens with Telus and also Rogers/Fido.
Anna, I'm in Saskatchewan, with tons of 'rural space', so we have some dead zones. But if there's service, you have service and I've never had it cut out. Sure, if I travel through a dead zone while talking it would cut out. So is that all a dropped call is, hitting a dead zone, or do people in the US experience dropped calls in the middle of a city?
I experience drop calls in a city. It happens very frequently in my home. Supposedly on the AT&T map my house falls in between two cell towers and I live in the "Fair" category while one block over they are in the "Good" category.
Jim, get a satphone and see if that works better. Report your findings here so we'll know if we need to convert. Over.
YES! I feel so vindicated!
I, too, have ATT/Cingular and am trapped in my contract from Hell. It is also interesting to see the word "craptastic" used to describe them, as that is a word my husband and I frequently use.
...actually that word has recently been replaced in our vocabulary with "comcastic" after repeated and ongoing (and ongoing and ongoing...)difficulty with services from Comcast. We've decided they are one in the same.